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Cup and saucer vine
Posted by: Adam Pasco, 19 November 2007, 10.12AM
A wooden obelisk at the heart of my formal garden plays host to a variety of annual climbers, but I've grown tired of sweet peas in recent years. Their performance relies on the right weather, but we don't seem to be getting the 'right' weather any more (that's a topic for another day).
So, what are the alternatives? There are quite a few annual climbers to choose from actually. Morning glory (ipomoea) is popular, but their flowers are all too short-lived. The purple bell vine (rhodochiton) is nice for a pot, but not rampant enough for an obelisk. I tried black-eyed Susan (thunbergia) last year, but flowers were sparse.
Then there's the cup-and-saucer vine, Cobaea scandens, described in the RHS A-Z of Garden Plants as a "woody, evergreen and herbaceous climber found in forest and thickets from Mexico to tropical South America." I'd love to see a picture of this. Suffice to say, my cobaea is on an obelisk in Cambridgeshire, and has been a star this summer.
I've tried growing it from seed before, but nothing germinated. This year I grew three seedlings from seed sown in the greenhouse in April. Slow at first , they soon developed into strong climbers, so tall split canes were pushed into the pots for support. By early June they were about a meter high, and robust enough to plant outside. Cobaea produces lots of spiralling tendrils for support, and these do a good job themselves, although I sometimes lend a hand to point shoots in the direction I'd like.
Flowers were a while coming, but by August a succession had developed, providing blooms until now, in November. The shape of their flower resembles a cup and saucer, hence their common name, but another descriptive name for them is cathedral bells. From the centre of the bell emerge a tight clump of stamens with curved tips carrying pollen-laden anthers. I was hoping some might have set seed, but no luck yet!
With sweet peas long gone I've just checked and the cup-and-saucer vine still carries a few blooms despite the frosts of recent nights. Will I have flowers for Christmas?
Comments
Betty of Batford Herts
15 December 2007, 04.54PM
Obelixx
16 January 2008, 10.41PM
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