Hardenbergia Species, Australian Sarsparilla, False Sarsaparilla, Purple Coral Pea, Lilac Vine

Evergreen xeric twining climber with very showy flower display in late winter/earliest spring. This is suitable for xeriscaping.
<...Read Morebr /> Taprooted, and not generally inclined to spread by root or seed. It can strangle and smother neighbors, and mounds on top of itself, so it may need frequent pruning/shearing if not well sited. Can easily grow to 20' tall or more.

Needs temperatures of about 40F to set flower buds.

Can be prone to scale and whitefly.

Depending on cultivar, flowers may be mauve/violet, pink, or white. In Australia, shrubby/nonvining cultivars have been developed.

'Happy Wanderer' is the name of a cultivar, though sometimes incorrectly used for the species.

(copied over from another location) Australian Lilac Vine (Hardenbergia violacea) and its cultivars are evergreen, with tough almost sand...Read Morepapery leaves. It is a rampant grower both in sun and shade, and will tend to do the "honeysuckle thing", i.e. grow toward the top of whatever is supporting it, leaving naked stems below and layering on top of itself year after year; I've grown annual vines beneath it on a chainlink fence with reasonable results. It will bloom in both sun and shade (in the species, little miniature purple wisteria clusters, with a lime green spot on individual flowers), but blooms more heavily in the sun.

One of the best things about this vine is its ridiculously low water requirements, along with its lack of need for fertilization. It will grow with as little as 10" of rainfall in heavier soils, although for best flowering 15" (with the lion's share in the winter) or one monthly deep soak will produce a much better looking vine. As for fertilization, it seems to share the sensitivity to phosphate fertilizers found in many other Australian plants; see the article from Australian Plants Online at http://anpsa.org.au/APOL8/dec97-4.html , where H. v. is listed in category 6 (don't confuse it with its sister H. comptonia, which is in category 1 and for which phosphorus is not at all toxic). Unless your soil is truly deficient in phosphorus, stick with once yearly fertilization with a low number general fertilizer (I favor a slow-release "evergreen" fertilizer with the formulation 10-3-6, which is suitable almost all desert, chaparral and Australian plants).

The Australian Lilac Vine is one of my favorite vines of all time, tied with another Australian, the Black Coral Pea Vine (Kennedia nigricans) which is similarly tough and which grew to thirty feel in an old Siberian Elm and dangled exotic black and yellow blooms like some kind of wisteria from hell!

There are at least four cultivated forms of H.v. in addition to the species. Most common, so common in fact that the species identity has been conflated with it, is the cv 'Happy Wanderer'. This is a consistently heavy blooming plant with rich lavender-purple flower clusters. It was originally propagated from root divisions and cuttings, but some growers now seem to use seed, which has diluted the benefits of the original selection.

Another named variety is H.v. 'Candy Wrapper', which has bright bubblegum pink flower clusters and slightly lighter green foliage than 'Happy Wanderer." Three other colorforms are reported: ‘Free-n-Easy' (white), ‘Pink Fizz' (pink) and ‘Purple Falls' (purple). In addition, a cluster of new shrub-form cultivars has appeared over the last two decades. The first was ‘Mini Haha', which is very compact and shrub-like with purple blooms resembling those of 'Happy Wanderer.' Two other shrubby varieties, which are a bit more open and less dwarf, are Blushing Princess', with pinky-mauve blooms, and ‘Bushy Blue', with bluey-mauve blooms.

In addition, there are two unnamed color forms, a white (sometimes, as on DG, listed as H.v. 'Alba') and a soft pink (usually labeled as H.v. 'Pink' or H.v. var. rosea). The white form seems variable in mass-market plants, showing various degrees of lilac or pink intrusion; the pink form is lovely, but is much softer than the shocking pink 'Candy Wrapper'.

One of the most stunning plantings I have ever seen of this vine was one where multiple color forms were either intentionally or unintentionally mixed. The purple forms predominated, but the winding stems carrying blossoms in white, mauve and pink made the whole display unforgettable.

First plant: planted 1993 by a fence under a large Eucalyptus. Grew vigorously. By 2004 had taken over the fence and was climbing 10 feet...Read More up the Eucalyptus trunk. Didn't seem to mind the shade or the Eucalyptus debris although a Solanum laxum planted nearby at the same time had perished. Got removed (along with the fence) in 2007 when the Eucalyptus was cut down.

Second plant: planted July 2008 in same spot, this time with much more sun. Bloomed in February 2009, seemed to do well until September, then turned brown and died.

Third plant: just planted in the same spot. If it dies off like the second, I'll suspect the remains of the Eucalyptus -- or perhaps something applied to them to keep them from resprouting. Whatever it is, I'm hoping it'll diminish in time so I can keep a Hardenbergia there.

We bought one of these years ago and loved its enchanting blossoms year to year. Unfortunately, we had to remove it when we moved the fe...Read Morence it was clinging to...I hope we can replace the lost lovely one in the future...I miss it!