Thunbergia mysorensis : Is anyone grow this vine in Zone 9?

[WonderKeeper]

Hi everybody,

I saw this vine in Da Lat, Viet Nam. Here is the link for a closer look : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kQHU495LlM&list=UUAwVxOFnXVUf3IZmFslfB7g

I just wonder is anyone out there grow this vine in zone 9 .Please post your vine picture and your story.

[Kim]

Love the look of this vine. I had one started in a coastal garden, zone 10a. It would defoliate in winter, then grow nicely from spring through fall. Another local gardener has one well established over a pergola, great for the hummingbirds it attracts to the pendant flowers. Zone 9 would be a challenge to the vine, I'm afraid. Maybe it could be grown in a protected microclimate.

[dimitris]

I planted one last year in my back yard ,zone 9b , I wanted to climb over a gazebo I got there but instead it is climbing on the lemon tree next to gazebo , last winter was not very cold but we had a couple nights with frost but it came through it with minor damage . The only drawback is that its flowering season starts at our autumn and the flower buds can be destroyed by cool winds or hail . Although it had only four blooms last year it made it and set seed !

Edited August 7, 2014 by dimitris

[Silas_Sancona]

Id say give it a try.. have heard of this awesome vine surviving in zone 9.. particularly warmer 9b.. Still, if you can give it what it wants, and keep it from getting fatally damaged in a freeze, warm enough, etc.. I don't see why you couldn't succeed. Would definitely plant one if I had the space atm. ( can get BIG) Probably the coolest flowering vine out there, next to the Turquoise colored Jade Vine, imo.

-Nathan-

[_Keith]

It is amazing how many tropical plants/vines make it in Zone 9 if they are root hardy. It is actually an advantage on many as it helps to control aggressiveness. Rangoon Creeper is a great example.

[mnorell]

You don't say where in California you're located...and there are areas of zone 9 from top to bottom of the state with all sorts of climates and levels of general warmth...but I can say that I know it thrives from Santa Barbara southward along the coast given a sheltered spot and some sort of strong arbor (or appropriate tree) on which to grow, and decent summer irrigation. There used to be a small grower in the Santa Barbara area who grew it and said it was successful there in the ground, and San Marcos Growers in S.B. also grows it. There was a spectacular vine on an arbor at the UCLA Botanical Garden in the '80s and early '90s. It was interplanted with Thunbergia coccinea, which is basically a lackluster, relatively colorless version of T. mysorensis with shorter inflorescences. For some bizarre reason they removed the plant(s) of T. mysorensis and let T. coccinea take over.

I think they can handle cool nights (down to low 50s anyway, as in Santa Barbara) every night in the summer and still perform as long as days are warm in the growing season. I know they thrive in La Antigua, Guatemala as I know someone there who has a vine that flowers spectacularly...and they are at high elevation (5000') with cold nights all year long, with warm days. San Marcos Growers says in natural habitat, they grow naturally up to about 3000' in the vicinity of Mysore, which would of course be a bit warmer at night. In any event this vine is definitely not going to like frost and any freeze may interfere with flowering. So I would venture to guess 9b in a protected spot and 9a would probably not be a good idea. I did plant one in my Mississippi garden, which is a very solid 9a with several decent freezes a year (but lots of heat and humidity with warm nights for much of the year), and it did not return after being cut to the ground in a freeze, though it may have been in too much shade and perhaps didn't accumulate enough carbohydrates during the growing season for the roots to make it over to the next spring. I have one down here in the steamy tropics of the Florida Keys and it does just fine in a pot, thrown in a corner of my container ranch...I need to find it a home in the ground. So in short, it is an adaptable vine, enjoying a wide range of climates, but I think you will be disappointed if you have heavy frosts or freezes and don't give it good overhead protection. Also if you don't have warm days to offset the chilly nights. But it is worth trying. Kartuz Greenhouses has it for sale online. Truly one of the most beautiful vines that can be grown on the west coast. I say go for it, as you won't know 'til you try it!

[David in Berkeley]

I've got two at the moment here in Berkeley, California, that I picked up at San Marcos Growers back in April as rooted 4" pots. They didn't do much growing for me until the end of June, when it finally got above 55°F at night. I can't say it has really gotten any warmer during the days. Perhaps the vines are simply responding to longer hours of daylight. This is my second time trying them here in my 9b/10a micro-climate. The first time I bought a 5 gallon in bloom, and it just slowly petered out the second year. I suspect I'm simply too cool for it to be happy, and intend to try one of them in a client's warmer garden. I used to keep tabs on one planted at Strybing on a soith facing wall, but it never exactly thrived either, but did bloom occasionally. It just didn't grow very vigorously with our cool summers and perhaps too cool nights.

[Eric in Orlando]

It is growing here on a chain link fence, it gets bright filtered light all day growing under a Cecropia tree. It has tolerated down to around 28-29F with just some minor foliar burn.

[Eric in Orlando]

Be careful when purchasing this vine. It is often confused with Thunbergia coccinea. The foliage looks similar but the flowers are a faded orange-red, much less show. T. coccinea is also very rampant and difficult to eradicate when it gets established.

[Tomas]

After growing many Thunbergia coccinea sold to me as mysorensis, I finaly got some cuttings from the local botanical garden, where it grows and flowers well in their greenhouse. My mysorensis grows in a very protected spot on my terrace, Rome is zone9a, no serious problems with the cold in winter, the Leaves will get only slightly damaged, but the real issue is to get it growing in general. The growing points and the Young Leaves will turn dry and die quickly, no matter whether the weather is humid or dry. I just checked the roots, not very abundant but healthy and no root nematodes. Does it need high humidity?

Tomas

[Tomas]

Another shot

[WonderKeeper]

Thanks everyone for the information.

[David in Berkeley]

Tomas, it gets medium humidity in my garden, as I'm half a mile from the San Francisco Bay, and the new foliage can also be slow to take off/enlarge. In my situation, I suspect it is lack of warm weather; we get regular fog/overcast at night/mornings which keeps it rather fresh/spring-like in summer.

[Tomas]

David, thank you for the information. Now what could be the cause? It looks like calcium deficiency, but I have never had this problem, the water here has a lot of it in.

[Frederico M.]

Hi everyone,  I am living in Lisbon, Portugal (zone 10b). I've just got my first seedling of T. Mysorensis, that i bought from Madeira Island botanical garden. Do you think it grows nicely in this climate?

Thanks in advance.