Hummingbird vine - planting, care and trimming Campsis vine

Hummingbird vine, which also goes by the name Virginia jasmine, is a vine that is simply beautiful and it blooms all summer long.

Hummingbird vine basic facts

Name – Campsis
Family – Bignoniaceae
Type – climbing vine

Height – 16 to 32 feet (5 to 10 m)
Exposure – full sun
Soil – rather rich, cool and well drained

Foliage: deciduous – Flowering: summer to mid-fall depending on climate

Its flowers are shaped like orange or red trumpets, and they’ll decorate your garden up to the first frost spells.

Planting hummingbird vine

It is recommended to plant hummingbird vine in fall but it can also be planted in spring as long as you remember to water more often at the beginning.

You may also plant in summer if you’re able to water regularly and avoid heat waves.

Perfectionists would plant it in a mix of garden soil and soil mix.
Hummingbird vine loves sun-covered emplacements, because sun is required for it to bloom.
Hummingbird vine is vulnerable to wind that is too cold, so best protect it.
Follow our advice on planting shrubs.

Propagating hummingbird vine

Preparing cuttings is easy for hummingbird vine and is performed in summer, you can multiply it easily!
However, the first bloom for specimens that are propagated from cuttings comes a bit later compared to specimens that have been grafted.

Pruning and caring for hummingbird vine

Pruning isn’t mandatory at all, but it might be needed if your hummingbird vine grows too large.

Indeed, hummingbird vine is a vigorous plant that must sometimes be cut back and restrained.

Best to prune at the end of winter if that is the case, before the growth phase begins.
At all costs, avoid pruning during frost spells or strong heat waves.
Retain only the structural branches of the hummingbird vine.
Don’t worry about going too far when pruning, the plant can take severe pruning without any consequences.

As for maintenance pruning, best to prune the sprigs that have succumbed to frostbite at the end of winter, they won’t grow back. This usually concerns the tip of the branches, about sixteen inches (forty centimeters).

All there is to know about hummingbird vine

Hummingbird vine is one of the most famous climbing vines. It is known for its beautiful flowers and its extreme hardiness.

Its opaque leafage makes it great solution to cover an ugly old wall of hollow blocks or cement, to decorate a tree trunk or simply make a garden shed, pergola or old barrel look alive.

Hummingbird vine is very hardy since it can survive temperatures down to 14°F (-10°C) or 5°F (-15°C).

Although it generally is very resistant to diseases and parasites, let us mention that aphids and red spider mites occasionally appear on the plant. This rarely leads to devastating damage.