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If you love vines and the colour purple, then this plant is for you.
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Scientific name: Petrea volubilis
Common names:
Sandpaper Vine, Purple Wreath, Queen's Wreath, Fleur de Dieu (meaning "Flower of God")
Family: Verbenaceae
Origin: Tropical America (Mexico and Central America)
Category: Evergreen vine
Photo taken at: rooftop Secret Garden of 1-Utama
The genus "Petrea" is named in honour of Robert James Petre (1713-1742), 8th baron and well-known patron of botany who has a massive collection of exotic plants.
The epithet "volubilis" means twining.
“Petrea volubilis - The Sandpaper Vine”, a copyrighted post, was written for My Nice Garden blog by Autumn Belle @ http://www.mynicegarden.com/ on February 26th, 2013
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The flowers emerge from the axils of leaves. Flowering is profuse. The flowers are borne in large, tapering clusters, the racemes can be as long as 1 ft. There are between 15-30 flowers arranged in pairs in each raceme. They appear to open dark purple and remain so for many days, thereafter slowly changing to a lighter grey. The actual flowers have 5 petals, purple in colour with a white centre. After the purple corollas drop off, they reveal the grey calices (sepals).
The flowers attract bees and butterflies.
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Light: Full sun to partial shade
Soil: Moist but well-draining
Propagation: Stem or root cuttings
With a strong support, it can reach very tall. Once established, it grows tall and dense, with vines twined over its branches. It will spread over a large area when left unprunned. Without support, it can be trained into a shrub or small tree. It can be grown on the ground under a pergola, in a container or hanging basket.
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Spectacular purple and grey flowers against lush green leaves.
Flowers that look like Wisteria.
Purple is always a beautiful colour.
ReplyDeleteWhoever has it, becomes beautiful.
What an absolutely gorgeous vine! Wonder if it could be grown here as an annual.
ReplyDeleteThat is beautiful!!!
ReplyDeleteSuch a lovely and beautiful vine! Happy Tuesday!
ReplyDeleteSuch beautiful blooms!
ReplyDeleteI love that bloom. Haven't heard of it before so I am assuming it's not available in my area.
ReplyDeleteCher Sunray Gardens
I have this, but it's only about 2 feet tall. I got it as a rooted cutting I think. I keep watching and waiting for it to take off and start blooming, so far I'm learning patience.
ReplyDeleteHappy gardening ~ FlowerLady
Such a beautiful bloom! Can it be grown from semi wood cutting?
ReplyDeleteWelcome back Ms Belle! Missed your postings so much.
ReplyDeleteWow!! This is a great flower. Looks like hydrangea cluster :)
How's the smell like?
No fragrance.
DeleteGorgeous colour ..welcome back, Autumn Belle! ^.^
ReplyDeleteSomething so beautiful but the name is long & beautiful too! Your blog is my flowers' dictionary but I always 4get abt it's name after a while n find it difficult to find the name again.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking as I was reading how these resemble wisteria...I love purple and this is especially lovely
ReplyDeleteWow, it certainly is beautiful! Apparently it's not hardy in my climate, so I'll just enjoy it in your lovely pictures. I agree with Donna--it reminds me of Wisteria in its color and its growth habits.
ReplyDeleteI have this huge Sandpaper vine and it had masses of blooms every now and then. It got rather unruly after a while, so after some hard pruning it died. I feel so sad looking at your photos now.
ReplyDeleteI agree, purple blooms blend well with the leaves. They look so vibrant under the sun!
ReplyDeleteLovely purple.
ReplyDeleteVery nice shades of purple...
ReplyDeleteThis is a lovely vine that does look like wisteria. Do the flowers have a fragrance?
ReplyDeleteIt's my favourite vine. I didn't know it's name. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI rarely find any Sandpaper vine around. It must be difficult to care and perhaps a sensitive one.
ReplyDeleteI never knew that they bloom so often as I thought they are very fussy when it comes to flowering.
Your plant really looks exceptionally beautiful.
The plant is native to the very tip of Florida and a tiny part along the coast of southern CA. Other places are like Cuba, etc. It doesn’t want to drop below 32F and prefers higher of course, so pretty much everywhere in the US it is a mid to late May to late summer and then has to come inside a greenhouse for the fall, winter, and early-mid spring. Lovely plant but not easy out of its native areas. There are several different colors from dark purple, to mid purple/blue, to the one you see here and a white, rarely seen ir offered.
DeleteAbsolutely stunning!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! Where can i get this vine?
ReplyDeleteMardhiah, you can ask around Nurseries in Sg Buloh and near the old Sg Buloh hospital.
DeleteLovely plant, I planted it in a pot from a cutting a few months ago, and it's growing well so far. How long does it take for the plant to flower from the time of planting the cutting? Will it take years? Is there any way to accelerate the flowering? Thank you very much.
ReplyDeleteNon-Sibu resident, I guess it'll take less than a year for the plant to start flowering. You first need to apply a growth inducer fertilizer once a fortnight. When the plant is established, you can then feed it with a flowering inducer.
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