# Crossvine (Bignonia capreolata)

> A native evergreen vine that climbs by sticky tendrils, with orange and yellow trumpet flowers that feed hummingbirds in early spring.

Also called quartervine, Anisostichus capreolata. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/crossvine/

![Crossvine (Bignonia capreolata) in full bloom, orange trumpet flowers covering a vine that climbs a pine trunk](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/crossvine-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Susan Adams, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ABignonia_capreolata.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Shrub
- Mature height: 30 to 50 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 5 to 9
- Grows wild in: Floodplain forests, swamps and wet flats, old fields and edges
- Native range: 19 states, north to [Ohio](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OH), south to [Florida](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=FL) and west to [Texas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TX) ([Alabama](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AL), [Arkansas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AR), [Florida](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=FL), [Georgia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA), [Illinois](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IL), [Indiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IN), [Kentucky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KY), [Louisiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=LA), [Maryland](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MD), [Mississippi](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MS), [Missouri](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MO), [North Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NC), [Ohio](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OH), [Oklahoma](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OK), [South Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SC), [Tennessee](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TN), [Texas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TX), [Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VA) and [West Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WV))
- Sun: Full, Part, Shade
- Soil moisture: Average, Dry, Wet
- Growth rate: Fast
- Flowers: March to May
- Fruit: Pods, August to October
- First crop: —
- Mature spread: 10 ft
- Traits: Showy flowers, Wildlife value, Evergreen, Tolerates shade, Drought tolerant
- Sold as: Saplings, Seed

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

## Availability

Saplings ship [bare-root](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/planting-bare-root-trees-on-arrival/index.html.md) or [in a pot](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/a-sapling-in-a-pot/index.html.md), [usually 12 to 18 inches tall](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/small-sapling-or-big-transplant/index.html.md), in the dormant season, and their [height and age](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/reading-a-nursery-listing/index.html.md) are stated with the price, once available. Live plants ship February to May and October to November. Not priced yet: leave an email on the web page for one email when it is priced, with a code for 10% off the plants in that order, not shipping or tax, or write to captain@bluewhaletrees.com.

## Notes

Crossvine is a native vine of the trumpet creeper family, named for the cross that shows when its stem is cut. Its glossy leaves stay on through mild winters, and its trumpet flowers are among the first nectar of spring for hummingbirds. It spreads by root suckers and seed, and an unchecked vine can crowd out other plants. In Florida, tell it from the invasive cat's-claw vine, which has three-pronged, claw-like tendrils. Let it climb a fence, a stone wall or a tall pine in sun, for the most flowers.

## Size, growth and what to expect

Crossvine grows fast, nearly three feet a year in our growth estimator. It climbs 30 to 50 feet into trees, and one plant spreads 6 to 10 feet wide. Its leaves stay on through mild winters and turn reddish purple, but a hard winter in zones 5 and 6 can strip them.

Trumpet flowers 2 inches long, reddish orange outside and yellow within, hang in clusters of two to five from March into May. The wild form's flowers carry a scent of mocha, which some named selections lack. Flat pods 4 to 7 inches long ripen in late summer, holding many winged seeds.

It grows wild from Maryland and the Ohio River valley south to Florida and west to eastern Texas. Its home is floodplain forests, swamps, hammocks and fence rows, where it climbs high into the trees. NatureServe ranks it critically imperiled in Oklahoma, at the edge of its range.

## How to grow Crossvine

Crossvine flowers best in full sun and grows in part shade or even shade, with fewer flowers. It wants a moist soil rich in organic matter that drains well, yet it takes sand or clay, brief flooding and drought once established. Its branched tendrils end in sticky pads that let it climb brick, stone and fences without support. The pads can damage stucco, so against a house, set a trellis 5 feet from a wall and train it there. Set plants 12 feet apart. It burns readily, so where wildfire is a risk keep it out of the defensible space around a house. Keep it more than 50 feet from overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them in the dormant season, from late fall until bud swell, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the crown at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the stems. Collect the pods from late summer into fall, once they turn light brown and begin to dry. The seed needs no treatment, so sow it in late winter or spring under an eighth of an inch of soil. Seedlings come up within three weeks, but survival can be low, and they may need a winter's chill before they grow on.

Water weekly through the first summer and in dry spells until it is established. Deer browse it in winter, so cage young plants where deer are many. Pull up root suckers as they appear, or it spreads well beyond its spot. Cut branches back in spring to bring on flowers, and thin crowded stems.

Each flower carries both male and female parts, so there are no male and female plants to pair. Hummingbirds are its main pollinators, and bees and butterflies visit too. It has no major pests.

## Sources

- [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Bignonia capreolata](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/bignonia-capreolata/)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Bignonia capreolata](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=BICA)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Ask Mr. Smarty Plants: crossvine on a stucco wall](https://www.wildflower.org/expert/show.php?id=11052)
- [USDA NRCS Plant Guide: Crossvine, Bignonia capreolata, Wennerberg 2004](https://plants.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/plantguide/pdf/pg_bica.pdf)
- [Native Plant Network: Propagation protocol for Bignonia capreolata, Kujawski and Davis 2001, USDA NRCS Norman A. Berg National Plant Materials Center](https://npn.rngr.net/renderNPNProtocolDetails?selectedProtocolIds=bignoniaceae-bignonia-431)
- [Virginia Tech Dendrology: crossvine](https://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=484)
- [Clemson Cooperative Extension, Home and Garden Information Center: Cross Vine, Millie Davenport](https://hgic.clemson.edu/cross-vine/)
- [Oklahoma State University Extension, Plant Identification Profiles: Crossvine](https://extension.okstate.edu/programs/plant-id/plant-profiles/crossvine)
- [University of Florida IFAS, Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants, Plant Directory: Bignonia capreolata](https://plant-directory.ifas.ufl.edu/plant-directory/bignonia-capreolata)
- [Florida Native Plant Society: Bignonia capreolata](https://www.fnps.org/plant/bignonia-capreolata)
- [Georgia Native Plant Society: Crossvine, Bignonia capreolata](https://gnps.org/plant/crossvine-bignonia-capreolata/)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Bignonia capreolata](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.158999/Bignonia_capreolata)
- [Oklahoma Natural Heritage Inventory: tracking list](https://obis.ou.edu/tracking-list)
- [USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: Bignonia capreolata](https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/BICA)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [The habitat around a tree is part of the tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/habitat-around-a-tree/index.html.md)
- [What a young tree looks like: first-year seedlings of oak, walnut, hickory, chestnut, maple and redbud, and the weed trees to pull](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/what-a-young-tree-looks-like/index.html.md)
- [Invasive vines and shrubs are what is killing your woods](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/invasive-vines-and-shrubs/index.html.md)

## Related

- Trees to plant it under: [Black Gum (Tupelo)](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/black-gum/index.html.md), [American Elm](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/american-elm/index.html.md) and [Sugarberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/sugarberry/index.html.md)
- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Crossvine, add ?species=crossvine with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address; for example, the verdict for zone 5, part sun and average soil as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=crossvine&zone=5&sun=part&moisture=average
- [Companion species for Crossvine](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=crossvine): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Tree growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate for Crossvine as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=crossvine (add height=, years= and site= poor, average or good)
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Crossvine is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan for it as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=crossvine (add state= and zone= for your own frost dates, method=fridge for the refrigerator route)
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Crossvine needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the verdict for 1 of them as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=crossvine:1
- [Planting-window tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md): when to plant Crossvine where you live, as a fall and a spring window from the local frost dates; the windows as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=crossvine&state=MO&zone=6 with your own state and zone in place of those
- [Planting-distance tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md): how far Crossvine goes from a house, a septic field, a walk, wires, a property line and the next tree; the distances as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=crossvine&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Crossvine flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species; its own row and the gaps of a planting with it as Markdown at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=crossvine