Common Name: trumpet creeper
Type: Vine
Family: Bignoniaceae
Native Range: Garden origin
Zone: 5 to 9
Height: 15.00 to 25.00 feet
Spread: 6.00 to 12.00 feet
Bloom Time: July to August
Bloom Description: Orange-red to red
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Medium
Maintenance: High
Suggested Use: Naturalize
Flower: Showy
Attracts: Hummingbirds
Tolerate: Deer, Drought, Clay Soil
Culture
Easily grown in most soils. Best in lean soils with regular moisture in full sun. Growth is more aggressive in rich soils. Foliage grows well in shade, but plants need good sun for best flowering. The problem with trumpet vine is usually not how to grow it but how to restrain it. Flowers bloom on new growth, so early spring pruning will not affect the flowering. Vines should be grown on sturdy structures which will be able to support the rather heavy weight of the mature plants. This hybrid is an invasive and aggressive plant which suckers from underground runners and self-seeds, though it is more restrained than Campsis radicans.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Campsis × tagliabuana is a hybrid cross between C. radicans (American trumpet vine) and C. grandiflora (Chinese trumpet vine). It produces trumpet-shaped, orange-red to red flowers (to 3” long) which appear in loose, somewhat drooping clusters (cymes) throughout the summer. It is a woody, clinging vine which attaches itself to structures and climbs by aerial rootlets. It rapidly grows 15-25’ high and produces compound, odd-pinnate leaves (to 15” long) which are shiny green above and glabrous below. Each leaf has 7-11 ovate leaflets. Flowers are very attractive to hummingbirds. Flowers are followed by long, bean-like seed pods which split open when ripe releasing numerous 2-winged seeds for disbursal by the wind.
Genus name comes from the Greek word kampe meaning bent in reference to the bent stamens on plant flowers.
Hybrid name honors the brothers Alberto Linneo Tagliabue and Carlo Tagliabue who were Italian nurserymen.
Problems
No serious insect or disease problems. Can be very invasive.
Uses
Woodland gardens, naturalized areas. Provides quick cover for fences, arbors, trellises, walls or other structures in the landscape. Also may be grown along the ground to cover rock piles or old tree stumps. Good vine for hot, dry sites. Needs lots of room. Excellent for hummingbird gardens.