Trumpet Vine won't bloom

I planted 1 yellow Trumpet vine, and 2 hummingbird Trumpet vines that I purchased bare root and planted last year. This year the vine foliage is doing great, but no blooms or even buds. I live in Hope Mills, NC zone 7b. Does any know when they should bloom in this area. I've been told that they should start the end of July, others have said the first part of July. As I said the vines are spreading thickly over my arbour and running down the chain link fence line, and starting to root. All this, but no buds. HELP. Bob

Here in cen. Illinois mine were blooming profusely back in June. Photo herewith was taken 7-2-05.

Another view.

I had mine at least 3 or 4 years before I saw bloom. And since it started it has bloomed every year since. Maybe it just needs a year or two more to get established.

Thanks for the input Jmorth and great pics. Lenjo I guess mine are going to be just like yours. The shame of it is that when I ordered them thru Direct Gardening they said they would bloom profusely the following year. I don't order anymore from them because some of the items they sent were not what I ordered. I wll say though, all the bareroot items they send have rooted successfully for me. Maybe they might still bloom. Thanks, Bob

I have had them for several years and they have never bloomed, just spread and became invasive. Still trying to get rid of them.

I have a yellow trumpet vine, and though it grew well, it didn't bloom until the third summer. This summer was the fourth and it went crazy with blooms! I think just give it time. It needs to get a little older.

I had mine for years too before it started blooming. ...and its invasive as all out! ...the vines that lay on the ground root into the soil rapidly. I am forever weeding...and I still dont get that many blooms.

They do need to be established and several years old to bloom. And they will only get better after that. Mine started in late june (USDA 7b) and still has a couple blooms on it. Also, you can prune to shape or control growth, and to remove pods to control spreading, just do not cut it to the ground. At most, back to the main stem or "trunk", if you will. It won't hurt your plant if you do cut the trunk severely,as they are made of green iron, but you may have to wait until your plant has grown large again.

They also require full sun or at least close to it in direct sun to bloom, otherwise you'll just get vegatative growth. Also feeding too much nitrogen can produce tons of green and fewer blooms. If you do feed, se 20-20-20, then 15-30-15 as bloomtime starts. They don't seem to need lot of fertilizer as long as the soil isn't totally dead.

I have a 'lutea'. I started with a 3' plant in a gallon pot and it was the second season before I got a few blooms. Then each year there were more than the last.

Robert.

This message was edited Sep 17, 2005 2:02 PM

Robert my plant appears to bloom in the thrush of the bush ... like in the shade part on the other side of the fence. in the pic I posted above it is blooming on the shady side of the fence ...never on top where the sun is strong ...whats up with that? I had this plant for seven or eight years ... just started blooming about three years ago.
Sylvia

If the plant as a whole gets enough light, branches that are out of adequate light can flower.
They can bloom without being in strictly (sun up to sun down) full sun, but they must have a good deal of strong direct sun to prosper and flourish.
I mis-spoke when I said they need full sun to bloom, I should have said "to bloom well". The fuller the sun the better.
On the roadside where I live are great sprawling masses that have never shown a bloom, being shaded by trees, while nearby, in a southerly exposure with good strong sun, they just *burst* with blossoms.
raydio.

Thanks Raydio thats good to know. ....but now I have different problems.... the property manager had the groundkeeper spary herbicides to kill the bindweed around the front of the fence. My plants is turning yellow and the leaves are falling off rapidly ...and it look like it dying. The huge trunks on my plant are inside ... I doubt they can kill my plant because its a vigirous grower but i dont know for sure. Also this plant shades my hostas. What do you think?
Sylvia

Couldn't really predict the outcome.....maybe there will be enough life left in the main plant to survive, or perhaps you'll discover a sucker nearby next spring.
Good luck!
raydio.

Unfortunately....One sucker is not going to shade my Hostas ....lol ....anyway keep this thread open...I will keep you posted come spring! lol
Sylvia

In my experience growing from seed the Campsis radicans takes from 3-5 years before it will bloom. Don't cut it back (until after it blooms) or this will make it longer. Also keep suckers from shooting out of the ground around it by pulling them up when you see them or the plant will use up more energy trying to expand rather then reproducing. Just from my own experience with these vines I've been growing them in our nursery for years.
Dennis

This message was edited Sep 17, 2005 8:07 PM

Dennis Thanks...hopefully you are right ...most of my weeding is pulling up these shoots! ...and in light of what you just told me ...let me get down here and do some more. maybe that will help the growth process.

Sylvia

Hi Sylvia,
I have to share this funny story with you. About 5 years ago I bought a yellow trumpet vine named Campsis radicans "flava" from Lowes garden center. I had been looking for the yellow for quite a while and I was so glad to have finally found one. Anyway my wife was kidding with me because every summer for the last 5 years I'd faithfully tend to this vine. Let me say first off all my orange trumpet vines (that I've had for years) were doing great and blooming like crazy, but year after year no blooms on my yellow. Anyway as I was saying my wife kidded me for babying my yellow vine and this year it bloomed.......oh I was so angry, it turned out to be orange :0 I guess after 5 years I can't very well take it back to Lowes now can I? LOL My wife thinks it is so funny and asks me why I don't just cut it down after all. I've finally grown my own yellows now and have had blooms on them only a year later. I also planted the red too, but have yet to get blooms.
Just thought that was a story to laugh about. Only gardeners can appreciate that story :)
Dennis

Dennis that is so cruel for these plant people to do that! Yes I would complain if they are still in business!
Happen to me twice! I ordered a white Hibiscus tree and it turned out to be Pink! I was mad I tried to pull it out the ground ...but it kept coming back. i had to get someone to dig it out ...second was a yellow climbing rose bush ... it died on me twice and I had it replaced twice....the darn thing finally bloomed last year...guess what color it is? ..you got it...Pink! ....since then I keep all my receipts and shipping info ....I am known in the shoppin world as the great Returner. Every year this time I go thru all my receipts to to see what did not make it...I get online and get replacements for everything that died on me! After all plants do have a lifetime guarantee and nothing breaks my heart worse than havin a plant die on me after working so hard to get it goin!
Sylvia

Just an additional note:
It has been said that pruning should be done after flowering or at the start of the season. This is because Campsis blooms at the end of the stem and cutting it too late will set even a mature plant back, so that you could very well not see as much (if any, possibly) bloom.
raydio.

Raydio I was just reading the same thing about the clemitis...setting the blooming peroid back. .......I have cut the plant during the bloomimg peroid because grows so long ...the vines set root in the soil every where. Oh boy! what to do now.......

Sylvia

What to do? Pot 'em up am sell 'em at the trade lot! ;-)

The same thing happens when you try to get rid of a Campsis by placing a big rock over the chopped off plant. You'll spur your plant to send out roots as much as 100 ft in search of light! You'll have it everywhere then, as well, only yards and yards away!!

raydio.

Pot em up is right ...I was taking some to the plant swap meet this weekend....but the roots are too deep. They kept breaking off...will they survive with broken roots? I did send some to DGer in Wyoming. I told her to just lay it on the ground...what the best way for her to get a piece started raydio?
sylvia

No, pulling them up does not work. (Tee-hee.) This is especially futile when you are trying to rid yourself of them as well as share them. They do break off and the plant will come back from the root that is left.

If the broken part is treated as a cutting, that is, with a bit of care, all should be well. They *are* tough. It's best done in the summer, but they will surprise you.

Root cuttings can be done in winter.

I have layered a low "branch" in season, and had good results. Just lay part of it underground and stand back!

raydio.

cool...:)

Dennis, the same thing happened to me. Mine was supposed to be yellow, and it turns out it's a pale orange. Not yellow at all. Oh well. It's very nice, anyway. But I would have liked the yellow even better.

If you want to buy trumpet vines that bloom, you must buy rooted cuttings from an already blooming plant. Plants grown from seed, which most are, will take a few years before they bloom. I researched it after years of trying and thinking I was doing something wrong. If you find someone who has a blooming plant, ask them for a cutting of a branch with a bloom ON it, and root THAT. It will continue to be a blooming plant for you.
MerryMary

Dennis wrote:
".......oh I was so angry, it turned out to be orange :0 I guess after 5 years I can't very well take it back to Lowes now can I?"

Oh yes you can! Just go and ask (demand?) an exchange or refund. If they ask, just tell them your story and you'll have no problem.

I worked in a garden center and people always asked us if we had a guarantee like Lowe's and more than a few would share their stories of getting an exchange even when they themselves were clearly at fault!

Go for it. If you don't, then you *know* the answer is "No".

Robert.

Raydio is correct.....Lowes has a better plant return policy than any other nursery/store. I asked them about daylilies that lost their tags and I couldnt be sure they all matched. They said to return them once they bloomed if they were not correct, even if it took 2 years. I did, they offered a refund, but I took an exchange because they still had the one I needed.
MerryMary

Every year I go through my invoices to check out what did not make it....and I email everyone and ask for replacements. Its a little difficult to do that in the stores unless you got your kind of problems.
Sylvia

I started this thread in July of 2005. Just to update things, my vines are now blooming and the hummingbirds love them. The only problum is they are all orange as I expected. I ordered them from the House of Wesley and as with other items I've ordered from them, they are not always correct. I have stopped ordering from them when they tell me the problem is in my soil PH. They always insist they are never wrong. I must admit though, all the bare root plants they send do survive, right or wrong.

congratulations bobwhite,
mine are too...

How good to see this thread come up again, so much has happen since then. My trumpet vines are blooming more each year. I am sure I bought these from different sources in hopes they would bloom for me. in this pic this plant has a lot of pods hanging off the vines.

In this pic where this plant is blooming, there are no pods. Whats up with that? If you are wondering what that contraption is ... I have trellis attached to the fence both vertical and horizontal in hopes that the vines will attach themselves making the trellis stronger and I will have shade for my Hostas. Ingenous huh? lol

bobwhite1~

" I have stopped ordering from them when they tell me the problem is in my soil PH. "

Amen! That is such BS! I just cannot believe they'd have the nerve to say that to you.

My yellow has been blooming since early June.

Hope you get one of these. I love this color.

Robert.

Oh my Raydio ...that yellow is soooo gorgeous! I bought some yellow back from Florida. I think its something different about it. It didnt make it here. Do you still have the tag that came on yours. I want to know if the cultivar is the same. I would love have some of that color. How long has yours been in the ground?

The plant I have is from Monrovia, which distributes plants nationwide to garden centers.

The tag says "Yellow Trumpet Creeper" (Campsis radicans 'Flava') and gives the zones as 4-9. I think I've had it about five years now.

Robert.

awww Monrovia! I Yes I know about them. matter of fact I just got a catalog from Wayside Gardens today and they have a lot of Monrovia products. So you know its good ... it has to be, for WG plants cost a mini fortune. lol I am scared to put another vine on the fence though. too many more and it might tear the fence down. ... but I love that yellow ... wish you hadnt showed it me. lol

How long you had it in the ground before it flowered?

WG is on the high side........a smaleer garden center could prolly beat their price. I guess it's mileage (gas) vs, shipping charges too.

I it had a few blooms in it's 3rd season here. That is, really only two years going into the third when it began to bloom.

After that, it was really established and has been blooming more each year. Just tons of blooms.

It's not in full sun and I'd love to move it to a sunnier spot but I like it where it is and would prolly have to make something sturdy for it to climb on anywhere else. I think a tall column would be great with it spreading out after reaching the top. Wouldn't have to be cut back so much.

Robert.

a tall column would be good, but my fence is already 10 ft high. Its a new fence .... relatively new, but a shoddy job. Also the Honeysuckle is coming back lol... they thought they got rid of it when they built the new fence. lol I did check WG for the yellow but they only had the Madam Galen ... maybe one day... I still dont understand why one plant has pods and the other dont?