Echinocystis lobata ?

Spring of this year I had a Mary Rose. When she began to leaf out the growth could only be described as rrd [leaf nodes with as many as five stems growing from them, long thin leaves, so many thorns it barely had a cane, many buds all twisted and shriveled up. I took the rose out that night. Than the same thing on midnight blue and easy going, I carefully removed them. Several weeks passed before three more roses began showing the same growth usually on just one or two canes. I can't begin to tell you how sick I felt. Well against all wisdom I had to try some thing. I did not remove the rose or the cane. Believe me, I know this was not a good thing to do. Yet something wasn't right so I had to try. I thought things were so bad at this point I needed to know for sure. I cut the roses back to healthy growth and waited, knowing if it was rrd the returning growth wouldn't get better. A month has passed now and all the growth on Heritage, Perdita and Fragrant Masterpiece has been fine. Please, I'm not saying any one should do this. These roses all had three or more symtoms of rrd, they all looked like pictures of rrd. I know it wasn't herbicide damage. I have more questions then [Hines has pickles]. Maybe, if its your fist time seeing suspected rrd and it's only on one cane, removing that cane and observing new growth wouldn't be a bad idea. I'm certainly no expert but I have a feeling I'm not the only person who has had this problem and maybe it wasn't rrd. If I were to ask every question I have now it would read like a book. I really hope your rose is not sick. Don't know about you but my garden is my peace in life. Yet, hummmm aphids,rose slugs, jb's, pm, bs, rmv, rrd, ect ect. Did I say peace? Good luck to you. Pat

A. longicaulis, if it turns out to be that, definitely has flowers that leave something to be desired. They're unique, but hard to see. It is a very nice foliage plant though with the heavily mottled leaves. Most Aeschynanthus have much brighter flowers, typically red or orange, though at least one is pink and there are a couple yellows too. People like 'Mona Lisa' 'Big Apple' and 'Coral Flame' a lot. Of those 'Coral Flame' is the most floriferous and is rather compact. 'Mona Lisa' is larger and to me is the stereotypical 'lipstick' plant. I've seen both in stores before. I've also seen A. gracilis 'Red Elf' and A. micranthus in stores. Both are red flowered and were EA products. Keep an eye out and you might come across them sometime. The A. gracilis "Red Elf' was labeled A. radicans 'gracilis' because EA is awful at getting tags right. I'm not sure if they ever corrected it.

I don't think so. It was definitely a photo, mounted on what looks like a heavier card stock - or whatever it was they used for photos years ago. I'll be interested to see if the photo is still where I left it when I go walking again.