Campsis x tagliabuana ('Takarazuka Fresa') SUMMER JAZZ™ FIRE

The new millennium brings new chances for modern hybrids of trumpet creepers that are bred in order to achieve more compact plants with shorter twigs, and larger flowers coming out in abundance. SUMMER JAZZ™ is a new series from Japan offering all of these features. It was bred by Koichi Sakuae from Takarazuka between 2008 and 2012, hence the patent name for all varieties in this series. So far there have been three colour choices bred and introduced: Fire (red), Tangerine (somewhat soft red with orange shades), and Gold (rich golden yellow).

SUMMER JAZZ™ FIRE is a showstopper with its brilliant vibrant red flowers. They are large, possibly not as large as the yellow variety from this series, about 5-6 cm across, and appear from mid July. They are composed in long racemes that may contain 60 or more flower buds that open continuously until the first frosts. The leaves are deciduous, pinnate, rich green, slightly glossy and very attractive as they create a green mass as a luxurious background for the flowers.

New twigs grow about 60-80 cm before the flower buds appear. It is a much shorter size than on other trumpet vines, yet we emphasize that it is crucial to cut all previous year’s growth to 2 or 3 pairs of buds to keep the plant compact. Do this annually in spring after all frosts. Also, as it blooms at the ends of new branches, it is desirable to have as many of new branches as possible.

Trumpet creeper is a vine so it needs a support like a trellis for example. It prefers slightly limey soil and a warm and sunny location. Its root system is quite pulpous and can accumulate water so it withstands long periods of drought. Extra watering is not required and regular excess watering might cause death to such plant. We suggest using a special flower-encouraging fertilizer from July until September for stronger and bigger flowers, richer in colour and continuous production of new flower buds. All our plants are in flowering age already. It is fully hardy to about -27°C (USDA zone 5b) and can take temporary swings to -29°C on sheltered locations.

Last update 08-04-2018