Campsis radicans. I have severely abused a Trumpet Creeper that I have had for many years. It has never bloomed and has irritated me so much that I have kept trying to rid it of my garden. I guess because it has never bloomed, I just kept digging it out. Well, last year, of course, it popped up again. I finally did feel pity on this vine and let it grow and man did it grow. I will let it grow, but I think that I will move it from its full sun spot to a better full sun spot and take better care of it. It is not my nature to not take care of any plant, but I did not. I understand it blooms on this years wood, so I actually don't get why it never has bloomed. Any specific fertilizer that may be good for this poor old plant. I have seen fabulous vines of this species and they are impressive. I may mingle it with a fragrant honeysuckle that I have, I think that the two flowers may look cool growing together. We have many hummingbirds that frequent our gardens, and I bet they would love it if I moved this creeper to go forward in its life!!
If you waited for years, without reward for it to bloom before trying to remove it then it's probably a seedling that just didn't get old enough to bloom. Perhaps, as seems to be the case with some wisteria seedlings, some trumpet creepers do not flower until quite large and old--or never (although I doubt this happens much, probably just seems like never). Now, of course, it probably doesn't flower because it keeps getting severely reduced. If using it intertwined with another climber it will have to be pruned to keep it from overwhelming the other plant, without cutting back so hard it interferes with its own flowering.
Ron, This must be short as I am time constrained. I obtained the trumpet creeper as a two year old plant, from a well known, mail order company. It lived for a couple of years in a spot that was obviously unsuitable for its requirements. I moved it, and then proceeded after some time (a couple of years later), moved it again. I imagine this poor plant was just so befuddled, it did not know what to do. So, it never flowered, YET, I will be taking care of this poor vine and bringing it to bring the joy to me and my property that I love. I think that I will not plant it alongside any of my honeysuckles, I do have the room, so I will have my husband construct a growing support for this creeper and it will indeed have its own spot. I love the Canary Creeper that I planted this spring (actually several), they are still blooming, the bees are loving it, and even after the couple of pretty hard frosts that we have had in the past couple of days, is still going strong. Up lattice on the western side of my white house. I actually used a picture of a bee, full of pollen, on this vine for the picture that I put on my jars of honey that I have for sale. It looks pretty awesome. The pic was taken about 3 weeks ago, and man was this honeybee's pollen basket full!!!
Hi Cindi, I realize you posted this some time ago, but I thought I'd share this thread about Campsis radicans - trumpet vine with you. I had the displeasure of inheriting this awful vine and noticed this fall that there are new sprouts again. http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=20454&highlight=campsis Newt
Nothing more than curious, why do you hate this vine so much? Cause it is so hard to get rid of, LOL. I know, it is almost impossible to not have it growing. Regards. Cindi
Cindi, there are several reasons I don't like this vine. My house sits on a zero clearance lot. That means that one side of the house is ON the property line. I have a front, back and one side yard. There is a 7' high stucco wall around the back and side garden. The back yard is 60' by 18' and the side is 40' by 15'. The 'lawn' is a path through the middle and is about 3' to 5' wide depending on just where you are. The rest is flower beds along the wall and the house. With a trumpet vine popping up in the garden as far as 30' from the parent plant, that makes a mess of the garden. Imagine the vine popping up in all your flower beds. On the wall, which isn't very far from my windows, it's the last plant to leaf out in spring when I want to see some green, and the first one to drop it's leaves in the fall when I'm hoping for some color in the garden for as long as possible. To my thinking it's just not something for a small or average sized garden. If you have a large garden that has a wild area where you don't mind it popping up, or a turf area that's mowed so the sprouts don't matter, then it's probably ok. There would/could be lots of other plants to look at. But in a small garden it's just not a vine to earn it's keep. My native honeysuckle blooms from the first part of June and is still blooming now in December. There are berries for the birds as well as nectar for 'my' hummers. Some mild winters my honeysuckle is evergreen or semi-evergreen. When it's bare of leaves I often still have berries for color and the birds to bring life to the garden. In my mind that is a plant that earns it's keep. :) I've heard of people planting it on a fence where there is a flower bed in front of the fence or planting it on an arch or pergola where there are flower beds. They don't realize that in a few years the vine will be popping up in the flower beds. Pulling out the sprouts won't solve the problem when the roots are 3' to 4' deep in the soil and as large around as a person's wrist. Those roots will just send off more runners and send up more sprouts. Having dug down that deeply and followed the roots I understand how it grows. Newt
Excellent Newt. No kidding, I can't blame you when you said that you were more or less cursed to have this vine. It is annoying, but I am fortunate in that I do have the room. I doubt if I will ever be rid of the mother plant, but then, what can you do, short of a herbicide and I'm not big on that. If it ever becomes such a burden on me, I will paint a little herbicide on it, not spray, that can cause calamity, so I would paint the tiny new shoots. Great day. Cindi
Cindi, you are so fortunate to have the room! If you do tire of it, know that just painting on the herbicide won't get rid of it. You will need to use the method I described of soaking it in the concentrate. Good luck, Newt
