The Stunning Mandevilla Flowering Plant

Mandevilla plant belongs to the large plant known as Dipladenia. The name Mandevilla was named after Henry Mandeville who was a gardener and a diplomat. This small exotic plant is known for its twining stems and oval-shaped green leaves.  The trumpet-shaped mandevilla flowers come in shades of pink, yellow and white.

This graceful plant provides a perfect view in an indoor location. During summer it is put outdoors and in winter it is taken indoors. This plant is sensitive to cold that it can only be put outdoor after winter. To keep blooming, it requires plenty of water and phosphorus fertilizer every other week, especially during spring and summer times.

Deciduous or evergreen tropical stem twiners presenting a trellis of lavish summer show of white or pinkish funnel-shaped flowers with exquisite fragrance. The loose, open growth may reach five feet in one year, ultimately aspires to twenty feet with favorable growing conditions.

If the vines look bare at the base, use smaller plants as camouflage. If leaves drop in winter, train the stems to a decorative pattern. Plant these vines only where their loose, open habit suits the surroundings and landscape design. And by all means, try one in a container, and store it indoors in winter.

Culture includes high humidity, a fibrous soil mixture with nearly half the bulk in chunky charcoal, moisture except during dormancy, protection against hottest summer sun but full sun otherwise. Pick flowers before seed pods form. Fertilize generously. Prune after flowering to shape and thin, and train the twining stems carefully. Young plants need to be tied up at first. Propagation is by seeds or stem cuttings over heat. These plants are often offered as dipladenia.

Mandevilla laxa (suaveolens) – Three-inch leaves and fragrant white or pinkish flowers two inches across.

Mandevilla splendens – Eight-inch leaves, clusters of pink-tinged white flowers. ‘Amoena’ is probably a hybrid, with pink flowers darker at the throat.

Family: Apocynaceae

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