Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Trumpet Vine

Life in The Upper South... More About Trees and Plants...



Trumpet vine

Here's a bit of trumpet vine, growing alongside our lane. It seems to be struggling a little, perhaps because of a lack of sunshine or perhaps from competition from the aggressive alien invader, honeysuckle. I think I see some honeysuckle foliage at the bottom of the photo.

Lack of sunshine is usually just a temporary problem for a trumpet vine. In its passion for a place in the sun, it will cover any available supporting structures, whether trees, bushes, a trellis or arbor or even a house.

The vigor of the trumpet vine should not be underestimated. In warm weather, it puts out huge numbers of tendrils that grab onto every available surface, and eventually expand into heavy woody stems several centimeters in diameter. It grows well on arbors, fences, and trees, although it may dismember them in the process. Ruthless pruning is recommended.

Source: Wikipedia's article about trumpet vine


However, in competitions between honeysuckle and trumpet vine, honeysuckle will choke out trumpet vine and take its place. In the time we've lived here, I've seen this happen in my own yard.

Technorati tags:





No comments:

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

CONTENTMENT: Keep your heart free from hate, your mind from worry, live simply, expect little, give much, sing often, pray always, forget self, think of others and their feelings, fill your heart with love, scatter sunshine. These are the tried links in the golden chain of contentment.
(Author unknown)

IT IS STILL BEST to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasure; and to be cheerful and have courage when things go wrong.
(Laura Ingalls Wilder, 1867-1957)

Thanks for reading.