Lophospermum Species, Creeping Gloxinia, Mexican Twist

To the poster who expressed disappointment that the plant flowers too late in the season to attract hummingbirds— bear in mind that the...Read More plant is native to southern Mexico, which is exactly where the hummingbirds are at the time this plant blooms. It's just a sad accident of latitude that we're growing this plant outside of its native haunts and have unfortunately sabotaged its floral strategies!

I have a question for those with experience with Lophospermum. I bought a Lophospermum hanging pot, full of buds and blooms. Beautiful pl...Read Moreant. It’s advertised as self cleaning and sure enough each bloom falls to the ground when spent. This leaves the calyx behind with the ovary inside, sort of like a Petunia does (hope I have my terms correct). Each calyx seems to have a firm ovary in it which on inspection looks similar to the seed pods that follow spent Petunia blooms. As long as the Petunia seed pods are in tact the plant devotes energy into seed production. My question is would removing the numerous calyx on each Lophospermum tendril help stimulate more flowering on that tendril or should you clip off that tendril to promote new tendrils with new buds and blooms? Thanks for any assistance.

I've had my Lophos for about a year now but am disappointed because the blooming period (I live in northeastern Kansas) tends to run from...Read More late September thru January. I wanted it for hummingbirds but it seems to bloom just after they leave the area. I put it in a greenhouse to overwinter it and it did well.

For the last 3 years it's been a thrill for me to grow this lovely annual vine with it's large, wine red blossoms on a trellis in full shade!