The first trumpet blooms (on the right) many years after the trumpet vine was planted.
(North Bridgton ME) Today (August 16, 2013) was a remarkable day. Why? Our trumpet vine in North Bridgton produced its first yellow trumpet.
I wish I could tell you how long that trumpet vine has been in our backyard. It could have been ten years with never a flower.
During the bloomless years the plant suffered a full dose of verbal abuse. It’s existence has been threatened on an annual basis. Lucky for my TV (trumpet vine), it is located in a garden I set up called, The Cook’s Garden, and its future was in my hands.
As the years went by it was become harder and harder to convince myself that my trumpet vine would ever bloom. I knew from gardening articles that the trumpet vine was finicky about when it bloomed. I just decided to hang in there with it and hope for the best.
My TV had more leafy growth than usual in 2012, so I decided in the fall to set up some support for it to hang on. I put a trellis in place supported by birdfeeder poles. I didn’t add anything to the soil or prune it at all.
That support seemed to make the difference. The leafy growth was noticeable this summer but the lack of blooms went on as usual. We had flowers all over the yard that had bloomed and some of them were still blooming as we moved into August. But the TV continued with its “leafy” look and I thought another year was about to roll by without flowers.
Then last week, while I was in the TV’s area deadheading lilies, I saw a bud on the trumpet vine. I couldn’t believe it!
I watched that bud carefully for several days as it became closer and closer to being a flower. In my daily watching, I noticed that the plant had several other buds.
Well, the big day finally came, today. My wife was the first to notice that the bud had opened and the first trumpet had appeared.
My advice to those of you who have a bloomless trumpet vine is not to be discouraged. It will take it’s time blooming. It could be years. But if there is an increase of leaves each year, there will sooner or later be trumpets blooming.
McClelland Miscellanea 