Tecomaria capensis Riot Red^®

Summary

South Coast Research & Extension Center (South Coast REC/SCREC) is located in Irvine California, this site has a sandy loam soil and plants are irrigated with reclaimed water. UC Davis is located in Davis, California, this site has a silty clay loam soil and plants are irrigated with potable water. More information about the field sites is located in the Nuts & Bolts section.

Riot Red Cape honeysuckle® is a perennial shrubby vine that remained in leaf in our milder Southern California site but was deciduous in Davis. This cultivar may not be reliably winter hardy in Davis, as only 14 of 24 plants emerged in the spring of 2020. Although billed as a summer bloomer, no flowers showed up in Davis until October 2020, and then only meagerly on two plants. By late October in Davis several more plants had begun to flower (Photo below). While a November data collection in Davis was planned to record progress, cold temperatures negatively impacted the plants to the point of canceling the event. After flowering from late fall 2019 to early spring in 2020 in Irvine, plants were pruned in April to remove lanky old growth and improve shape. While researchers at both sites grew the plant without a support, we would recommend some form of trellis, tuteur, or similar structure when grown in the garden. Though one or two plants in Irvine had a few flowers in summer, most flowering was light and occurred in October on over 50% of plants. Plants were unbothered by pests or disease at both locations, but without the expected bloom feature, these did not impress simply as foliage plants. Based on our experiences, the climate in WUCOLS region 2 limits Riot Red’s application for widespread landscape use. If growing in region 2, researchers recommend a protected site, such as against a south or west facing wall. Since differences in growth or aesthetics between treatments were not observed at either site, researchers recommend this plant be irrigated on low water in WUCOLS regions 2 and 3.