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