March 28th, 2008 Climbing Plants – Part I
If you like climbing plants, here’s one for you to try. It is Mina Lobata (Ipomoea lobata), an annual that grows easily from seed. It is a very low maintenance plant.
A fast grower, it reaches 9’ – 15’ in no time at all.
The flowers are pale yellow near the stems and graduate to orange then red near the tips. It’s stunning when in full bloom, which is usually all season long.
The leaves are dark green and deeply lobed about three inches long.
It is disease and insect resistant – a real plus!
Give Mina full sun and fertilize regularly with 15-30-15 water soluble fertilizer.
A very forgiving plant, Mina will recover nicely if you occasionally forget to water it.
In our garden, with its clay and/or acidic soil, Mina doesn’t perform too well. But, planted in containers, or sandy loam, and given something to climb up, it is one of the show stoppers of the garden. It is a staple of our gardens.
March 21st, 2008 at 6:13 am
Thanks for the info on Mina Lobata, I will be on the lookout for it this year.