Centrosemas

The centrosemas have really started showing off. I just love them!
-T

here they are up a birdhouse pole

Just gorgeous! thanks for sharing your lovely photos, the blooms appear much larger on yours than they did on mine!! What size are they?

Definitely gorgeous and definitely bigger than mine since I forgot to plant my seeds...lol!
:) Donna

Laurrie-
They are huge. They are the same size as my lens cap! I've not used a ruler, but I'd say they are almost three inches across!

Donna-yes, in that case, mine are definitely bigger than yours, LOL!

OMG WOW that is great!! Those are huge!!

Pudgy (Donna) were yours this LARGE????

okay i really have to get some of these. for something that is supposed to grow wild here i havent seen one yet.

now i am not going into wooded areas as every time i do the poison ivy jumps on me.

okay have seen a few on ebay but due to a few threads here the seller concerns me.

gosh its so pretty!!!! do they smell???

Wow, what a pretty display. They look great.

Really pretty Taylor, I sure hope I get to see them first hand this year! I love these things. Hey, if you get a chance, take a pic side by side of the 2 different purples you have so we can see the difference. I am so curious now that you told me the spear leaves are smaller flowers...
Donna

Imzadi-
I've not noticed a "smell"(lol), but they don't seem to have any fragrance that I can detect. That doesn't mean they don't it just means my nose doesn't work real well, and could have a faint scent...?

Antoinette-Thank you! I really, really love them...I think they are one of my top five favorite vines.

Donna-I did already do that, but they got lost that day I reverted my hard drive back an hour, rmember? lol...
I'll try to get some more when the small ones bloom, but they aren't blooming right now...I hope they haven't stopped...
-T

ps-
I am excited about a trade yesterday. I got some clitorea marianas yesterday. They are kinda similar...and even sometimes confused with the centrosema...
I'd like to have a little collection going, lol...
-T

Those are beautiful.

Thanks, Susie!

I'll try to remember you like them and send you some!
-T

Oh, good for you! I have been trying to get that one too, with no luck. If you ever get seeds off yours let me know & I will find something to trade you. And I DO remember your computer episode, LOL, I was not thinking.

Laurrie, the first ones I grew were like hers in size and leaf, but some of the ones I am growing this year have a sword leaf and will probably have smaller flowers if they are the same ones Taylor grew.

too cool Donna! can't wait to see your pictures too

also remember I grew the marianna variety last year :( only had that one growing in a pot, well lets just say we all know what happened to that one in my laundry room this past winter

yes dear, I remember. I was being tactful... LOLOLOL

Well, if and when I get any seeds from the c. mariana(I just hate writing out that first word!!, lol...Who named that?!)then I'll certainly remember my friends, first!

Ya'll just need to remind me,... cause my brain gets over loaded and makes frequent, and indiscriminate deletes, lol...
-T

Fantastic! Wow another one to ponder getting for the garden!

Well you can bet it was probably not a woman. LOL
I hope you do get seed, I really want this plant. Thank you! And where are people finding it that are sharing seeds? I cannot find anything online for buying them.

These were from Oklahoma. I'm told they were growing wild there...
She intended to pick seeds, but they weren't set, so dug a few up for me!
Thank you "you know who" if you are reading this! lol...

Yes, Donna, definitely a man (trying to have a sense of humor)! I just don't think it's the kind of thing you should actually name something when it is going to become a permanent record! lol...

i am going to look tommorow at hubbies job site to see if this is the plant hes( he says its looks the same) talking about. if it is then hopefully it will have seeds.

can it be transplanted???? is it aa tuber??

From what she described to me, the mariana have really thickened roots like long stringy tubers. They sort of sucker(but not invasive) under ground and seem like individual plants, but are often connected to each other..
These that she dug a few days ago and traded to me are sulking, but I'm confident they'll recover.
It is certainly worth a try, and they should be going to seed in the next month, or so.
My centrosemas and my other varieties of clitoria, are all, already kicking out pods...
-T

Thanks Taylor. I have some seeds of centrosema virginia(spelling?) soaking. They haven't swelled up, are they supposed to? Should I just plant them?

Susie-
I don't think I soaked mine. Usually with the legumes I let them germinate on their own. It is too easy for them to soak up too much water and rot. It seems best to let them do it on their own...

Germination is erratic, but once a few start germinating, usually the rest will germinate within the week...

I'd say once it gets back to the nineties, or so, you should be able to sow them. Now might be a little hot...I know I am north of you and we are still up near 100 every day...
-T

The highest it's been all month is 96 at the house. Don't forget, I'm close to the water(warmer in winter, cooler in summer, but the breeze isn't always a gentle breeze, lol). I will get them in the ground today if it's not too wet.

Centrosema is one I dream of growing. There is a seedling that is just 3 inches high. The one I had 3 years ago failed miserably. never went higher than 7-8 inches and never stayed healthy. Perhaps too hot a climate than its genes experienced. Yours here is a real beauty.

Dinu

Dinu-
Thank you for the compliment! I saw a picture of them a few years ago, and HAD to have them! It took me a while to find some seeds, and then even longer to get some growing...
They didn't bloom for me the first year, so I've had to wait a LONG time to see my first blooms!
These in the picture ARE my first blooms. They have been well worth the wait!
Stay patient and stick with it! They do seem to take a while to get going, but want to encourage you that you'll WILL be rewarded with blooms if you stay with it!
-T

Taylor, lookie what I found this morning on my spear-leafed one! So I WILL get blooms first year! YIPPIEEEEE
Donna

Yeah!!!!
:) Donna

Taylor, you just know how to torture some of us who couldn't grow these beautiful vines that you always seems to find. I can't believe the variety you have come up with. I love birdhouse photo and the centrosema growing up it. You could make beautiful greeting cards.

Donna!!
Hooray for your centros!
I'm happy you are going to get a bloom! It seemed once mine got to going, they picked up momentum. I hope you have many more to follow!

Yours sure do looks like Gourd(Antoinette's)! They have the same thin leaves...I'd be interested in knowing the size of your flower, to see if it is the same size as the oval leaved centro V.

Also, I did take the time to "molest" one of the white centros, and it is a good thing I did. I felt like I was clumsy and had to tear the flower open to do it, but turns out it is the only (white) one setting a pod, and the others all dropped off...Guess it was a good thing I took your suggestion to try to pollinate it myself. Plus, I know it should yield white seeds, since it didn't get any pollen, but its own...

Joann-you could easily grow these too, since you are in zone 8. Thanks for the compliment! I guess I shouldn't have cut the top of the birdhouse out of the picture...lol...I was just focusing on the flowers, I guess
-T

Well,
I saw I had more blooms today, had about a week of nothing and was beginning to wonder if that was it. LOL

Lucky you!
I think mine are pretty much done, and I sure do miss them, already...

Nice combo! Two of my favorites!
-T

And while I was admiring it and snapping pics, what should I see??? SEEDPODS! From the first blooms & it looks like every bloom set seed! I am so surprised, since I never got seed on my round-leaf variety!

wow, that was a short season for you, huh? What ever happened on your whites?

Congratulations on your pods!!!
This has been a really good year for the centrosemas! (not so for some of the other things in my garden!)

The purple one looks like a porcupine right now with all the pods sticking out from the pole, LOL!!...

But, the white one only has one teeny pod. I have been hand pollinating them, to keep them white, but the pods have been dropping off, after only a couple of days of being set...

Only the first one "took" AND stayed on to continue to develop...I can see through the pod in the sun, and can only hope to count on about 4 or 5 seeds from the white one!
bummer...

No, not bummer!! That is 4 or 5 PLANTS for next year! LOL
Think positive. ;~)

LOL...I do try to always stay positive, but along those sames lines I wanted to be positive that I'd end up with enough to share! lol...

With only four seeds, I'll be really stingy, lol...
-T

Yes, I think you SHOULD be stingy! You would not want to end up not having plants for next year. I can't remember, did your white have the swordlike leaves or the rounded?

Both have the wide oval leaves.
-T