Trumpet VInes

My trumpet vines are "trumpeting" quite nicely and looking great! I have one on the arbor on the deck outside the back door and one on the fence in the enclosed garden.

I have the typical orange and a plant of the yellow one..terribly invasive here in Iowa

Mine is 8 or 9 years old. Never bloomed. I root pruned it, epson salts, etc. nothing did the trick, am thinking of digging it up, if it doesn't do something pretty soon. Any suggestions?

Yes, Hibiscus!! Come and get mine. I must have mowed off 2 or 3 dozen of them coming up in the yard just today. Once started here, you can barely get rid of them. I got rid of one by using brush killer, but all the little shoots out 30 ft. are still coming up. The one in the front yard is pretty, but it is also getting out of control. They grow big trunks here and flower heavily. Planting this vine was one of my many mistakes over the years. Should have put it on the back fence and let the cows keep it trimmed. :-)

Mine will be coming in a week, see the buds now. I have seen them trained like a tree with a single trunk. I enjoy them but they do grow like weeds sometimes. I saw the distictis trumpet vine in California. Oh my what a beauty that was. If any of you California gardeners have a picture of this and can post it please do so, it is out of this world, the campsis radicans is really nice but that distictis is wonderful.

Neighbor has one that blooms all over each year,beautiful, it is about 40 yrs old, I can't wait that long! Mine just grows all over up and out and crawls on the ground. I have tried trimming new shoots, tried not trimming it, it is all over again this year, don't expect to see blooms again, 9 yrs. old.

Someone told me they have to get tall enough to cascade over and hang down before they will bloom........dunno, this is the first year I've tried it.

"eyes"

I received one in a plant trade. I Planted it in April. The first of June it started to put on leaves. The middle of June I chickened-out by composting it. The horror stories of trumpet vines convinced me not to go that way.

"eyes"

That sounds like it could be the answer, mine has not grown to top of letticework fence, just spreads all over the planter and ground.

"golddog" What horror stories? Please tell me quick.

Thanks for all your help everyone.

I planted one some years ago on my back fence and was thrilled with its fast growth. Then my neighbor from the other side of the fence leaned over one day and was so upset with me for planting it. He said his daughter was having a terrible time with it, it had taken over several yards and they could not get rid of it. Reluctantly, I pulled it up for I was afraid he would spray my yard with that killer spray to get rid of it. I was shocked to see it had put out runners along the dirt all along the fence the whole yard's length. I was so glad I pulled it when I did.

I just made a trade for some of this.....Just today!!! it cant be all that bad can it? I wanted it for the hummers. I read that they absolutely love it.....
should I not plant it then????
what are the horror stories

I wish I knew the name of the one I am talking about. There are several that look like trumpets that are great, but there is one that has an orange red shorter bloom that is deadly! I have seen the agressive one trained as a standard also.........harnessing that energy. It blooms quite a lot!

I bought mine 9 yrs. ago. Advertised as growing 15' to 25' first year, loaded with blooms that hummers LOVE! It is to be red trumpets. So far nothing, but I can keep it in bounds, so it has been no problem being invasive, just doesn't make me happy and bloom.

When we moved into this house we had a huge one in our front yard growing up into the oak tree, I pruned it to the ground and now it is coming up in the lawn, under the siding of my house and shop, out in the pasture, and I am hitting it with roundup each week now until it goes away permanently. It is harder to kill than anything I have ever dealt with.

Hibiscus, maybe yours isnt really a true trumpet vine, from what everyone is saying, yours doesnt sound like it. has it become invasive? whew...it just wouldnt be worth it for it to be invasive and no flowers....at least with the flowers, you have something to admire. Well, unless the foliage on yours is a "knock your socks off gorgeous type of foliage...."

DH went over to neighbors and took a leaf off his blooming one, exactly the same. But his has been in the ground 40 yrs. I won't be here that long, plant still won't be blooming!

The one I was talking about that you better be careful where you grow it was a Campsis radicans

http://www.rubythroat.org/CreeperTrumpetMain.html

here's another url to learn more ... http://www.floridata.com/ref/C/camp_rad.cfm , http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/poison/Campsra.htm , http://www.ext.vt.edu/departments/envirohort/factsheets/vines/trmptcr.html ... hope these url help.

Both of my trumpet vines started blooming the third year.
I must be lucky as they are not that invasive. TRue I do have shoots come up where I don't want them but I just pull them up. This year they are really pretty, lot and lots of blooms.

IF you want an invasive vine, try wild grape. I have one and it keeps me hopping but I love it. The leaves are so pretty and I can make grapevine wreathes from it. It covers a solid wood fence and in effect softens the fence.

Another one is a silver lace vine. Boy does it travel but it really is pretty when in bloom. IT gets long clusters of white flowers. I trained it along our garden fence and up a dead tree in the enclosed garden. It shares the tree with one of the trumpet vines.

And last but not least is my bittersweet vines. I have A male and female. It grows pretty fast and I have to keep an eye on it. But my reward is the berries in the fall. Have you ever priced bittersweet in the shops.

Well, as you can see, I like vines no matter how much work they cause me.

I bought my plant listed as a red trumpet vine, hummers love it! They might, if I ever got it to bloom! DH just put up a white latticework trellis, should go up and over, which it does, better bloom now, OR ELSE!!!!

We all know what!

About 10 years ago I planted a Campsis radicans on a trellis facing west. It grew but never bloomed. I dug it up and put it on a south facing wall where a few years later it bloomed. Some of the original root remained and it has never bloomed. I cut them back hard in early spring.
The bloomer has a huge trunk now. Deer like to eat the flower buds that grow on the end of the stem. It is very hard to remove the plant or its babies in this zone 7/8 area. It spreads underground.
Mary P

I, for years have had the vine bloom...now, what I did, was to trim off all the growth off the lower part of the stems and leave the top part..I think what I did, was send all the energy into the cascading laterals, insteadd of vines all over the place! Elaine

I HAVE it on a south wall/trellis, have tried trimming the top new growth one year, next time I tried trimming the bottom, leaving the stalk to shoot up,...... nothing. I have no problem with it becoming invasive, it has stayed where it originally was planted, doesn't spread into anything else???.

This message was edited Sunday, Jul 21st 4:09 PM

I cut my orange trumpet vine to the ground a few years ago....it was trained on one side of my deck, and the ants loved it. I don't like ants:) Never did see a hummingbird on it. Shoots are still coming up, but I just mow the off.

Owen