A severe thunderstorm in the summer of 1956 undid one of my grandmother's most interesting plantings. Many years earlier she had planted a trumpet vine (Campsis radicans) at the base of an aging black walnut tree.

As a child, I marveled at this vine that reached the highest branches of the tree. In the midsummer, it was covered with orange trumpet shaped flowers. I spent many hours watching the swarms of hummingbirds that were frequent visitors.

My second encounter with a trumpet vine was one planted on the southeast corner of the old farmhouse where I lived for 47 years. I often joke that I moved because I tired of battling this rapid growing vine.

Currently, I have a trumpet vine growing on a post well away from any other plants of interest. It's quite behaved. I have no knowledge that plant breeding or selection has found a tamer version of this one. Many times I have been tempted to stick one by a giant tree with sparse leaves and attempt to duplicate grandmother's planting.

Another strong growing, but less aggressive, vine is one of the selections of the native honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens). This one has much smaller trumpet shaped flowers, but they too are magnets for hummingbirds.

Our native honeysuckle should not be confused with the powerful smelling yellow one imported from Asia for erosion control that has become a rather nasty invasive. Our native may extend 10 to 15 feet and fits a medium sized trellis well.

Either of the above vines will take some shade, but prefer full sun. Like the trumpet vine, honeysuckles now come with flowers in varying shades of orange, red and yellow. One problem with the honeysuckle is that in the early spring it may attract enough aphids to attract attention.

Another fast growing vine from grandmother's era is the wisteria. Interestingly, both my mother and my grandmother had trained this vine into a standard or a single stemmed bush. Both bloomed profusely for them.

Left as a vine, I hear reports, and my own experience has been a fast growing plant that is often difficult to bring to maturity and bloom. My guess is that the frequent pruning required maintaining this plant, as a bush was one of the keys to heavy flowering.

Again, the above information covers the wisteria from eastern Asia. There is a native wisteria (Wisteria frutesens). Recently a dwarf version has been selected in a garden in South Carolina. It is now available under the name Amethyst Falls.

Remember that when the word dwarf is used with a plant it simply means smaller. This new wisteria should top out under 15 feet and be a much more reliable bloomer. My early evidence suggests this to be true. Before this gets too long I plan to continue my discussion of perennial vines next week.

I plainly remember that storm. July 26, 1956 sticks in my mind but I cannot be positive. The real memory was that my great uncle from California was visiting then. Although I only saw the man possibly three or four times in my life, he took the time to correspond regularly with a preadolescent. I'll always have a special place in my heart for that memory.