Crossvine (Bignonia capreolata) - orange flowers, illustrated plant cardIllustration

Crossvine

Bignonia capreolata

Also called quartervine

Also comes in red and yellow.

Crossvine blooms from May through June.

Bloom calendar
Bloom time
May–Jun
checked
Hardiness
Zones 5–9
checked
Sun
Full sun
checked
Water
Moderate water
checked
Mature size
43 ft × 7.5 ft
checked
Type
Climber
house classification

Months here are Northern Hemisphere months; in the Southern Hemisphere, shift them by six months.

Growing Crossvine

Plant it in full sun. It prefers moderate water. It is hardy in USDA zones 5–9. Expect it to reach about 43 ft tall and 7.5 ft wide at maturity, in roughly 3 years (a house reading).

Pets

  • Not yet checked for pets.

Lists differ and none is complete. If a pet eats a plant and seems unwell, call a veterinarian or a pet poison helpline.

No toxicity note is on file for Crossvine. That is not a clearance: check its safety for people and pets before planting.

Verification
What was checked

Nine facts were checked against named botanical sources, each recorded beside the sources that carried it: mature height and spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, bloom months and color, the trait tags, and years to mature size, which rests on a recorded house rule where no publisher states one and is marked so. Soil, diseases, pests, toxicity and the plant's own names have not yet been read for this plant, and its trait tags are the ones a feature uses rather than every word a page prints. Each fact above carries its own mark. The planting, spacing and size sections are derived from these checked facts by a fixed rule, not checked separately, and the plant type is the library's own classification.

See the 6 sources it was checked against

When to plant Crossvine

Plant Crossvine in early spring as soon as the soil is workable, or in early fall at least six weeks before your first frost, so roots establish in cool weather. In zone 7, the middle of its hardy zones 5 to 9, spring means March to May and fall means September or October. Once settled, it blooms from May to June.

Month-by-month timing for your zone is on the planting calendar; if you garden near zone 7, the middle of this plant's hardy range, start with zone 7 in March. Derived from the plant's category, zones and bloom months plus typical zone frost dates, not checked separately.

How big does Crossvine get?

Illustration of Crossvine drawn to scale beside an adult43 fttall5 ft 7 inan adult7.5 ftwide
About 43 ft tall and 7.5 ft wide at maturity: about 8 times as tall as an adult.

See Crossvine in a garden plan: the planner shows it in 3D beside everything else you add, growing toward this size over the years.

How far apart to plant Crossvine

Derived from the mature spread above by a fixed rule, not checked separately: spacing is the spread, center to center.

Space Crossvine about 7.5 ft apart, center to center, so each plant has room to reach its full width.

Plant them
7.5 ft apart
Per 10 sq ft
one needs about 56 sq ft
4 by 8 ft bed
about 1

Add Crossvine to a garden plan and the planner draws it at its full width, so you see the spacing before you buy.

Where these facts come from

Crossvine's height, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, bloom months and color and trait tags were checked against 6 published sources on October 21, 2026. Each one is linked below with every fact it carried, which can include a fact this page still marks as not yet checked, because a source carrying a value is not the same as the value being held to the standard. Facts not in that list, and the planting, spacing and size sections, are not covered by these sources.

  • Missouri Botanical Gardenheight, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, bloom months and color and trait tags
  • NC State Extensionheight, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, bloom months and color and trait tags
  • scnps.orgSouth Carolina Native Plant Societyheight, spread, hardiness zones, water and bloom months and color
  • tnyards.utk.eduUniversity of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, Tennessee Smart Yardsheight, spread, sun, water and bloom months and color
  • fieldtocottage.comField to Cottage Nurseryheight, spread, hardiness zones and bloom months and color
  • jcra.ncsu.eduJC Raulston Arboretumsun and bloom months and color

How the checking works, and what each standard covers, is on the verified plants page.

Where it grows wild

Native to 19 states

United States: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and 7 more

Recorded growing wild in 633 counties.

Range data from the World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 4.0, adapted) and USDA PLANTS. How the native range is credited.

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Drop this plant onto a 3D plan, see how it fills in, and watch your whole garden bloom across the year.

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