Vine & groundcover · North Texas care guide
Gelsemium sempervirens
Nursery Pro tip: Covered in fragrant yellow trumpets in February–March. Evergreen on a fence or arbor.
Our state-fair-yellow harbinger of spring — a slender evergreen vine covered in fragrant golden trumpets in February and March, weeks before anything else blooms. 10–20 ft, well-behaved, and it stays green all winter.
Full sun for the heaviest bloom; part shade is fine and the vine stays looser. Any drained soil. Give it a trellis, arbor, mailbox or fence to climb — it twines and needs something to grab.
Fall or spring. Hole twice the pot width, ball at grade, native soil, Root Stimulator, mulch. Tie the first stems to the support until it takes hold.
Weekly the first summer, then every week or two. Drought tolerant once established.
Light spring feeding after it blooms.
Right after the spring bloom — it sets next year's flowers in summer, so a winter pruning costs you the show. Cut back by a third if it gets top-heavy; older vines get bare at the base and can be cut hard to renew.
All parts are poisonous if eaten, including the nectar — worth knowing with small children or livestock, though it causes no trouble simply growing in the yard. Otherwise pest-free.
Mailbox posts, arbors, fences and porch columns. Pretty with redbud and Mexican plum blooming at the same time.
Written for Rockwall's black clay, heat and winters by the Landscape Source team. Every yard is different — bring a photo by, or ask LS-Ai, and we'll tailor it to your spot.