Sound the Trumpet

Nope not the home, the vine . . .

There’s lots of these around here (vines not trumpets). Trumpet vine is also called Trumpet Creeper and is recognized by its showy  bright red blooms, which resemble a trumpet. The blossoms grow up to 3 inches during flowering time, here that’s usually June to September.

Trumpet vine is native to the southern US and was once valued for its climbing habit and large flowers but, having escaped cultivation, is now considered a widely-distributed, rampant weed. In warm weather, it puts out many aerial rootlets which latch onto any available surface to climb upward, and eventually expand into heavy woody stems. Here (and most other places) it grows on trees, telephone poles and fences.

If you have cows, don’t let them smell these flowers. It’s nickname is “cow itch vine”  as contact with the leaves can cause a rash in animals, especially cows.

It’s also called “hummingbird vine”  and attracts Ruby-throated hummingbirds which easily reach the nectar inside the long flowers. The Trumpet vine depends on these birds to pollinate its flowers. Each time a hummingbird visits a flower, it gets pollen on its head, which it delivers to the next flower. Bees are also drawn to the nectar too, unfortunately, so are ants.

The flowers are followed by large seed pods, 3 to 6 inches long, which when mature, dry and split releasing hundreds of thin, brown, paper-like seeds designed to travel by wind. Trumpet vines have become invasive as far north as New England.

Stop in at Sandra’s Madsnapper blog to see great Trumpet vine macro close-ups.  And, please keep Sandra in your thoughts, as this week, she posted that she’s suffering from vertigo and may require hospitalization. We hope you feel better soon, blogger friend.