Campsis x tagliabuana Summer Jazz Fire

Campsis Summer Jazz Fire is part of a series of selected hybrid Trumpet Vines known for their very compact growth, perfectly suited for small spaces but also for container gardening on sunny terraces and balconies. Perhaps even more than its larger relations, this small climbing plant is particularly easy to train as a bush and delivers an abundant and long summer flowering with exotic charm, in the form of clusters of heavily weighted, bright red trumpets tinged with orange at the throat. A lovely way to bring a holiday touch to any setting!

Campsis x tagliabuana is a plant from the Bignoniaceae family, resulting from the cross-breeding of the Campsis radicans, native to the hot and dry regions of the southeastern United States, and the 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 tendrils and spectacular large flowers of its Asian ancestor.

Gold Medal at Plantarium in 2014, the Summer Jazz Fire cultivar belongs to the Summer Jazz series of Trumpet Vines, developed in Japan in the city of Takarazuka during the years 2007-2008. The plants in this series, perfectly resistant to cold, are characterised by a very compact habit and a rather exceptional flowering, which appears near the base of the plant and along almost its entire height.

This small deciduous climber with fairly slow growth has a very bushy habit and will not exceed 3m (10ft) in all directions after many years. Its growth is also easily controlled through regular pruning. 'Summer Jazz Fire' flowers abundantly, starting from the first years of cultivation. It begins in July in average climates, sometimes as early as June in mild climates, and lasts until September. The flowers bloom at the axils of the leaves, in clusters measuring 30 cm (12in), sometimes with up to 60 trumpet-shaped flowers measuring 5 to 6 cm (2in) long.  Each flower has a tube that opens into 5 lobes, bright red in colour with apricot undertones on the reverse side. The throat of the flower, also more orange in colour, is filled with short arched stamens. The deciduous foliage, a fairly dark green with a satin finish, is composed of leaves finely divided into 9 to 11 lanceolate leaflets with crenate edges. It is the plant's tendrils that allow it to cling to its support.

Campsis x tagliabuana 'Summer Jazz Fire' finds its place in all gardens, even the smallest ones, and confidently invites itself onto any sunny terrace. With a modest stature, shaped by regular pruning, it will become an extraordinary shrub in the midst of a flowerbed, becoming the focal point of a small garden. It can be used anywhere, to cover a wall sheltered from cold winds, an unsightly building, a fence, a pillar, or a gnarled small tree. Its tendrils set off on an assault of this providential structure, covering its forms with a green and curly hair brilliantly flowering for 3 months. Perennials or small bushes such as purple, blue, and fuchsia pink shrubby salvias, a Cerastostigma with small unreal blue flowers, daylilies, mauve and blue small-flowered asters, or a variegated euphorbia can be planted at its base. The spectacle is magical from July to September. For example, you can associate it with other climbing plants such as Sollya heterophylla, a sky blue annual morning glory (Heavenly Blue), or the H F Young Clematis, which is very blue, to create a scene bursting with colours.