Re: Jade vine
I've seen this in bloom (Strongylodon macrobotrys) in a tropical
greenhouse in Japan once. It is incredible, and if anything, the
color is an even more intense tealish-green than the photograph
shows. I picked a couple of the flowers to press them to show people,
but the color faded and changed as it dried to a dull brownish icky
color. And the raceme is huge; the one I saw was probably not quite a
meter long and completely filled with these giant green pea-like
flowers. But the vine itself was huge and was strung all over the
rather tall (maybe 30 feet tall?) greenhouse and was planted in the
ground.
The only other flowers in that part of the color spectrum that I've
seen or heard about are Puya alpestris, Puya berteroniana, Ixia
viridiflora, and Lachenalia viridiflora. I've grown the last two
which are from South Africa's Cape Province and are striking, the
Lachenalia being very easy to grow.
I've tried to grow Jade Vine here in So. Calif. and kept it in an
unheated greenhouse over the winter, but the vine died when the temps
in the greenhouse got down to about 40 deg. F. So they are definitely
tropical plants. The only other flower like it I've seen is Mucuna
bennettii which is very similar except that the flowers are an
intense scarlet color. I saw those blooming in the Botanical Garden
in Singapore.
Jade Vine is available mail order, although expensive, from:
http://www.glasshouseworks.com for $45.00
or http://www.alohatropicals.com for $27.95.
--Lee Poulsen
>Actually we are currently growing it in the orchid house at La Mortella, the
>garden in Ischia, but it hasn't bloomed yet. Does Anybody out there have a
>clue? The color is really jade green (hence "jade vine") and it's wonderful!
>Alessandra
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Barry Garcia
>To: A.Vinciguerra@aarome.org
>Sent: 12/14/00 7:03 AM
>Subject: Re: Lapageria or...?
>
>A.Vinciguerra@aarome.org writes:
>>BTW, both sites show various photos of wonderful vines, and
>particularly
>>this last site has a photo of my beloved Petrea volubilis, one of the
>most
>>magnificent climber on earth, that alas! can be only kept under glass
>here
>>in Rome, but maybe can grow outdoors with some of you guys around the
>>world.
>
>The vine that caught my attention most on the last page was Strongylodon
>macrobotrys - Green Jade Vine. What strikes me is the color of the
>flowers
>(perhaps a bit different due to the camera, shade,etc.), but it's such
>an
>odd color for any flower i've seen. A Greenish blue color. Not to
>mention
>the shapes of the flowers in the raceme. Too bad it just grows in zones
>10
> - 11.
--
--Lee Poulsen
Pasadena area, California, USDA Zone 9-10
wlp@radar-sci.jpl.nasa.gov
