Campsis x tagliabuana 'Madame Galen'

Campsis x tagliabuana 'Madame Galen' is the trumpet vine at its most garden-worthy, a vigorous deciduous climber hung all summer with clusters of big, flaring, orange to salmon-red trumpets. The vine is a hybrid between the American trumpet creeper, Campsis radicans, and the Chinese Campsis grandiflora, combining the toughness of one parent with the refinement of the other. Raised in the nineteenth century by the Tagliabue brothers at their nursery near Milan, 'Madame Galen' has remained the favorite form of the cross ever since.

From high summer into early fall the flowers open in loose, drooping clusters, each a three-inch trumpet in shades from cantaloupe to ruby, and hummingbirds work them from dawn to dusk. The genus name comes from the Greek for bending, a nod to the curving stamens tucked inside each bloom. Few hardy vines match this one for sheer flower power over so long a season.

Trumpet vine climbs by clinging aerial rootlets and will scale a wall, a fence, an arbor, or a stout pergola, though the mature vine grows heavy and wants a strong support. 'Madame Galen' is less rampant than the wild American species, but the plant can still sucker and spread, so site the vine where that vigor is welcome and prune hard each year to keep the display in bounds. A note for sensitive gardeners: the foliage and sap can irritate skin, the source of the old folk name cow-itch.

Give Campsis x tagliabuana 'Madame Galen' full sun for the heaviest bloom and any reasonable, well-drained soil, and expect fast, exuberant growth. Train the vine up a hot wall, along a fence, or over a sturdy arbor where the summer trumpets and their hummingbirds can be enjoyed at close range. Tough, drought-tolerant once established, and spectacular in flower, this is a classic climber for a big, sunny space.