Blue Sky Vine (Thunbergia grandiflora)

Finally, after hurricane Wilma shredded my blue sky vine (which grows up the front of my house much like english ivy) i have my first blooms. In a few months she will be covered with blooms but for now i'll settle for these two.

This plant has become one of my favorite vines. I have it covering my front fence. It is about 2 years old and has spread nicely. This year, it found its way up into a nearby banana and wrapped the banana plant in its wonderful nearly true blue flowers.

Have you had any success with propagating T. grandiflora from stem cuttings or other methods? I keep meaning to put some weights on the vines where they touch the soil to see if it will self-root, but haven't found the moment yet to give it a try. I don't seem to ever have any seeds despite prolific flowering.

Jeremy

I di root some stem cuttings. They took forever to do anything. You lose a lot so if you try this take plenty of cuttings and use a rooting hormone of some type. Good Luck!!

P.S. I rooted in spagnum moss

How pretty and green ! YOu are so lucky to live farther south and enjoy these plants all year.

I finally have one after several years of dreaming. Don't know if I should put it in the ground or not. I know they are okay about 50 miles south of me, on the coast, but have never seen one this far inland. Think I'll play it safe and keep it in a pot for now.

gingerlily - I'm not sure the vine would do well in a pot, unless you've already had success with keeping it in a pot. Mine have spread so profusely that I can't imagine them growing without plenty of room, but it would be interesting to know how the plant does if kept in a pot. It might make for a very interesting "dwarf."

Thanks, xeri-, for the tips on rooting the stem cuttings. I'll give it a try as I've had some trade requests from DGers wanting some of my Blue Sky Vine which I haven't yet been able to satisfy. I think I'll get some cuttings now before we have a freeze that kills the vine back (very late in the season for us not to have had a freeze yet!!)

Jeremy

I would like some of these cutting of this vine. If any of you can send me a few I would pay the postage. Fran
I am in Orlando so they should grow here. ??

I just recently cut back my vine -- kind of a shame because it was still flowering -- but it had spread like crazy to a nearby banana tree that it was about to suffocate, and I was also concerned the city would ticket me for "unattended growth of weeds." I stuck some of the cuttings in potting soil and will see if they "take." I'll go add some rooting hormone today and maybe also add some of Sugarweed's magic water-sorb crystals to keep them moist.

I never seem to have any seeds on my Blue Sky Vine. Maybe they need a specific pollinator that is not present in my area?

Jeremy

Jeremy, Will it grow in Oak shade? That's one I brought home from Lauderdale.
Sidney

I had rooted a cutting in water with no trouble, but since planting it in soil it seems to be struggling. I'll report in a few weeks whether it has recovered.

Hey Sidney. I think the vine will probably grow for you in shade, but the amount of flowering may be somewhat reduced. My T. grandiflora is slightly shaded in front of the yew hedges near the curb, but it is able to climb up to where it needs to be to reach the sun (such as climbing to the top of the banana tree!). When I first saw and fell in love with this plant, it was growing on a front porch in Avondale. As I recall, the entire plant was under the porch, so it may be fine in shade. My T. alata (yellow "black-eyed Susan" vine) is growing and blooming in fairly deep shade at the very back of my yard, which would tend to indicate the plants in the Thunbergia genus may be shade tolerant.

Jeremy

Great I'll plant it on the dark side then. The sunny side is getting very packed.
Thanks,
Sidney

It will spread a LOT and its main trunk will get to be over an inch in diameter within a year or two, if my Blue Sky Vine is typical. It has spread about 20 ft in both directions from the original stalk and sent up several new stalks in the immediate area of the original stalk, but hasn't rooted anyplace else or sent out underground runners.

Jeremy

My neighbors have this vine under an Oak. It's doing very well this winter and blooming now. The zoo has a nice specimen. We are in zone 9a with JaxFlaGardener and these vines seem to come back each year.

Yeah Barksy, I' 7 blocks from him so I guess I'll be in that zone too. I however claim zone 8b and therefore grow Hostas, LOL.
Sidney

I claim the dividing line for Zone 8b/9a as my back yard (look at the Zone maps for verification), but I'll share enough of our sunny southern weather here a few blocks south of you Sugarweed to ensure that your Blue Sky Vine will grow happily!

The Blue Sky Vine prunings that I'm trying to root in potting soil have dropped all their leaves, but vines always do that when stressed, so I still have hopes they will take root. Need to go move them inside though before the chill hits tonight!

I saw another thread with all sorts of magical suggestions for aiding in rooting plants -- orchid moss and peroxide (H2O2) sometimes combined with seed warming trays and air bubblers and giberellic acid! I must be really behind the times in what is new and improved. But I plan to give it a try as soon as I can locate the orchid moss and other paraphenalia. I love to experiment and this sounds like a real Dr. Frankenstein adventure! Here's the link in the Brug forum for those that may want to check it out:
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/575527/

Sidney, if you hear shouts of "IT'S ALIVE!" resounding through the neighborhood, you'll know the experiment was a success!

Jeremy

This message was edited Feb 12, 2006 9:27 PM

LOL, for the first time I'm covering things tonight. My tomatoes are even getting the Ralph Lauren down quilt. The rest will get random bed sheets I pick-up at yard sales. I hope tonight and tomorrow night cover this season for cold snaps.
I always push the Zone line, so I'll still claim 8b.
Sidney

Here's a picture of my Blue Sky Vine. I love this vine also. John.

Wow John that is really lush!!!
Hope mine will be that pretty.
Sidney

Thank you Sidney. Just "good old" compost for fertilizer. Take care, John.

Had a young blue sky I planted last year at the end of the season. Of course, it died back. Doesn't look like it wants to come back. What do you think? I know, I know, it's still early, but I go around the yard and look closely at all the little guys to see if they look like they're going to come back. My corkscrew is getting some growth (Hurray!), but the little blue sky is worrying me.

Beautiful !

Hey, BDunn. Here's my simple test for who's still a-livin' and who ain't: I just do a scratch test at some point on the stem of the plant. I choose a spot on the stem that hasn't had any frost or freeze damage, then pierce the plant stem with the tip of my fingernail and scratch downward slightly. If I see green flesh underneath, I can be fairly certain the plant will leaf out when it is ready to rebound. If I see brown, then I scratch a little further down 'til I hopefully see some green. If no green appears, then I figure it might be a goner, but leave it be for a month or two 'til it has had plenty of time to decide if it wants to live or not.

The scratch test generally only works for the more "woody" stemmed plants, but your T. grandiflora probably falls into that category.

The scratch test also works if the plant, upon being scratched, screams and cries and writhes about a bit, but you have to be very perceptive to your plant's feelings to pick up on this recoil behavior.

Hope this helps.

Jeremy