My sister was sold this plant labeled as Hummingbird Vine.
I knew right away that it wasn't what most people call Hummingbird Vine. (That would be Cypress Vine, Ipomoea quamoclit, shown below.)
I suspect that what she bought was actually Campsis radicans, a.k.a. Trumpet Vine, Trumpet Creeper, or (my favorite) Cow Itch.
Looking around the internet, some people do apparently call the first plant Hummingbird Vine. But it's certainly not the preferred name. Not here, anyway.
I was all ready to blame Walmart or Lowe's for the mistake, and tell her to demand a refund. But it turns out she bought the plant from the Birmingham Botanical Garden's plant sale. (Whoops.)
Trumpet Vine is native here, but many people consider it invasive in the garden.
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Cypress vine photo by Janice Waltzer via Flickr.
11 comments:
Ah, trumpet vine. I think we just ID'd the little plant that came back this year. We couldn't remember what it was.
One of my biggest mistakes was planting trumpet creeper next to my blueberry bushes.
I will battle it forever.
That's not to say I don't love this vine, I just have to be smarter about where I put it.
Very interesting. I read more about this plant and it surely has a lot of negative and positive aspects. I hope everyone who wants one will thoroughly read about it.
I do love trumpet vine, but oh, YES, it is invasive.
We have trumpet creeper all over the place-it sneaked in from the woods out back and is now festooned all over the fence, trees and yard- can't keep it under control. It is pretty, though.
If you want some cypress vine, I seeded more than I can use and have a few extra- also some love-in-a-puff (cardiospermum grandiflorum) which is a nice little vine with white flowers and the cutest seeds.
"Cow itch"? I love it!
Trumpet vine may be invasive there, but here the deer eat it well before it gets out of hand.
hummingbird magnets! my mother has the vines growing wild in OK= i had to plant them.. deer browse on them tho..
wonder if they'd leave 'cow itch' alone ;)
I'm still pulling that stuff out after we "removed" the trumpet vine off the deck a decade ago. The only solution remaining is to remove the deck as well and pour a concrete patio.
It's a great climber, trumpet vine--and will easily overtake and swallow your house, if you turn your back on it.
But in the fencerows that are constantly being removed by road crews, it persists--and I love it for that!
We have it all over the yard and woods--and hummingbirds love it--not to mention the others that prefer the privacy it creates.
Mark, I am always getting Trumpet vine and Cross vine mixed up! I'm apt to call CV by the wrong name.
FC, it grows wild all over here. I just was not that familiar with the shape of the leaves.
NCMW, it's definitely a traveller. :)
Bobbie, the vine that ate the garden? :)
Grace, yeah yeah yeah, thanks!
Dave, my grandmother called it that! But apparently it's a common folk name.
Cindy, apparently not, according to Dave.
Pablo, or get some deer. :)
Nina, like Dave, I suspect that deer eat a lot of it here. I see it in the woods, but I wouldn't really call it invasive. Maybe we just have an overpopulation of deer though.
Whoops. I got it wrong. My sister emailed and said that she was sold this as "Hummingbird Weed" rather than "Hummingbird Vine". Actually though, that is worse! Hummingbird Vine is at least a vine, like the plant in the photo. Hummingbird Weed is entirely different.
I should have known that she knew what a Hummingbird Vine looked like, anyway. She gave me one once, at the old house!
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