I just got some vines from an old lady down the road from me. 2 bucks for 5 or 6 root shoots with vines about 2 ft in length... my thoughts are to attract hummingbirds..... didn't realize the potential invasiveness of this plant. I have seen it growing on a single pole in a yard. it gives the umbrella effect that was discussed in this thread. I assume that this is the best way to control its invasive tendencies. I also have a dead standing tree at the edge of my property. I guess it would be best planted there. it is mostly brush and undergrowth there. gets some sun. about 80 ft from my house. any thoughts would be appreciated....

I'd rather have KUDZU than trumpet vine.

If anyone has any extra trumpet vine I would love some. I live in the north and I know they grow great here. And they are beautiful.
Thanks!
Lynda

We planted a (orange) 'hybrid' trumpet vine that we purchased from a nursery, I don't know if they are any different than the wild ones, but we planted it by a utility pole and it grows beautifully and this past year about the 4th year for it, had huge blooms. So far we have not let it climb over 6 foot high and it is more like a bush that clings to the pole. I have not had too much trouble with spreading yet, but we mow around it so possibly that helps, altho I do see where I could dig some up and share them. I don't know if anyone would be interested in any, after reading this column.

Wow, what great info. I planted my 1 gallon trumpet (yellow) on an arbor right next to my house. I'll be rethinking that option! Not too late to replant, I just put it in last week. Now I think I'll put it next to the ugly old pine tree. Thanks all!

i just bought two, and looked at this forum, and oddly enough, have decided not to plant them. if you want 'em, drop me a line.

sorry, i've already given them away.

Hi,
If anyone has a trumpet vine they would like to share, I would love some.
Thanks,
Kris

hmmm. I just posted a question about trumpet vines in the propogation conference and then I found this wonderful thread. I have had trumpet vine in my yard here in Chicago for the more than fourteen years we have lived here. I guess I have been lucky. It has never tried to pull me out of my house or grab the kids. In fact, it has stayed on our fence and the back of our neighbors garage (it hasn't moved to the front or sides of their garage). I have never done anything to help it along and it hasn't gone crazy. Anyway the neighbors are tearing down the garage and building a bigger one and we will probably replace the fence at the same time. I want to save the trumpet vine and I also want to move some up to our cabin in michigan. Right now it is still so cold here that the vine is still dormant. I am thinking about moving the trumpet vine to the other side of the yard so we are not bumping into it on our walk way. Any suggestions on when and how to move it. Also since it is still dormant are there any suggestions for cutting and moving some to michigan?

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

After reading all the posts, we were going to ask for a cutting or seeds from a friend of ours who has a trumpet vine that came with the house they bought. The catch is that is that it looks more like a tree than a vine. Is there such thing as a trumpet tree?

I understand what is meant by invasive, but as I read in one of the posts, it is only invasive if you allow it to be. I have one that like to pop up here and there and its no big deal, I just cut it back wherever I don't want it. But, I sure wish I could get it to bloom. I've had it for 4 years now. No blooms. Still, it frames our front windows nicely and who knows, maybe one day, it will suprise me.

I am so interested in Trumpet Vine. If anyone has seeds to spare..please send to :
Sandi Burford
P O Box 35
St Louisville,Ohio
43071
We are wanting them for hummingbirds :) & are prepared for their growth.
Thanks so much in advance.

Aunti had one on her her house and it destroyed the siding on the side it grew on so badly that they had to replace all the boards on that side. Prior to removal it was getting in tough the windows.

I live in Indiana. I grew up in the country with trumpet vine. It is a gorgeous vine. When I moved to town, dug up some and brought it with me. It does have to be pruned yearly and I keep the branches off the ground by cutting them back all season long, also gives it the umbrella shape which is so pretty. Also I always plant them where they can be mowed around. If you love to garden and don't mind tending to your plants, you won't regret planting this vine. I have one on a fence and also like to grow them on a post (landscape timber) works well. Do not feed this plant will only delay flowers.

I live in Kentucky. We had purchased 3 trumpet vines from a plant catalog about 8 years ago. We wanted to cover our chain link fence. The 2 in the sun grew rapidly and started blooming the second year. The one in the shade was slower but still bloomed. Every winter I cut them back to what was once the main umbrella stalk. The stalks are now trunks and they come back with a flurry of vines and blooms in the spring. Yes it's very invasive. It loves climbing the brick on my house and yes the little guys pop up all over our yard. I now walk around with a spray bottle of root kill. This seems to be keeping it in control.

I have one that I planted 3 years ago (it was supposed to be yellow but is actually pale orange). Last year was the first time it bloomed & I was happy with it, except for the color. but THIS year--oh, boy! I had trimmed it back in the spring. It grew so luxuriously, with the branches/tendrils growing up then drooping over, that the weight of it broke the trellis. It has reached across to my neighbor's roof. It made a great privacy planting, and attracted the hummers, which I wanted, but I think it is just too much plant for this space. I wonder if different cultivars account for the different experiences of folks here, as well as the differences in climate, soil etc.

wow! who knew! it's amazing how differently we experience the same thing. sort of like the blind men and the elephant...sort of like everything in life. my experience originally was at the daycare center i worked at in chicago. a big old monster grew on the chain link fence and was trying to engulf our storage shed. it had lots of flowers, but never any pods. i never saw any hummingbirds either. i'm sure there's a connection. i had seen an occasional pod while traveling the local alleys and was determined to fertilize the flowers at the center, which i did...2 pods. i always managed to kill the offshoots i dug up and transplanted at home. okay, now i've retired to the woods of indiana. i killed the plant i managed to keep alive all winter in a pot and i have some seeds. now, the dilemma is: which version of the trumpeter vine reality do i accept. i love these garden web forums!!

I have a huge seed pod hanging from my vine does anyone know when or how to go about removing it from the plant. Its quite big and I'd like to start my own seeds although that never seems to be necesary with this plant

I will agree trumpet vines are very aggressive. I planted them once and they took over everything. They especially like the house. We moved and now my neighbor has one growing in a pine tree, and guess what? I have them comming up in my liliac bush and you guessed it all around my house. I have been cutting spraying and they keep comming back.They are pretty and I know the hummers like them, but I would rather feed the hummers and send those pesky trumpets to the moon.

This is my first year for trumpet vines. I have 3 of them that I purchased in the spring. I am wondering if they should be cut back now and if so how low. My vines have grown between 4 and 6 feet long. Joy

this thread is harder to kill that the Trumpet vine itself :)

froggy

i know that this is an old thread but, is there anyone out there who could please send me some seeds and/or cuttings for SASBE??? Thank you!

Jan

Jan -- you have mail.

Would one of you out there in gardening land be so kind as to mail me some seeds for the trumpet vine ... I would love to attract the hummingbirds, plus the vine holds sentimental value to me as my mother who passed away from Alzheimers several years ago, always enjoyed her trumpet vine and the lovely hummingbirds !!

Thanks for your kindness :-)
Please Mail to:

Connie Klausner
PO Box 96
Keenesburg, CO 80643

My problem with the Trupet Vine is that it's my neighbors vine and it's taken over MY house! It grows up the chimney, into the chimney. I'm afraid to have a fire in the winter because it's all dry and I don't want to set my house on fire.

The branches cover the window upstairs and IT GROWS INTO THE WINDOW.......I have to reach out the window and pull the branches off the side of the house, but only as far as I can reach. It's ruined my gutters, pulled up the siding and who knows what it's doing to the roof!

We both rent our houses so I called the manager and complained about this vine being in my chimney. They called the chimney sweeper and he pulled it out and reported that the vine was smoldering because the neighbor had a fire in her fireplace while he was up there. The manager sent someone over to pull the vine down off the chimney but within weeks of spring it was all over my house, chimney and into my baby's room again!

My neighbor won't speak to me. She hasn't spoken to me in 2 years (because I complained about her vine) She got mad when I trimmed it off of my window even. This vine us planted just on the other side of the fence.

I want to kill this freakin' vine!!!!! But I know she'll come over and murder me in my sleep if I do! is there some way I can kill this vine by pouring something on it from my side??

Happy to say my TRUMPET VINE is 2 years old & very healthy. We put it in a large pot in the ground (cut out the bottom) and placed a 10 foot metal pole that has 4 extended 3 foot "arms" (2 on each side). We wrapped the vine around the pole as it grew..& it continues to do so itself & has covered the pole fully with some vine hanging.Very pretty but no flowers yet. I find this site useful & entertaining! THANKS! Sandi Burford

I realize this is a strange time of year to be requesting seeds/pods of the trumpet vine, but I'm very eager to begin planting at the first sign of the spring thaw!

I've read that trumpet vine can be grown as a groundcover, as well as a climber and is often found growing near roadsides and in ditches.

After numerous other gardening attempts, this may be exactly the solution I'm looking for, for a barren, unsightly, down-right-ugly area I've been trying to soften on our cabin property in Central WI. I'm aware of its aggressive, invasive nature but am willing to give it a try, for the sake of the hummers, and my sanity!

Any contribution would be greatly appreciated; and I'd be glad to send pics so that you could also enjoy the fruits of your generosity.

If interested, please email me for address information.

In advance---many, many thanks!

I have a trumpet vine in my backyard right near my pear tree, im very worried over my blue rose bush ( it might kill it, and I have no idea where I could possibly find another )but luckily it has stayed in the same place ( growing over an old metal shed ) for the past 14 years! I have no problem with its aggressive nature, because I completely ignore it!

Hmmmmm I did not know about the importance of containing the underground runners of this (and others) vines.

Could someone tell me how I contain the underground runners?

Sorry to sound ignorant, but I'm just getting into plants and trees, so I'm trying to learn as much as I can.

My trumpet vine looks dead to me. I just planted it last July. It came from naturehills.com I've purchased a number of plants and trees from them, but they all died, even though I followed their instructions.

Anyway, any help you can give me on those underground runners would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

This thread is ten years old, folks. Start a new thread with your question, preferably on the Vines forum.

Now this is REALLY a shame! A thread started in 1998 and the last post after 10 freaking years was SIX years ago!

The shame. For all those who DO NOT READ THE POSTS IN A THREAD such as this. EVERY question asked in this thread was answered MULTIPLE times. And then asked again in some cases immediately after the question was already answered in the last post.. So please. If you want to know anything about Trumpet vines PLEASE read this post. For chuckles, go back and read the past 10 + years posts. No doubt half the posters have long since went to meet their maker. Heh.

So let me summarize. I AM speaking from 5 season's experience growing Trumpet Vine. Hereafter, TV!

Seeds. They MUST be stratified in areas where winters are severe. Either plant them outside in the fall or stratify them. If you gather seeds in the Fall and store them inside, the germination rate is virtually non-existent. Google is your friend WRT stratification. And BTW one seed pod can hold 100s of thousands of seeds. One of the reasons that it is so invasive.

Growing in a container. Forget it. They have a HUGE taproot and will not survive.

Containing in the ground with barriers. Likely cannot be done cause no one wants to take the effort to sink a 20 foot deep barrier around the plant. Likely would not work anyway.

Invasion of the Body snatchers. YES - this plant is likely exceeded only by Kudzu or houtinaya in terms of its invasiveness. Under NO circumstances plant this near your house if you value said house. It has been known to rip off walls, pop up in cracks in basements and garages, rip off siding and gutters, push up sidewalks - hell even pull people from their sleeping beds! Every bit of that is true except for the last part. :-) It did grab my leg once and threw me to the ground.

I have a bank that is approximately 200 feet long, 40 feet wide and is steep ~ 45 degree angle. When I bought the house 4 years ago there was not a single Trumpet vine on the bank. I mowed it. Now there are at least 5 to 7 hundred TVs growing there. Today I cut out ~ 35 plants and did not make a dent.

Transplanting. Can be very hard. Most Trumpet Vine RESENT being transplanted and DIE a horrible death. Good riddance. It has a tap root that goes all the well to Hell.

Blooms. I had about 39 blooms last year and zippo Hummers. They frequented my feeders and other plants. Yet across town I saw ONE freaking TV grown as a handsome shrub approx 8 ft tall by 10 ft wide and it had hundreds of blooms. Go figure.

Pruning. Cut it to hell and back cause it will just pop right back up and laff in your face. In fact - it WILL pop up just about anywhere it darned well pleases cause its main method of invasion is via underground runners that may be as much as 6 or more feet deep. Yeah - I know that for a fact! It also grows from seed. And layering. And suckers. It is beyond a doubt one of the most tenacious plants that I am...

This is the vine from hell. If you plant it on the side of your house, it will crawl under and greet you on the other side. It has no respect for fences, my neighbors vine wants to live with us.

You cannot kill, maim or murder it, it wants to live.

I do have a report of the one & only TV that is planted in the perfect spot around these parts. I didn't think it possible to contain it but now I am beginning to believe it might just possible.

There is a big parking lot downtown by a cafeteria & in the middle of all this concrete is a square of dirt with a tall electrical pole stuck in the middle. Planted by this convenient pole is a TV. I'm not laying money on the possibility that the plant is incapable of escape beyond the parking lot, but for now, the rest of the block appears safe.

How tall will a TV get? How tall is your pole? That's how tall it will get, as tall as whatever is close by. Yep the TV has managed to climb all the way up. The only thing stopping it from getting taller is it ran out of pole. Aw, poor thing.

Actually, its the prettiest TV I have seen & it does dress up the otherwise barren & dreary cracked parking lot with nice blooms & foliage. Never seen a hummer on it, but I don't hang out there except when we go to the cafeteria.

So, if you want to contain your TV, this is how you go about it.

Yeah - I failed to mention tallness. One in a wooded area just behind my property has climbed ~ 60 - 70 feet up a tree. It has 3 or 4 trunks the largest ~ 3 inches across and it is wrapping itself around the tree. The longest trailing vine I have measured on my bank is ~ 30 feet.

One of the things that allows them to rip the sides off houses is their tendrils. What appears like roots (10 - 20 +) come out of the vine every 1 - 3 feet. These "attach" and are hard to detach. When you pull the vine, the attached tendril will rip what ever it is attached to.

WRT the parking lot TV, I would expect over time that it will pop up thru a crack. TVs love heat.

I made note and failed to address. Someone mentioned they could not find the seed pods. Not hard to find them. They grow at the end of a stem and are banana shaped ~ 3 - 9 inches long, 1 - 2 inches in diameter. Look sorta like a mildweed seed capsule. When they pop open the small, light blackish seeds are carried to the next county by the wind.

I suspect some of the plants growing in yards are not separate plants. My theory is it is all one monster root that has traveled miles under the city just waiting to do its thing.

Here is what I am convinced happens: Some unsuspecting person cuts a TV down. I believe the main vine is actually waiting for this opportunity in order to proceed to the next phase of its plan for world domination. When cut, hundreds of these new vines spring up everywhere in its goal to latch onto other structures.

TV's intent is to conquer the world. Its just waiting for this to happen. If it doesn't happen this way, there are always the seeds.

Beware of cutting one down. You'll be sorry. One plant is now hundreds.

It will grow as high as whatever it is growing on & I do believe the roots are doing the same underground. They will keep traveling as long as there is dirt to travel through.

So you really like this plant then? ;^)

+oM

I have a VERY hearty plant that grew back after being cut to the ground. (That area is now covered with concrete...phew.) I threw it in a pot and ignored it but regardless of my disinterest it has insisted in growing.

After researching I now know it is a trumpet vine. Any of you out there in the Willamette valley have experience with this possible invasive? Seems the invasive nature is directly tied to zone location.
I'm leaving it in the pot until I hear from someone. Please help! I hate to 'kill' a plant that wants so much to live. But I'll happily burn it if it is like morning glory or IVY!!

I started one in March of 2015. Hearing the story of others? It is in a pot NEXT to a metal arbor and has just about encompassed the arbor nicely and blooming beautifully. Trim it regularly. I water it twice a week and let it dry out, whether "it" likes it or not. I have no intention of putting it in the ground and I find it hard to believe this method won't work for a few years as I moderate how it does here in Northern California keeping it contained and on the dry side. No worries. I seldom allow ANY PLANT to grow rampant. Why? Then you have problems, obviously.

I don't trust any method of containment. TV will find a way. Watch out for those little holes in the bottom of the pot, the TV already knows they are there and it sees opportunity. Then there's them seeds.....it just wants to do its thing which means invading any space available.

I had a trumpet vine that I planted against the front of my house many years ago. Within a few years we needed to paint the house so I tried removing it. Well, trying to dig it out only made it mad. It may not have come back up where I didn't want it anymore but it sent runners out. I found plants coming up 15-20 feet from the original site. (Under the front walk, past the front porch and into another garden).

My second experience was similar. We bought a house to renovate and there was a nicely trimmed "bush" at the corner of the front of the house. I wanted to remove it and had young, strong men digging it out. We thought we had removed it but by the time the renovation was done I could see new plants coming up on the opposite side of the front walk about 12 feet from the original "bush" . Thank goodness that house sold quickly. I actually have dreams about this kind of stuff. I'll never plant one because you can never really truly get rid of it.

I grew campus for years in Illinois zone 5b and it was very invasive in my yard.The suckers went underneath my brick patio and started growing in the neighbors yard.I really wanted it for the hummingbirds but I believe it was responsible for breaking my wooden fence post.DO NOT GROW UP A WOOD FENCE.The branches catch the wind and magnify it's force against the fence.I'm on year 2 of trying to kill it but new shoots are still popping out of the ground.I have a small yard that is all garden and walkways and plants like campus and pipeline won't play nice in it.Suckers start shooting up in other separate plantings and unless you want even more suckers it's best to dig up the mother plant and as many sucker roots as you can.I planted a lot more hummingbird flowers to make up for the loss.It seemed like the older my campus got the less flowers and more leaves it had.If I had a very large yard I would grow it.

Never never ever Plant Trumpet vine!!

Last Fall we finally resorted to hiring a fellow with a huge back hoe. we tore down fence, then he dug a swimming pool size hole about 40feet by 20 feet, 6 feet deep. It’s Spring. Just digging around in bottom of hole still produces small roots. Will thesegrow as the soul warms. We will see. A total nightmare.

Oh so surprised to see this thread come back from the dead -- just like trumpet vine!

I see I posted back in 2006. Update -- the darn thing spread dozens of feet just as others have mentioned, in all directions, and invaded the siding (it reached across a 6 foot space to do so!) and the neighbor's garage. It seemed the more I attacked it, the more vigorously it sent its roots off to find a new spot to sprout. Plus, I had a bit of the original plant resprout after three years! Eventually it reached over 20 feet from where it was originally planted!

Summary -- it took 4 years of constant vigilance to eliminate it, which included gently digging down a foot or more to expose the root of any sprout then excavating around the root to find the smaller feeder roots followed by scraping the root to expose cambium and drenching said roots with Brush B Gone. Just hitting the main root itself didn't work.

Raee, congrats on finally winning the battle! Mine still wages, but you've given me new hope!

I love our trumpet vine (Ohio z6). Sure it likes to spread but you just need to keep it in check. It would take over our whole fence if I let it, but I don’t. I have to cut down shooters off the fence maybe twice during the summer and dig up additional ones in and around the lawn and flower beds. But I’m always outdoors messin’ around anyway. The one problem I do have now is that I have to reinforce the fence post because the weight of the vine has bowed my fence in about a foot. It may come crashing down if I don’t do something soon!

Haha wait till it secretly has reached your foundation goes up and starts peeling off your siding. Wait till so many sprouts are popping up all over your yard and neighbors that a garden not possible. Wait tI’ll you realize it easily travels at 6 feet under ground for 100 or many more feet. Wait till it goes under swimming pool and pops up through patio. Wait till it destroys your drain field ( we live in country) and you may not have a pool but just letting you know what ours did. We let it be beautiful and attract hummers and bees which it did. Ten years later a nightmar. Many many thousands of dollars spent to finally get rid—- back hoe, refill, new fence, several big yard items destroyed.

Poor guy!

It belongs in East Coast forests where it is beautiful.

It truly is beautiful, but a shame that it is so aggressive.

I planted a trumpet next to my neighbors fence with his consent ,20 yrs later he sells house ,new owner cuts it down can I sue

No, if it was on his property; he also had the right to remove parts invading his property. If it was only on yours, there is still nothing to sue about that would be worth the effort and cost. That vine will probably come back all by itself anyway.