By Ed Schmidt
A few years ago I planted several vines. I probably purchased them at the Native Plant Sale at Shaw Nature Reserve. One has bloomed for the first time this year. Any identifying tag is long gone. Any ideas what it is?
In the photo at left there are leaves of a different vine in the background. And is that a flower about to open just to the left of the bloom?
Looks like a trumpet vine (campsis) to me. That is indeed a flower bud to the left of the flower in the right hand photo.
My grandmother grew a cultivar in CT, and after a significant number of years (50), the rootstock became rather robust, and it started going rogue. As in, it started growing inside the house. Two rooms away. Very creepy. But, that might have been because it was a cultivar. Or in CT.
Hummers loved it!!
YEP__That’s a trumpet vine and yes– the hummers love it–it used to grow wild all over Mo.when I was a kid–
I agree with both the ID and the caution – see Wikipedia. I like their statements, “The vigor of the trumpet vine should not be underestimated” and “Ruthless pruning is recommended.” I have seen it overgrowing trees and power lines.
A favorite childhood memory — snapping off the blossoms and putting ten of them on the ends of fingers and thumbs for devil’s claws!
I believe you are all on the wrong track. The leaves of trumpet creeper (campsis) are quite different — compound with leaflets coarsely toothed. In my experience, trumpet creeper flowers are a single color, whereas those in the photo are deep red toward the base and yellow toward the open end. After consulting Don Kurz’s Shrubs and Woody Vines of Missouri, I think what I have is a cross vine (bignonia). Both it and trumpet are pictured on the same page, 119.
You may be right. I was disregarding the leaves, since I couldn’t tell what was connected with the flowers. Here’s a Wikipedia article on crossvine. One test would be to cut a stem and look at the cross-section – if it’s crossvine, there should be a cross shape.
Again, note their comment “Crossvine can spread aggressively through stolons and become invasive unless properly managed.” 🙂
I agree with the cross vine. Wrong leaf for a trumpet creeper. And it is prettier than a trumpet creeper.
Kathy Bildner
I keep an eye on some trumpet vines that are growing on four old St. Louis Railway (streetcar) concrete posts at the corner of Wise and Yale in Richmond Heights, just down the block from the Landscape Challenge property on Yale. That is at the southeast corner and just outside the convent property behind St. Mary’s hospital. The vines are amazing when in full bloom. The homeowner must do something to keep them from spreading — something I was never able to do, and I am still working to eradicate them from my yard. One more note from Kurz before I put the book back on the shelf: Trumpet creeper is found naturally state-wide, cross vine only in the southeast.
I agree it’s cross vine. It’s blooming right now at Shaw Nature Reserve.