My trumpet vine is getting to be a pest with many seedlings popping up in beds and offshoots growing from the main vines. How can I stop this and avoid all the extra work?

— Jenny Chung, Wheaton

I don’t have a lot of time to garden at home, so I am strategic about which plants I plant and the maintenance practices I use. My goal is to get the best results in the least amount of time. Trumpet vine (Campsis radicans) is a high-climbing, aggressively colonizing, woody vine that is cultivated for its attractive reddish-orange flowers that attract hummingbirds. There are cultivars of trumpet vine with red, yellow or orange flowers to choose from. This plant grows easily in most soils and flowers best in full sun. The vine blooms on new growth, so early spring pruning does not affect flowering. Routine pruning is important to keep the vine under control, as it tends to grow rampantly. Unfortunately, there is no shortcut to reducing the maintenance of this vine.

Trumpet vines spread in three ways: by seed, by rooting wherever the plants touch the ground, and by underground runners. Removing seeds by regularly deadheading and keeping the parent plant pruned to keep vines off the ground will slow the spread of your plant. The plant continuously sends out underground runners, which result in shoots coming up in your garden. Regular mowing in turf areas will keep the plant in check in the lawn. Offshoots in garden beds need to be dug up or cut off with a hoe as they appear. Remove the shoots as you do your routine garden weeding. Planting a new trumpet vine in a 5-gallon bucket with the bottom removed and sunk in the ground may help contain the runners. This is a similar technique used to control mint in the garden by planting it in a pot.

If routinely removing the offshoots does not work for your schedule, it may be best to remove the trumpet vine and replace it with a less aggressive vine, such as a clematis. You may want to wear gloves when working with the trumpet vine foliage, as some people experience skin redness and itching after contact with the foliage. I haven’t had skin trouble working with trumpet vine foliage. Suckering may persist for some time after you dig out the plant, so prepare for some follow-up weeding for a few years. Suckering becomes more sporadic over time. Treating the suckers with a non-selective herbicide will kill the root system more quickly.

For more plant advice, contact the Plant Information Service at the Chicago Botanic Garden at plantinfo@chicagobotanic.org. Tim Johnson is senior director of horticulture at the Chicago Botanic Garden. 

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/02/trumpet-vine-garden-care/