TECOMA

This heat-loving group includes several showy shrubs, one of which can be grown as a vine and another as a tree. All feature 2 inches-long, trumpet-shaped flowers in the yellow-orange-red range and leaves divided featherwise into many leaflets. Excellent for attracting butterflies and hummingbirds. Easy to grow in well-drained soil. Take drought but look best with periodic soakings. Remove faded flowers to prolong bloom and lessen production of seedpods. Resist damage from browsing deer.

orange bells

tecoma x alata

• Shrub.
• Zones LS, CS, TS; USDA 8-11.
• Grows to 8 feet tall, 45 feet wide, with bright green foliage and orange flowers throughout warm weather.
• Tolerates light frost; may die to ground in a hard freeze but recovers quickly in warm weather.
• Some consider 'Orange Jubilee' to be a selection of this plant; others identify it as a hybrid between Tecoma capensis and Tecoma stans.

cape honeysuckle

tecoma capensis (Tecomaria capensis)

• Shrub or vine.
• Zones CS, TS; USDA 9-11.
• From South Africa.
• If tied to a support, can scramble to 1530 feet.; with hard pruning, makes an upright shrub 68 feet tall, 45 feet wide.
• Shiny dark green leaflets give it a fine-textured look.
• Brilliant orange-red flowers in compact clusters appear from fall into spring.
• Takes wind, salt air.
• Use as espalier, bank cover (good on hot, steep slopes), coarse barrier hedge.
• Little water.
• Aurea has lighter green foliage and yellow flowers; somewhat less vigorous than the species.
• Buff Gold has golden orange blooms.

argentine tecoma

tecoma garrocha

• Shrub.
• Zones LS, CS, TS; USDA 8-11.
• From Argentina.
• To 10 feet tall and wide.
• Clusters of salmon to orange blossoms throughout warm weather.
• Reacts to freezes like Tecoma x alata.

yellow bells, yellow trumpet flower, yellow elder, esperanza

tecoma stans (Stenolobium stans)

• Shrub or tree.
• Zones CS, TS; USDA 9-11.
• Native from southern U.S. to Guatemala.
• In Tropical South, can be trained as a tree.
• Usually a large shrub in the Coastal South.
• Wood may die back in hard freezes, but new growth comes on quickly.
• Can reach 25 feet tall, 1020 feet wide.
• Large clusters of lightly fragrant, bright yellow flowers from late spring to early winter.
• Good for boundary planting, big shrub border, screening.
• Needs heat, deep soil, fairly heavy feeding.

Gold Star

• is a profuse, early bloomer sometimes used as an annual in cold-winter areas.
• It grows about 3 feet tall and wide in its first season and may reach 8 feet tall and wide if not cut back or frozen.
• Has extra-large blooms that come earlier in the season.
• Sierra Apricot, a hybrid with Tecoma x alata, has apricot-colored flowers on a compact, bushy plant just 3 feet tall and 45 feet wide.

tecoma s

• angustata.
• Zones LS, CS, TS; USDA 8-11.
• Native from Arizona to Texas and adjoining Mexico.
• To 410 feet tall, 38 feet wide.
• Narrow leaflets.
• Blooms from midspring to late fall.
• Needs less water and fertilizer than the species.
• Hardy to 10F.