Corkscrew Vine (Vigna caracalla)

This is about as loaded down as I've ever seen the Corkscrew Vine. In this picture you can see the blooms in every stage in which they may be found.

It is so breath takingly beautiful, and I can only imagine what the whole plant looks like. I am blue-green with envy so when you wake up in the morning and find trellis and all gone you'll know that the Wind sneaked in and blew it to Columbus, your more than welcome to come and visit it for free before I start charging admission lol.

hehehheh.

You little devil, I do believe your enjoying this lol

Great looking vine.

This message was edited Sep 16, 2006 11:56 AM

Evert join the crowd, Dave has just out done us all.

Dave, did you decide to split the V. caracalla and Phaseolus caracalla into two entries? (I thought one was listed as a synonym of the other...) Looks like there's still a web-world-wide debate on whether they're synonyms or not, and whether one has fragrance and one doesn't. But they sure do look mighty similar to me :)

Vols, I did split them up. I've been meaning to do this for a long time.

Nobody on earth is perfectly clear, however, I truly believe that what I've done is correct. I'd love to be corrected (if I'm wrong).

dave

Dave I think that your right, and I have done some checking...imagine that lol.

What did you feed this thing?! wow. I grew these, but didn't get that much of a show. Excellent producer for you! Really, what did you do to make it so full of blooms?
I have grown both the snail and the corkscrew and they are VERY different vines. Just compare this picture to the picture posted here by Tracypoo. She has the snail-also called vigna caracalla-unfortunately. I would love to cite the differences for anyone who wants to know! There are more differences than similarities!

seedpicker: I didn't feed them a single thing. I just tried to make sure I watered them once a week, and that's it!

(Dave ducks and runs for cover)

go_vols, I have both plants and they are so much different that I think anyone could see it. The snail vine, Phaseolus, has blue bloom and they are not in clusters, just one or two to a stem. They have no fragrance at all. I have to say that mine do not bloom as profusely as the Corkscrew vine does either. The snail vine puts out a huge amount of vine for the amount of bloom. I will grow Dave's favorite again, but doubt that I'll deal with the snail vine again. Just too invasive for me. I would have put a picture of the snail vine in here, but I don't have one now. New computer here. Can take a picture if anyone wants to see it.

This message was edited Jul 20, 2005 10:02 AM

Okay y'all, I have something that is "climbing shell plant" and labled as vigna carcalla. I can't send you any photos because I bought it from a catalogue and it is still basically an infant. I've seen snail vine and corkscrew vine, but can't find anything about 'climbing shell plant'. I'm hoping it's like the one Dave has, fragrant and prolific but now I'm totally confused. The picutre in the catalogue was more pink than anything else. Any ideas? Also, will I really have to wait years for flowers?
Thanks. P.S. i'm in zone 7a. Do you think if it mulch heavily it will survive the winter? I've over wintered brugmansia here for years and they aren't supposed to survive in this area....

I ordered 4 plants from Michigan Bulb Co. called "climbing shell plant" and 3 from Spring Hill Nursery by the same name. Their pictures depict them as the corkscrew flower or vigna caracalla and not as the snail flower (phaseolus caracalla). Though I won't know if they labeled them correctly until they bloom, will I? :)

I have snail vine and generally it freezes back in the winter, this past winter wasn't cold enough so it didn't freeze back. Let me tell you it's a monster! Pretty but a monster!

Can anyone tell if I have the snail flower or the corkscrew flower based from the picture in my last post? Can you only tell after it flowers?

aprilwillis, yours is actually a phaseolus caracalla, not Vigna caracalla.

clutzattack: it's too early to tell. Only with blooms will we know what they are, and I'm afraid you won't see blooms this year unless they are already established and growing.

dave

one of my plants is blooming like crazy. It also is it's second year. It has grown way up into the tree about 20 - 30 feet/ I was wondering if Dave could tell me what to look for since I am so hoping for seeds this year or what do I do to increase the chance of of the seeds. I've done well propagating this plant by cuttings, but I would like to know where are the seeds?

I am so confused- I had never seen the all blue- I thought that the vine originally pictured was corkscrew vine and the one I posted was snail vine? NO?

Aprilwillis I belive you are correct you have snail vine, it also is very beautiful I was wondering if it has a scent? They corckscrew is very aromatic almost like hyacinths

larcatz, no it has no scent- I read that because the flower is so conveluted (sp) that the flowers are only fertilized by ants; in the 3 years that I have had the vine I have made multiple cuttings but have seen very few seed pods, maybe 3.

Just thought I'd update. Both Spring Hill Nursery and Michigan Bulb Co misadvertised and sold me the sail vine rather than the corsckrew flower. By October, the whole plant was covered with these... Guess I'll have to start again next year.

Phaseolus caracalla does not smell. The flowers are also all purple and don't curl as much as Vigna caracalla. Vigna caracalla does smell and the flowers are multi-colored (cream, purple, peach) which you can see in Dave's photo. The Vigna caracalla is also more tender than the Phaseolus caracalla. My Phaseolus caracalla may die back some in the winter, but my Vigna caracalla didn't make it past its first winter. So, they are indeed two different, but related plants. The Vigna caracalla is worth growing for its fragrance, but the Phaseolus caracalla was in my opinion more hardy. Separating them is definitely the right thing to do. :)

Oooo, I'm so jealous! Just beautiful! I just received my seeds from Onalee today for this plant. It will be interesting to see if I can actually get it to germinate, let alone grow in Ohio. Tamara

NEVER have I seen anything this beautiful.....guess I will start looking for this verrrrry special plant.............too pretty for words!!! Thank you for showing those blooms to us.

Hi There to all you Corkscrew Vine lovers, I am writing from Australia. I live on a citrus farm in NSW. I found this vine on a fence in a laneway on my early morning walk in June last year 2006. The scent attracted me before I had noticed where it was coming from. I had never seen anything quite like it before & the scent was amazing. I noticed the seed pods & extracted a few from the display. They were very green & my partner said they would not grow as they should be left to dry on the vine before removing! Well being a woman that rises to a challenge I decided it was worth at least a try.
From 22 seeds that I planted I was lucky to get 12 healthy little plants. Given the fact that I have just ventured into the world of gardening I was some what pleased with myself. I transplanted them from my seedling trays to 8" pots for about 6 weeks & then planted 8 of them into the ground in November 2006.The rest I gave as christmas presents.
Only a grower of these plants would believe the how quickly they have grown.The 4 posts of the tractor shed is completely covered, the shop area that we sell our product from is all but completely covered & another is half way up the trunk of the Camphor Loral tree.The flowers have been spectacular & I must say my display looked equal to your photograph Dave. I must admit the soil here is great & each plant on last count has no less than 10 really healthy seed pods each, most containing around 15 seeds in each pod.
Would like to find out more on how to care for them ect. I did get a black spot on the leaves for a while & I found out I was over watering . Totally addicted.!

Patty, a DGer, gave me one that she grew from seed. I am so excited and am going to put in a pot as our winters are too cold to leave outside...although, she has one in the ground in a very protected area in our zone....I really don't have protected areas out in the countryside.