Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

Go first to our webpage on Campsis radicans (Trumpet creeper) to find out the particulars on the plant. It is usually considered almost invasive and can be a skin irritant, but it does attract the hummingbirds, and for that you need flowers. According to this USDA Plant Profile map of West Virginia, this plant does grow in or near Rudolph County, so your soils are probably not the problem. Although, as you say, you live in a mountainous area, the elevation of Elkins is only about 2000 ft, so that should not materially affect the blooming.

The only indication that we found on our webpage that we thought might be a clue is that this native plant is frequently crossed with Asian species Campsis grandiflora, which is less hardy than native species. Apparently, the results of this cross yield larger blossoms, but if you have a late or early freeze, the lack of hardiness could retard the blooming. The native plant, Trumpet Creeper, grows as far north as Ontario so if you have the native, the blooming should be normal. Frequently, nurseries will sell hybrids of this sort because the blooms are much showier.

It appears that Randolph County is in USDA Hardiness Zone 6b, and the Trumpet Creeper is hardy from Zone 4a to 10b. You might be interested in reading the Dave's Garden Forum on this plant, there are a lot of negative comments. Maybe the plant is doing you a favor by sulking and not blooming.

Just one more possibility we can think of for the non-blooming: This plant really doesn't need fertilizer, and even if you have not fertilized it but have put down lawn fertilizer or fertilized the flower beds with a high nitrogen content fertilizer, that can retard blooms. You get really good leaves from high nitrogen fertilizers, that's why it's used for lawns, but so much energy goes into making those leaves that a lot of plants don't have enough left to make blooms, too.