Trumpet Vine or Crossvine?

“What is that gorgeous orange-red vine blooming right now?” I receive this inquiry every year. I only need to look at the calendar to answer. If the question comes in spring, I know the vine is Crossvine (Bignonia). If it is summer, the answer is Trumpet Vine (Campsis), also known as Trumpet Vine or Trumpet Creeper.

A Trumpet Vine bloom. This flower is several days old, so it is a pinkish red. Newly opened flowers are a bright orange-red.

Bloom time notwithstanding, there are distinguishable differences between the two. The tubular blooms appear the same, but a closer look will reveal that Crossvine is a reddish orange with a yellow throat, while Trumpet Vine is a solid red, orange, or (rarely) yellow. Crossvine leaves have smooth edges and are evergreen, taking on red or purple tints in cold weather. The vines have tiny little tendrils that they use to climb trees or trellises. Trumpet Vine leaves are attractive, toothed and compound, with 7 to 11 leaflets. The leaves shed in cold weather. Trumpet Vines have little sucker feet that stick like glue to whatever it are climbing. The vines become thick and woody with age, like wisteria.

Both these plants are lovely when in bloom, but Crossvine is much better behaved. Trumpet Vine is aggressive and considered invasive throughout much of the southeast. Crossvine will sucker, but Trumpet Vine throws out long underground runners that surface in the form of new plants. The weight of a mature Trumpet Vine can damage trees. Above soil level, it is a Medusa-like thug that throws waving stems in all directions.

Crossvine will grow in sun or shade, in zones 6 to 9. It blooms most heavily in sun and prefers a neutral soil. It will tolerate drought or short periods of standing water. It will reach heights of up to 50 feet, but accepts pruning to keep it shorter.

Trumpet Vine produces plentiful nectar, beloved by hummingbirds and ignored by deer. If your garden has space for a large, privacy-making evergreen vine, give native Crossvine a try. Other polite, evergreen alternatives include Confederate Jasmine and Clematis Armandii.

The exuberant foliage of Campsis

Well-behaved crossvine atop a pergola

Smells Like Grape Jelly

If you are brave enough to drive around South Carolina with your windows down during fall’s ragweed season, you might catch a whiff of something that smells like grape soda or grape jelly. You might even catch a flash of purple in the sea of green that covers large sections of country and parts of undeveloped city blocks. The green blanket that crawls over anything in its path (trees, tractors, power poles, buildings, shrubs and, I’m guessing, slow-moving people) is kudzu. 

On April 28, 1918, my husband’s great-grandfather recorded in his daily journal, “Planted cudzu vine.” Since we now live on the farm that was then his home, I am thankful he was not successful with the plant that was widely touted to stop soil erosion. Erosion was especially troublesome for large tracts of land that were depleted by repeated crops of cotton. Kudzu was first introduced in the US in 1876, at a Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia that was meant to celebrate our nation’s 100th birthday. During the Great Depression, our government created jobs for workers by paying them to plant acres of the vine. There was no way to know that kudzu would be much more vigorous in the southern USA than in its native Japan. 

Pueraria montana (known by absolutely everyone as ‘kudzu’) has spread across the entire southeastern US. Some jokingly refer to it as The Vine That Ate The South. Kudzu loves southern heat and humidity but is also found as far north as South Dakota and as far west as Washington state. In hot weather, the vine can grow as much as one foot per day. It thrives in any type of soil and never needs irrigation. It may reach up to 100 feet – in ONE season! It kills trees and shrubs by blocking sunlight. It can also strangle trees by girdling their trunks. Current estimates say that two million American acres are covered in kudzu. It is included on every invasive list. The huge tap roots may produce as many as thirty vines growing from a single crown. Vines also root where they touch soil. The pretty purple flowers resemble pea blossoms and smell like grapes. They mature to flat seed pods. 

Control is difficult. Deer don’t seem to care for the fuzzy stems, but goats feed happily. Best results include a combination of herbicides, repeated close mowing, mechanical removal of the root crowns, and prayer. The US Department of Agriculture is investigating biologic controls including a natural fungus.

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