Photo: Forest & Kim Starr, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Light
- full sun to part sun. Afternoon shade helps it through our hottest weeks
- Water
- medium. Water when the top inch is dry, plenty in summer, and never let it sit soggy
- Toxicity
- Not listed by ASPCA or Pet Poison Helpline. Absence from those lists is not evidence of safety
| Type | Vine |
|---|---|
| Sun | Full sun, part sun |
| Water | Medium |
| Size | 3 to 10 ft tall, 3 to 4 ft wide |
| Bloom | pink, red, white, yellow · summer |
| Plant in | May to June |
| Interest | Summer, fall |
| Upstate winter | One season |
| Hardy zones | 10 to 11 |
| Use in | Containers |
| Role | Height, trailer |
Toxicity not independently confirmed: Not listed by ASPCA or Pet Poison Helpline. If you have pets, check with the ASPCA or your vet before putting this one where they can reach it.
Mandevilla is the flowering vine for a porch post or a trellis in a pot. Glossy leaves and big trumpet flowers, pink most often but also red, white, and yellow, keep coming all summer, and hummingbirds work them all summer. The newer hybrids are bushier and less rangy than the old vining types, which makes them easier in a container. It is a tropical and it acts like one.
In the Upstate
It is hardy only in zones 10 and 11, so it is a one-season plant here. NC State notes it grows best at 65 to 70 degrees and is cold sensitive, so wait for warm nights, usually May, rather than the mid-April date for tougher annuals. Set out in a cold April it just sits. It comes into its own in July and August, and NC State suggests afternoon shade in a hot, humid climate like ours. The first frost in November ends it unless you bring the pot indoors, which NC State says is doable in a bright room with the soil kept on the dry side.
In a container
It is the height in the pot when it has something to climb, or a trailer from a hanging basket when it does not. Give it a trellis or a stake from day one. The twining stems reach 3 to 10 feet in a season. Water when the top inch of mix is dry and give it plenty in summer, but the pot must drain. Pinch long stems to keep it full. It does not need swapping mid-season.
Care
Water steadily, feed regularly through summer, and pinch. The stems bleed a milky sap when cut, so wear gloves. Watch for spider mites, aphids, and whitefly, especially in a dry spell. The one thing that kills it is cold: a cool spring stalls it and a frost finishes it, and the second is a pot that stays wet.
Want this planted for the light you actually have? Start a project
Sources
- NC State Extension Plant Toolbox, Mandevilla (plants.ces.ncsu.edu)
- ASPCA Toxic and Non-Toxic Plants, letter M index, no entry (aspca.org)
- Pet Poison Helpline, searched mandevilla, no entry (petpoisonhelpline.com)
