coral vine #3
Mickey
Coral Vine
Mickey,Here is part of the Dmail I sent you last year on how I germinate Coral Vine
Australia
Fri, May 15, 2009
04
With the antigonon(coral vine) the best way to germinate them I have found is to use the baggie method.
What I do is nick the seedcoat with nail clippers and then soak in handhot water for a day or 2,then wet some paper towel squeeze out the excess water fold paper towel over a couple of times place seed inside, fold over again,then place in a zip lock bag...a small glad mini bag or sandwich bag is ideal ,seal opening securely then place in a very warm spot like on a cable tv box if you have one or a warm windowsill...they usually take from 6 to 15 days to germinate(they need heat to germinate)The thing I like about this method is there is no mess and you can check on the seeds every day to see if any have sprouted..if any of the roots are attached to the paper towel don't risk breaking them just plant with the small piece of paper attached.Make sure the paper stays moist not wet ..if it drys a little by your constant checking(It does for me because I am always checking lol!)just get a spray bottle(atomizer) of water and spray lightly to remoisten.I hope this helps...
cheers,
Judy
photo #4
leaves of the coral vine...
Mickey I think I got my white at zone9 tropicals. Check out Almost Eden plants too.
http://almostedenplants.com/shopping/shopdisplayproducts.asp?page=10
Brical,
I am so sorry about loosing the seeds last year and forgetting what you said about starting them.
Marie,
Dave moved the post off the Arizona garden site and moved the post to some place else. I don't know if I should post the photos on the AZ site or not.
I check out Almost Eden. This is probably not the time to be buying pllants however today was wonderful and very warm!
Mickey
Marie,
I checked out the site and they have the white plants. I'm going to order a few things from them.
Thank you for the tip it looks like a great place.
Mickey
They are great.!!! Truly nice guys and willing to go the extra mile for their customer.
No need to apologize Mickey.I'm sure you will enjoy growing them...they are a beautiful vine.
Zone9 Tropicals...Ahhh drool droool drooool....I'd be just like a kid in a candy shop...where would I start....I can dream lol!.
brical,
What zone are you in? Is it dry or humid?
Mickey
I don't actually live in Brisbane ..I am inland,so mostly dry heat here.
Have any of you had any experience with clerodendran- speciosum, or bleeding heart vine? Logee's has it on sale and it looks like a type of coral vine.
Mickey
I ahve tried several times in the ground not pots but I have lost every one of them. They do not like it too cold or so it seems
I think SoCal grows them, but she's on the coast.
I grow both coral and bleeding heart vine. I don't know if they are in the same family or not but they don't seem that connected to me, but then I have not thought of it before. The bleeding heart has been wonderful and much more robust a grower that the coral. Mine has gotten about 15 ft in one season.for the last two seasons I have had it. It completely freezes to the ground and comes back rather slowly, like a coral but has stiff woody stalks and gorgeous dark heart shaped leaves, bigger than my coral. I have to tie it up to the support as it grows. It doesn't begin to bloom until the weather cools in the early fall and then puts on a show until frost kills it. The blooms are fantastic, I have the purple and fuschia one.
Maybe I have it backwards then and it does not like our heat? Hmmm I may need to see if I can find a more protected area to try this in.
Marie,
I heard that it doesn't like heat. That's no problem I could bring it inside and just watch that the cat doesn't chew it.
The photos look very similar but then what can you tell from a photo?!?
Mickey
Lovedigen,
Did you buy the bleeding heart vines as plants or seeds? What is your climate like, dry or humid?
Thanks,
Mickey
Mickey, I bought the coral vine. We have a very hot summer, which is it's primary growing season as it doesn't get going good until it is quite hot. We had a scorcher of a summer in 09, many, many days of 100 and more degrees. But we do have some humidity since we are about 100 miles inland of the gulf coast.
We have a basic clay soil but I have amended it some.
I'm working on amending my soil if you can even call it that with plenty of good old horse manure. I just have to pick it up.I have 3 neighbors saving it for me. I don't know how deep I need to put it. Anyone have any ideas? We don't really even have soil it's just back fill that is decomposed garnet and sand
Mickey
My white coral vine seeds are starting to come up. I have 2 batches of pink coming up and I have to make the time to get the rest of the pink seeds started. They seem a little slow in growing....but it could be that I'm looking at them every day.
Mickey
Mickey, good to hear you have plants to tend. Almost everything here is blackened and crispy from the prolonged freeze we had recently except for the poppies and larkspur that are getting to be a few inches tall, reseeded themselves and a few other perennials that survived. Even my roses look bare and sad.
My coral vine will have to come back from the ground and they do seem to grow slowly, especially while they are establishing their roots system. They like the warm temps and will really grow when that happens. Good luck.
I grew Coral Vines (chain of love) at our last home. I got a start from a garden friend, and had no idea what to expect... It grew up over our Pergola, covered the top, and made a perfect shade cover in one summers time. It would die back to the ground, so I cut it back, and new growth would come up each spring. i only had it 3 yrs before we sold and moved. I was quite pleased with its performance and coloring. Mine was Hot Pink. This was in Crowley TX, in basically in full, hot TX sun. The roots didn't get any shade until after about 5pm.
The only picture I can find at the moment, is this one that shows the base of the vine, growing on the center column to the right... sorry.
My coral vines sure haven't grown that much but they are under lights in the laundry room. Many of the white seeds have come up that I bought. I'm thinking about getting more white seeds. I have some more pink to plant. If they ever get larger I'll move them up into a larger pot while they are inside.
TxMel. how tall did yours get. I may have to rethink were I'm going to put them. How cold did it get at you house were you had the coral vines?
Mickey
The pergola was 8 ft tall and the vines grew up to the top, then spread over the top, covering the 5ft x 15ft space. I did add some deer netting to go up the post, and across the top, to allow the coral vine, as well as Cardinal Vines to attach to and make a cover.