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Trumpet creeper

Campsis radicans

Also called Trumpetvine, American Trumpet Vine, Trumpet Vine

Trumpet creeper
Photo: Fritzflohrreynolds, CC BY-SA 3.0

Trumpet creeper is a vigorous, deciduous woody climbing vine from eastern North America, grown for its showy orange-red trumpet flowers that attract hummingbirds. It is best given strong support and firm pruning, as it can be invasive outside its native range.

Family
Bignoniaceae (Trumpet-vine family)
Grows as
Climber
Light
Full sun, Part shade
Water
Water regularly while establishing, then once established it tolerates dry spells; it likes moisture.
Soil
Adaptable; well-drained garden soil, tolerates a range of soil types.
Temperature
Hardy in cold winters (native to eastern North America); protect young plants from hard frost.
How easy
Easy
Safety
Toxic: Contact with the leaves and sap can irritate the skin in some people, and the flowers and seeds are considered harmful if eaten.
Native range
C. & E. U.S.A.
Climate
subtropical

About

Campsis radicans, the trumpet vine, yellow trumpet vine, or trumpet creeper (also known in North America as cow-itch vine or hummingbird vine), is a species of flowering plant in the trumpet vine family Bignoniaceae, native to eastern North America, and naturalized elsewhere. Growing to 10 metres (33 feet), it is a vigorous, deciduous woody vine, notable for its showy trumpet-shaped flowers. It inhabits woodlands and riverbanks, and is also a popular garden plant.

How to grow it

The trumpet vine grows vigorously. In warm weather, it puts out aerial rootlets that grab onto every available surface, and eventually expand into heavy woody stems several centimeters in diameter. It grows well on arbors, fences, telephone poles, and trees, although it may dismember them in the process. Ruthless pruning is recommended. Outside of its native range this species has the potential to be invasive, even as far north as New England. The trumpet vine thrives in many places in southern Canada as well.

Away from summer heat, C. radicans is less profuse of flower. A larger-flowered hybrid 'Mme Galen' was introduced about 1889 by the Tagliabue nurserymen of Lainate near Milan.

Where it grows

Campsis radicans is native to the eastern United States and extreme southern Ontario in Canada. It is naturalized in parts of the western United States as well as in Ontario and southern Quebec, parts of Europe, and scattered locations in Latin America.

Other Campsis plants

Chinese Trumpet Vine · Campsis × tagliabuana · Trumpet Creeper

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Campsis radicans by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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