Trumpet Creeper

What is trumpet creeper?

Trumpet creeper is a native woody vine of the central and eastern United States, known for its big red to orange trumpet flowers and the hummingbirds they attract. It is sold as a garden plant, yet NC State tags it as weedy. Solid trumpet creeper identification is simple in summer, when the flowers give it away, but it helps to know the leaves, rootlets and suckers so you can catch it in spring or after it has been cut back.

The trouble is how it spreads. NC State describes it as aggressive and high-maintenance: it runs underground and sends up suckers away from the main plant, seeds itself from pods full of winged seed, and can form dense colonies that crowd out other plants. Mature vines get heavy enough to need sturdy support, and the leaves and sap can irritate skin. It also carries a high flammability rating, so NC State advises keeping it out of the defensible space around homes.

Trumpet Creeper identification: what to look for

In bloom, the flowers are unmistakable. The rest of the year, check the leaf arrangement and how the vine climbs: opposite leaves divided into many toothed leaflets, and short rootlets along the stem gripping bark or walls instead of tendrils.

• Leaves: Opposite on the stem and pinnately compound, up to about 15 inches long, with 7 to 11 leaflets including one at the tip. Leaflets are elliptic to oblong, up to 4 inches long, toothed, and shiny dark green above.
• Flowers: Trumpet-shaped flowers around 3 inches long with five flared lobes, in clusters at the branch tips. Most are red to orange, and yellow forms exist. Bloom runs from June into September.
• Seed pods: Bean-like capsules about 3 to 5 inches long and under an inch wide, turning brown in fall and splitting to release many winged seeds.
• Climbing method: Short aerial rootlets along the stems cling to bark, wood, brick and poles. There are no tendrils.
• Stems and bark: Woody stems with pale brown, scaly bark on older vines.
• Suckers: New shoots rising from underground runners away from the original vine, often in nearby lawns and beds.

Where it grows in the United States

Trumpet creeper is native to the central and eastern United States and is hardy roughly from USDA zone 4 through zone 10, which covers a wide sweep of climates. In the wild it shows up in swamps, forests, thickets and along roadsides, where it often climbs telephone poles.

Around homes it thrives in full sun to partial shade in almost any soil with regular moisture, and it flowers best in good sun. It is also sold for hummingbird and pollinator gardens. Once established, it runs underground and seeds itself, so it can turn up in nearby lawns, flower beds and shrub borders.

Trumpet Creeper look-alikes

A few plants get mixed up with it:

• Crossvine (Bignonia capreolata): Another native vine with orange to red trumpet flowers, but each leaf has only two leaflets plus a branched tendril, it climbs with those tendrils instead of rootlets, it often keeps its leaves through winter, and it blooms in late winter to early spring rather than summer. A cut stem shows a cross pattern.
• Chinese trumpet creeper (Campsis grandiflora): An Asian relative with 7 to 9 hairless leaflets and flowers that are rich orange outside and yellow inside. It has fewer aerial rootlets, tends to twine and needs support, and is less aggressive. Many nursery trumpet vines are hybrids between the two species.

How to get rid of trumpet creeper

Pulling, digging and mowing: Pull or dig suckers while they are young, ideally after a soaking rain when the soil lets go of the roots, and keep after them: NC State suggests mowing down suckers that come up in turf. For an established vine, cut the main stems near the ground; growth above the cut dies quickly and can be pulled down once it dries. Cutting alone rarely kills it, because the roots resprout, but repeated cutting that never allows new leaves to grow can wear the roots down over several seasons. On a tree or wall, cut at the base and let the top die before pulling it off. Wear gloves and long sleeves, since the leaves and sap can irritate skin.

Cultural control matters most, because the right conditions keep it from coming back.

• If you keep a vine, surround it with concrete or mowed lawn so suckers can be mowed off, as NC State suggests.
• Cut off seed pods before they split in fall to limit new seedlings.
• Give a planted vine a sturdy, freestanding support away from the house; mature plants get heavy.
• In wildfire-prone areas, keep it out of the defensible space near buildings because of its high flammability.
• Check beds, lawn edges and fence lines through the season and remove new suckers early.

Herbicides: For large, established vines, Iowa State recommends the cut-stump method: cut the vine near the base, clear the sawdust, and right away treat the entire cut surface with glyphosate or triclopyr. It can be done any time in the growing season, with late summer and fall applications slightly more effective. Resprouts and suckers will likely need another round, either by cutting and treating again or by spraying the new foliage. Use a foliar spray only where the vine is not growing on plants you want to keep, because a systemic herbicide affects any green tissue it touches; spray on calm, cool days and shield nearby plants. Use only a product labeled for your site. The label is the law. If you hire someone to spray, make sure they hold your state’s pesticide applicator license; the rules for each state are in our pesticide applicator license guide.

Keeping it from coming back

Think twice before planting trumpet creeper near a house, patio or garden bed. If you want hummingbird flowers, NC State lists the less aggressive Chinese trumpet creeper and some named cultivars of the native species as more compact options, and crossvine as a native vine for a similar spot.

If a vine is already on the property, remove seed pods before they open, keep a mowed strip around the base, and pull suckers as soon as you see them. Removing suckers early is far easier than chasing a colony that has been allowed to run for years.

Questions we get about trumpet creeper

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