I traded for some seeds from what I thought were 2 varieties of this vine. Got 3 large "beans" and several smaller more seed like ones. The ones I think are corkscrew type have already germinated and are sitting in a protected area with the top of a plastic bottle with top (screw top area) opened. They germinated quite quickly as our weather is already warm down here. I can hardly wait to see what the true leaves look like as I am not sure which is which. Love a mystery! The vines are both lovely but I am really interested in seeing if I have the vigna. Guess I will have a clue when I see which vine the ants like best...
Do this vines like a lot of sun? Budgielover, I noticed you are in zone 9b; I am in zone 9a on the South Texas coast so hope so. Sometimes our plants burn up if they are in direct sun so often look for filtered shade. Barb
Corkscrew Vine(vigna caracalla)
I've always looked for this and can't find it anywhere around here...:-(
For sale right here:
Vigna caracalla 5 seeds: $5.00 http://www.seedsavers.org/prodinfo.asp?number=1085&variation=&aitem=99&mitem=110
Hope you al have your typing fingers and credit cards out!!
~* Robin
Barb, I had seeds of both, and I thought I remembered seed pics in PF? Anyway, the V. caracalla seeds were definitely larger, looked to me like little square-ish pillows.
Yep, your right, there is a pic of them:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/57952/
I love it when people posts pics of seeds, it sure helps with id'ing, doesn't it?
Especially on the not so common things.
Here is a pic of mine from September when it always blooms, a bit late but better than never. Thanks for the seed link, I never quite know one from the other!
This message was edited Mar 27, 2005 3:27 PM
So, Robin...
THAT WAS AN EXPENSIVE LINK!!!
I start a new job tomorrow so I treated myself!
Steve
Ah! Steve; so you thought you'd finished buying more seeds too..... LOL!
Sometimes I don't know whether it's a good or bad thing that I don't have a credit card!
~* Robin
I just went in and bought the Corkscrew Vine seed, and got out...so it wasn't too bad...now I will find those other three seeds ,and if they all sprout, I will have eight Corkscrew Vines...I don't need that many! So you may be hearing from me....
This message was edited Mar 27, 2005 5:51 PM
Oh, thank you very much Melva!
~* Robin
Did Christmas Cactus ever get her seeds, I wonder?
Critterologist, thanks for the link to the pictures of the seeds. The Snail vine seeds look like the ones I planted but the vigna seeds shown appear to be more circular in shape than the ones I planted. Guess I will be suprised to see what comes up as vigna. Have some Bower Vine that is also germinating. Going to have to put up some more supports for all these vines. At least I hope I will end up with all these vines. Barb
CaptMicha-no I didn't.
christmascactus, I have an extra pack that I bought from Parks this year.. for a special occasion, this is it.. send me your address and I'll mail it out to you.
Antoinette
I'm curious if your v. caracalla seeds have germinated yet?! Dying for seeds of one of these plants too... can't help myself. ~ Suzi :)
~ Suzi,
It's not whether the plant lives or thrives; It's the fact that it's hard to set to seed. No one knows really why so many can't produce sufficient seed for a plant that grows so large and smells so beautiful to attract tons of ants and other insects to pollinate it. And then you find nothing there. I think it may need a helping hand to do a pollination job on it.
~* Robin
so has anyone had luck with getting it to set seed?
:}
RH
I bought a plant last week for 3.95. It's supposed to be shipped in 2 to 4 weeks. The prices on all their plants were real cheap. Can't wait to get them and will let everyone know how good they are.
brendabloomer - where did you buy it for that price? ~ Suzi :)
I ordered it through the mail from a nursery in Bloomington, IL. They have a web site. www.4seasonsnurseries.com They have VERY good prices on all of their plants. I've order plants this year from other places and they are doing very well. Never ordered from this place but they stated they guarnteed their plants for a year so I thought I'd give it a try. I did order from the web site I got a magazine in the mail from them and ordered from it. Let me know if it works out for you.
I hope that your experience is different from mine. I ordered from them and it was such a bad experience, I swore never to order from them again..the plants were tiny, many of them had insects, they were packed poorly...
They have a lot of negative feedback, on the Garden watchdog
i just went to the link and they look a little shady to me......
I have no problem with germination. I currently have 18 plants of varying sizes started from seed this year. I've also just started a tray of phaseolus seeds so I'll seed how germination compares with the vigna.
Jan...
I hate to hear this news. I was so looking forward to getting good stuff from them. I'll get back and let ya'll know how mine are when they get here.
We all wish you the best of luck on getting a great plant!! ~ Suzi :)
Just started my seeds today (got them from Park). Wish me luck!
Here's to LOTS of luck and Beautiful plants!! ~ Suzi :)
Good luck! Mine sat around for weeks with just a few leaves, then suddenly took off, so be patient with them.
BTW, I don't think anybody ever responded about "to pinch or not to pinch," but I posted the question on the propagation forum, and KimGaither recommended not pinching, just letting them grow naturally.
As an FYI, Spring Hill's Vigna Caracalla has turned out to be the purple snail vine Phaseolus even though the displayed picture shows the cream to lavender corkscrew. I emailed them two days ago about the discrepency but haven't heard from them yet. Hhmph.
I 've ordered a couple packs of seeds from Seed Savers Exchange, wish me luck!
Diana
Thank you Critter, I am AFRAID to pinch. I dont want to hurt their feelings.
yes, especially when they seem to be growing so well for me! I'm thinking it's about time to put them into a bigger pot!!