While the Paris 2024 Olympics may be over, these sprinters continue running in our gardens.

Creeping cucumber, Melothria pendula, aka Guadaloupe gourd and speckled gourd, is a native southeastern slender perennial vine in the cucumber family, Cucurbitaceae, found growing in bottomland forests, streambanks, ditches, roadsides, and disturbed areas, as well as creeping along the ground or across backyard fences. The one-fourth-inch diameter, bright yellow, five-petaled flowers are beacons for bees and butterflies. The ivy-shaped green leaves are simple with three to five lobes in a palmate pattern. The plant uses curly tendrils to grab as the 12-15 foot vine scales the landscape. The fruit is a three-fourths inch-long berry shaped like a tiny watermelon. Unripe green fruits smell like cucumber and are filled with white seeds. Ripe fruits are black, not edible, and toxic according to North Carolina Extension.

Creeping cucumber is a volunteer in home gardens and may be considered an invasive weed by some. For others, the vine makes a good groundcover in shady areas or a vining screen along a chain link fence.

Another sprinter in gardens is the southeastern native herbaceous perennial passionvine, Passiflora incarnata. While found in wilderness areas, it is also common in subdivisions and along roadsides. Threeinch wide purple flowers have five sepals and five petals. The crown or corona is covered in wavy hair-like fringe. In the center of each flower are five stamens and a tripart pistil. The ephemeral flowers last only one day but egg sized and shaped green edible fruit filled with seeds called maypops follow.

Passionvine spreads by underground rhizomes popping up on property. Mow the plant down, and it soon returns running for a mature length of 25 feet across the ground or twining its tendrils on nearby plants or structures. Starting a community of passionflower vines is not difficult; containing this sprinter is.

A third vine staging a spectacular sprint from late August until October is sweet autumn clematis, Clematis terniflora. The vigorous deciduous to semi-evergreen perennial vine captures attention by producing billowy showers of fragrant one-inch-wide white star-like flowers. As flowers fade, decorative fluffy silvery seedheads appear. The non-native twining vine is reputed to be invasive as it spreads to 30 feet. Solutions to its invasive instincts are pruning, weeding, and support. Gardeners cut back stems to a foot off the ground in early spring. Removing seedlings as they sprout and mulching around plants discourages overpopulation. Pruning immediately after flowering checks self-seeding.

Virginia creeper, Parthenocissus quinquefolia, in the grape family, Vitaceae, is a native, woody, deciduous vine that climbs to a height 60 feet on trees, poles, or other structures. The vine crawls vertical using tendrils with adhesive pads that hold fast to surfaces like tree trunks, cement, wood, and stucco. When crawling horizontally along the ground, Virginia creeper puts down roots to form a seamless deciduous groundcover. Inconspicuous small greenish-white flowers appear in spring followed by one-fourth-inch blue-black berries for wildlife in winter. Leaves are compound with five leaflets and are especially noticeable in fall when turning brilliant red and purple.