some would argue were I live (chattanooga) is zone eight, but I do get winters so anything zone 9 and up would be an annual here. As far as the vine, I am looking to replace a non-native, invasive honeysuckle on my fence. It looks nice, I just dont feel right leaving it cause the stuff is growing everywhere. I want to replace slowly replace it so I have 200 feet of of fence to cover. really, I would like something evergreen but it doesnt have to be evergreen. So I guess to answer your questions, I would prefer a quick growing vine, other than that, I dont care as long as it isnt too invasive

Sounds like Dutchman's Pipe, actually. Aristolochia macrophylla (was A. durior) is native to east TN, from the Cumberland Plateau through the Unaka Mts. A. tomentosa is found scattered throughout the state with a concentration in middle TN. The latter plant has leaves maybe 5 inches across at the widest part of the heart shape, and smaller flowers which can be hard to spot. Both are host plants for the lovely Pipevine Swallowtail, whose strikiing black and orange caterpillars can do a real pruning job on a young vine. I've never seen them eat one to death, though, and the butterflies are gorgeous.

IF the tree is in a residential area anywhere near where you, your children, friends, or property is, this is a VERY bad idea. In fact I'm sending an e-mail to State Farm Insurance next suggesting they don't cover damage caused by any falling trees which had vines planted on them. If it saves them a million a year maybe they'll give me a free t-shirt. Imagine one day a 6 inch split appears in the trunk? If its covered by a vine you'll never know. Where my tree w/o a vine covering it I stand a chance at noticing before it falls on my kids. I'm always cutting some terrible form of grape vine off the black walnuts on my property. Worthless smothering vine, but it does grow.

Susan knows more about this one than I do because she either currently grows it for butterflies or has grown it in the past. I think the most common way to get this plant is to grow it from softwood cuttings, but if you could dig up enough of a piece from underground to get adequate roots, that would work too. If the plant is currently growing in the right of way, I think you still should try to obtain permission from the landowner, if that landowner is a resident there, before you dig one from their property. (A lot of the old pastures here have absentee landowners who have been absent for so long that no one knows who they are, so there's no one around to seek permission from.) I think people raise them from seed sometimes, but I've never tried that. When I grew it in Texas, the caterpillars ate it right down to the ground every year and it bounced right back. In some states (generally states that have better soil, cooler weather and lots more rainfall than us) it is considered invasive but I doubt it is invasive here.