The flowers open white and age to a dark yellow. Their fragrance reminds me of a Brug, perhaps a little lighter, and it carries about the same distance. (Another late evening to early morning scented one.) It's supposed to be a vine, but since I don't have anything sturdy enough for it to climb on I'm trying it as a bush.
I love your flowers and crawly guests. The maypops is really interesting, I am going to look for one. I love all the squiggles.
Your yard must be amazing. Thanks for sharing.
Lynne that's beautiful. I have mine inside the house right now but want to move them into the GH. Do you think they will do ok with nighttime temps down near 40? They are big woody vines and it feels like I have a wisteria in my LV. lol
Karyn
Selma, I had read that they were supposed to smell like coconut, but I didn't pick up a trace of that. It is sweet, but not too sweet, subtle, but strong enough to smell from a few feet away. And the couple of flowers that I brought inside lasted for a few days and scented our kitchen every night.
Sally, I wish my yard was amazing, lately it seems like 1 step forward, 2 back, and occasionally 1 sideways, lol.
Karyn, they should be fine with nighttime temps around 40. We go a little below that during winter, hit almost freezing twice last year, and they didn't seem to have a problem with it.
They're pretty strong plants, our friendly yard clipper mowed through all of the longer vines that were creeping along the ground. They died back a little and then popped out new branches along what was left. With the way they were growing before they were mowed I have an image in my mind of you and the family ducking under and stepping over the vines to get to the couch, lol.
Lynne
USDA 9b, Heat 10
Bradenton, Florida
Current Kanji: hana (flower)
Lynne, I love your photos. I've been thinking about getting this vine. It sounds like it is pretty persistant (kinda like the yellow allamanda LOL!)~ I like that!
I didn't realize they had a such a nice fragrance- perfect for the moongarden.
I always enjoy your posts :P
Very nice Lynne, I have grown this plant for 4 years. Both the green and the variagated and have never had a bloom on it. I think the frost kills it back just enough every year that I must lose the blooming wood on it. That is the only thing I can think of. Like your's I always grew mine as a small busy.
Congrats on the blooms, Lynne. They're incredible!
I've been wanting to get some for awhile, but it hasn't worked out yet. And I didn't even know that there was a variegated one.
That was one of my disappointments in Mexico, I passed right through the regions that they are indigenous to, & never got to see a single one. That & the Datura ceratocaula...
Patricia, you win, lol, I thought a year and 3/4s was a long time with no bloom, but 4 years?! Everywhere seems to say they need a period of drought to bloom. I cut them back in June this year and ignored them until late October, it was pretty dry, I guess dry enough. Then we had about a week of heavy rain and the next thing I knew there were buds all over. Have you tried letting it get really dry?
The variegated one has pretty leaves, and I love the new leaves, they start purple. Still no blooms on that one for me, and I can't get cuttings of it to root no matter how hard I try.
John, I would love to be able to see some of these guys growing wild in their native habitat, I think that would be really cool. Sorry you didn't see a Solandra or the Datura, have you seen other related species?
Lynne
USDA 9b, Heat 10
Bradenton, Florida
Current Kanji: hana (flower)
I had ordered a variegated Golden Chalice vine but it was on backorder for such a long time that I gave up. I have two big standard vines wintering over in my living room but they really are getting out of hand. Does anyone know if cuttings will root? If that doesn't work maybe I'll try to air layer some of the longer sections. I never thought it smelled like coconut either. I get very few blooms and I'm sure they'd do much better if they could grow inground and stay out year round. Yet another reason to move to a warmer climate. lol
Karyn
Cuttings of the non-variegated should root very easily in soil, just like a Brug. You can even lay them on top of soil and they'll root all along the stem.
Lynne
USDA 9b, Heat 10
Bradenton, Florida
Current Kanji: hana (flower)
Lynne: Your pictures are not only inspiring, they are a great tutorial esp. for the novice. Thanks so very much for posting and sharing your lovely garden ... and little friends! Gloria
Los Angeles County, CA
Hardy Zone:9B
Heat Zone:8/9
I was thinking about cutting one of the branches that's climbing up my LR wall. It's not too far from the ceiling and I have 12' ceilings! I wish I would have thought about layering it over the summer and will definitely keep that in mind for next year.
Karyn
