Campsis radicans x grandiflora Madame Galen

Campsis x tagliabuana 'Madame Galen' is an old French hybrid that has proven itself in many gardens. Perhaps the hardiest of all, very bushy, it can grow in a wide range of soils while offering summer flowering that is both spectacular and long-lasting. It blooms fairly quickly, producing large, loose clusters of beautiful, warm and bright orange trumpets that turn red. Its finely cut deciduous foliage is a lovely, vibrant light green colour, which forms a true backdrop for the flowering. Its branches, equipped with climbing roots, cling to any available support, whether it be a pergola, a wall, an old tree or a façade. Like wisteria, this trumpet creeper can easily be trained as a tree.

Campsis x tagliabuana is a plant from the Bignoniaceae family, resulting from the crossbreeding between Campsis radicans, native to the hot and dry regions of southeastern United States, and Campsis grandiflora, native to China. Obtained around 1850 in the Tagliabue brothers' nursery, near Milan, it possesses the excellent hardiness of its American parent and the strong climbing roots as well as the spectacular large flowers of its Asian ancestor.

The 'Madame Galen' variety, created in France in 1889 and repeatedly awarded, has even been distinguished by the Royal Horticultural Society in England. This fast-growing deciduous vine has a very bushy habit, allowing it to reach 10 m (33ft) in all directions in just a few years. However, its growth can easily be controlled through regular pruning. 'Madame Galen' has a woody stump and produces underground stolons. The abundant flowering occurs from the early years of cultivation. It can start in June in mild climates, but usually begins in the height of summer, in July, and lasts until September-October. The flowers bloom in the axils of the leaves, in clusters of 4 to 12 trumpets, 7 to 8 cm (3in) long, with 5 lobes. Each flower, with a colour somewhere between orange and salmon red, shows a slightly lighter throat where curved stamens nestle. The deciduous foliage consists of leaves finely divided into 7 to 11 ovate leaflets with crenate margins. It is its branches are equipped with climbing roots that allow the plant to cling to its support.

Campsis x tagliabuana 'Madame Galen' can be used anywhere, to cover a wall sheltered from cold winds, an unsightly building, an exposed façade, a fence or an old wall. Its branches take hold of these providential structures, covering its twisted forms with a green and curly mane weighed down by magnificent orange clusters throughout the summer. At its base, plant violet and fuchsia bushy salvias, Cerastostigma griffithii with small unreal blue flowers, small mauve and blue asters, and variegated Euphorbia. The spectacle is enchanting from July to September. This plant can withstand temperatures as low as -20°C (-4°F). You can associate it, for example, with other unique climbing plants such as Actinidia kolomikta, Clematis Black Tea, or Clematis H F Young, which is very blue, to create a highly colourful scene.