Clematis: Trumpet Vine: Invasive or Wonderful, 1 by salvia_lover

salvia_lover wrote:
I'd like to suggest a different trumpet vine that grows very fast so long as it has something for the tendrils to grab onto. It's Pyrostegia venusta. We have it all along our front fence and it has grown phenominally since we put it in (July 2003...just 15 months ago). When it was just next to the metal fence (large smooth posts) it didn't grow fast at all. We had put up thin bamboo privacy matting along only part of the fence and the trumpet vines just SHOT up since the aerial roots had something with a rough surface to cling onto, but the part that only had the metal fence to grow next to didn't grow fast at all. Once we added the bamboo matting to that area as well, those vines also started growign very fast.

It's not invasive at all as far as sending out runners across the garden...as far as we can tell and as far as the garden center and my plant encyclopedia claim at least LOL. And it's very manageable even around trees. It does try to climb into the trees nearby, but not quickly ...so it's very easy to pull the odd vine out of a tree. About once a month I go around the perimeter of the garden in search of vines in the trees. It usually takes me about 5 minutes to completely rid any trees of vines...so obviously NOT a problem. This is a winter flowering vine too, so it gives great color in a dreary season.

Here's a pic of it when we first planted them (alternating every other vine with arabic jasmine) the vine in the pot to the left of the tree is the one I'm talking about.

-Julie