Pyrostegia Ignea, Orange Trumpet Vine for Winter Wow!

Little goes on in the winter garden besides my Orange Trumpet Vine (Pyrostegia Ignea). This extremely vigorous growing vine can be a nuisance as its quite happy to eat your entire house, or smother young trees. We’ve put it to work for us here as a living fence.

There was no fence between our front garden and the uphill neighbour, and the slope of the street gave the entire neighbourhood nothing else to look at but the front of our house. I wanted something that would quickly give us some privacy.

First we erected four posts, and tensioned galvanised wire between them. Then let loose just two Orange Trumpet Vine plants. A few short years later and we have this impenetrable fence 10 metres long and two meters high. Without having to ask councils approval, or pay a ransom to a fencing contractor.

Having seen many cases where this vine has out competed everything in sight, I highly recommend this plant only for spots where you can carefully control it. Luckily it does not readily set seed, so no worries for the native bushlands.

The flowers are a very welcome sight in the coldest part of winter, and much appreciated by honeyeaters, wattle birds, spinebills and bees. The Fairy Wrens spend most of their time deep inside the thicket it creates, where they find lots of tasty insect morsels.

Curiously, my Bearded Irises have been blooming their heads off as though it were spring. I caught this shot this morning before it had fully opened. Perhaps the recent rains have tricked them into thinking springs come early. I hope they wont be spent when it does arrive, about two months from now!