I think you can do about anything you want to do and not kill the vine. Because It is from Grandmothers garden I would try to be easy with it, but I don't think there is much chance of killing it. I have some wisteria and trumpet vine I plan on spraying to get rid of. They both will take over if given a chance.

Larry

We just replaced an arbor that was covered by honeysuckle (Lonicera heckrotti 'Pink Lemonade').. We just pulled the plant away from the arbor, cutting away parts that were intertwined and sort of leaned the big old plant away from the current arbor. We took down the arbor, built the new one, pruned the plant some to make it more manageable and then pushed it back up close to the new arbor and used a little twine to reattach it to the arbor. You can't even tell that the honeysuckle was moved. It kept growing and blooming and never missed a beat. Even when it was leaning crazily to the side with nothing to support it on the day we were buildling the new arbor, the hummingbirds kept visiting its flowers.

Since trumpet creeper is about a million times tougher than anything else, including goldflame honeysuckle, I imagine you can do anything you want and the plant will be fine. It is hard to imagine you could kill it, even if you pruned it back 90%. That's just how trumpet creeper is---it won't die and you can't kill it. I love plants like that!

Larry, I'm not convinced anything you spray on them will kill them. Keep us posted on that. Everyone I've ever known who has tried to get rid of wisteria or trumpet creeper vines found themselves in a never-ending battle. When we planted both wisteria and trumpet creeper here, it was with the full knowledge that we'd never be able to get rid of it.

Dawn

Dawn you can kill wisteria!! But it takes a while, and several tries! I have done it.

Moni