You’d think I’d have been warned off by the horror stories reported by Daves Garden contributors about Trumpet Vine (Campsis radicans). Like?
- Spreads up to 40-50 ft from host plant
- Strangles plants, trees
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- Invades gardens, robbing them of nutrients
- Crawls up houses and gets under siding. Rips gutters from house
- I never would have thought it could punch a hole up and through asphalt
And on and on. And I’d read all that and wrote that I couldn’t recommend this native vine because of so many horror stories, but shoot, I said to myself, I can handle it. Experienced gardener and all that.
Well, as if that weren’t stupid enough, even before the plant starts destroying my home and garden I can see by its foliage that it’s none other than the weed I’ve been battling on my property for 24 years now, with no success. Why didn’t I recognize it in my research? Oh, maybe because the photos I’d seen of it were of its lovely flowers, rather than the crappy, rampant foliage. Anyway, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
But now what? Oh, I’m moving the chimnea again, too. Oy vey.
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Such a beautiful flower, but so invasive! It runs rampant on my island, but luckily not in my yard! Bindweed was my nemesis in my PA garden. I think I would move if it turned up in this yard!
Good Morning: Boy are you lucky, you successfully grew a weed. Now you will have to figure out how to un-grow it. Haven’t we all done something like that at one time or another ?
Have a great day,
John
Well, I have ‘Flava’ growing on my pergola and love it. It’s quite woody at its base (maybe 4″ in diameter) and it has yet to even cause the brick patio to raise up, let alone the sidewalk near it. The bricks are just laid in sand, not cemented. It provides wonderful shade over the patio.
When we moved into our house the previous owner had planted trumpet vine to cover a trellis…and it was coming up throughout the vegetable garden, up to maybe 20 feet away. Not sure if this was entirely by roots or also seeds spreading. Anyway, we ripped it all out that first year and haven’t seen any sight of it since. But if we hadn’t had that experience, I totally would have bought some by now. I love the flowers, and they’re a sure bet for spotting hummingbirds when you come across them in the woods.
Wow, looks can be deceiving for sure. That plant looks harmless and the flower in the picture looks nice. Too bad it’s so invasive. What can you do to get rid of it??
I have tried unsuccessfully to eradicate it! What a pain in the gardening patoot it is! I think I might transplant it to the middle of the vincas and see which will win! gail
I had almost the same thing happen to me! Behind my house is a vacant lot and it has some vine that is constantly attacking my fence. I spend hours and hours cutting it off the fence and trying to keep it back.
I then read about a native vine that is said to grow slowly and be a nice natural cover for a fence resembling the ivy at wriggly field. I bought some, planted it and watched it take over the backside of the yard quickly, only to find out it is the same vine on the other side of the fence!
It happens!
We have been fighting what must have been the neightbor’s seeds dropped by birds. He eventually recognized the error of his ways, but it was too late for us. Our eventaul “cure” was to use Round-up, which I hated to do, but digging was not working. The long, woody roots just go too deep to dig out without destroying a large ajoining areas of our flower beds and vegetable gardens. Evidently this is like Dandelion–one piece of root produces another plant. We wrapped the plants so that we could be very judicious about our spraying and succeeded in destroying their root systems. We waged that war two seasons ago, and this season I’m only seeing two popping up in the gardens. This time I plan to do to some research to find a less toxic systemic solution.
Oy vey indeed! All I can say is, good luck.
I am now the second generation in my family to battle the same trumpet vine. And, if my children someday inherit the family house, I’m sure they will battle the same trumpet vine as well. It came over from the neighbor’s yard, which, at one time was completely overtaken by it. It was a jungle.
The various neighbors who have lived next door have gotten it somewhat under control over the years by chopping and digging, as has my family. However, I’m not sure if it is possible to completely kill it. All you can do is chop, dig and pull every spring, summer and fall. Trumpet vine is relentless and, if a gardener hopes to control it, the gardener must be relentless as well.
Like many vines, it spreads via the root system. To get rid of it, you would have to get rid of all of the roots. It’s root system seems to be very aggressive, unfortunately. Every spring, it comes up through cracks in my garage. The roots have also crossed a 20-foot cement patio and produce sprouts which come up under the crawl space of our house, which then shoot out vents. Even digging up the entire yard with heavy machinery would not get rid of it, because the roots have grown under the foundation of the house.
If anyone has any success stories, I’d love to hear them. But, I’m afraid once it gets started, it’s a fact of life. It’s best to accept it and deal with it just like pests and diseases.
Well, I love campsis and wouldn’t be without it. I wish it would bloom a bit better for me, but it is in partial shade. I have certainly seen none of this sidewalk ripping stuff, but it isn’t as hardy here.
It’s amazing how resilient that weed can be, but then again that’s why it’s called a weed. Good luck fighting the good battle.
When I first saw this plant being sold here in California I thought someone had set the whole state up for a colossal practical joke. Trumpet Vine, Hummingbird trumpet – who were they kidding ? In the South, where I was raised, we called it ‘Cow Itch’ & pulled it from the trunks of trees on a daily basis, only to have it return ( same vine , different vine, who could tell ?) the next day.
Meanwhile, it’s a valued ornamental in California! I’ve never heard such terrible things said about it before.
Ran across your blog today. I’ve been trying to get rid of this vine next to our house since we moved in 23 years ago. Last year I didn’t cut it down right away in the spring & surprise, it had this beautiful flower on it so I thought maybe I just didn’t know what I had. Big mistake! This year it was growing up under the shingles of the house creating gaps. I will be forever vigilant.
Woe to anyone who has this monster in there yard…just for fun one day I sprayed a section that keeps coming through the neighbors fence with some “Fantastik with bleach I really love this stuff for cleaning grease and grime” and not one leaf curled up it didn’t discolor it or burn it in anyway. I would sure like to know what keeps it under control in its native environment.
Jo Ann
Welcome to the battle. I moved into my house 6 years ago and still have not gotten rid of the evil vine. Actually I think I may be loosing ground.
Susan, the irony is delicious. Those who hate it have it; those who want it are challenged to see it survive in their gardens. As a child in the south, I loved trumpet vine and have tried to convince it that the cool Pacific NW summers (with the exception of 2009) are good for it. It grows so slowy and anemically in my garden that deer see it as an on-demand salad bar. I’m going to start wishing it ill and who knows that may do the trick in encouraging rampant growth.
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