Friday the 13th, my lucky day

The first Hawaiian Wood Rose opens!
The answer is...........yes they grow in Houston.

There are a good number of blooms developing.

probably another few days for the rest of them to start opening.

Do you have this planted in the ground? Has it proven frost/freeze proof? I have one in a pot and need to either cut it back and repot to bring into the greenhouse OR repot in a bigger pot.

Yes..the vine has been in the ground a little over 3 years...the magic number of years in my experience for large woody vines. This is the trunk. It is very aggressive, has jumped the alley in back and is headed for the tops of the trees. It wants to be as high as it can go. It requires major space. The vine has enveloped the green house and jumped a 6 foot span from the green house to the fence. Once it is established it is more frost resistant, having said that, there has been no freeze in 3 years, it was fairly young when the only freeze nailed the entire garden, but it came back. Edric in Florida cut his back to the ground after a frost last year, and the thing is as big as ever.

This message was edited Nov 13, 2009 8:50 AM

more buds

Randy, do you think it would survive in a strong zone 8b, with microclimate areas of 9a? We do get down in the high 20's at night, for about a week straight (Jan./Feb.)?

It might, but probably unlikely. Then again, I was told it wouldn't grow here either..there's but 1 way to find out. When ever I'm risk taking ..I plant a couple of the seeds, some to keep in the green house, and the others to risk take.
I planted this one very close to the green house so that it would stay warm on those cold weeks, and it worked...the only problem is...It's completely over the green house and I'm going to have to do something soon. Solving one problem presents another.

that mound of green is the top of the green house

right side of the green house roof

a little over 7 feet from roof to fence, and 15 feet back to the fence.

I suppose it dies back each fall. ???

This one wasn't hasn't, but then there has been no frost, or if there was it was only a couple of hours.

OMG! That is so beautiful... but it looks to be somewhat invasive in your area. Did you intend for it to grow all over the place?

oh heck no....I had never seen the vine up close when I was in Hawaii because it was so far up in the trees.
I've cut huge sections of it several times this year, and it pops back like an octopus..nooo, had no idea it was such a monster. It really heads for the highest point, and has the capability of going there...... which is usually the tree tops.

Oh My! Well at least it is not an UGLY vine!! : )

impressive plant, glad you're made it to blooming

I haven't grown this one yet so no personal experience.
Mr Hudson's catalog states this one could be ROOT hardy to zone 6,
resprouting from the roots every yr. We need to test it in zones 6, 7
and 8.

Good luck, the vine seems intent on taking over the world