Campsis × tagliabuana ‘Madame Galen’
Campsis x tagliabuana 'Madame Galen' at UC Davis in August 2025. Photo: JA Sisneroz
Summary
Campsis × tagliabuana ‘Mademe Galen’ is a hybrid of C. grandiflora and C. radicans introduced in 1889 that blended the larger flowers of the former with the hardiness of the latter. (San Marcos Growers) Sunset Western Garden Book notes ‘Madame Galen’ hardiness to Sunset Zones 3b-24, while Monrovia notes this cultivar can grow in USDA Zones 4-9. This plant is grown for its cymes of rich orange trumpet shaped flowers, hence the name. In the trials plants bloomed from late spring to fall. The plants never had large quantities of flowers, rather cymes would appear throughout the canopy. However, due to the large size of the individual blooms (1-3”) and bold coloration, groups of 3-10 open blooms have quite an impact. If the flowers are pollenated, long legume-like seed pods will form. Starting green, the pods will turn brown and dry out – splitting open to reveal winged seeds which are spread by the wind. As a deciduous plant, these would lose their leaves in the fall. This plant climbs by twining its stems around structures and affixing to structures via aerial rootlets that form at the nodes.
South Coast REC Results & Discussion
The ‘Madame Galen’ had a lot of variation within each treatment and throughout the season. Of the few that performed acceptably, they displayed full, lush foliage with bright, brick-red trumpet flowers. All individuals of this taxon had some level of yellowing and leaf tip burn in their leaves. Only one individual managed to grow out and cover the entire trellis, while all other individuals either died out or covered about a third or less of the trellis.
In 2024, after the first 5 months, from late summer to winter, multiple individuals across all treatments died or retained only a handful of leaves on bare branches. These individuals appeared more like small, bare stems and branches. They remained like this for the rest of the trial. Most individuals of this taxon experienced blooming during the summer. This was reflected during the 2025 Summer Open House when participants tended to give higher ratings for this plant in terms of foliage, flowering, and overall appearance. The plants displayed lush foliage and large brick-red trumpet flowers, with a few plants even fruiting. These fruits were large, elongated bean-like seedpods. There were a few pests present among individuals, with most of these pests primarily being scales that hid along a few regions of the branches or dotting less than a handful of leaves. However, as fall approached, the foliage, flowering, and overall appearance declined. Participants in the 2025 Fall Open House made note of this as they rated these plants as unacceptable and visually disappointing. During this time, many individuals lost their flowers and defoliated, leaving behind bare branches weaving about the trellis.
UC Davis Results & Discussion
Overall Madame Galen performed well at UC Davis in 2025. In late winter when the plants were dormant, trial staff would weave stems into the trellis to fill in any gaps. The plants began to leaf out in April and developed rich, deep green foliage. Occasional pruning was performed, however the plants tended to stay on the trellis. At the June 2025 Open House participants noted that the plants looked “stunning”, “almost too healthy”. Participants liked the blooms, but many raised concerns about if this cultivar was aggressive. This is also a concern that seemed to exist when researching this cultivar online. Researchers did not observe ‘Madame Galen’ self-seeding in the trial, however point-source emitters were used and the area around the plant was covered with mulch and un-irrigated.
Sporadic bloom was observed over the summer, and the foliage would lighten/bleach out in a few places. At the September 2025 Open House, some participants opined that the lower treatments did not look as good while others commented on the paucity of flowers. As with the previous event, some participants continued to express concern about invasiveness. In reviewing the commentary, it might be possible that some raters use invasiveness synonymously with aggressive or vigorous, rather than rather than the more strict scientific definition. Overall, the plants were hardy, however we did have a few plants that seemed to struggle – as if they never really became established, which in turn weighed on their treatments’ mean scores.
Basic Info
| Submitted by: | |
| Site(s): | UC Davis & SCREC |
| Trial Exposure: | Sun |
| Year evaluated: | 2025 |
| Height & Width after 2 years: | |
| Reported Height & Width at maturity: | 10’ x 8’ |
| WUCOLS plant type: | V |
| Water Needs & WUCOLS Region: | Low- Region 2 Low- Region 3 |
| Mean Overall Appearance rating (1-5 Scale, 5 is highest) | UCD - 3.2 SCREC - 3 |
| Flowering Months: |
Growth and Quality Data
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Photo 6a. Campsis tagliabuana ‘Madam Galen’ at SCREC in July 2025 showing healthy foliage along with its red trumpet flowers. Photo: N Lo
Campsis x tagliabuana 'Madame Galen' at UC Davis showing bright red petals that beautifully contrast the green background. Photo: JA Sisneroz
Campsis x tagliabuana 'Madame Galen' at UC Davis in September 2025. Photo: JA Sisneroz
Campsis x tagliabuana 'Madame Galen' at UC Davis in June 2025. Photo: JA Sisneroz
Campsis x tagliabuana 'Madame Galen' at UC Davis in July 2025. Photo: JA Sisneroz