Cobea Scandens

I have a couple areas in my flower gardens that I usually fill with an annual vine; I’ve been looking around for something I haven’t tried before.  Usually this ends up being some sort of odd experiment.  One year I tried to germinate a Black Eyed Susan vine

The first year, I stuck the seeds in peat pots and hoped for the best.  I went through two seed packets, and NOTHING.  I realized the seed packets rarely give enough information; the vine is an African native, requires some warm temperatures for germination, and since germination takes so long, they rot easily if too wet.  I solved that problem by planting them in bigger pots, keeping just barely moist, and putting a heating pad underneath the tray to keep the temperatures closer to 80 during the day.  Success! The plant is beautiful paired with blues, and makes a nice trailing plant in a hanging pot.  It is tender, and doesn’t take off outdoors until the nights are quite warm, and then takes a lot of pinching back to keep in place, unless you don’t mind it taking over! 

Cardinal Climber is another climbing vine I tested out a few years ago.  Burpee sells the seeds – it’s a tropical climber, too.  Lovely, but not much in the way of blooms in my climate until fall.  Once it takes off, it’s also fast-growing. They are very tender and can’t be placed outside until all danger of frost is gone.  I usually wait until June 1.  The foliage is interesting and unique, the blooms are small but pretty and trumpet-shaped.

Morning glory is an old favorite – I nick the seed coating and soak in water to get them going quickly.  I usually sow those directly in the ground.  I think this blue variety is Grandpa Ott’s:

Two years ago we tried Moonflower.  What a shame, I never took a photograph.  It resembles a morning glory, but is GIGANTIC in proportion.  The leaves are enormous, and each bloom is nearly 12 inches across, and white.  It’s a night blooming flower, and smells divine.  We grew those by the back patio so we could catch the scent at night.  Burpee says the blooms are 6″ across, but ours were much larger.

This year, the trial plant is Cobaea Scandens, also known as Cup and Saucer vine.  I’ve learned my lesson and poked around and found as much information as I could before planting.  It’s a Mexican native, and has a lovely looking flower.  From what I read, it may be difficult to germinate.  Reading between the lines, I decided it must need very warm soil, so I’ve got the starter pots sitting on top of a warmer, and the germination period is three weeks, so rot might be an issue.  The seeds are about the size of a dime, and paper-thin.  I only have nine, so we’ll see how this grand experiment proceeds.  No chance of runaway seeds next year, as it’s pollinated by fruit bats.  My main worry is that I’ve planted it a few weeks too late in order to get fall flowers.  It all depends on how soon we get frost.

The other new (to me) vine I’m trying out this year is Hyacinth Bean.  Wikipedia has a nice article with pictures of the seeds, pods and flower.  Those are already pushing up, easy-grow.  They have a lovely purple color and interesting pods – I’ll try some of those potted, and also in the ground as a decorative plant, and probably pair it with the Black Eyed Susan vine.  It can, however, be poisonous, but my kids are old enough to recognize the plants I point out.