love in a puff (cardiospermun hali....)

Hi I am new to daves, signed up three days ago love it!!!! i can finally talk to people like me that like plants, nobody i know likes plants, they just have landscapers, any way, i bought these seeds today of the lovely looking vine. Can anyone tell me anything about it. I have lots of sun and lots of shade. I would love to succeed to this. Thanks for any advise, i love all of my new friends!!!! maybe i should move out of my neighbhood and moved to GaRDeN HAVEN>COM, Thanks for reading!!!!

Silly Clemen

Welcome! You're going to love it here!

I've never grown this one and don't know too much about it, but here's the Plant Files entry for it which should give you some info on it. It won't be hardy in your zone so you'll have to grow it as an annual (and based on the comments in Plant Files, in the areas where it is hardy it can tend to be invasive, so it's actually a good thing that it's not hardy for you!)
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/648/

Ecrane, love daves already, thanks for the info link. It sounds scary that this plant is invasive, I've had many plants that are and I have either destoyed them from my yard (poor things) or have them in the ground with pots with holes at the botton. Anyway, what do you think if I try this one in a pot on a deck, do you think it might be invasive and seed and the seeds fly to other places, Any one out there any help before i plant it???? Ecrane thanks, anyone that replies makes make day and that means I have a new friend! Wish I was in CA like you, could grow more beautiful things than over her in long island, where it is COLD COLD in the winter!!! CLEMEN

Welcome Clemen ..
Well I can say it did real well here in Brooklyn.. I've had it on my roof top here... in full sun from 6 am to 8 pm in the summer..and it did just fine... I've grown it in my street planter which gets a bit of sun from 11 to about 3PM.. and it did just fine... I liked showing off to the natives how it got it's name..opening one of the little puff of flowers up..showing the white seed ...with it's tiny black hart on the side.. IMHO... it's not a knock out...but a cute thing non the less... I've never seen it be invasive.. or even have the fallen seeds sprout the following year...
Gordon

if its invasive here where i live i would love to see it. i get at least one little seed every year off the plants i grow that comes back on its own. as soon as frost comes this plant is deceased.


i have never been over run with it or anything. most of mine are in pots and the one in forever who is out of the pot like i said dies as soon as cold comes. hmmm invasive not that i know of it.

the seeds are in the puff looking sack and they dry on the plant. if you dont want seeds pick the green puffy thing off while green and no seeds. even if dries on the plant the seeds dont fall out unless messed with.

they wont fly off as the seeds are rounded in the pod and no wing typ things. they are like little black bbs.

i grow mine in pots and every year have to plant more. i dont find it invasive or uncontrollable at all. and when you get snow it will be history. so grow it and have a nice delicate plant for the summer.

Thank you guys, i guess i will plant my seed after all!!! And I will plant them in a pot, just to be safe!!! Does it bloom at all or you just get those puffy greeny looking beautiful thingings??? Clemen

Gordon, where are u in brooklyn, my sis is in Park Slope and some how I think the city ismuch warmer than where I am, everything to bloom sooner there than here and I am only 35 minutes away from Manhattan!!!

The only people in PF who complained about it being invasive were in warm climates, so I don't think you have to worry about it in NY.

CMDELG..
OH..I'm onCourt Street... corner of Union...which runs up to the Slope..I'm between your sis and the city.. I have a full view of both the Slope.. and the city from the roof top where I garden..as there's nothing higher than me for miles...here's the Slope... the buildings in the background.. Gordon

And here's a picture of the city... in the opposite direction... drop by and visit perhaps bring your sis if she has a garden interest.. receive your complementary beverage.. take the tour..
just let me know...OH..yes...generallywe'rea1/2 zone higher than out on the island
but on the roof it's compleatly different... off the hot roofing... which is about 95*F when the temps are in the 60's ...140*F if the tempsare in the 80's..to the winter... being the tallest thing from across the harbor.. and 20 miles to the west.. I get hit pretty hard by any weather..no ground warming...all the planters freeze solid.. like the highway sign says..bridge freezes before road surface.. that's all about it being up in the air.. and getting no ground warming.. so I figure I'm in zone 4-14 inclusive.. not many places it will get to be 140*F on a regular basis...
Gordon

yes they bloom these cute little white clusters of flowers. then they put the puffy green thing out. but they are so delicate and cute i love this vine.

To all thanks for you replies, Gordon oh my to be in the city, your plants are gorgeous!!! If it gets hot in your roof top, maybe that is why your plants are doing beautiful!!. I have a house near the water and anything I grow on the roof deck is outstanting, I guess your plants do not mind the heat. I see you have a brugmansia??? and lots more prettry things!!! iWas surprised. my sister has a beautiful pond garden in Park slope, much different than yours. Anyway, Ecrane and Imzadi, will try the vine and wish me good luck. I could not get to my computer today earlier but thanks to all my new friends!!! Clemen

here is my yelow brugmansia, I bought daturas from a nursery this year, they produce seed and would love to give you some when the do form their pods in the fall. Clemen

I've grown that love in a puff vine, it's pretty cool looking. seeds are easy to germinate, I probably wouldn't mind growing it again, but I didn't save any of the seeds

Kathy ann, I bought an evelope full of the seeds, I am sure i do not need all of them. If you want some, d mail me and I can send them to you. I bought a whole bunch of other seed, I usually do not plant everything I buy, but love to share. I am not selfish!!! Clemen

I appreciate that. It's ok though, I have my hands full, now with too much as it is.
It may have to be one that I grow next year. LOL

And welcome to the group. This is an awesome place to be a part of.

Well Clemen... I'm sure you'll love love... in a puff... your Brug is doing real well...flowering so well and so compact.. yes they love the raised full sun of the decks.. lots of air movment.. and loving care...
Yes you probuabally did see a brug there... there must be about three dozen here a bouts..now here's a more brug oriented shot from last summer... I imagine your picture was a shot from then also... if not I'd like to get some of your fertilizer.. here's a couple among dozens.
Gordon

OH MORE.. OK

well..just to tie this to some vines... our brugs are the perfect place to grow some vines...natures trellis...support and movment.. better than a rigid o'l trellis.. any day..in any way..
Gordon

Wow Gordon! Can't believe how gorgeous the brugs are. What do you do with them in the winter? I fertilize with bloom plus.... Clemen

I found my first love in a puff vine growing on the ground in a field next to my home. I also found my first passionflower passiflora incarnata growing wild in the same field.
I took seeds from the love in a puff and grew a vine here that following year. It pops up some years and others it is no where to be seen. So I do think there are birds that carry and drop the seed in different places.
The passion vine is probably more prolific since it seems to establish itself as rooted plants from the year before and spread.
I also read that the vines were invasive and worried about them taking over the place. Never has happened in ten years so far.

Windy, your climate is much warmer than mine. This will be my first time growing love in a puff, but I have grown the passionflower. I bring it inside every year. i am afraid she will die outside, we can have brutal winters. Believe it or not and eventhough I prune it when I bring it inside, she sits next to a sunny window and it keeps growing and BLOOMS??? I can't hardly believe how she (the passion vine)can do that indoors. Anyway, Soon she will have to go outside, I will prune it again and hopfully give me beautifull blooms again. I love her! Clemen

ALOHA ..
OH.. Clemen a 1/2 zone if that diffrence betweenyou two.. 6b to 7a.. and some maps I've seen have Brooklyn and the first part of Long island in zone 7a.. so there thay are the same...I 've lived and grown here and there...Windy will tell you Ardmore is just about her zone ..
how close is it to you Windy.. Mother is stll there with a pile of my plants..
Granted Al is hotter in the summer.. but the zone maps don't take that into consideration in any way just ultimate lows .. Gordon

Ardmore is the next city upwards from where I live. Not sure how far, but closer than Huntsville, which is the same zone 7a as mine. The passion flower is hardy here.Maybe you could clip a piece and root it in water or very wet potting soil and try to leave it outdoors well mulched over a winter and see if she survives.

some of them are hardy here..there's one I know of inthe Bronx.. it covers a hillside...up against an apartment building...microclime I bet... sheltered and aganst a bunch of brick in the sun..
Incarnata is good to zone 6B.. that one should work for you.. give it a try Clemen...
Gordon

Thanks for the tips guys, the rooting is a great idea Windy! Gordon, I bet you that the one in the Bronx is very well sheltered by that building like you say. But will try. Thanks! Oh, I forgot, what do you do with the brugs in the winter, do you cover them, bring them indoors??? Clemen

I bring mine in..but I was considering leaving some out if I had ground....well figureing out for you if you might over winter some of the right type outside.. mulched.... I don't.. think I could...as mine are up in the air where it would freeze solid.. Gordon
the new aboreaum map compiled with new temperature data...has us both in zone 7.. in AL and here on Long Island..( Brooklyn )... Gordon

hard to believe but true. although they say we are in the same zone Long island and Brooklyn, I think the city is a bit warmer, maybe because of pollution, the buildings etc. Everytime I go to Queens, Brooklyn or Manhattan, I see that plants wake up faster than were I am! I do not know why. CLemen

We live in the country or county and the city always seems to be ahead of us when the plants start to leaf out. Maybe the heat of the traffic and asphalt has something to do with it.
I bring the brugs into the garage. This winter I gave them away on Freecycle because it was too much to keep bringing the larger ones in.

I Agree with you

That's just because the city folks go to the nurseries and buy the greenhouse plants...put them out.. and they are ahead of you.. Gordon

oh here they were last year..

Gordon, it looks very feathery and pretty.