Our long, hot summer season is bookended with bignonia blossoms.
No, I didn’t say begonias, those ever popular bedding plants that flower 365 days a year. Bignonias (Bignoniaceae family), on the other hand, at least in the San Fernando Valley, are seen in spring or early summer and, once again, in late summer or early fall. Closer to the coast, their bloom period will be extended.
The first bignonia to bloom is lavender trumpet vine (Clystostoma callistegioides), heralding the onset of spring and the related yellow cat’s claw (Macfadyena unguis-cati) comes on stealthily, but close on its heels. These vines are followed by three arboreal bignonias: jacaranda, desert willow and catalpa.
Jacaranda (Jacaranda acutifolia) is native to semitropical regions of South America and is virtually evergreen, with only a brief deciduous period in late winter. Desert willow and catalpa are more decidedly deciduous. Desert willow (Chilopsis linearis) is native to California and the Southwest while Catalpa, or cigar tree, is indigenous to the Southeast. Desert willow is an increasingly popular tree because of its mature height of only 30 feet and its heavy bloom, with flower colors ranging from pale pink to burgundy.
Catalpa (Catalpa bignonioides), however, has all but vanished from the nursery trade due to its asymmetrical shape and litter of leaves and pods. Still, you will find no more beautiful foliage than the large, soft green hearts that adorn catalpa trees prior to the appearance of their white flowers which, like those of desert willow, have been compared in form, if not in size, to cattleya orchids. Catalpa specimens may still be spotted as street trees here and there, such as on the corner of Moorpark Street and Cedros Avenue in Sherman Oaks.
Chitalpa (combination of Chilopsis and Catalpa) is a hybrid that was introduced to the nursery trade with much fanfare but has been a disappointment. Through no fault of its own, Chitalpa was identified as a medium-size tree when, in reality, it is meant to be a large shrub. Wherever Chitalpa has been trained in the nursery as — or forced into being — a single-trunked tree and planted as such, it has floundered. It either falls over or bends so much in one direction that you lose your balance sizing it up. Although deciduous, Chitalpa would make a nice substitute for oleander, a large shrub that has been dying off due to oleander leaf scorch, a bacterial disease spread from plant to plant by the glassy-winged sharpshooter, a type of leafhopper insect.
Bignonia vines, also known as crossvines, are hard to resist, flowering this time of year in yellow, pink, red and all sorts of oranges. They are excellent choices for covering a chain link fence. Bignonia capreolata ‘Tangerine Beauty’ is their most outstanding representative, especially since it blooms both now and in the spring.
One orange bignonia you want to plant with caution is cape honeysuckle (Tecoma capensis). This is a plant from South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope region that spreads without conscience due to intense suckering and aggressive root growth. It is outstanding for erosion control on problematic soil or where there is wind or salty ocean spray, but it must be planted alone with plenty of room to roam since it will smother every other piece of vegetation in its vicinity.
Queen of Sheba (Podranea ricasoliana) is a pink trumpet vine of remarkable vigor that you really don’t have to think about watering once it is established in the garden or takes up residence along a fence. It, too, blooms twice a year, once in spring and again towards summer’s end.
Incidentally, the bignonia family was named after Jean-Paul Bignon, librarian to King Louis XIV of France. Although Bignon had nothing to do with plants, he had a student who became a botanist and immortalized his teacher by naming a distinctive and colorful family of plants after him.
If you are thinking about plant selections for a wildlife friendly garden, look no further than bignonias, to which hummingbirds and butterflies are attracted.
For more information about area plants and gardens, go to Joshua Siskin’s website at www.thesmartergardener.com. Send questions and photos to Joshua@perfectplants.com.
