The seeds germinate easily and the plant grows pretty quick but I usually don't get blooms until the second season. I winter it over in the unheated GH. I lost my vine last winter. I guess it got too cold but I started more seeds a couple weeks ago. It's a pretty vine and definitely worth gtrowing. Just make sure you give it lots of room and lots of space to climb because it gets big.

Thanks for the info Karyn! Hmmmmm...no blooms until the second year??!! Seems like everything I grow now is hurry and wait until it blooms and then have to winter over in the garage. I recently planted out (actually my DH) about 40 Amaryllis bulbs in the ground. I guess some people are able to grow them in the ground here. I guess I will find out. They already bloomed...so time will tell. They have been in pots for years dragging them in and out of the garage. Guess I had better quit whining!!!
Thanks again!
Joyce

I've read that plenty of people get flowers the first season. Maybe I start them too late and my season isn't that long.

Joyce what a lucky woman you are! I do not think my DH would do that if for some reason I was not able to garden myself anymore. Hope you will get a suprise bloom the 1st year.

WOW you got 40 Amaryllis bulbs? I only got 5 but they also went out in the ground. I believe Brenda was the one that gave me 2 baby ones. They are doing well out there too.

Barb the one from you is growing another stalk right now!

Karyn I hope your vine will bloom for you also this year :-))

Lucy

Update: I was looking at seeds to buy and had talked myself out of buying them. Later I was browsing my favorite Ebay Plant Seller and saw that he had a small plant listed. So that clinched it! I also bought a Snowbank from him as the one I bought last year died. I love variegation so I have to try it again. He also had the variegated Hibiscus 'Snow Queen' so I had to get that too. Those were all buy it now but one other plant doesn't end for 5 more days. I will have to be patient!
*Lucy* The Amaryllis bulbs are probably from the last 15 years or so. They are mostly all red and the kind you get at Lowes. I do have a few other colors. I used to get them at the end of the season when they marked them down. I am the bargain shopper deluxe!
*Karyn* Thanks again for the info. You are most valued and appreciated!!! Hope yours does well for you!
Joyce

Joyce did you get them from Ron (dogwoodritternet)? If so and you don't want to wait for the other auction to end he might list one for you as a BIN if you ask. I just got a large shipment of plants from him and remember that he had a cobea listed as well as the others you mentioned. I bought mainly hardy orchids but did get a few other things, mountain mints, thunbergias, hibiscus, don't remember the others offhand.

This vine must be easy to grow from cuttings. At the Corpus Christi botantical gardens sale, they had large cuttings in large plastic containers. They had blooms on them, and were selling them for $2 each. The lady said they were very easy to root. I think I will try to root some this year, just to check it out. Mine does not even freeze back here, but its not very big, I think it needs alot more water than it gets, or its getting too much sun, I have it in full sun. I want to find the variegated one, but have not seen it anywhere. Barbra,

Karyn,
Yes it is Ron. He has great plants at great prices! He also gets some unusual ones. Everything I bought from him last year did well except the Snowbank. I was looking at the hardy orchids too. I decided not to get them for now. Let me know how yours grow and how long they blooom.
*Barbra* That sounds like a great plant sale. Did you get many new plants? Let me know how yours does when you take cuttings. I may try that with mine as I will have to winter it over. Did you say they have a variegated one???!!!! I will have to check that out. When I was looking for this vine I noticed some call it Cobaea Scandens 'Alba'. But then I read it starts out green, then turns white and then purple. I hope it stays purple as that would be pretty!
Happy Gardening!
Joyce

Joyce I've been buying from Ron for several years and never had a bad plant. He probably would have replaced the Snowbank if you asked. I killed a Pepino he sent. I emailed him to ask if he was going to list more because I killed mine. I told him it had nothing to do with him and was totally my fault. He sent me a replacement anyway, free of charge. His plants are nice and his prices are great plus you can't beat his shipping charges. The shipping on my last order according to his scale was about $12 but the actual shipping was almost $17.

Karyn can you link him? Eventhou you are like Shawn right now hahaha I would love to check him out too. thanks.

I love great shipping costs. Yesterday I looked around for Fuchsia nurseries. Talk about shipping charges. For 6 plants 8.00 dollars handling charges and 12.00 dollars shipping cost. I guess 20 dollars is not bad. But the mentioning of handling charges SEPERATE..upsets me. Just add it to the plants cost or shipping. How do you feel about this?

Lucy

Lucy that sounds like BS! I can understand a few dollars for handling charges but that on top of $12 for shipping sounds a bit high unless the plants are in 6" pots. I got somewhere around 20 plants from Ron in my last order. If you are looking for something specific you can send him an email and oftentimes if he has it he will list it for you immediately under BIN.

Here is a link that might be useful: dogwoodritternet (Ron)

I bought candy corn vines from him 1 year and the box was demolished. One of the vines was broken, but he offered to replace it. I told him no way, it was obviously mishandled by the po. He was nice enough to tell me how to root them. I wasn't successful, but I thought it was great that he was willing to help.

Karyn nope...2 1/2" pots. It is ok. I found another place to get some more from. If I want more.

thanks for the link (((hugs)))

Lucy