My trumpet vine bloomed last year for the first time. I waited many years for this, but can't remember how many for sure. It was easily 6-8 years of nothing but green foliage. It might even have been 10, I just can't remember but it seemed like forever, and I had given up hope of ever seeing any blossoms. I never pruned it, fertilized it, or did much of anything for it. It is growing up the bricks of the front of my mother's house, and is only in part sun--maybe 2 hours in the early morning, then dappled light for another 3 or so, then perhaps another 2 before the sun disappears behind the house in the mid afternoon. In spite of only partial sun, it always seemed quite healthy and green. I have heard that trumpet vines take a long time to mature, and that other people have had problems, too, with getting them to bloom. Once they do, I've seen specimens just smothered in bloom. Mine bloomed enough to attract the hummers, but not as heavily as others I've seen. I'm sure my partially shady situation hasn't helped. If you have a sunnier site, perhaps you will be luckier. It has really been a hummingbird magnet. They were absolutely crazy about it last summer. I think mine is the variety called "flava," which has pale orangey yellow blooms, instead of the usual orange to red. It is adapted to be pollinated by hummingbirds, and the stamens are placed so as to deposit pollen on the foreheads of these tiny birds--really cute to see them with the tops of their heads dusted yellow! Once pollinated, it gets huge pods that look like gigantic 10" long beans. I'm sorry I can't be of more assistance. I don't know if pruning would help, or fertilizing. I'm just afraid that whatever you do, you may be in for a long wait.

Actually I think there are several formulations of Osmocote with different lengths of time they're supposed to be good for--three months, six months, and nine months if I remember, but I wouldn't swear to it. And I think some have differnt n-p-k numbers. I'm curious--I heard, but I'm not a chemist and don't know this to be true--that the coating on Osmocote is temperature-sensitive and at temps over something like 85 or 90 all the fertilizer is released at once. Of course if you apply it with a light hand it probably wouldn't hurt, but if you used it in a pot and were generous, since they can't send their roots out in the world, you might get them burned. Seems to me Louis Miller is once of the people who said that. There are other time-release fertilizers that don't do that, so I use one of those. Used to swear by Osmocote, but I didn't want to risk it.

Mindy, Mine did not bloom when I got it. It was quite small. I wasn't sure it would ever bloom. I assumed that it just needed to grow a bit. I now think I did move it. Maybe it gets more sun there, but not sure. Now its a great size and blooming and I'm concerned about whether I can keep it where I have it. Its. sending off shoots nearby. It can be a bit invasive. Have you seen the thread on "plants I wish I never planted"? Trumpet is there. My yard is modest size, so I have to be careful. When I first started the yard I planted what i thought was a pussy willow bush. Its now quite a tree that I have to keep from overtaking the neighbors yard........Karen

The trumpet vines were burned. They were pulled up before they had a chance to establish, so I'm pretty sure my house and yard are safe from the monster plant. This weekend I went to an old, established nursery in town and discussed the trellis with one of the gardeners. I ended up with honeysuckle that he said will have red and yellow flowers. He suggested that I get one for each of my 4x8 trellis sections and said that once they grow there's really no maintenance to speak of. He said maybe prune it a bit if it gets too out of control. He also said it isn't as fragrant as the yellow honeysuckle that grows wild everywhere here, but that it will have a longer blooming period. I got it in the ground this weekend and I'm so looking forward to seeing it grow and cover my problem trellis! We do have some sort of honeysuckle bush, not vine, in my front yard that is fairly invasive. It's at the edge of a large bed and I'm forever pulling up babies! But it's a pretty bush that we've pruned, chopped and forced into a weeping tree shape and I'm quite fond of it. Thank all of you for your advice! I may have to figure out a place to grow kiwi! My back neighbor just put in chain-link - maybe a trellis growing kiwi is just what the landscaper ordered?