Viney Pot-looking Thing

What is this? It is a large vine that covers my neighbor's 15-foot high arch over his driveway. I don't think he ever waters it, but it stays green all year, even in this drought. I think we had something that looked similar growing up the side of our house when we bought it two years ago. I cut it down and had to dig out the roots several times before I finally smothered it with cardboard and mulch. When I tore drywall out on the inside of that wall, I found pieces of the vine in the insulation. It seems to be totally bulletproof.

Looks like Virginia Creeper.

Yeah looks like vc to me too. I have that on a privacy fence in back. It's invasive, but looks cool when you trim it back. It forms lighter colored tiny leaves, which have a dramatic visual effect if done in mass. Chickens like to get under the vine and camp.

Gosh. Maybe what I thought was grape vines is actually Virginia Creeper! That would explain why my neighbour weed whacked a bunch of it that was growing along our property line...

Wild grapes do look si mm ilar with clusters of small berry things, but the grape you will see leading with tendrils as it spreads, and a leaf structure that's not in a pattern like virginia creeper. They both inhabit a fence in similar capacity and speed though.

I'm embarrassed to admit now that I completely misidentified my virginia creeper. I assumed it was grape, because this is such a grape-growing area - when I saw planted vines, it didn't occur to me that it could be anything but grape.
Thank-you for this thread before I tried eating the "grapes" this fall!

we got tons of creeper here. it's fast growing, but pretty innocuous as far as fast-growing vines go. i haven't seen it smother or strangle any trees or shrubs yet, unlike grape, honeysuckle or bittersweet. nice ground cover too. it's also one of the first to turn color, even before autumn starts, turning bright red. quite beautiful actually. i love it.

Thanks. If it's that bullet proof, maybe I can find a place for it in our design. Not on the side of our house, though. It was prying siding off and growing up into the wall.