Don't feel bad

I studied Latin for all three years of High School.. even got a Manga Cum Laude on the National Latin Exam, and I don't remember a lick of it!!

I think my brain replaced it with more importatnt things like my kid's names, and how to make Macaroni and Cheese!

G.M.,

It IS hard to remember the Latin names and there is no way anyone can remember them all!

Take the Ipomoea genus of plants from the Convolvulaceae family. Just this one genus has over 500 plants, including many twining, vining plants, but also annual and perennial herbaceous perennials, shrubs and small trees. No one could possibly keep them all straight.

Some of my favorite vines are from the Ipomoea genus. I have grown the following and love them all:

Ipomoea quamoclit (Cypress vine, hummingbird vine)
Ipomoea sloteri (Cardinal climber)
Ipomoea alba (Moonflower)
Ipomoea mina lobata (Firecracker vine, Spanish Flag, Mina Lobata)
Ipomoea batatas (Ornamental sweet potato, many named varieties)
Ipomoea purpurea (Common morning glory, many named varieties)

So, you wanted I. quamoclit and ended up with I. sloteri instead. I. sloteri (Cardinal climber) has a fuller leaf structure than I. quamoclit (Cypress vine) and its leaves are deeply cut lanced green foliage whereas cypress vines foliage is finely divided into almost threadlike segments. Cardinal climber's blooms are a bright red trumpet-shaped flower and are a little larger than cypress vine's.

Both are very vigorous growers in our heat and the hummers are attracted to them both. Sometimes I get red or pink flowers on cypress vine, but only red ones on the cardinal climber. Both can reseed like crazy, although if you mulch heavily they won't reseed enough to be a nuisance.

So, are you going to give cardinal climber a try? Or, do you intend to get another packet of seeds and grow cypress vine instead?

Dawn

I will go ahead and try the Cardianl climber. By the way the Burpee seed packett said:
Cardinal climber
Cypress Vine

I was in a hurry to grabbed the packet thinking it looked like the cypress vine I wanted....and was hoping.

I would really love to get some seeds from the Cypress vine I want. I had a few of them from several years back which I saved from my own plant. I just love it....even knowing how it reseeds. I just pull out all the babies I don't want when they appear. I planted all the seed I had which wasn't much. I sent seeds to friends the last time I grew it and didn't keep enough for myself...haha.

Today I bought a Liatris spicata--Gayfeather. I hope it does well out in the sunny middle of my back yard. From what I have read about it I think it would work well there. I have just made a new little raised bed on a berm. Also planted the Salvia Greggii and a lambs ear with African Daisy and some rose moss...oh and a marigold all together there.

I hope to catch someone who is growing Cypress Vine this year and get some seed perhaps. So I may not get to plant it this year. I have had no luck finding the right seeds any place I have looked so far. I would need to order them from someplace. When I got the Cardinal Vine seed it was the last package. We were out of town someplace when I found it.

Hope you didn't get the hail that I kept hearing so much about last night Dawn? Did you get storms at your place?

Well I am ready to go chill with a book or TV for awhile.
Thanks!
G.M.

I grew both of these from seed on opposite sides of the same trellis a few years ago. They both did well, but the Cardinal Climber did the best. Very nice bright red flowers. Mine did not reseed like I hoped it would, but the Black-Eyed Susan Vine planted nearby did and is still coming up each year. I like it, too, but wish it had more flowers. I hope you'll enjoy the lovely Cardinal Vine!

Merryheart,
I've got some Cypress vine seeds you can have. Send me an email with your address and I'll mail you some.
Dawna

I was just researching these two vines a couple of days ago. The main differnce seems to be in fullness of foilage (cardinal is fuller) and vigor of growth (cardinal wins again). But there were several threads on the vine forum where members had the same complaint-seed bags either incorrectly labled or listing both vines as one and the same. They are not. I got my cardinal climbers from a nice old guy at a farmers market who claimed they would cover 25 to 30 feet in a season.
I've got them up against a chainlink and post fence in a sunny spot. I've read they need supplemental waterigs and feedings to really put on good growth. I wonder if mine will spread out low along the fence and really cover it top to botom or if it will grow up and the cascade down from the top.

G.M.,

You know, I had noticed the mis-labeled Burpee seed packets at Wal-Mart, and that is not the first time that I have seen Burpee seed packets that I felt were mislabeled. And, as we have discussed on another thread, we had the severe storms and flooding here, but our hail was (thankfully!) small and did no damage.

Gayfeather grows with wild abandon here in pastures. It is very drought tolerant and also can handle clay soil that gets quite waterlogged at times. Mine tends to bloom in late July to August. The butterflies and bees love it. I think you will be happy with it.

Okiegardener, Was your Black-eyed Susan Vine in full sun? Mine is simply covered with flowers most years. It blooms a little later than most of my annual vines, but at times the blooms are so numerous they almost obscure the leaves. Needless to say, it reseeds everywhere.

Blytherbean, In my garden the cardinal climber grows mainly upward and then cascades back down, but it is in a location where it gets morning sun and afternoon shade. If you want to get it to grow both vertically and horizontally on your chain link fence, just train some of the side branches to grow sideways by weaving them horizontally through the fence. You will get faster cover of the fence this way than if you wait for it to first go all the way to the top of the fence and then cascade back down and spread sideways. I always do this with my moonflowers.

And, y'all, if you don't grow moonflowers, I encourage you to give them a try. They won't bloom until later on in the summer, but their fragrance is heavenly and they attract moths at night. Just watching the flowers unfurl each evening is fun. We have friends who stop by sometimes just to see the moonflowers bloom. I interplant mine with morning glories so I have the morning glory blooms in the morning and for part of the day and the moonflower blooms from mid-evening to morning.

Dawn

I grow the Ipomoea quamoclit (Cypress vine, hummingbird vine) and enjoy it. It's kept in a container on pavement on the back porch, so reseeding elsewhere is not a problem. The birds come through the back porch on a regular basis and eat the seed after it drops off the plant.

randy

Dawn I got the packett of seeds at Home Depot the day we went to Gainesville...but still Burpee seeds. I will try to research a little better before I buy seeds after this but i will probably be just as happy with the Cardinal Climber this time.

I do love the ferny look of the cypress vine though and have grown it before on an arch in my backyard. It got so heavy on the arch and the arch was not sturdy enough for a wind storm we had one day and down came the entire thing. I have not grown it for several years but had wanted it for my new arch. I know about the reseeding though. I was pulling baby cypress vine out of the lawn for a few years after having it there...lol.

Dawna I hate to put you to all the trouble of sending me the seeds. That is so kind of you to offer to do that. I will look up your email addy and perhaps we can do something. I would love to have some and I may not see my friend who usually has it until later on in summer.

Thank all of your for your input and comments. I think the Cardinal climber with be equally nice for what I am trying to do.

G.M.

The Cardinal Climber will certainly attract more hummingbirds than the I. quamoclit, IMHO, since I've grown both. I have seeds, too, of the red, pink, and white I. quamoclit. I have also seeds of I. setosa that I'm going to try this year, and several Japanese Morning glories (cultivars of I. nil). The species and cultivars of I. nil are not as invasive as a lot of other Ipomeaes like purpurea, for instance. But, I. setosa has big purple blooms on it, with the ivy-shaped foliage. Gotta try it.

Dawn, my moonflower seeds are already coming up. Must have this for the moths, although they like anything shaped like a funnel and is white. This includes nicotianas and daturas as well as the moonflower.

I hope I get some tersas this summer on the red pentas, too. I found a baby eumorpha sphinx cat this morning on my VC, along with tons of baby 8-spotted foresters. These are the prettiest little cats, too.

Oh, I also have sulphur eggs on the senna hebecarpa. It's only about 1' tall now, so I hope there is enough to feed them. Welcome to Susan's Cathouse! LOL!

Susan

Susan,

How wonderful that you are already having so many cats showing up!

Sometimes I have cats show up and nibble the tiny plants down to the ground before they are large enough to come back from such a severe 'nibbling'. Last year the cats hit the parsley so early in the season that I didn't think it would recover, but most of the plants did.

I love the Japanese Morning Glories! I grew several kinds 3 or 4 years ago. I think they were Mt. Fuji Mix. I also grew another uncommon Ipomoea that year. It was Ipomoea luteola 'Sunspots'. It had tiny little red trumpet-shaped flowers that the bees loved. I haven't grown Mt. Fuji or Sunspots since, though. Too many flowers and too little time.

Dawn

Some of the JMs I planted have totally unrecallable, unprounceable, Japanese names. Even I cannot remember them. However, if they grow well, and produce some seeds, I'll be happy to send you some for next year, Dawn!

I have seeds of I. 'Sunspots', but never got them planted. Now, I'm going to have to think about that. Would you like some of the I. setosa? I like the MGs cause I just plant them and they grow. I don't soak them or nick them or anything. I just stick em in the ground and they always grow for me.

I'd love to have some dogbane if you ever venture into snake territory. I wouldn't blame you if you didn't, however. It is a great nectar plant for butterflies and may also be a host plant for a particular butterfly or moth, though I don't recall what right now.

Susan

Susan,

Maybe next year I'll take you up on the seed offer. This year I pretty much have planted stuff everywhere and don't have room for more...unless I get out the tiller. lol

I don't know if the dogbane survived the drought. We lost tons and tons of stuff that died out during the drought, and I am discovering that lots of stuff didn't come back. I'll keep my eyes open when I get brave and head out towards Snakesville. If I still have some, maybe I can bring it to the fall swap (assuming there is a fall swap).

On the other hand, it is a great wildflower year for the stuff that survived. It is perhaps the prettiest the wildflowers have been in 5 or 6 years. I noticed that some of my milkweed is blooming already, although it seems a little early. The one that is blooming is one we call Antelope's Horn. It is Asclepias viridis. I don'thave a lot of them, just a few scattered here and there. I like them. The blooms are big, bold and unusual.

When the seeds of the Antelope's Horn set, they are fluffy, sort of like dandelion seed heads and the finches gather them and use them to line their nests.

Dawn