Hyacinth Bean Vine

Why isn't my HBV blooming this year? It's always been a profusive bloomer, but this year--nothing--nada--zilch. My daughter-in-law lives in Midlothian, and hers isn't blooming either. We've both watered and applied Miracle Gro as usual. The leaves/vines are healthy.

Hello Sybil, it must be the heat, it is terrible out there, maybe when it cools down a bit they will flower for you.

Thanks, Josephine. I would agree with you if they had flowered and then just quit, dried up, etc., but they've never had one bloom on them--unprecedented behavior. Also, they are on the front of my house and only get morning sun. They
have flowered beautifully in summers when we've had lots more triple digit days.

I was wondering if it could be a phenomenon just peculiar to that plant--that maybe it doesn't flower every fifth year, or something like that. Do any plants do that? I know I was surprised to see my lambs ear spike (flower) after I'd had it for about four years, I think.

Something else that has been different this year is that there have been almost no grasshoppers out here until the last couple of weeks. I still don't see a lot of them--just a few, but those few are really big ones. I've only sprayed those vines once in May, I believe, , where usually I just have to keep after those grasshoppers, else the leaves will be riddled with holes.

I've noticed the no grasshoppers, or very few, but I brought home a bunch of frog tadpoles in May and I thought that was the cause.

Butterflies are the ones basically absent here this year, and aphids too, I just don't know what the matter is.

I have some giant and tiger swallowtails, a fair number of gulf fritillary in my blue mistflowers, an average of 6 take flight when I walk nearby, but my passionflower vine isn't covered with its normal caterpillars at all. the leaves look great

Hey, Josephine.Just a week or so after I wrote that post, I saw a bloom on the Hyacinth vine and then another the next day, etc. It's not covered by any means, but at least it's trying.

Thanks for all the responses. Seems like this is just a different year. BTW, the regular, smaller grasshoppers are giving those vines heck now. Ugly, holey leaves before I knew it. :(

Oh well