Type

Shrub · Perennial

Botanical family

Mixed / other

Foliage color

Green

Flower color

Orange

Sunlight

Full sun for the heaviest bloom

Watering

Moderate

Soil

Moist, well-drained; tolerates most soils

Feeding

Gentle all-organic

USDA zones

5b–9a

Frost tolerant

Yes

Plant out

at the last spring frost

Plant spacing

4 ft 11 in

In-row spacing

3 ft 11 in

Between rows

6 ft 7 in

Square-foot density

Not suited to SFG

Root system

Woody, and deeper than the stem suggests

Working depth

24 in–4 ft

Can reach

6.5 ft down where the soil allows

Spread

6.5–13 ft across, about 1–2× the width of the plant

Shallowest pot

20 in of soil

A vine puts far more below ground than its one thin stem implies, and that is where the alarming vigour comes from. Give the root run depth and drainage at planting; it will forgive almost anything done to it above ground afterwards.

The habit is Crossvine’s own; the figures are what that habit usually comes to at this size, not a measurement of this species. Roots follow the soil either way: a compacted pan, a high water table or heavy clay stops them well short of any of it, and deep open ground lets them go further.

When

Not harvested. Prune right after the April flush, if at all.

What to look for

The big spring show finished, and any stems wandering off their support.

How to harvest

It blooms on last year's wood, so shape it immediately after flowering: shorten wayward stems and thin congestion. The tendril tips grip like a creeper, so pull carefully off painted wood.

How often

A light annual tidy keeps it dense and bloom-heavy; skipping years does no harm.

Storing the crop

Nothing to store. The hummingbirds run the harvest in April.

• Generally trouble-free No notable pest or disease problems when grown in the right conditions — one of the easy ones.