Thanks for the info! I am west of Novato in the hills, which should be climate zone 16 according to the map and description. What about the temperature range doesn't seem right? I was leaning towards the Bignonia, since it seems like the hardiest option in that list and has very showy flowers, but Distictis buccinatorius also seems like an excellent choice. I also really like the appearance of Gloriosa rothschildiana, so I will try to find another place in the yard to plant a few bulbs of that. I am also trying to find a Bauhinia x blakeana (Hong Kong Orchid Tree) to plant in an empty spot in the yard, which is supposed to bloom in the winter and be cold hardy here in the Bay Area. Do you know the best place to find any of these species? I found a few websites that sell them, but if possible I would like to purchase from a nursery so I can actually see what I'm getting. San Marcos Growers has those plants, but I stopped by Sloat today and they said they don't often order from San Marcos and would not be able to get those species in anytime soon. Perhaps the East Bay Nursery purchases from them more often and can place a special order.

We have trumpetcreeper vine in several places and, while it is more invasive than I like, the hummers do love it. The only place it is under-control is on the arbor down near the driveway gate and mailbox. There I have both the orange and yellow flowered trumpet creepers in unimproved, rock-hard red clay and the only irrigation they get is rainfall. In those conditions they stay fairly small and manageable and I don't have to prune them or anything. During a really prolonged dry spell they may even drop foliage and go dormant, but they always rebound when the rain finally starts falling again. The trumpet creeper plants I have near the house sometimes pop up in places where I don't want them, but I either dig them out, or smother them with cardboard and mulch. I have trumpet creeper planted around our in-ground tornado shelter, which sticks up out of the ground a couple of feet. It doesn't look that great in winter when it is dormant, but in the springtime, the vines totally hide the tornado shelter. Of course, I have to prune it back regularly to keep it from growing across the door. While trumpet creeper is not my favorite vine, I grow it for the wild critters and it is lovely in bloom in August when other plants are struggling in the heat. Another vine the hummers love is American Cross Vine. It is native in Texas and the hummers follow its blooms as they migrate across Texas. Here, the hummers sometimes arrive before my Cross Vine blooms so I can only assume they don't rely on it as they migrate across our state. We have wild honeysuckle in the woods, but I won't plant that kind of honeysuckle in the "civilized" part of our landscape. Here around the house I have a coral honeysuckle called "Pink Lemonade" that the hummers absolutely adore. It is blooming now on the entry arbor that leads into my veggie garden and the hummers are buzzing around it all day long. Dawn

I planted passiflora Foetida from seed of the ripe fruit about 3 summers ago. I remember that the seed had to be planted from fresh not dried seed. There is a website somewhere out there about passiflora seed germination. The seeds are really tough and took months to germinate. In fact, I planted them in June or July and didn't get seedlings until the following Feb or early March. I literally stuck them in potting soild with vermiculite in a rather large container that produce comes in at Sam's. I almost gave up, but put the carton in my greenhouse and to my surprise they finally germinated! That said, the plants are really easy to germinate from cuttings....grins. Let us know how yours turn out.

I live close to Nacogdoches...south and east of Tyler...and they will not live through the winter here. They are extremely hard to root. I did over 100 cuttings every way imaginable...water, potting soil, hard wood, soft wood, and got 2 plants...from the potting soil during winter in the greenhouse. They will NOT bloom if you give them too much nitrogen...they will just make leaves. I put mine in the greenhouse the first year but left it in the ground the second year thinking maybe it had made runners and would come back but no such luck. It was really pretty but too much trouble for me! Likes full sun but shaded roots and lots of water. She bloomed better in the fall and on into November...just a few blooms along until it began to cool down. Have photos but have forgotten how to post them. Good luck, Mary