piksihk said:Donald, I do love the blooms but it is getting to be a 'thug' - the vines are so long and reaching every which way -
so it needs to be contained...they self-root on the ground.

The allamanda 'cherries jubilee' is blooming for the first time and it will be on my favorites list...

The 'Mexican Flame Vine' is growing, but currently all the blooms are spent and I'm not seeing any new buds.

What's the difference between 'Allamanda' and 'Mandevilla'? Does anyone know? I went to the database too look at Allamanda 'Cherries Jubilee' and the bloom, leaves and vine look just like what I bought this year as a Mandevilla except mine is red. So I went to search out Mandevillas in the database and other 'Allamandas'. I'm missing something somewhere, I think. Except for the shrubby yellow Allamandas, I'm not being able to distinguish them. My original Mandevilla looks different from the new one I have and different from the Allamanda photos. Now I'm wondering even more what I'm growing. All of these are obviously closely kin, but there should be something that distinguishes them as plants.

This year for the first time I grew a Canna seedling in full, sun. Needs water every day, but that was the case anyway. The bloom clusters grown in the sun are much more dense with a lot more of them. That makes these small blooms show up pretty well and the hummingbirds always like them. I kept them more because I was using the foliage to screen things. That's still why but the blooms are a bonus.

Nice cannas.

Cheryl, love that garden fairy. What is the last plant you posted?

@needrain, I don't know if this will help or even if it is still true. So many things have changed in the plant world since I kept this info from GW or DG

Allamandas can be grown as container plants on a support system, as a hanging basket trailing plant or in warmer climates as an inground plant. They can get leggy and they like to sprawl. Our plants in Sebring took over a 12 foot fence and grew 9 feet tall. I was always pruning them and they kept bushing and growing. They will tolerate temperatures down to around 25 F but will generally come back from a freeze. They are more of a shrub type plant than a vine.

Botanically Dipladenia and Mandevilla are the same but there is a difference in Dipladenia or mandevilla sanderii. The former are generally large leaved vines that have large trumpet flowers and the predominant color is a very deep fushia or red color. There are some different cultivars in varying shades. The latter is somewhat different as the leaves are much smaller and they do not tend to climb. They are used more as container or semi-hanging basket plants. They do not do too well inground and prefer to remain containerized. If you are looking for a vine then you wish to go with the true mandevilla. I have a unique varigated leaf with light lavender flowers. They do not like cold weather too much but will grow up and up. The Dipladenia are extremely happy with beachfront conditions. Neither like cold wet feet in the winter and they make it the first year but will die the second

@zazinnia That is a euphorbia Geroldii a succulent part shade-lover. We picked it up at the Home and Garden Show in Feb. It's been blooming ever since it came out of dormancy.

I got a nice set of 5 yard fairies from my DD for my birthday. I love moving them around the yard. You just never know where they will show up!

@froggardener
Jolana! It would help if the plants came with some kind of label! Then I could complain about the supplier to my supplier. So Mandevilla vs Mandevilla vs Dipladenia vs Allamanda! I'm just in doubt. Here's a few photos and lots of words.

This is the one I've had now for three summers. It's in a container and hangs under an oak tree. It has been a wonderful and productive plant. It does twine and last year I actually was attaching lead fishing weights trying to keep it in a trailing style of growth rather than vine/climbing M.O. Had a rough winter and spring. I managed to leave it out on a night when the temps got down to about 30F and twice on nights where there was white frost. I cut it back severely when it went out this spring and then after it was growing well and twining up the support, the old rope sling had gotten rotten ( ) and broke, tearing about 1/3 of the plant off because I hadn't been careful about not letting it twine. It recovered and has been doing its normal production of growth and non-stop blooms. This plant has white, sticky sap if it's broken. Very sticky! At times it also smell like an orange. The citrus fragrance is more common at dusk or when it's humid, but sometimes it happens otherwise and often there isn't any detectable fragrance at all.


This is the new acquisition this year and it's also growing in a container, but in full sun and twining up a cattle panel. No fragrance that I've ever detected and didn't have white, sticky sap when I removed leaves and bloom today. Larger blooms and larger leaves that have ribs compared to the smooth texture of the original. Some buyer's remorse here because they had a white one which I wish I'd picked over the red, but I can't complain about how well it's doing.


Here's the best I could do for closeups of the leaves and blooms. The darker red is the original.

Okay from my experience and what I can find in old notes found. Mandevilla had the yellow centers in my old plants that I no longer have.
The Allamandas never had yellow centers. I'll look some more for fragrance. I don't recall a fragrance but I can;t rely on my memory any longer ,

It doesn't help that there are some many mandevillas

Here's another article I found

Well, you can't count on fragrance either . It's not reliable and I've never detected it on the new one. Shouldn't they both have the white sap? I'm gonna go attack the new one again and see if I can make it bleed. I feel like a mean interrogator, but I don't know how else to get the information.

It's good to know I can cut it back to a foot tall. Saves space in winter storage.

Definitely has white sap. Thinner and not as sticky, but it's definitely milky sap. A web search show Allamanda also has white sap, so it's probably a generic trait in the family and not a distinguishing feature.

All that rain in the spring was really nice, but it made my plants grow so much that everything already needs to be cut back. I usually wait until August to give most shrubby things a good pruning. The plants have really needed it for a couple of weeks now, but I've talked myself out of it each day so far. Do any of you do a late summer pruning?

I do and I have already started, it will help with the watering also, 😊

I uplifted my whole front bed. But I am thinking the early heavy rains made the plants used to more water than normal. They seem to suffering now unless I water pert'near every day!