Trumpet Creeper – Campsis radicans is native to eastern and south central US.
Red Campsis. These trumpet flowers are so bright you could hardly miss them.
Before you rush out to grow them, you’d better know that ants love them and will overrun this plant.
This is probably a hybrid of Campsis radicans or more likely the Campsis grandiflora or Chinese Trumpet Creeper or Trumpet Vine (in Japanese nouzenkazura ( ノウゼンカズラ)). Native of China and hence cultivated in Japan since ancient times.
Various species of Campsis exist, campsis radicans, C. grandiflora, tagliabuana.
Chinese Trumpet Creeper – Campsis grandiflora is native to China, and has been grown in Japan for centuries
Thunbergii (small, orange), Morning Calm (coral flowers with a yellow throat; a JC Raulston Arboretum Selection)
The trumpet shaped flowers are big and beautiful and will attract hordes of hummingbirds from miles around. The yellow variety ‘Flava’ is often offered for sale at garden centers and is especially pretty. C. grandiflora is a relative from China that was hybridized with trumpet creeper to create the very popular and very showy Campsis x tagliabuana ‘Madame Galen’
Both are woody vines that attach to any surface with rootlike holdfasts. Hummingbirds feed on nectar produced by clusters of orange-red trumpet-shaped flowers from July-September. Brown seed pods, up to 6 in. long, form in late summer. Pinnate leaves are lustrous dark green.
(The abutilon (hanging lanterns) make a nice combination with the Campsis radicans here don’t you think?)
IN BLOOM
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| Auntie! A great trumpet-flower has bloomed, A great trumpet-flower! |
| By Ippekiro (1887-1946), from “Haiku” (R. H. Blyth; Hokuseido Press) |
A few months ago I discovered a vigorous plant growing over an old bamboo fence near my home in Tokyo. It had lots of dark-green leaves, and in early June it sent out sprays of curiously twisted buds. I had never seen a trumpet flower ( Campsis grandiflora ) close up, but this, I thought, must be it! Then finally, one fresh morning after a light shower of rain, I was excited to find that the buds had burst into the most impressive peach-colored flowers. Each Campsis bloom is about 5-8 cm across, and is shaped like a trumpet. The “tube” flares out to form five petals that are a soft apricot color on the outside, and yellow (streaked with peach-colored veins) inside. There are two species of Campsis: One is native to North America and the other is native to China. Nozenkazura came to Japan from China in ancient times, and established itself as a garden favorite. It blooms from July to September and, being a strong climber, can easily scramble up a tall tree. The flowers also bear nectar, and if you are lucky you might find acrobatic birds such as brown-eared bulbuls sipping sweetness from these colorful flowers.
NATURE IN JAPAN 