I have two, but am still a newbie as mine are only a year old. I remember reading that they bloom better in sun, which is exactly how my two behaved last year. One was in a sunnier spot than the other, and that's the one that bloomed. The other one didn't and I moved it this spring to a different spot.

This year, neither has produced blooms yet but I'm watching for them as I think it won't be long now.

MIC, my trumpet vine blooms and SPREADS like crazy. Want an offshoot? :) Seriously, I am having a lot of problems keeping it reigned in to the area where I planted it. If you live near Des Moines, make arrangements to stop by and see it - it's not blooming yet this season, but it will - when you see how it's taking over you might just decide to remove yours now while you still can :0
-Janet

Yeh, Janet, I know what you mean. I've been helping my neighbor dig hers out for THREE YEARS. Last weekend I pulled out a piece with a root the size of horseradish root. I'd love to have one in my yard but I'm not crazy. LOL

I did read in a gardening magazine that Campsis can be contained by planting in an area encircled with a 12 inch deep sheet of metal. But, if it is poking up through the blacktop, I doubt the metal would really be effective. And, I sure wouldn't want to be the silly person who tries that technique and finds that it doesn't work.

thanks janet, but i am in Dav.
too far away for a leisurely drive :(
i know they spread alot. plan on moving it to a spot where it can be free....
i dont even know the color of the flowers, it never flowered for my mom when she had it either.
mic

Mic, mine are bright orange - it's certainly a healthy bugger! Last year I was battling a number of gardening obstacles and the patio blacktop got literally overrun with trumpet vine sprouts and silver maple tree saplings (NEVER plant a silver maple, folks!!), some of which got 6 FEET HIGH in one season. It made a lovely layer of green "bramble" and silvery trees all over my patio and needless to say, this spring I was just near tears trying to figure out how to get it all cleaned up. The only good thing that came of it was that the trumpet vine seems to have choked out my Japanese knotweed, which HAD been my most challenging garden pest up til this year. I'm allowing the Trumpet Vine to grow for now under an evergreen (in addition to its original planted spot on the other side of the fence) - it's partially concealing a toy pedal car that I have tucked in there for display - and I'm covering anything that comes up through the blacktop with Roundup. So far it all seems "sort of" under control. We'll see what it looks like in August!!

Oh! Knotweed. I just posted about that under the "invasive plants" thread. According to what I've read, there is almost no taming that one.

well trumpet vine seems to have curbed most of it for now (a few sprouts here and there), but I wouldn't be surprised to see it back in force next year.

Janet, I don't think you will find a single person in the state who would bet against you.

Maybe you will have to plan a "GardenWeb Iowa Trumpet Vine Eradication Party" at your house next May. We could all come and chop, dig and spray until we get it all. LOL

Seriously, do you use RoundUp? I would paint the new shoots every two weeks using a paint brush dipped in RoundUp for the remainder of the summer and next year, as long as shoots keep coming up. I realize that many are against synthetic herbicides, but in the case of trumpet vine, knotweed and the like, it is the only solution. If people had done this with Kudzu when RoundUp was first developed the South wouldn't be overrun with the stuff now.

Good luck.

Trish in Bettendorf thanking the Divine Power daily that she didn't plant that stuff.

Trish, thank you for your follow-up - I do indeed spritz the little shoots with Round Up that are coming up through the blacktop. I've tried not to use the RU in the actual flower bed, but I admit I'm tempted. I don't have an issue with occasional chemicals, but I *am* noticing that wherever I stand to spray myself with Off, the overspray turns leaf edges brown on all surrounding plants. So now I'm careful to walk out to the parking to do that where it will only hit the city's dandelions ;)

The trumpet vine eradication party sounds like fun - I was actually thinking I might pot a few of the offshoots and sell them at my garage sale. (evil laugh) - but then I'd hate to be responsible for someone else's nightmare.

-Janet

That's funny, Janet, being responsible for someone else's nightmare. I can think of a few people who DESERVE a trumpet vine. LOL In fact, we might be able to get it reclassified as a "weapon of mass destruction."

I would suggest not DIGGING any more of the trumpet vine. Paint the leaves with RoundUp and let it work on the roots. Digging just makes the problem worse as it leaves little bits of root in the soil that grow up. You could also just cut the plants off at ground level. After several years, the roots will fail because they have had no reinforcement from sunlight for a long time.

>>>I can think of a few people who DESERVE a trumpet vine. me too!! (evil laugh)

Hello all! - new to this forum and when I saw the title of this thread I had to see what it was all about!! MIC, I'm in Mechanicsville, I know that from our driveway to Lowes, it's 61 miles (if I'm driving 50 minutes tops, if DH is driving 78 minutes - HA I'm kidding) Seriously though, we have a >>grittingteethFishy

What a timely thread to stumble across. My across-the-street neighbor was just telling me she was thinking of planting a division (?) of a trumpet vine her brother has in a semi-shade area of her yard that is currently overgrown (tall terraces on the edge of a farm field - lots of tall grass/mulberries/etc), but that she plans to someday clear out and make use of.

I told her, "If you ever want anything other than trumpet vine to grow in that space, don't plant trumpet vine. Plant bindweed first."

I offered her a mandevilla to plant in-ground instead. At least that can't survive a winter in Omaha. Maybe something else? Any suggestions?

Jason

Bindweed?? That's funny. And, an equally terrible choice. LOL

She might consider Hydrangea petiolaris. I've had good luck with it in part-shade (afternoon shade) even though it is not supposed to be successful this far north. On the new U.S.D.A. Plant hardiness zone map, my area has been reclassified as Zone 6 and I thought Omaha had been, too. So, this would explain why H. petiolaris has made it through several winters. This vine is not invasive at all and it has beautiful foliage and bark. It needs shade and a spot sheltered from the prevailing wind in winter.

I was told the new variety of trumpet vine doesn't spread??? I asked this guestion on BHG last year everyone across USA said not to plant it-at least the older variety.Wanted it for the Hummers

I've read that, too, Baumer. But, I don't have any direct experience with the new type, which is a cross between native trumpet vine and the French hybrid vine (which itself was a cross between the native vine and an Asian vine). So, maybe all this hybridizing has cut down on the plant's tendency to spread.

Maybe you should try it and let the rest of us "Nervous Nellies" learn from your experience. LOL

Baumer, here is a link to the Monrovia Nursery page that talks about the new trumpet vine variety 'Monbal' which is being marketed as 'Balboa Sunset.' The page says nothing about the plant being less invasive, but the picture of the blooms is outstanding. I am almost tempted...

Here is a link that might be useful: Monrovia page for Balboa Sunset trumpet vine

When I moved into this house 16 years ago as a renter, I inherited a trumpet vine - campsis radicans. I have learned that it was the last plant to leaf out in the spring and the first to lose it's leaves in the fall. Here's my horror story and what I've learned about this vine. Over time the vine began to bloom and pop up everywhere in the yard. I would pull the sprouts only to find more year after year. When it pops up in the lawn it can just be mowed. After 13 years we purchased the house and had to cut down 5 trees and regrade the land due to overplanting and flooding. When we dug up the stumps from the trees and regraded we discovered roots of the vine 3' to 4' deep in the soil, up to 30' from the parent plant and as large around as my wrist! We dug and dug and, well you get the point. A year later we still had sprouts coming up from bits of roots that we'd missed.

Here is how I've learned you can get rid of it. Now, up until this point I had NEVER used herbicides or pesticides in the garden. Here's what I did and you can do to get rid of it. Put about an inch of Round Up Weed and Grass Killer Super Concentrate in a clear plastic container with a tight fitting lid like you might get at the deli with potato salad. Cut a slit in the lid and insert the tips of the vine in the solution when in active growth. Leave the vines in the solution for 48 hours and then cut the vines near the lid. To remove the vine from the lid, be sure and take the container to a safe place so that no solution splashes on anything precious. You can reuse the solution until it is all absorbed. Everytime I find a new sprout I do this same procedure. So far there have been no sprouts from areas that were treated this way.

Newt

My trumpet vine (identified by a mastergardener) is on a standard. I have a couple vines trying to grow each year but I pull out. The vine has never flowered and I am tempted to move it. It would be beautiful if it flowered as it is contained. Any ideas on making it flower?

If it's in a container, maybe it's too root-bound? I don't know, but maybe the same principle applies here as to Iris -when they grow too closely packed together, they don't bloom as much... but when you thin them out, they go crazy. Do you know whether this plant was bred to be a standard, or was it trained that way? (assuming by "standard" you mean, a trunk going straight up, with a plume of foliage at the top?) Just thinking, maybe it's overcrowded in its container...
Janet

hi, this may sound silly but can the vine be controlled if it is kept in a large pot? i live in ohio and i bought a samlon reddish trumpet vine.. what do you sugest? i live in town so i thought a large pot with a heavy duty trellis would work

I would love to have whatever trumpet vine you want to get rid of. I love invasive plants, and have the space for them.
I have tried to trade for this on the exchange page, but no-one ever sends any with roots on them and they die.

Let me know!
Thanks, Tina

One of the farmsteads near here has it growing up the power pole in their side yard. Its covered with blooms right now. Pretty! I don't have one now but I sure remember the one that grew up the back of our 3 story Carnegie school. The base (trunk?) was as big as my leg. It covered about half the building. The hummers did like it but unfortunately so did the bees. Since the school had no air conditioning or screens on the windows that was a bit of a problem. that and the fact that the boys used to climb on top of the school using it as the ladder. The old school is now abandoned but the vine is still there even with all that cement around its roots. Its probably what's holding the old building together. Whenever I think of trumpetvine I always think of that particular one with a smile.

Again..asking for TRUMPET VINE seeds.
mail to :
Sandi Burford
PO Box 35
St Louisville,ohio
43071
Want it for humming birds & prepared for the growth :)

I have a huge vine growing up the side of my house. I planted it three years ago .. 1st yr no flowers. 2nd year maybe one flower. This year a smattering. So I think it will evetually flower nicely. BUT it's much too big for the space. I would like to give it away, but it will be much too large to ship. I'm in the western suburbs of chicago....

This plant is another "Audrey" from Little Shop of Horrors.

Mine laughs at RoundUp and responds to mowing with a foot tall shoot within two days. Drought doesn't faze it, it sneers at being dug out, then retaliates by sending a runner behind my other plants where it hides until it has a tap root and more little "Audreys." It should be on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list, considering how evil and evasive it is! It's perfectly content to drink from a jar of RoundUp all season, placate me with a small die back, then rebound as though it has never been touched.

After seeing one the size of a silo (literally), I'm after it with a vengeance. I just tried brush killer for poison ivy and have seen more die back than with other means. Oh, and when it DID bloom, the hummingbirds ignored it! Talk about a lose-lose situation!!!

they should bloom all summer, if they dont they might not be trumpet vines.