I was wondering if there is anyone with experience growing chalice cup vine. Specifically, I read that it needs a lot of support to grow. I want to train it onto a palm tree trunk, but so far the pictures I've seen on google show it on structures or fences. I purchased a rather large size that is already about 8 foot of woody vines but not very helathy (not many leaves, pot bound, has chili thrips.) Any advice would be greatly appreciated- I want to get it in the ground as soon as possible. Thank you! F4F
Chalice Cup Vine Experience
I did grow this beauty - Solandra maxima - until it froze on my sun porch last November. In my care, it grew more as a large and sprawling shrub than a vine. It bloomed in February for me. Here is a link with excellent information:
http://www.floridata.com/ref/S/sola_max.cfm
Thanks Kay. I did see that link- see the picture of it on that pergola? I don't have anything like that in my yard! Well, I am going to give it a try on the mule palm. My husband and I discussed building extra trellis support for it. Good to know you kept it a shurb, and since it blooms on the new growth (similar to crape myrtle) I can always whack it back and make cuttings out of it if it and shrub-ize it! Thanks so very much for you input. How does it smell, anyway?
Fauna, a Chalice Vine will kill a tree. I have to cut mine back by a quarter every year, or it will take down my fence. I have had 40' coconuts die just from a pothos vine. Sorry.
But, you are in New York. What does that mean exactly? From a pothos vine? Umm. Sure honey. You would know.
Sorry, Flora. Confusing. I am at my home in St. Croix, USVI. Zone 11. The pic is of my Chalice Vine. Here is one of my coconuts with pothos I was refering to.
DSTX. Nice picture. Looks like similar to a sabal in my yard. Pothos do not kill Coconut palms, sorry to tell you. Dmail me for more information- my husband owns an agricultural laboratory, has written 3 books, and is an international consultant. I do, however, appreciate the concern about the chalice vine, and never intended to plant it onto a fence. In the event that it may become aggressive, I ultimately made the decision to trellis it onto a 50' pine tree instead of the 20' mule palm. I will let you all know how it turns out. Can't wait to smell the first bloom.
Whoa! I employ gardeners who do nothing but cut the jungle back, and cut the wild vines from trees. Anything invasive enough or heavy enough can bring down a shallow-rooted palm. I'm sure my 15 acres of encroaching jungle doesn't compare to your controlled back yard in Florida, so the point is moot anyway. Your husband, however, is cordially invited to my "lab" to write book number 4. I am by no means as knowledgeable as you when it comes to plants, but being in the medical field, I do no death when I see it.
The Chalice Vine on the huge pine sounds awesome! That would be breathtaking! My Chalice flower fragrance, even with the huge vine and plentiful bloom, is very subtle. Maybe because of my vast space or the trade winds? In the evening, though, after dinner, I walk outside to look at the stars. The air is still and a soft, sweet fragrance just wafts all around me. It is such a big, beautiful flower. I think your strong pine will give it an outstanding home.
In Hawaii, where the pothos is extremely aggressive, I have seen them kill large trees. They simply smother them over the years by completely covering them. Eventually the tree dies
We don't have the controlled, trimmed up yard that some choose to have, and we probably need a gardener to keep up with all that we have to cut back...... We have a palm with pothos on it almost exactly the same as the one in your picture. I think its hightly likely that a palm is more likely to have ambrosia beetles or something like that in conjunction that weakened it to the point of falling over. I agree that some vines are aggressive and can cover canopies, I didn't previously consider pothos one of them. Anyway, thank you very much for the compliments about the vine placement, and I know the grower so I got good reports on the intensity of the fragrance. It seems that there are a couple of similar species that are all sold under the same name.