This is probably one of the most extreme examples of pushing the climatic envelope with plant selection in our region, this vine is so sensitive to cold even without actual frost, and in my experience in my own garden in Berkeley, California just couldn’t withstand temps below 5°C without dropping all leaves and flowers and then rotting out. Even protected as this vine is by a solid roof canopy overhead the balcony substructure it is attached to with a suspended metal grid panel, and the southwest exposure, the inflorescences are undoubtedly still impacted by cool night time temperatures and don’t quite measure up to such in a warmer climate where there are typically a dozen flowers open on an 18” long inflorescence. The best I’ve seen on this vine is perhaps half that number just at the lowest tip, the ones above fall off much sooner.
Would you still push ahead with growing this given the less than optimal appearance? It reminds of a similar case with growing Handrananthos chrysantha, the Golden Trumpet tree here by the bay. Density of flowering will never match how it blooms in Brazil or Mexico, or even in Southern California.
Thanks David for posting this, I haven't seen it in the flesh for many years, not since working as a volunteer in the plant department at the Living Rainforst charity near Newbury in Berkshire.https://livingrainforest.org/about-us
Along with many of the other plants grown there it was often plagued by scale insect but when in flower it was glorious. The other spectacular vine growing in the heated glass houses was the Stongylodon Jade Vine. Happy days.
The Jade Vine is pretty fabulous as well, but only if I lived in Hawaii or south Florida could I grow one in the USA. I seem to remember a nice T. mysorensis growing at Kew in the Princess Diana Conservatory. It seemed to bloom in August there, here it blooms late autumn into spring. I also noticed the Thunbergia grandiflora has massive amounts of flower buds set to bloom in a couple more weeks, perhaps sooner if the weather here stays more consistently warmer. We keep alternating between 70° and 55°F days and nights still in the low 40’s°F and repeated cold fronts with rain. The snowfall in the Sierra Nevada mountains went from 30% of average back in January to 110% of average in April, and another chance of snow up there today, but no corresponding rains here in the San Francisco Bay Area. San Diego and Los Angeles have gotten 150% of their typical rainfall, and the Big Sur coast has also gotten slammed, parts of Highway One have again slid into the ocean the soil is so saturated.
I managed to source a very nice plant of it, grew it in a pot in the Conservatory, it took off like a rocket but soon got red spider and unlike some plants which shed the affected leaves and carry on, it just threw the towel in and was dead in days. When it comes to the Jade Vine - Ray Hubbard of Hill house nursery tried to get me to grow it for years, according to him it was both the easiest climber to propagate and the quickest to reach saleable size. but sadly he had masses more space than me and they do get big very very quickly so I declined, I think Mathew (Rays son) still has it in the small double greenhouse which was like Aladdin's cave with all sorts of things planted in the ground, normally closed to the public you would need to sweet talk Sacha (Ray's wife) or Mathew to get a look inside - such a shame they no longer do mail order
David F wrote: ↑Mon Apr 08, 2024 2:42 pm
I seem to remember a nice T. mysorensis growing at Kew in the Princess Diana Conservatory.
[pedant] The glasshouse at Kew is called the Princess of Wales Conservatory - not the Princess Diana Conservatory. It is named after the title, not one of the holders of the title :) [/pedant]
Cambridge University Botanic Garden has both climbers in the tropical greenhouse, always a pleasure to see.
