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  Wild, flowering climbing vines can be both beautiful and practical in a garden. Their above-ground foliage and blooms are matched by lateral-spreading root systems that will protect soil from erosion and minimize runoff, particularly on slopes in the landscape. Wild, flowering native vines require minimal maintenance for the home gardener because they are adapted to local growing conditions, with the bonus of being a food source for birds, butterflies and other indigenous wildlife.
  
  

Groundnut

• The flowering groundnut vine (Apios americana) is a legume that was a staple in the diet of Native Americans and the first European colonists. The plant's purplish-maroon clusters of tiny blooms average 0.4 inches long and its compound leaves grow in five to seven leaflets. Groundnut tubers have three times the amount of protein as potatoes, dry weight, and take two to three years to mature, according to the University of Massachusetts Biology Department. The perennial groundnut grows up to 10 feet, flowers from June to September and prefers moist soil along streams and ponds or in meadows. It grows wild from the Gulf of Mexico to southern Canada and westward to the prairies, where it twines with low-growing shrubbery. This winding vine could intermingle just as easily with a garden fence.
  
  

Climbing Wild Rose

• Also known as the prairie rose, the fragrant, climbing wild rose (Rosa setigera) flowers for about a month between May and July. The five-petaled blooms are 3 inches in diameter and are usually pink, though they are occasionally white, with golden stamens. After the blooms fade, it develops bright red seedpods called rose hips. The branches of the climbing wild rose can grow up to 15 feet in long and the woody vine is moderately thorny, with a deep taproot. In the wild, across the prairie states from the upper Midwest to Texas, it will climb over or through any nearby vegetation or structure.
  
  

Maypop Vine

• The maypop vine (Passiflora incarnata), also called passion flower, grows quickly, latching itself onto neighboring shrubs and structures with tendrils that can lift it as high as 12 feet. Beginning in April, the maypop's showy, lavender blooms open up to 3 inches wide, with a layer of thin, crimped, fringed segments atop the petals. The maypop vine's 6-inch-long, serrated leaves are not as showy as its blooms but are equally conspicuous. Growing in zones 6-9, the perennial maypop dies to the ground each winter. It is native to the southeastern United States from Texas to Florida. Mapop's vines can grow wildly but can be trained to follow a fence or trellis. The common name comes from the sound its hollow fruit makes when crushed, according to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
  
  

Virginia Creeper

• Each June, greenish-white flowers bloom along the fast-growing Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) vine. September brings quarter-inch bluish berries that attract birds. This deciduous vine can reach 50 feet long and because of its tendrils, needs no support. In fall, the Virginia creeper's 4-inch long dark green leaves change to purple and red. Because of its length, growth speed and tendrils, it can easily be trained to cover a wall. Despite its common name, the Virginia creeper is native to the entire eastern seaboard, from Maine to Florida. It is cold-hardy to zone 4 and can thrive in the warmer areas of zone 3.