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Tropical/Subtropical Vines


Hillizard

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First bloom ever of my in-ground variegated chalice vine (Solandra maxima variegata). It looked like a yellow balloon inflating slowly over several days before it split open. Couldn't smell any scent but maybe that only happens at night? It gets canopy shade most of the day or it'd fry in the sun here. Can be bushy but I'm training it on a trellis.

ChaliceVine.png

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1 minute ago, Hillizard said:

First bloom ever of my in-ground variegated chalice vine (Solandra maxima variegata). It looked like a yellow balloon inflating slowly over several days before it split open. Couldn't smell any scent but maybe that only happens at night? It gets canopy shade most of the day or it'd fry in the sun here. Can be bushy but I'm training it on a trellis.

ChaliceVine.png

Nice!,  yes, If i remember right, didn't notice the scent until the first night the flowers were open.  Had to get pretty close too, at least at first.

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Just now, Silas_Sancona said:

Nice!,  yes, If i remember right, didn't notice the scent until the first night the flowers were open.  Had to get pretty close too, at least at first.

Good to know! I'll try again later tonight when I'm out spreading around palm fertilizer! :D

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Another really bold vine you might look for ( if you have space ) is Passiflora X " Purple Tiger " Supposedly a bit tender but never had issues w/ it.. Grows so darn fast during the spring/summer that i doubt an in ground specimen would be completely knocked out in your area, esp. if it's base/ say up to about a foots- worth of growth above ground were protected during a bad cold spell ( say an extended spell of nights bottoming out at/ below 28-29F ) Loves water ( and will grow at warp speed, lol )

Big, tropical looking leaves,  Large,  sweet scented flowers ( 3-6" wide. Mine flowered in the October- December time frame in FL. )  and, if you're lucky, They can produce huge yellowish fruit also..  Wish the sun wouldn't kill it here since it provides such a tropical look to a fence or trained to a trellis placed against a block wall. Beaumontia grandiflora ( large leaved vine on the left of the first pic. ) would be another one that might do well up there.. That one did fine in San Jose.. Would drop most leaves in the winter though( did the same in FL also ). Hardy to about 26F. Flowers smell like Wintergreen/ Spearmint.
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Love rangoon creeper, the blooms smell like pink bubblegum! Mine hasn't frozen back in 2 years (nothing below 28F), but it's root hardy to zone 9a and possibly 8b. 

Image may contain: plant, flower, outdoor and nature

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Jonathan

Katy, TX (Zone 9a)

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14 minutes ago, Xenon said:

Love rangoon creeper, the blooms smell like pink bubblegum! Mine hasn't frozen back in 2 years (nothing below 28F), but it's root hardy to zone 9a and possibly 8b. 

Image may contain: plant, flower, outdoor and nature

You'll never know how  Ahem, " annoyed ", lol  i was when mine fried the first summer i was here..  Definitely in my top 10 favs.

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Oh the Rangoon Creeper polarisers local gardeners opinions in an extreme way.... best way for an argument on local FB Garden pages is to sing the praises of the Rangoon Creeper...lol.
It is an 'old school' garden plant in Darwin that has fallen out of favor among the local fraternity due to perceived weediness.  And yes, it has 'escaped' into local riparian creek and wetland systems. Be that as it may, I think it is a beautiful scented vine that is an asset to the formerly barren and colorless Darwin gardening scene of pre Cyclone Tracy ( 1974 )
The local Council built this horrendously expensive shade structure on one of our city streets, and planted Rangoon Creeper as the covering vine.... Oh the controversy on Social Media....
Near brought the Council to its knees.... lol 
But the cultivars used were thornless and seedless therefore non invasive..... 
Beautiful tropical vine !
https://www.healthyactivebydesign.com.au/news-and-events/cooling-the-city-cavenagh-street-heat-mitigation-darwin

https://www.miragenews.com/cooler-city-more-jobs-cavenagh-shade-structure-construction-complete/
 

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My Mandevilla laxa (aka 'Chilean jasmine') vine today. It's native to parts of Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Argentina. Over winter it drops its leaves where I live. Flowers have a heavy vanilla scent. Hardy in zones 7-11. Forms seed pods that look like a pair of cattle horns.

MandevillaLaxa2.png

MandevillaLaxa1.png

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On 5/16/2020 at 8:07 PM, Hillizard said:

First bloom ever of my in-ground variegated chalice vine (Solandra maxima variegata). It looked like a yellow balloon inflating slowly over several days before it split open. Couldn't smell any scent but maybe that only happens at night? It gets canopy shade most of the day or it'd fry in the sun here. Can be bushy but I'm training it on a trellis.

ChaliceVine.png

 

Do you know if the fruit, which looks alot like green apples, is edible??? Mine always seem to disappear before I can sample them. Probably my squirell or some birds get them.

I really like the  Stephanotis thouarsii  (Madagascaran jasmine) which I have crawling up several ficus lyratas.

StephanotisThouarsii.jpg.bf5b89c23870dd7f7c97d8ff6ee053ef.jpg

 

Richard

 

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21 minutes ago, GDLWyverex said:

Do you know if the fruit, which looks alot like green apples, is edible??? Mine always seem to disappear before I can sample them. Probably my squirell or some birds get them.

I really like the  Stephanotis thouarsii  (Madagascaran jasmine) which I have crawling up several ficus lyratas.

Richard

Richard: I wouldn't attempt to eat the fruit. I saw this online: https://www.childrens.health.qld.gov.au/poisonous-plant-chalice-vine-solandra-maxima/

"All parts of the plant are thought to be toxic. If ingested, symptoms may include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, dilated pupils, temperatures and delirium."  :sick:

I like Stephanotis too but it's not winter-hardy in my garden. :(

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Just now, Hillizard said:

Richard: I wouldn't attempt to eat the fruit. I saw this online: https://www.childrens.health.qld.gov.au/poisonous-plant-chalice-vine-solandra-maxima/

"All parts of the plant are thought to be toxic. If ingested, symptoms may include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, dilated pupils, temperatures and delirium."  :sick:

 

Yep, don't think about sampling it..   Just because birds or various mammals might be able to, doesn't mean we can eat something.. Especially a majority of plants in this family..

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love the solandra! i can't get mine to be happy. too much sun and it fries, too little and it just sits there. I don't think mine has grown much in 2 years. 

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7 hours ago, Josue Diaz said:

love the solandra! i can't get mine to be happy. too much sun and it fries, too little and it just sits there. I don't think mine has grown much in 2 years. 

I think mine will grow more and flower less where it's located, but the variegated leaves are nice to look at anyway. ;)

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A new tropical vine ( to the Darwin market ) Called Nong Nooch Vine ( after the Gardens in Thailand ), or marketed by our local box store as 'Curtains of Gold'
Being trialed at the George Brown Botanical Gardens, Darwin. Some local enthusiasts have had it growing successfully for a few years now. Also looks good in hanging pots.

 

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1 hour ago, greysrigging said:

A new tropical vine ( to the Darwin market ) Called Nong Nooch Vine ( after the Gardens in Thailand ), or marketed by our local box store as 'Curtains of Gold'
Being trialed at the George Brown Botanical Gardens, Darwin. Some local enthusiasts have had it growing successfully for a few years now. Also looks good in hanging pots.

 

93418553_10222433737335048_4943179458417786880_o.jpg

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This is one of those really spectacular Vines that has a fair amount of questions surrounding just how hardy it is.. Some say it is quite cold tender, being killed by exposure to anything lower than the low/ mid 40s.  Other information i have read says while tender, it might not be quite as touchy as say Turquoise Jade Vine, or it's red flowered relative.. opening up the possibility that someone in say the mildest parts of southern CA. might be able to get one through many winters if planted in a warm spot w/ some overhead protection, though it would likely drop a good deal, if not all of its foliage at that time.  It's also supposedly quite easy to grow in a container, needing to only attain a height of about 4ft to start flowering, behaving much like Bleeding Heart Vine ( Clerodendrum thomsoniae ).. So it could be grown against a trellis, or in a hanging basket under a covered patio that lets in light, but stays warm in winter..  Supposedly pretty easy to propagate from semi hardwood stems ( cuttings/ air layers ) as well.

Edited by Silas_Sancona
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22 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

This is one of those really spectacular Vines that has a fair amount of questions surrounding just how hardy it is.. Some say it is quite cold tender, being killed by exposure to anything lower than the low/ mid 40s.  Other information i have read says while tender, it might not be quite as touchy as say Turquoise Jade Vine, or it's red flowered relative.. opening up the possibility that someone in say the mildest parts of southern CA. might be able to get one through many winters if planted in a warm spot w/ some overhead protection, though it would likely drop a good deal, if not all of its foliage at that time.  It's also supposedly quite easy to grow in a container, needing to only attain a height of about 4ft to start flowering, behaving much like Bleeding Heart Vine ( Clerodendrum thomsoniae ).. So it could be grown against a trellis, or in a hanging basket under a covered patio that lets in light, but stays warm in winter..  Supposedly pretty easy to propagate from semi hardwood stems ( cuttings/ air layers ) as well.

I just can't bring myself to buy plants from box stores ( in Australia Bunnings ) ...lol
But a local has told me of a plant thriving on a fence out in Palmerston, so I better go take a look.....haha

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On 5/20/2020 at 7:06 PM, greysrigging said:

Oh the Rangoon Creeper polarisers local gardeners opinions in an extreme way.... best way for an argument on local FB Garden pages is to sing the praises of the Rangoon Creeper...lol.
It is an 'old school' garden plant in Darwin that has fallen out of favor among the local fraternity due to perceived weediness.  And yes, it has 'escaped' into local riparian creek and wetland systems. Be that as it may, I think it is a beautiful scented vine that is an asset to the formerly barren and colorless Darwin gardening scene of pre Cyclone Tracy ( 1974 )
The local Council built this horrendously expensive shade structure on one of our city streets, and planted Rangoon Creeper as the covering vine.... Oh the controversy on Social Media....
Near brought the Council to its knees.... lol 
But the cultivars used were thornless and seedless therefore non invasive..... 
Beautiful tropical vine !
https://www.healthyactivebydesign.com.au/news-and-events/cooling-the-city-cavenagh-street-heat-mitigation-darwin

https://www.miragenews.com/cooler-city-more-jobs-cavenagh-shade-structure-construction-complete/
 

Definitely keep me off the list of Rangoon Creeper lovers, I'm trying to eradicate mine. It was given to me some years ago by friends who have now managed to get rid of theirs. Years ago I found some in an abandoned mining camp that had survived a good 50 years of abandonment, poor rocky soil and no irrigation. Once they get a hold on they don't give up easily.

I like Solandra maxima but was advised it wouldn't survive here. Tried any way, but the advice was accurate.

 

 

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2 hours ago, tropicbreeze said:

Definitely keep me off the list of Rangoon Creeper lovers, I'm trying to eradicate mine. It was given to me some years ago by friends who have now managed to get rid of theirs. Years ago I found some in an abandoned mining camp that had survived a good 50 years of abandonment, poor rocky soil and no irrigation. Once they get a hold on they don't give up easily.

I like Solandra maxima but was advised it wouldn't survive here. Tried any way, but the advice was accurate.

 

 

Interesting that Solandra maxima would be a challenge there.. Is it just too hot/ humid where you're located? You tried any of the other Solandra species?

Funny, but goes to show that what someone would go through hoops to try and grow ( Rangoon Creeper, in this case ) can be an aggressive invader somewhere else..  Could be worse i guess, you ( and i ) could be be-deviled with Air Potato.. a horrible viney invader in Florida, or, ( thank my lucky stars i don't have it here ), i could be dealing with Himalayan Blackberry.. Lots of good memories collecting the sweet fruit off of them in the summer growing up but.. What a monster to try and eradicate /control.. People think Cacti are spiny.. As i imagine it, the entrance to that "special" place deep below ground, where really bad people are cast to repent.. is surrounded in walls of this Blackberry, and lots of "Jumping" Cholla ( cactus ) lol.. It grabs and stabs with ease..  Leave even a small piece behind, and it roars back to life, laser focused on revenge for whomever tried to kill it. 

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On 5/20/2020 at 5:36 PM, greysrigging said:

Oh the Rangoon Creeper polarisers local gardeners opinions in an extreme way.... best way for an argument on local FB Garden pages is to sing the praises of the Rangoon Creeper...lol.
It is an 'old school' garden plant in Darwin that has fallen out of favor among the local fraternity due to perceived weediness.  And yes, it has 'escaped' into local riparian creek and wetland systems. Be that as it may, I think it is a beautiful scented vine that is an asset to the formerly barren and colorless Darwin gardening scene of pre Cyclone Tracy ( 1974 )
The local Council built this horrendously expensive shade structure on one of our city streets, and planted Rangoon Creeper as the covering vine.... Oh the controversy on Social Media....
Near brought the Council to its knees.... lol 
But the cultivars used were thornless and seedless therefore non invasive..... 
Beautiful tropical vine !
https://www.healthyactivebydesign.com.au/news-and-events/cooling-the-city-cavenagh-street-heat-mitigation-darwin

https://www.miragenews.com/cooler-city-more-jobs-cavenagh-shade-structure-construction-complete/
 

Agree with Tropic breeze. No doubt it can be  magnificent thing but...........polarising for sure. I'm definately anti. Believe me thornless and seedless do not contain it for one second. It is an utter menace. It flowers beutifully if your dry season is immaculately dry and brutaly hot and humid but otherwise it's a spotty rampant ugly thing which sends up shoots fom the ground years after you thought you had erradicated it. it just keeps coming back at you. The more you pull the stronger it comes back and the more it shreds your hands and if you dig you just create a forest of wiry stems. Every year I remove it every year it rewards me with a crop of lovely new stems in completely new places and the same place. It's not something you want to even start with if your climate is tropical, seriously avoid like the plague. I can only imagine with horror if this thing went viral in indigenous or native forest. Doesn't need to set seed at all to become a very serious problem. They will need to burn any prunings and make sure it doesn't travel underneath that carpark into the hedge. If those a are solid concrete planters with no drainage holes then wonderfull but why take the risk that it will find it's way onto a dump or someones backyard as a cutting. This is one I can easily vote to ban. 

Vines are some of the most problemtic noxious invaders. That lovely dangling blue Thunbergia laurifolia is another old school absolute disaster.

Edited by Cedric
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Cerdic

Non omnis moriar (Horace)

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On 5/23/2020 at 2:07 PM, greysrigging said:

A new tropical vine ( to the Darwin market ) Called Nong Nooch Vine ( after the Gardens in Thailand ), or marketed by our local box store as 'Curtains of Gold'
Being trialed at the George Brown Botanical Gardens, Darwin. Some local enthusiasts have had it growing successfully for a few years now. Also looks good in hanging pots.

 

93418553_10222433737335048_4943179458417786880_o.jpg

93886928_3446122278737850_4625180904455667712_n.jpg

93995809_3446122355404509_8219758279950073856_n.jpg

Grows well here.  So hardy down to 10%C or 50%F. I've only seen it gorwn in the parks in the city which never gets colder than about that. With any elevation the bets are off.

 

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Cerdic

Non omnis moriar (Horace)

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On 5/24/2020 at 4:58 PM, Silas_Sancona said:

Interesting that Solandra maxima would be a challenge there.. Is it just too hot/ humid where you're located? You tried any of the other Solandra species?

Funny, but goes to show that what someone would go through hoops to try and grow ( Rangoon Creeper, in this case ) can be an aggressive invader somewhere else..  Could be worse i guess, you ( and i ) could be be-deviled with Air Potato.. a horrible viney invader in Florida, or, ( thank my lucky stars i don't have it here ), i could be dealing with Himalayan Blackberry.. Lots of good memories collecting the sweet fruit off of them in the summer growing up but.. What a monster to try and eradicate /control.. People think Cacti are spiny.. As i imagine it, the entrance to that "special" place deep below ground, where really bad people are cast to repent.. is surrounded in walls of this Blackberry, and lots of "Jumping" Cholla ( cactus ) lol.. It grabs and stabs with ease..  Leave even a small piece behind, and it roars back to life, laser focused on revenge for whomever tried to kill it. 

You may remember them posting here years ago, it was Ari and Scott (from Darwin) who told me the Solandra wouldn't survive here. Maybe it doesn't like the consistent heat, because it does grow where it gets hot occasionally.

We have a native variety of Air Potato, Dioscorea bulbifera, but the aerial tubers are small. The underground tubers are eaten by Aborigines. 

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16 hours ago, Cedric said:

 

Vines are some of the most problemtic noxious invaders. That lovely dangling blue Thunbergia laurifolia is another old school absolute disaster.

That blue Thunbergia is also an old school Darwin grown vine I think our one is grandiflora.. Still found in the older suburban gardens and is equally loved ( for the flowers and bird attracting qualities ) and loathed ( for its rampant choking wet season growth and its habit of sprouting where the dangling bits touch the ground ) I have seen it in Bali where the tropical exotic ambience is stunningly beautiful, and I have also spent days helping a mate pull it down at the end of the Wet, where it has reached 12m ( 40') up into the canopy, choking palms, trees and shrubs.
 

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I would like to have this Territory native in the back yard....the Bush Yam or Bush Potato ( Ipomea abrupta ). A common wet season vine out at Litchfield Park.
 

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1 hour ago, greysrigging said:

I would like to have this Territory native in the back yard....the Bush Yam or Bush Potato ( Ipomea abrupta ). A common wet season vine out at Litchfield Park.
 

Got them growing naturally on my place. They're quite common, especially along roadsides in low lying area. They like wet ground, not constantly inundated though. You should be able to collect seed and get it to germinate easily.

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This is also a cursed weedy mongrel of an 'old school' Darwin vine, again a remnant of a time when there wasn't much color or variety in local gardens. Coral vine  ( Antigonon leptopus )...Arrrgh, I can barely bring myself to type its name....caused me a lot of grief over 25 years of trying to control it....haha
Not taking away the stunningly pretty flowers, the bees ( both native and European ) who love the blooms, as well as butterflies and birds..... but, but, but.....It is virtually indestructible, a forever plant, once you have it you will forever be cutting it back, digging out suckers and pulling out seedlings.  Every flower sets seeds on my vine, understandable I guess given the pollinators at work on it all day every day. It sorta goes dormant in our dry season ( but still flowers ), only to come back with a vengeance with the first rains. It will scramble 40' or 50' up into the tree canopy, smothering everything in its path. It smothered my 40 year old Mango tree and then Cyclone Marcus toppled the tree because the vine acted like the sails on a ship. To paraphrase the Frank Sinatra song, "Regrets, I've had a few.....", well mine are planting this vine and Carpentaria palms....lol !
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That's my garden shed under there somewhere....
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Tends to get away in the wet season....
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1 hour ago, greysrigging said:

This is also a cursed weedy mongrel of an 'old school' Darwin vine...........

That's my garden shed under there somewhere....
20200307_093129.thumb.jpg.a9d5c8dfc49af95d369045949c5a5cb8.jpg


Tends to get away in the wet season....

 

 

LOL, my sympathies. Yes was very tempted with this awhile back but just shy enough not to.  Think bind-weed helped in that decision. It's a big problem in our wet season, bind weed. It does have pretty white morning glory flowers but what a menace. It's exactly as you say,  smothers trees and if that doesn't kill them the typhoons take them down like match sticks.  Dry season you wouldn't even know it was there but come the rains....

Pyrostegia Venusta is another old school Satan's little helper .....I found carrot like roots/tubers as thick as my thigh of this skinny little stringy thing. It loves trees! Those roots when you cut them they bleed for days and days a thick foamy ooze that spurts and runs like a bleeding broken water pipe. Very very difficult to eradicate. Extremely lovely in flower LOL

On a much much more positive note if you haven't you must try (if you still have any climbing space left with Antigonon) "Jacquemontia pentanthos" see pixle bellow. I first saw it in Bombay used as a sky blue curtain behind my hotel room. Ordered seeds, went mad trying to get one. Seeds didnt germinate...... eventualy managed to bring one back with me from Sri Lanka and it's such a fantastic thing. It's a colour every garden needs too and is smothered in flowers for months and months and months in the dry season into the first month of the wet. During the wet it grows leaves but never increasing in size to what it originally grows to.  Stays just a little fantastic perfect climber, you would need a few to cover a carport. Doesn't set much seed and even when it does the seed doesn't seems to germinate. Mostly propagated by layering. Not native to Australia but the West Indies, Mexico, Central and South America. Very very cool plant. Bees and sun birds love it. Guarantied not a problem.

Jacqpent_3.jpg

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Cerdic

Non omnis moriar (Horace)

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17 minutes ago, Cedric said:

LOL, my sympathies. Yes was very tempted with this awhile back but just shy enough not to.  Think bind-weed helped in that decision. It's a big problem in our wet season, bind weed. It does have pretty white morning glory flowers but what a menace. It's exactly as you say,  smothers trees and if that doesn't kill them the typhoons take them down like match sticks.  Dry season you wouldn't even know it was there but come the rains....

Pyrostegia Venusta is another old school Satan's little helper .....I found carrot like roots/tubers as thick as my thigh of this skinny little stringy thing. It loves trees! Those roots when you cut them they bleed for days and days a thick foamy ooze that spurts and runs like a bleeding broken water pipe. Very very difficult to eradicate. Extremely lovely in flower LOL

On a much much more positive note if you haven't you must try (if you still have any climbing space left with Antigonon) "Jacquemontia pentanthos" see pixle bellow. I first saw it in Bombay used as a sky blue curtain behind my hotel room. Ordered seeds, went mad trying to get one. Seeds didnt germinate...... eventualy managed to bring one back with me from Sri Lanka and it's such a fantastic thing. It's a colour every garden needs too and is smothered in flowers for months and months and months in the dry season into the first month of the wet. During the wet it grows leaves but never increasing in size to what it originally grows to.  Stays just a little fantastic perfect climber, you would need a few to cover a carport. Doesn't set much seed and even when it does the seed doesn't seems to germinate. Mostly propagated by layering. Not native to Australia but the West Indies, Mexico, Central and South America. Very very cool plant. Bees and sun birds love it. Guarantied not a problem.

Jacqpent_3.jpg

Mmmm ok, I'll do some research on it.... looks very nice !

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6 hours ago, greysrigging said:

That blue Thunbergia is also an old school Darwin grown vine I think our one is grandiflora.. Still found in the older suburban gardens and is equally loved ( for the flowers and bird attracting qualities ) and loathed ( for its rampant choking wet season growth and its habit of sprouting where the dangling bits touch the ground ) I have seen it in Bali where the tropical exotic ambience is stunningly beautiful, and I have also spent days helping a mate pull it down at the end of the Wet, where it has reached 12m ( 40') up into the canopy, choking palms, trees and shrubs.
 

20245538_10154879422620950_5376429470969286524_n.jpg

 

 

 

Yes exactly, this monster!!! People like Made Wijaya (Michael White) the Ozzie on Bali unfortunately popularised this plant quite dramatically in otherwise quite respectable gardens across the tropics. It does though predate him of course too, the British (blush) managed to spread quite a few things across the globe . It's a rampant triffid of a vine. Sad because the flowers are so charming, there is even a lovely white one. Beautiful form too with those long long ever stretching dangling flowers. Even a single piece of vine thrown into the bush in the wet season will grow roots and power itself over huge sections of forest. 

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Cerdic

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Haha, funnily enough, orange trumpet vine is a sought after vine in Darwin.... planted on boundary fence lines etc.... can handle our extreme wet/dry climate.... I have one that is not particularly happy with its location and is struggling ( would you believe ) Flowers in August/ Sept here ( end of the dry ) and looks spectacular, but is not that long lasting. Does way better in the milder climes of SE Queensland around Brisbane where it also blooms in August.
I've always loved the flowers, but its an otherwise nondescript plant for 10 months of the year.
A Darwin hedge...
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27 minutes ago, greysrigging said:

Mmmm ok, I'll do some research on it.... looks very nice !

It is a very nice thing, loves the monsoon wet and the dry season. In fact if you water it in the dry season once every few weeks it flowers even better. I've only ever been as far as Cairns (well a bit further) in Australia and never seen it grown which is quite surprising.

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Cerdic

Non omnis moriar (Horace)

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10 hours ago, Cedric said:

Pyrostegia Venusta is another old school Satan's little helper .....I found carrot like roots/tubers as thick as my thigh of this skinny little stringy thing. It loves trees! Those roots when you cut them they bleed for days and days a thick foamy ooze that spurts and runs like a bleeding broken water pipe. Very very difficult to eradicate. Extremely lovely in flower LOL

I've been trying to grow P. venusta where I live but it's really borderline due to our cool, wet winters. I have mine on a south-facing trellis but only now (late May) are new shoots coming out. I'll give it another growing season before I decide to replace it with something more adaptable to our climate. It has weed-like growth in SoCal. I had no idea its roots were so large and thick!

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8 minutes ago, Hillizard said:

I've been trying to grow P. venusta where I live but it's really borderline due to our cool, wet winters. I have mine on a south-facing trellis but only now (late May) are new shoots coming out. I'll give it another growing season before I decide to replace it with something more adaptable to our climate. It has weed-like growth in SoCal. I had no idea its roots were so large and thick!

You might throw some high K around it to give it a boost.. Grew like a weed in San Jose, after taking about a year to really get going.. Planted it against a east facing fence that butted up against a south facing wall. Grew for years after the move to FL.  but was apparently removed at some point. Not sure how since i'd planted it in it's pot, after cutting out part of the bottom, lol.

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25 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

You might throw some high K around it to give it a boost.. Grew like a weed in San Jose, after taking about a year to really get going.. Planted it against a east facing fence that butted up against a south facing wall. Grew for years after the move to FL.  but was apparently removed at some point. Not sure how since i'd planted it in it's pot, after cutting out part of the bottom, lol.

Thanks Nathan. I'll give it a try... once our heatwave has passed!!

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On 5/26/2020 at 3:22 PM, greysrigging said:

................ To paraphrase the Frank Sinatra song, "Regrets, I've had a few.....", well mine are planting this vine and Carpentaria palms....lol !

Don't knock Carpies, they're okay. I've got 1 or 2, or maybe even 3 thousand of them. They provide me with most of my palm fronds that I use.

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A nice vine that does OK in Darwin. Sandpaper Vine or Northern Wisteria botanical name Petrea Volubilis 
 

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