Just went out this morning to check on the Mandevilla, doing great so far with the spring rains. Leaves growing quite well at the base. This is the last day of the turbulent weather week we are having, Love to get more stable warmth soon Just lookout friends to the midwest, the weather systems we had this week were so crazy weird, hail, tornado, rain, snow in different areas here in Northern Cali. We are not so used to this especially being April already, usually we just like light spring rain and warmth.

Yes we would love more stable weather too...Well my mandavilles would love it...I think I can put them out in the shaade today...Not Freezing,pretty decent this am..Itmight even be 50... I ve never wintered over a tropical before..learning curve..they were doing good now im not soo sure...Wait an see..Im not giving up yet...

Yes.. strawberry lemonaide sounds lovely.. I believe I was varaigated in a past life..
so... this is them after a week or two outside... it has been cool... and they might have looked better when I first saw the growth and put them out... but for me..with them... this is overwintering survival success..


overwintering tropicals is a long.. plant specific ..learning experminent.. a site specific application of light ..heat.. water and this year.. I feel humidity is the golden coin of success... inside where there's warmth.. water.. and lots of HID lighting... and low humidity .. there's little real growing.. up in the cool room.. there's next to no light before the skylights go in.. some warmth and water.. and humidity of maybe 80% they are looking much better...
today I cut away 1/2 the cool room.. good for seeimg the full floor planter technique.. where the brugs and a few others are dug.. then placed one against the other.. filling up the floor..


things you can leave outside are much easier.. but then they don't have the attraction of the tropicals ..right..well not all the time through the summer anyway

HollyAnnS said:I usually have my Dad bring in his Mandevilla inside and let it go dormant in his basement for the winter. It had done well for him for the last few years. Only issue seems to be that it takes forever for it to start blooming again. Usually doesn't bloom until August. I have heard others say the same time about how long it seems for their Mandevilla's to start blooming after being in dormant winter storage.
Gordon your roof top gardens are just beautiful.

glad you posted ... I was wondering if the small rooted cuttings I bought were bum ones.. they just started blooming a few weeks ago

My Dad's neighbor has one on his lamp post that he purchased every time I would drive by that I would compare it to my Dad's which was just as big but not blooming. Then just as it usually does it started to bloom and it is just beautiful. Mine also finally started to bloom and when they both did they are prolific bloomers.

I bought a corkscrew vine that hasn't done anything.. won't do that again

I have one too, I think it came from the Swap? It isn't doing anything for me either. I also bought a variegated Sky Blue Vine. It isn't doing much either but I will dig it up and hopefully over winter it for next year. It is very pretty I wasn't really sure it would bloom for me this year. I had beautiful gloriosa lilies thanks to Sally. My Hyacinth Bean is going great guns hopefully I will have seeds for next year. The hardy passion vine and Blushing Susie vine are doing great. I planted the Mandevilla and Sky Blue Vine on the front of the Gazebo where they would be well seen but the Big Portadoras block them so they really aren't very visible and I wonder if the SBV would have grown better in a different location maybe it isn't getting enough light with the Portadora in front of it. I need more trellises.
varigated Sky Blue Vine..... Hyacinth Bean Growing over the garden arbor

Allison... MMMM what do you mean it hasn't done anything... what were you looking for it to do... clean the house.. mow the lawn..
they are a bit slow to mature.. my first one didn't flower the first year.. but it did after overwintering it... the one I got this spring..from a seed I started....it has filled up it's trellis..well... the trellis is about 2 1/2 ft wide and 6 ft tall.. some of the vines have grown up 6 ft to the top.. and another 6 ft back to the roof.. so it enjoys a big container.. and plenty of trellis... and has a 1/2 dozen flowers most days.. might have 8 today.. any you can hardly notice them.. not real showey distributed throughout the volume of vine and leaves.. give it a chance...
is it perhaps growing on it's own trellis and pot.. so you can move all of it inside.. without chopping it up alot.. do you have a place to overwinter it .. you'll have plenty of flowers next year... and there's another month or two it can still make you happy in...
my mandevilla this year is my alltime favorite.. not as rampant a grower as some.. but still robust.. and flowers in such a deep rich dark red... what do you think

Impressive, I might try taking mine inside to over winter. I grew mine in a deck box with lattice fencing behind it. There isn't much growing room. I have planted MG in there for years and they always do well so I never thought it might not be good for the Corkscrew Vine.
That Mandevilla looks like red velvet very pretty.

Holly... OH love the leaves of your skyvine though... who needs flowers with that display... oh I know... I've the green one... and I've had a flower maybe in July.. and another in August... I saw one in Nicaragua at Tabacon... a hot springs resort on the side of the volcano there... it went up maybe 40 ft on an antenna mast... and had flowers dripping all over it... millions and millions of them... and I've had two or three... but going up to get a picture of the vine today... there's a flower.... on all that vine... a flower...

I do have a cactus in bloom for the last week.. with one bloom then another... glad there's something working right
we are really light chalenged this far north .. remember... it's not like 15* north lat
OH.. with the cropping you have to double click on the cactus flower to expand it.. to see the flower... and another one about o open tomorrow or the day after

Onewish1 said:I bought a corkscrew vine that hasn't done anything.. won't do that again

ditto on mine...

The Skyvines really go crazy here too. I have my eye on propagating one that we have at the Botanical Garden that has variegated leaves

Oh I love that flower, I always think they are so odd but beautiful. I first saw the SBV while visiting Fl. and really wanted one. Then while doing a search on it I found the variegated variety.

hey if it would weed out there... it would help but it grew maybe a foot since I planted it in spring.. kinda thought it would have grown more.. guess it's coming in for winter

yes.. it should have grown more since the spring.. mine has 12 ft of growth since then.. it was a 2" seedling in march.. now it's 6 ft up the trellis.. and 6 ft back to the ground.. no weeds in the container.. just plenty of manure to start it off.. then lots of food and water..did I mention more food... and aditive sprays.. it sat on the 150*F roof.. which gets things going too.. in a 3' long container.. with peteunias.. not weeds.. did I mention water.. it is dry.. and hungry...
yes.. give it a chance next year... I didn't do nearly as well with my first one.. it started as a plant in the spring.. and never flowered... this started as a seedling in the spring.. and already it's got at least a few flowers every day... it doesn't have the vanilla scent I was expecting.. maybe it will develop as it gets the flowering thing down.. although it might be I can't smell any lesser scent.. after getting my nose into the tubrose flowers... or the many brugmansias.. here..

What are those red flowers in the first Pic?

OH.. that photo was taken right after sunset and you can see how bright and glowing it is.. it's the best plant it comes back from around where it had grown the year before ... kind of in spring it will all sprout out these little purple leaves.. so it's easy not to mistake it for a weed or something else... thoes two were volunteer sprouts in my lawn.. and I started seedlings early for a bunch of trades at a spring swap in Flordia /Alabama I sometimes make... it's an iron clad grower... it stands about 4-5ft tall now... it's commonly called Summer Poinsettia... it's a decorative type of amaranth.. the small fine grain from Peru.. the incas grew to eat.. lets see if there's some better pictures... funny ..trying to trade something noone has seen .. but I make them take one... knowing how good it is

the dark maroon leaves have a red patterning on them.. and the top leaves turn that brilliant bright red.. like a poinsettia it's the leaves being red that has it looking like a flower.. it surely is the brightest thing in the garden starting about July/august.. and getting more red all the time...
this last picture is one I'd planted earlier in my Alabama garden @ mothers dated 7-29these were sprouted inside early.. the others wer volunteers on my roof

I bought seeds for those this year.. never did get to them though

Just gorgeous. When I showed it to Ric he said it looked like a poinsettia.