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rouge21_gw

Ipomoea lobata?

In the most recent edition of my gardening magazine subscription I saw a small but intriguing picture of this plant (aka as "Firecracker Vine" or "Spanish Flag"). It is native to Mexico and Brazil and can grow up to 5m in its climb!


Have you ever seen it in person?

Comments (10)

  • 4 years ago

    Yes. I used to grow it every season at a sunnier garden but it will not tolerate my shady, woodsy one now. The hummingbirds loved it.

    btw, it never approached close to 5m for me!! Maybe 2.5??

    rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a) thanked gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
  • 4 years ago

    it's vigorous, though yes, mostly have seen it growing here to about 2.5 meters.

    rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a) thanked FrozeBudd_z3/4
  • 4 years ago

    Yes, this is an easy summer annual in the UK along with thunbergias. Looks much better when allowed to scrabble over a hedge or helpful shrub, to my mind. Or amongst the pole beans and pea nets. Despite it cheerful colouring, it definitely looks better as part of en ensemble.

    rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a) thanked rosaprimula UK (Cambridge) Z8/9
  • 4 years ago

    along with thunbergias.


    I sowed a few seeds indoors this past March and planted them outdoors and they have all been a bust i.e. so few flowers.

  • 4 years ago

    I've seen people manage to get an earlier show, but for me it is always a late bloomer (September to frost). Very vigorous and a fun vine to grow if you have some room. Here in Pa it can easily reach ten feet, I'm sure in its native Mexico and Brazil you'll see the 5m.



    rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a) thanked katob Z6ish, NE Pa
  • 4 years ago

    Rosaprimula, could you add your location to your name? I hadn’t realised you were in the UK and it’s interesting to contrast your experience in the east with mine here in the West Country. I long ago gave up on any sun loving annuals in my tulgy little garden.

    rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a) thanked floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
  • 4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    Heya floral,. back after a long flounce and change of email..

    I do have sun...and a fair bit of it...but with no rain and dreadful sandy soil (which has suffered from a decade of no manure because of dodgy herbicide use). I am inclined to water the (few) vegetables I grow but not at all wanting to stand around watering flowers so it looks like I am going to be investigating mediterranean-type gardens in depth.

    Cheer up Rouge. Thunbergias can be a bust at the best of time. Unreliable germinators, slow to get going. Probably best to buy a plant from some nursery where they have been whipped up into unnatural growth (but as a cheapskate, this offends me to the marrow - paying £££ for a tender annual).. In a good year, they can grow immense and floriferous but not always. Last year, I grew some 'African Sunset' from seed. Only 1 germinated, which then sulked throughput August to November, finally managing 1 or 2 measly flowers around Xmas. Had I bothered this year, I would have probably had a great show, but hey, such is gardening.


    I love the word 'tulgy'...and 'mimsy' for that matter.

    rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a) thanked rosaprimula UK (Cambridge) Z8/9
  • 4 years ago

    Wonderful! She has been missed. Love to read her comments.

    rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a) thanked sweet_betsy No AL Z7
  • 4 years ago

    Cheer up Rouge. Thunbergias can be a bust at the best of time. Unreliable germinators, slow to get going.


    That's for sure :(. After starting a few from seed indoors and then planting them in May outdoors, this is all I am getting :( (can you spy those measly 2 or maybe three flowers :( )


    Probably best to buy a plant from some nursery where they have been whipped up into unnatural growth


    I would have it I could ever find one which isn't the 'standard' black-eyed Susan type.

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