Vines blooming: Hardenbergia comptoniana and Petrea volubis

All of a sudden with the first few weeks of the
warm(over 65F), weather we have finally gotten here in
the SF Bay Area, it seems that everything is just
getting ready to bloom.  (Or is it that I am spending
more time outdoors now and noticing things?)  I see
that the Petrea volubis/Queen's Wreath is budding up
nicely, although the foliage is not looking great;
chlorotic and dropping, and it can't be from cold, as
it was fairly mild this year.  This is the first year
it is blooming so early, as it bloomed in June/July
last year.  I guess it is also telling me that it
wants to be fed, but even so is fully loaded with
flower buds.  Even though this is often considered as
a tropical, it seems to do very well in cool summer
Berkeley, and handled the 1990 freeze with 24F temps
just fine.  I have noticed that it does not hold onto
the flowers and calyxes nearly as long as it does in
Mexico or the tropics, but this could be climatic,
cultural or genetic differences, as I don't see this
planted much in the Bay Area to know how it performs
for others.  I have planted this in combination with a
yellow Hibbertia volubis for a purplish blue/yellow
combination, but they aren't cooperating to bloom at
the same time this spring.  It does seem to like a
good hot wall to bloom well, and may be telling me it
is not completely happy here by the attack of aphids
on the flowers every year, a sure sign of being
outside its preferred climate?  (Or maybe it is the
forced plant bondage it gets, being one of those
things planted in a pot sunk into the ground; what I
used to do with many plants when I thought I would be
moving after just a few years...)

The Hardenbergia comptoniana is also finally getting
ready to bloom, after the H. violaceae 'Happy
Wanderer' is just about finshing up.  I haven't had
the H. comptoniana in the garden before, and although
I know it has a later bloom period, I don't know how
it compares visually to Happy Wanderer, and now will
have a chance to see.  It does seem to be a much less
vigorous growing vine, by at least 50% in vigor.

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