Vines and climbers

[Michael]

Hi y'all 

This week i took more pictures of some favourite climbers of mine  Unfortunately i am not alowed to grow a lot of climbers, because they take a lot of space, and my dad grows Vitis plants, so he dislikes anything that climbs and can kill the Vitis (the exceptions are cucurbita, sechium, kiwi and passiflora, because of their edible fruits ). To my dad's eyes, if you cant eat it, its a worthless plant. But of course, us gardners know that that's not true, and i am having a big struggle to change his mind for the last couple of years (and i think i am starting to win the war, but its still too early to comemorate hehe

Ok, enough of talk and lets get to the pictures:

This one is Passiflora "galaxy" (yeah i know its a passiflora, but since its a sterile hybrid, it doesnt set fruit...)



Aristolochia grandiflora (and besides the fact that we cannot eat it, the plant even produce a sweet rotting flesh aromatic fragrance to make things go even better 




At the extreme left you can see my fingers, to have an idea of the scale


This one is Thunbergia mysorensis, a very neat plant, but it has a drawback: since it flowers ininterruptly all year around, you get tired of it (believe it or not!)



And last but not least, the jade vine. I took a lot of pictures and chose the best ones, but even so it is difficult to get a nice picture of this colour 








I hope you enjoyed the pictures (i am geting a new cam on january, so i promise i will improve in their quality

[Paul T]

Mike,

Great pics of some wonderful plants.  Some of the Passifloras grow here, plus there are some native species.  The Aristolochea is a gem.... I've only recently found out that a lot of them will take my level of frost here, so that it a whole new world to explore!    That Thunbergia is gorgeous.  I don't know it at all, but it looks fantastic.  And lastly the Jade Vine..... I saw it up in the far north of Queensland about 10 years ago or so and the colour is just unbelievable!!  I do so wish it would grow here, because I would grow it in a heartbeat.  I remember seeing it growing over a pergola that had been built over a garden path at a nursery we visited while we were up north..... with the huge vine covering the whole thing and these long racemes of amazingly coloured flowers.  Seeing your pics is a nice reminder of just how beautiful they were.

So.... thanks so much for the pics.  Great stuff!! 

[Miriam]

Michael,

Very nice collection of these beautiful climbers!
The Aristolochia grandiflora is a real stunner!!
I have bought some seeds of it from U.S.A, but meanwhile they have not yet germinated.

[Tony Willis]

Michael

 lovely plants.I especially like the aristolochia. I have grown elegans which is much smaller and wish I had the climate for some of the larger ones.

[Michael]

Paul,

I guess you could grow the thunbergia, it flowers well potted up, but the jade vine would be a little more complicated. This thunbergia never had set seeds, not even one, but i am still trying to pollinate it to get the seeds... I guess i need the pollen from a different clone. If someday i get seeds, would you be interested? You never lose nothing by giving it a try

Miriam, you are so right, aristolochias are so stubborn and have irregular germination. They sometimes can stay dormant up to a year before germinating. I would advise you to water the seeds with gibberelic acid. Or if you have the opportunity to get fresh seeds (by fresh i mean, just collected from the plant), do not wait and plant them right away!

Tony, if you like the larger ones, go for Aristolochia gigantea instead. At least that one doesnt stink and the flower gets even bigger than A. grandiflora. I think that A. gigantea is even more prettier

[Lesley Cox]

A north of the North Island friend grows these but his climate is subtropical. They're way too tender for my part of the world.



Andrew Broome who posts here occasionally sent me this picture the other day. It is Aristolochia fimbriata.

I went out to take a picture of A. longa, a little ground twiner with meercat-like, green flowers. But it has finished and has lots of seed, if anyone would like some in a few weeks. It is quite hardy and deciduous. I grow it in a large trough where it dangles over the side but it would climb too.

Michael I haven't forgotten some more Tecomanthe cuttings but I'm waiting until their owner is home from holidays. I'll warn you in advance.

[Michael]

Hi Lesley!

Sorry i missed this

Anyway thanks for reminding. But there is no hurry 
That Tecomanthe is even more special than the Jade vine to me 

[gote]

Excuse my ignoranse but what is a Jade wine - Apart from being beautiful of course
Göte

[Paul T]

Gote,

Its Strongylodon macrobotrys.  Racemes are about 3 feet long from memory, and the colour of jade.  Astonishing colour when you see a plant in full flower.  Unfortunately somewhat too tropical for here.

Michael,

Yep, I'd love to try seed if you manage to get it to set.  You're right though, by the sound of it you need a second clone to get it.  Then again, sometimes the conditions can be just right one year and things set seed that normally don't.  You just never know!

[Michael]

Paul, i had just noticed that our botanical garden also grows one, and with a bit of luck it will be another distinct clone. Next time i go there i will bring some flowers to try and pollinate this one, wish me luck! 

Göte, there are more jade coloured plants, like Lachenalia viridiflora, Ixia viridiflora and Puya berteroniana They are all interesting!

[Paul T]

Michael,

Maybe you can just collect some pollen from the Bot Gardens.  I'm sure they frown on people picking the flowers. 

[Michael]

Dont worry Paul

I forgot to mention that i will ask for the flowers, i have good relations with our botanical garden

[Paul T]

Just checking.    I work at a Botanic Garden, and I would  not like people coming through and picking MY flowers. 

[Joakim B]

So funny I read it as Michel would bring a flower of his to the botanical garden to pollinate theirs and only from Paul´s comment I got that it was the other way round. Maybe doing both would make them happier and maybe increase chances? Pollinating also their plant and then split the seeds from Yours and theirs to get a bigger mix?
Nice climbers and good luck.
Kind regards
Joakim

[Rogan]

Here's a pretty (awful) little creature for you all to look at: Aristolochia cymbifera  If you want any seeds, I should have plenty - I'll check...