How To Plant and Care For Trumpet Vine
As you are planning to add some beautiful flowering Vines to a block fence/wall this Fall you might want to consider the Trumpet Vine. Trumpet vine (Campsis radicans), hardy in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 4 through 9, is a woody species grown for its red-orange flowers and feathery, compound leaves. A U.S. Southeast native, it is a vigorous climber, reaching 25 to 40 feet high and 5 to 10 feet wide. Some colors are more hardy and easy to grow than others.
Known to be a rapidly growing plant, Trumpet Vines aka Podranea ricasoliana will quickly fill and overtake it’s appointed space. In frost free climates, Trumpet Vine blooms year around. This may create a little envy for flower lovers, but the plant would get so huge in such an environment, it would outgrow the available space in today’s smaller yards. You can expect this lovely plant to become about 15 feet tall. Without training and judicious pruning, it can also grow as wide as it is tall.
Podranea can be used as a ground cover in large open spaces, or trained into a shrub if desired. The most common use for this vine is to let it grow up courtyard walls and fences. It climbs without tendrils so it won’t damage stucco or brick walls. It can be espaliered to conserve limited space in your courtyard, but the least amount of maintenance would be found when planting Trumpet Vine on the outside of the wall. It will quickly reach the top and spill a heavenly scented spring display of pink blooms to cascade over your courtyard walls and into your outdoor living space in spring, and sometimes again in fall.
Planting Trumpet Vine
Dig a planting hole near the fence up which you want a trumpet vine to grow. Make the hole at least as deep as the height of a potted trumpet vine’s nursery pot and several inches wider than the pot. The hole’s edge closest to the fence should be 6 to 8 inches from the fence’s bottom so it does not interfere with footings or supports. Fill about the bottom one-half of the hole with water.
Remove the trumpet vine from its nursery pot, and center the plant upright in the hole. Place the plant at the same soil depth at which it grew in its nursery pot, adding soil to the hole if necessary. Add soil around the plant’s root ball, firming the soil when the hole is about three-quarters full of soil and again when the hole is full. Water the soil.
Position a sturdy plant stake or small piece of trellis, which is about 12 inches tall, between the trumpet vine and the fence, angling the stake or trellis so that its top touches the fence. Push the bottom of the stake or trellis 2 to 3 inches into the soil.
Training Trumpet Vine
Tie the trumpet vine’s strongest shoot, or stem, to the stake or trellis section to guide it toward the fence. Use a flexible plant tie or a wire twist tie for that task. Within a few days to one week, the vine will begin its climb toward sunlight, clinging first to the stake or trellis and then to the fence. Observe the growth process until the vine has attached itself to the fence and has grown 6 to 12 inches.
Pinch back, or remove, the tip of the tallest shoot or shoots by using your thumb and forefinger. This procedure encourages the development of side shoots, creating a full, bushy plant.
Caring For Trumpet Vine
Pinch back additional new shoots as the trumpet vine continues to grow upward and outward. As the vine grows, its holdfasts will keep it attached to the fence.
The plant climbs by way of its holdfasts, or aerial rootlets. So tying several of its stems to supports is not necessary when you want the plant to grow up a fence. Plant the trumpet vine in a site exposed to full sun for it to flower its best.
This plant is often used to create some privacy along open fencing or to hide unsightly chain link fences. It will develop into a hedge in only a few short years, though it will not be evergreen in our frost prone winters. Should a colder than usual winter happen along, a Pink Trumpet Vine killed to the ground will grow right back from the root.
It won’t be long and it will have been repaired to its former full glory. Far more rugged and resilient than it looks while in bloom, this low maintenance vine tolerates the extremes of our desert climate very nicely.
So many of today’s outdoor living spaces are surrounded by concrete privacy walls that need softening. This makes using the Trumpet Vine very popular in Southwest landscape design for pool landscaping, privacy hedges and decorating courtyard walls. Unlike a vine with tendrils, this one won’t damage stucco, though it does require some type of support to scale smooth vertical surfaces.
As you can see Trumpet Vine is easy to plant, grow and care for as well as being tolerant of the summer heat found in the Southwest. Landscape design uses are numerous, but you’ll want to be sure to place this drought tolerant beauty in a spot where you can enjoy the gorgeous blooms. Happy planting!
