my seed list was last updated 12/7/14. some seeds have been traded/used since then. but I have not found the magic link to update my list. can email current list to anyone interested.

I don't think of it as quite complete yet I have not addressed the bugs we encounter. So anyone else that wants to see something not present in it please let me know. The final version I will post as FAQ in the sugject heading.

I never have. I had the same experience as you; no matter how early I started plants I didn't get flowers until late summer. So I thought it needed warm temperatures. But then the darn thing kept blooming until November in central Ohio! I've heard that cobaea is naturally pollinated by bats, but that the bats we have in North America simply don't do that. Found a few articles that reference that, this from a UCLA publication: Bat pollination is especially important in certain families, such as Old and New World Bombacaceae, including the baobab, kapok, and floss-silk tree species. Classical examples of bat flowers occur in the Bignoniaceae, including the sausage trees cultivated on the UCLA campus, and calabash, among others. Cobaea scandens, a cultivated vine of the phlox family (Polemoniaceae), has flagelliflory and is bat pollinated in western South America. Although in Westwood we have some bat-adapted flowers, and these plants form fruits, we have not determined yet whether bats are responsible for fruit formation on campus. This sounds like a good nighttime homework assignment for a UCLA undergraduate student, one not afraid of bats and vampires. And from the Kemper Center for Home Gardening: Native to Mexico and tropical South America, cup and saucer vine is a vigorous, rapid-growing, tendril-climbing vine that typically grows to 30-40 in its native habitat. When grown as an annual, it can grow 10-20Â in a single season. The descriptive common name is in reference to its bell-shaped flowers (cups), each of which is subtended by a saucer-like green calyx. Flowers last about 4 days, emerging green but maturing to purple. Flowers have a musky fragrance. Blooms late summer into fall. Pinnate leaves have four leaflets. Also commonly called cathedral bells. Flowers are reportedly pollinated by bats. And this from the Encyclopedia Britannica: Certain highly specialized tropical bats, particularly Macroglossus and Glossophaga, also obtain most or all of their food from flowers. The Macroglossus (big-tongued) species of southern Asia and the Pacific are small bats with sharp snouts and long, extensible tongues, which carry special projections (papillae) and sometimes a brushlike tip for picking up a sticky mixture of nectar and pollen. The plants involved have, in the process of evolution, responded to the bats by producing large (sometimes huge) amounts of these foods. One balsa-tree flower, for example, may contain a full 10 grams (0.3 ounce) of nectar, and one flower from a baobab tree has about 2,000 pollen-producing stamens. Some bat flowers also provide succulent petals or special food bodies to their visitors. Characteristics of the flowers themselves include drab colour, large size, sturdiness, bell-shape with wide mouth and, frequently, a powerful rancid or urinelike smell. The giant saguaro cactus and the century plant (Agave) are pollinated by bats, although not exclusively, and cup-and-saucer vine (Cobaea scandens) is the direct descendant of a bat-pollinated American plant. Calabash, candle tree, and areca palm also have bat-pollinated flowers. Somehow I don't think we can replicate this with a soda straw and long fingernails!

I live Downunder so we dont have freezing weather. My plants just die off during Autumn and shoot again Spring and then they go mental. The perfume is just so strong & beautiful. I collect the seed pods when the vine is dying off & put them in an open jar inside till it is heading for warmer weather then I put them in warm water for a couple to 3 days.. I just put them in a pot all together outside and see what happens.. I planted out four small plants today so I am very happy with that.. My plants did get covered with little black ants I notice but it was a European wasp that bit me while trying to pick a flower OUCH.. It isn't difficult.. Mine is a Snail creeper and a lovely white/lilac colour. That is what we call them here I gave a 18" tap root I pulled out to my cousin as I didn't want the vine to choke my magnolia so she just threw it in the ground, I found it in her garden this week about 14" high. I haven't tried cuttings at this stage but it may be worth a try. Good luck to all trying for the first time.. Dee..