Native Plants

Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?

A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.

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Saturday - July 25, 2009

From: Baytown, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Vines
Title: Vine in New Braunfels for Baytown, TX
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

I have seen a vine in New Braunfels that looks nothing like the trumpet vine or trumpet creeper; however, the flower is almost identical. The flower is more pink though, and the leaves look more like a ground cover vine with dark green leaves about 1 inch to almost 2 inches long. What is the name of this vine and how can I find more to plant at my home

ANSWER:

Bignonia capreolata (crossvine) sounds to us like it fits your description. We have these Texas native vines blooming on some of the stone walls at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in the Spring. It is a semi-evergreen, blooms red or yellow March to May, has medium water use, sun or part shade. We will provide you with some pictures from our Image Gallery and you can follow the link above to read more about the plant. If this proves to be the plant you are looking for, go to our Native Plant Suppliers section, type in your town and state in the "Enter Search Location" box and it will take you to a list of native plant nurseries, seed companies and landscape and environmental consultants in your general area.

If you don't think that's what you saw, go to our Plant Identification page, and follow the instructions for submitting a photo and we will try to identify it for you. There is always the possibility that what you saw is a non-native vine, and therefore would not be in our Native Plant Database nor in our range of expertise.

From the Image Gallery

Crossvine
Bignonia capreolata