Trumpet vines

I'd like to work on a butterfly and humming bird garden.Has anyone had luck with trumpet vines. I see they sell seeds but I don't know how long it will take to get them to flower. Are cuttings better?
Mickey

Hello Mickey, unless you have a lot of room and don't mind a very vigorous plant, stay away from Trumpet Vine, Campsis radicans, http://wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=CARA2
most people find it too aggressive and you can do better with
Crossvine, Bignonia caprolata, http://wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=BICA
this one is also evergreen and very well behaved while accomplishing the same purpose.
Josephine.

I second Josephine's suggestion. I am still trying to eliminate trumpet vines planted by the previous owner of my house - 8 years later. But my crossvine is very well behaved.

I get freezes in my area. I'm in a zone9-10 in Arizona
Has anyone done trumpet plants from seed? How long till the flower? I'll have to chedk again what they are selling on evil bay.
Mickey

I just checked with the links. I do have a huge area and both plants sound good. I don't hink I can get them to flower the first year.
Mickey

No, they won't flower from seed the first year, Crossvine is rather slow at the beginning, so you would do better to start with plants.

We are zone 9 and a trumpet vine has killed a tree in our back yard. I moved here too late to save it.

We had a rather lengthy discussion on the Trumpet vines last year I have one that is now 8 years old that was started from seeds after complaining that it had never bloomed it did finally bloom last summer ..But it is going to be history soon!!! it is all cut back now and each tendril will be dealt with as they come up ...

I love the plant because it attracts bees but hate it because it just won't stop spreading. It was less of a threat in my MI garden but I eradicated them from that garden too, they are just too aggressive. When I moved to this place there were some on the back fence and I spent 2 years working to get them out.
C

I second frostweed's recommendation of Crossvine (Bignonia caprolata). I've grown the cultivar, Tangerine Beauty, for about fifteen years with NO problem of spreading, seeding, etc. It's gorgeous. The picture shows it cascading over a portion of my fence.
LeslieT

Yes Leslie, I have both the original and the tangerine and I love them both.
Another neat thing is that they are evergreen and hardly ever need pruning.

When I see cross vine for sale in a nursery they always look diseased, sort of mildewy. Is that just from being in a small pot too long or what. I had them on my list of drought tolerent plants but haven't bought one due to the way they seem when I find them for sale.
C

I have never seen mildew on mine, it could be the conditions in which they have been growing, they are slow to get going at first, I would say that from a cutting it would take at least two years for it look like something, but when they get going they are wonderful.
Josephine.

I've never had any mildew on mine either. No disease problems at all.
LeslieT

They always look pitiful at Calloways. I am going to try one this spring now that I know they are as nice as I have read.
C

I too have almost pulled out my two-year-old crossvine (New Braunfels)......I thought it was maybe because it doesn't get lots of sun that it has not done well. After this year of losing so much in the freeze, it is nice to have anything that is still alive even if not beautiful. I think I'll be a little more patient on this one. Thanks for this thread.

Mine is in a pretty shady spot. It took 3 or 4 years to cover the part of the fence that I wanted covered, but now it looks great and is easy to keep in check. Have patience! :)

As they say, first year they sleep, 2nd they creep, 3rd they leap. My crossvine has grown nicely over the three or four years, and wintered well during freezes.

The trumpet vine that a neighbor had sent tendrils under fences in three yards and up telephone poles and over a detached garage they had. Finally they sold and the new neighbor took it out over a period of years. We still find one here and there from birds but dig them quickly.

Pretty photo LeslieT!

Dfwdennis ~ How well does your crossvine bloom in that shady spot? And how shady is it?

It is in the dappled shade of an large elm. It has a big bloom in the spring, where the entire vine is covered with flowers, then it periodically has flowers (although much fewer) throughout the rest of the summer and fall.

Thanks for that information. Trying to decide if I were to get this, where to place it. I wonder if it blooms better in full sun.

Podster, this is my Crossvine in full sun, the fence is 80 feet long and has 6 plants on it, it faces south.

I have another vine that faces north and it does well but not as vigorous.
A close up of the flowers.

Just another voice to say I'd never plant trumpet vine. Not even in my mother-in-law's yard on her chain link fence(she kills most everything I've tried)...I'd rather have a bare fence than battle that monster.

Josephine those plants are beautiful! Do they bloom most of the summer? What variety is on the fence?
C

The close up of the flowers is of the native, and the fence has both native and the Tangerine, the big show is in early spring with sporadic bloom after that.

My 'Tangerine Beauty' cultivar blooms about the time of hummingbird migration: spring and fall with a few intermittent blooms at other times. It has remained within bounds . . . no problem with overrunning its neighboring vines (the gorgeous if somewhat rampant Mexican Flame Vine and Butterfly vine which is also a bit aggressive compared to Tangerine Beauty).

One of the most gorgeous displays of this vine I've ever seen was at the home of the original owner of Peckerwood Gardens outside Houston (now protected by the Garden Conservancy) where he had it growing on a large, high arbor so that the gorgeous long arrays of trumpet-shaped blooms hung down through the arbor over one's head. It was absolutely stunning!
Leslie

I liked the Trumpet vine, I just had to try it. It took for ever to bloom and forever to move and I loved it. instead of pulling it up in small sprouts, I waited until it was a long vine to pull it up. I planted it to hide a old ragged fence that needed replacing. That vine and its tendrils began wrapping around the old boards on that fence and completely sealed those boards together, the fence was not falling down anymore. So I got this great idea to make shade for my Hostas. I went to HD and bought eight 12ft trellis's. I tied one end of the trellis to the fence and I used another trellis to hold up the other end of the trellis that was tied to the fence. I made four of those and started training the vine to cover all eight of the trellis's. It was going to be beautiful, but I had to move and did not see its completion. I had the audacity to go back and visit the new tenant and see what I left growing there. I got the courage to ask about the Trumpet vine, he said he got rid of it .. I thought ... so you think! lol

I wish they'd develop a trumpet vine that doesn't get out of control, since hummingbirds really like the blooms. Maybe someday!

The native substitute our Crossvine is the best of both worlds, as per the above posts. ;o))

Yes, that's what I have around here. But I still wish there was a trumpet vine also that could be controlled.

just discovered this afternoon, I got a yellow Trumpet growing on the back fence and all of a sudden, its growing up the side of the house like crazy. If those yellow flowers cover that corner of the house and my Mexican Flame vine continue to cover the corner of the neighbors house, it will be glorious back there!

Then you could put a arbor frame work up and they would shade your hostas! LOL! I know where this is headed.

Sheila, I was not heading that way ... but you got me going now ... that would be lovely! But I got trees growing over there. Now if you and Herman want to come over and help me figure something out, that would be nice. I do wish I could re route that Mexican flame vine. It goes straight up the trellis on to the Neighbors roof. It look gorgeous from the street ... which I never go into the front. I wish I could root that vine, I would bring it up front.

Sylvia,
Bring some cuttings of the mex fl vine for me please to the next RU. If I get it rooted, I'll bring it back (with it's lil' roots growing) at the next ru.

Charlene

Mickey....
You said you were doing a butterfly hummer garden. One other plant has really done well in the Texas heat is the Flame Acanthus. It is native and takes the full sun well.

I am sure several of us may have small plants to offer at the Arlington RU.

Charlene, I sure will, but you got to give good instructions as how to get them to fresh. I tried root ing once and it never did a thing for me. Charlene it would do great at your place you got a lot of room for it to grow.

Sylvia, ship me some cuttings. You know the addy.
Just take the cuttings, wrap the bottom of the cuttings in a wet paper towel and put that in a plastic bag and send 'em to me. I'll root some for you and some for me. You just gotta hold your mouth right!

Of course, sometimes no matter what you do, a thing won't root for you. I would sure like to try. Let me know how much postage and I'll paypal ya!

Charlene

Of course all of our opinions are from places with lots(most years) of rain and high humidity where you are at the Trumpets may not be any trouble..In my yard the preferred flower by the hummers is the Cypress vine it is annaul but will reseed and must not be allowed to take over which is easy since once pulled or cut that is that...

Charlene I just saw this, will try to get in the mail tomorrow, on my way to the dentist ... do I dread having to do this! do you want a cutting of the yellow Trumpet vine too? ... you got plenty of room! ;)