A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2004 Mandevilla

I think that's what it is. Another housewarming gift, sent by mail, no label or care instructions. I've seen plants that look thae same for sale at Home Depot, so I'm assuming that's what I've got. It came with an inverted U shaped cane hoop stuck in the pot, with tendrils already twining around it, so I assume it's a climber.

Care? Inside or out? Annual or perennial? Houseplant or garden plant?

I've got to refine my search skills! I've looked all over this site and gone to "options" and clicked on "web search" and I'm obviously doing something wrong, coz I can't get any information!

Anyway, if you have any wisdom to pass on, I'd appreciate it. I had it outside in part sun for a while, and shortly thereafter its lower leaves began to brown round the edges. I thought I'd killed it, but I changed the location to where it was mostly in the shade, and now there's a bunch of new growth towards the top, and more tendrils shooting out, but with nothing to latch onto. I don't want to give it something to grow onto till I find out more about it.

Ronni

Sounds like a mandevilla. Does it have pink or white flowers? I have one that I train to climb up a wire next to one of my front porch posts. It's in full sun, but needs a goodly amount of water. Did you harden yours off before setting it in the sun? I think they are tropical perennials, so they need to be brought inside for the winter. Last year, I brought mine in after it got frosted and cut it back. Then I set it next to a south window. It would probably be better to dig it up before frost though. A hard freeze would probably kill it.

Oooh! You're lucky. I want one of those.

And you're right, they're tropical. Some people plant them in a pot, lower the pot into the ground to grow outside during the warm months, then lift the pot out of the ground, prune back and take inside during the cold months.

Fabulous flowers!

Sounds like a mandevilla to me too. I have one in my garden growing up a decorative stake with a butterfly on top, it is a climber. It gets mostly shade, morning sun only, lots of water. It usually blooms during the summer, bright pink flowers. So pretty

Terry, I don't know what "harden off" means, so I don't know if I did that or not

And I think its flowers were a hot pink, but it didn't have many. It came in a lovely arrangement with another plant, which I think is an azelea (sp?) which had white flowers. Or maybe it was the reverse. They both lost their flowers really fast. And the azelea is one grown especially for inside. I don't remember its name.

Bess, I like the pot in the ground idea. But I don't know how to deal with its climbing propensities. I mean, I'd need to put the pot somewhere where it can climb, right? Then I'd have to unwind it from whatever it climbed on to bring it inside? Or maybe that's what pruning it back will do?

As you can see, I'm really confused about this!

Ronni

If plants have been growing indoors and you set out in the direct sun, the leaves will burn and turn brown. So you need to harden them off gradually. What I do, is set them out in the sun the first day for only an hour, the second day 2 hours, the third day 3 hours and so on. After a week or so, they should be sufficiently hardened off to stay outside all day.

And yes, just cut the vines down to a couple of inches from the soil surface when you are ready to bring the plant inside for the winter. They will start to regrow shortly. When they really start to vine, I make a teepee out of 3 bamboo stakes stuck into the pot around the mandevilla for the vines to twine around.

Terry, thanks for the info!

I definitely didn't harden off that poor mandevilla. I'm sure that's why the leaves turned brown. But I guess it's a fighter, because it's growing well again.

Great idea about the bamboo teepee.

OK, so I'll plant it in its pot over this weekend, and then I'll bring it inside when it starts getting cold. I really like this plant, I'm glad y'all have shared your experience with me so that I can keep it around a while.

Ronni