Pretty in Pink

Plant mandevillas now, and you'll have showy saucer-size flowers all season.

To add a little hard-hitting tropical punch to your garden, look to mandevillas. These agile vines are prolific and will maneuver up any structure. The large, showy blooms are guaranteed to be knockouts.

Simple Care

The vines can grow 10 to 20 feet long, so plant them at the base of an arbor, fence, trellis, lamppost or mailbox. Set them in containers on your deck, and let them wrap around railings and surround you with flowers. If you buy these plants in hanging baskets, trim them to keep them tidy.

Mandevillas like rich soil and do well in full sun to partial shade. Feed them with a water-soluble fertilizer, such as Peters all Purpose Plant Food 20-20-20, every two to three weeks. Try to keep their roots evenly moist. Don't let them dry out completely or allow the roots to stay wet. Mandevillas are popular along the coast because they tolerate some salt spray. Plant them behind the first line of dunes where they will be protected.

These vines are usually evergreen in the Tropical South and root hardy in the Coastal South. A hard frost will kill the tops of plants, but they usually grow back in spring if the roots aren't damaged. In the Lower, Middle, and Upper South, dig them up in fall, put them in containers, and bring them in the house for the winter. Place near a sunny window, and reduce watering.

Versatile Vines

Much is made of mandevillas' lovely blooms, but they also have wonderful foliage. Dark green leaves can grow 8 inches long and 3 inches wide. Thick, leathery, and rumpled, they create a coarse-textured backdrop for the smooth pink flowers.

These showy tropicals are quickly becoming a Southern favorite. Big pink bloomers such as 'Alice du Pont' (Mandevilla x 'Alice du Pont') and 'Rita Marie Green' (M. x 'Rita Marie Green'), which is also sold as 'Pink Parfait,' are especially popular. Mandevillas flourish in the summer heat while many other plants are wilting. They aren't fussy, and their shocking pink blooms are sure to turn some heads.

CHARLIE THIGPEN

Copyright Southern Progress Corporation Jun 2004
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved