Question on Mandevilla from The Coastal Bend

Hi! I hope this is ok to ask this here. I started to post in the Viners and such, but I figure since this is Texas....and yall know how crazy our weather can be..I would ask here! I purchased 2 mandevilla plants in September or early October. Well, I am a newbie..and I had my first experience with Japanese Beetles. They devoured all the flowers and foilage on one..left the other totally alone.(the surviving one is doing wonderfully well!). Well, recently, I purchased a Lonicera purpura(sp) to plant where I had originally planned the Mandevilla that the beetles got. When I dug down to plant..I came across what ..at first I had NO clue. It was the root ball from the Mandevilla!! So..my question is..How can I get new plants from that root ball? How do I go about doing it? My hubby just built me a greenhouse..so I can nurse it there..or where ever I need to! Can yall guide me on this please? Thanks a bunch! Oh..the Mandevilla that I have are the Mandevilla sanderi. I have added a close-up of the one that has done so well and growing like crazy!!

Hi ~ am not that familiar with this mandevilla but think if you pot the root ball up and set in the gh it may well come back. Did the roots still look good and can you see any new growth like shoots?

Tb, I agree with podster, it should make it. That's the Mande I have, I think it's 'White Fantasy'.

Hey yall..Ok...well, the mandevilla is most def the chilean variety. It looks white in the pics but actually has a very faint pink blush to it. You can really see the pink on the tips when the bud is one day from opening..Anyway..the roots DO look good..Great in fact. There are a couple of places of new growth. The new growth is a bit higher on the stem(?)..Above the actual roots. So, do I just put it in a container and go for it? With the weather like we have been having, my greenhouse may not see a lot of action this year. It was in the 90s today! Hot..humid..hot..and humid!
Well, yall let me know what I should do. I would be tickled pink(heehee..like my mande!) if I were able to recoup some of the losses I suffered late last summer!!

I'd think you could just go for it and put it in a container. My FIL always cuts his down almost to the soil level every year and they come back, so I'd think that would be kind of the same.

Sharon

strange I am in central fla nd we dont dig the plants up in winter. Do you get freezing weather there if not just leave it where it is and spray for the bugs but they do go dormant here in the late part of the yr and come back when it get warm again. They like it hot and humid. Nevr seen any bugs on mine. Fran

Thanks for all the input. I have decided to put it in a container. I also bought another one. I will winter these two in my greenhouse. It has really cooled off down here finally. Wish it would stay this way. The back and forth with hot and cool can drive ya nuts..Anyways..thanks again!