A Flamboyant Climber . . .

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29749, 16 February 1962, Page 7

A Flamboyant Climber . . .

Colour in the garden at this time of year is very largely a matter of bedding plants and perennials. Trees and shrubs are distinctly at a low ebb. There is one plant which should be mentioned, however, both for its vigour and brilliant colour, as well as its flowering season —and that's the Trumpet climber. Different nursery catalogues give this plant a variety of botanical names— Tecoma and Bignonia, but its correct name is Campsis. The commonest species is C. radicans, and the hybrid C. tagliabuana is in cultivation, too.

Perhaps the most outstanding feature of this plant is its colour —a deep brickorange—and it is quite stnk-. ing when covered with many huge trusses, individual blooms of which are often two inches across the mouth. Blossom commences in early January and carries on until almost April. For the “prize gardener” it has distinct

value, for it blooms right at the time when judging is carried out, and so adds its contribution to the display In Canterbury this plant is too infrequently seen, but it is certainly not so blatantly neglected further north. There are many fine plants in the Nelson and Marlborough provinces.

It is qot particularly tender, so that isn’t a reason for its omission. Some of the best specimens I have seen were allowed to ornament the top of a fence. Over the years they have become almost self-supporting, and form a round-headed bush anything up to 15ft tall, covered with the trusses of orange bloom. It can be grown as a climber on a brick house, but it is not truly self-supporting. The aerial .roots with which it can attach itself are very weak and hardly strong

enough to carry the weight of summer foliage. There is one further feature —Campsis radicans can be grown in those warm, dry corners which are often difficult to furnish. Give it adequate water for the first couple of seasons after planting. Once its roots are well established it will look after itself.