Saturday, May 29, 2010

Rangoon creeper

I don't remember seeing a Rangoon creeper (Quisqualis indica) around here, but I came across this one this afternoon while taking Sparky (the dog) for a bike run.

It's a big, vigorous vine, as the second pic illustrates, but it certainly is beautiful, and has a pleasant, light fragrance. The flowers start out white, change to pink, eventually becoming a deep red.

The strange thing was that as I continued the run, I came across four more (okay, three were in close proximity).  One of them was growing up a dead tree on the right of way, and there were lots of easily-removed suckers nearby. Guess what I'm going to do tomorrow?



4 comments:

NanaK said...

Wow, that is a huge vine. Your shots of it and the close-up of the blooms are just lovely. My mom had one of these growing up the clothes line support in our backyard. I had forgotten about this vine. Hope your new plantlets do well in your garden:)

Terra Mirabilis said...

Thanks, Nana. Where was the one your mom had? In Florida? It seems that this vine will tolerate quite cold temps. If a frost kills it back, it grows again in the spring; at least, that's what I'm finding on Google.

Anonymous said...

Geez; I did not know Rangoon Creepers even grew in Central Florida with the cold winters. I had one in Key West and it was GORGEOUS! They smell so sweet and the clusters of flowers are prolific. I bought one online for my St. Pete, FL garden and thought it died after I planted it; but, now some new leaves are coming out. I am really rooting for this guy and hoping our winter this year will not kill it!

Terra Mirabilis said...

Good luck with it!