Description
Semi-evergreen, spring-blooming, woody vine
Description: Showy, fragrant, trumpet-like flowers are rusty red outside and yellow-orange inside; glossy deep green, wavy-margined leaflets and tendrils
Habit: Vigorous, climbing vine to 30 feet
Culture: Prefers sun to part shade and moist, humus rich soil
Hardiness: Cold hardy to USDA Zone 5
Origin: North America
Attributes: Semi-evergreen, Attracts hummingbirds
This handsome, North American vine is found from Southern Ontario throughout the Eastern United States. It somewhat resembles the summer-flowering Trumpet Vine (Campsis radicans), which has bright orange blossoms. 18th-century naturalist and painter Mark Catesby illustrated the Cross Vine in his Natural History of the Carolinas, Florida and the Bahama Islands. Bignonia commemorates Louis XIV's librarian, Abbé Bignon (1662-1743) and is named Cross Vine for the marking within the stem in cross section. The spring flowers attract northward-migrating hummingbirds.
Arrives in a 1 quart pot.