[George_Athens]

Has anybody tried growing Antigonon leptopus or Bauhinia yunnanensis from seed? Both climbers are supposed to be relatively drought tolerant, so I decided to give them a try. Any advice would be great.

[Alice]

I germinated one Bauhinia yunnanensis from seed and planted the seedling out in autumn. It seems to be coping well so far.

I saw B. yunnanensis plants growing and flowering at the Diomidis Botanical Garden (Iera Odos, Haidari, just outside Athens).

[George_Athens]

Thanks! Any particular advice about the germination process (e.g. particular treatment)?

[Alice]

I have just seen your reply, George!
As far as I can remember I didn't give B. yunnanensis seeds any special treatment. I usually pour hot water over most of my seeds, leave them overnight and then plant them.
The small specimen I planted out in autumn seems to have coped well with the spring drought. It does need watering at the moment, about once a week, but it is still a very young plant, under a year old. It looks sorry for itself when it dries out but perks up when given water. I must add that it is situated where many other plants have given up, including Campsis radicans.

[Alice]

Antigonon leptopus germinated very easily. I have recently planted out three seedlings and hope they will survive over winter.

[Charithea]

After reading Alice's last post on the forum this morning,I was reminded to pay a visit to the "fresh egg" lady's garden to collect some more promised seeds. She lives in Finikaria 100masl   on a steep hill side and cultivates all kinds of flowers.  She has 2 amazing climbers side by side.  They are Antigonon leptopus and Ipomea quamoclit.  She gave me some seeds of the latter which I grew a month ago but since the temperature started falling in the evenings by 10 degrees my seedling died. This morning I got my new seeds but I have been advised to plant them in the spring because although her climbers flower until Christmas (temp approx 10 - 22 deg C) they die as soon as the cold weather arrives. They climbers self seed every year so I need not worry if I fail in my second attempt she is prepared to give me seedlings.  That is the kind of gardener I like.

[David Dickinson]

Hi Charithea and George,

I grow Ipomea quamoclit every year from the seeds produced on my plant the previous year. I start to collect the seed from the first flowers (June) as I find that the seed earlier in the year is bigger and healthier looking than the seed it is producing now in October. It grows for me without any soaking of the seed though I dare say that would speed up the process. I plant the seeds in April and within a week to ten days they are coming through. The seed ripens on the plant very quickly in summer and can have fallen to the ground within a few days of the flower having died back. If you want to collect seed watch it carefully to select the right moment. If you wait until the seed covering is dry and brown you may return the following day to find the seed already gone. I collect them when they are black and hard but the seed covering is still a little green where it joins the plant

This year I sowed some Bauhinia Galpinii, again in April. These I did soak as they were supplied commercially and were very shrivelled. I nicked the hard outer coating and left them in water overnight. They were very quick to germinate. Of the 10 I sowed I think 2 succummed to mould immediately and several others later died after they had germinated. I was left with 3 but then another 2 died - Sciarid fly are an enormous problem for me. Now as the winter approaches - what a pessimist I am, we still have a whole glorious autumn ahead of us yet - I am worried that it may not survive. There is a nice plant growing by the sea in Sperlonga about 100 km south of Rome and it survives the winter there. Hopefully Rome will not be too unkind to us this year after 2 successive years of a week of snow in February.

As for Antigonon leptopus, I got some seeds from MGS seed bank (thanks for all your hardwork and dedication there Chantal ) 18 months ago. I planted them in spring 2012 but nothing came through. I discovered this spring that I still had 2 seeds in the packet and I sowed them early in the year, March, when night time temperatures can still be comparatively low. I now have two young plants. One has grown about 2ft in height with a couple of side shoots the other is only a couple of inches high and has 4 leaves. This may be to do with the fact that the seed was collected in 2010 in Singapore if I have understood the label on the packet well. but even after 3 years it is evidently still viable.

Good luck - let's compare notes next spring.


Ps re Sciarid fly. I bought some predatory nematodes (Steinernema feltiae) 2 years ago for the houseplants and they worked a treat. End of problem. I had assumed that they would need to be introduced every year but it appears not so because although my seedling pots are very susceptible to attack there have been none around the house plants this year. I shall try to mix some of the old soil from the houseplants with my potting compost next year and see what happens. Better still, get some more nematodes, which also take of ants apparently. Easier said than done. I got mine in the uk and brought them back to Italy the same day. Discovered a retailer here in Italy this year but was let down by them as they didn't get back to me as promised despite several calls to them on my part.

[Charithea]

Thank you very much for the advice.  Kyria Stavroula who gave me the seeds gets hers from her friend who lives in the same village but on a higher slope. She apparently has an amazing garden. I have been introduced to her but have not had a definite invitation to her garden yet. I am hopeful that by spring she will succumb to my granddaughter's charm and invite us both. I will ask for seedlings and cuttings then.

[Alice]

My Antigonon leptopus seedlings look strong but are still quite small, ranging from 10 to 20 cm. Yes, let's compare notes next spring when new growth starts and let's keep our fingers crossed that they will survive the winter.

Your Ipomoea quamoclit, David, reminded me of the maddeningly confusing names of another plant: Ipomoea lobata/Quamoclit lobata/Mina lobata (Spanish flag). I succumbed to the temptation to grow it when I saw it mentioned some years ago as the most requested seed from the MGS seed bank. It germinated easily but the seedlings shrivelled up and died soon after. Does anyone grow it?

[David Dickinson]

Hi Alice,

I often grow I call "Mina lobata" and it is fairly successful in a pot on my balcony. I gave most of my seedlings away this year to make way for the new things such as Antigonon leptopus that I wanted to grow but I have one small seedling which is now flowering. Let's see if it produces seed.

[Chantal]

Hello friends,

It's a long time since I 'm looking at the forum, because not enough time to do so. What a shame, this forum is so valuable and so interesting in terms of knowledge. And, of course, I'm so happy to have news from the seeds you all can get from the seed list. What an amazing thing, Anthony, that you did not get any germination on the first time and the second trial was allright. I hope I gave you more than 10 seeds, because, usually, when I have very few seeds, I just give 10 of them. I imagine that it is a minimum when the seeds are not fresh. I do really love this plant and I did not find the time to sow seeds of it. Anyway, I would have been obliged to keep it in my greenhouse, as it is not frost hardy. But it is for the fun. The germination process is for me a wonderful miracle and even if I only get 50% of success in growing plants from seeds, I don't mind.
Chantal Guiraud

[Chantal]

Oups, sorry David, I made a confusion with your name as I called you Anthony