posted by DonnaSamuels
7/26/2010
Region: South
Zone: 8





This plant is wonderful - by my standards. I plant this each year [See below! The plant actually does the work for me!]along the length of the backyard fence that we placed lattice work on... the fence is 6' tall and so this vine even goes up into the mature tress if it can... you will see little red flowers in the trees.
So why do I plant this? HUMMINGBIRDS love this! I would rather have plants for the hummingbirds than trying to keep up with feeders that requires maintenance and cleaning to protect hummingbirds' health.
Each fall... when it dies back and the hummingbirds have finished their migration south... I just go out there and strip it off the fence. Seeds fall for next year and I deposit the 'spent' vines in the green waste. Any volunteer plants that crop up? I just rake over them to remove any unwanted vines.
I like this soooo much - I harvested seeds for our new home that is under construction!!
posted by speedweeder
5/25/2010
Region: Northeast
Zone: 7





you need a lot of these on a trellis in order to really see them, since the flower is pretty small. they are a very bright red color. these are prolific re-seeders in zone 7! Almost to the point of being annoying, since they will pop up and thread their way up and around any and all other plants that you have planted the following year!
posted by slightlywild
5/10/2010
Region: Southeast
Zone: 10





this can become invasive in zone ten, has no problems spreading by seed.
posted by Sheepiegal
3/19/2010
Region: Northeast
Zone: 5





Beautiful plant - I'd love to grow it, but is it hardy to zone 5?
posted by westview
11/18/2008
Region: Lower Plains
Zone: 8





I love this vine and it's cousin Cardinal Vine. They both look great mixed with Hyacinth Bean vine. The only real problem I have is that toward the end of the season they bunch up on my fence and get to looking kind of shabby. A good idea to grow on trellis that you can take down, that way if they look messy and get brown at the end of the season, just cut off at the ground remove the trellis and then you can remove the vine from the trellis when it dries up. Lovely vine though, I enjoy it very much.
Click on a thumbnail to see a full sized image
Photo/Illustration: David Cavagnaro