Honeysuckles love the Arizona heat and the hummingbirds love the honeysuckle. Now that is a desert garden delight!
As long as I water this thirsty honeysuckle shrub it will produce abundant blooms most of the year. The narrow, orange, tubular flowers give enthusiasm to the garden with their bright colors.
Our orange honeysuckles are fast growing perennial plants that are low maintenance. Care for your honeysuckle with regular watering and pruning to keep the growth under control. With 180 species of honeysuckles, genus Lonicera, you can pick from pink, yellow, white, orange, red, etc., flowers. Honeysuckles belong to the Caprifoliacea family which includes all types of woody shrubs and fragrant vines.
When choosing a honeysuckle to grow, be sure to check the label as some varieties are hardier than others and can cope with frost. Also, there exists a few species of honeysuckle that are considered invasive such as Japanese honeysuckle.
Pruning tips for honeysuckle vines: Prune your plant in later winter when it is dormant. With pruning shears, remove dead blooms from your honeysuckle as soon as you see them.
Tree, fence, trellis or wall; honeysuckle vines will climb on anything to seek out the sun.
Our garden has become a very busy place. It is October in the Arizona desert and our honeysuckles are still blooming. What a joy to sit quietly and watch the butterflies and hummingbirds feast on the bright tubular flowers.
These heat tolerant honeysuckle plants did well even in full desert sun as long as they received their daily water.
In the photo above is Lonicera arizonica which is a native Arizona Honeysuckle. It is a perennial vine or shrub that you find in the open at elevations of 6,000 – 9,000 feet. According to Northern Arizona University, this native honeysuckle was used by Native Americans to cleanse the bowels. Navajo tribes used the leaves of the Lonicera arizonica to induce vomiting. Can I eat the red berries from the Arizona honeysuckle? Yes you can eat the berries but it will have a purgative effect.
The MANDEVILLA vine is growing well. This Mandevilla plant is native to Central and South America – named after Henry Mandeville (1773-1861), a British diplomat and gardener.
Mandevilla, also known as Brazilian jasmine, Dipladenia, is a flowering tropical plant that originated in the hills above Rio de Janeiro.
Mandevillas develop spectacular flowers in warm climates. They are perfect here in the hot desert Arizona garden. One of our secrets for cultivating this luscious pink variety (they come in white, red and yellow) is the part shade design.
**We purchased the 4 trellises from Home Depot, bent them slightly to fit the arch and then screwed them together.
An important part of Mandevilla care is the light it receives. The Mandevilla vines need some shade. We used 4 large plastic garden trellises by the front door as you can see in the photo. Mandevilla plants love bright indirect or filtered sunlight, but will get burned in full sun especially this Arizona sun.
Mandevillas are a vine and will need some type of support, we used garden ties and tape to help train it along the trellis.
Some say the Mandevilla Vine is not a Perennialplant because it will NOT survive if temperatures reach below 50 degrees. BUT this past winter Southern Arizona reached down to the 30’s and as you can see this beautiful plant is thriving and full of pink flowers. Mandevillas have brought tropical flair to our Arizona front yard and desert garden.
Mandevilla plants are critter proof – squirrels and packrats leave this plant alone!
There are over 100 species of Mandevilla plants. The blooms start out as a lighter color and get darker as they age.
Why doesn’t my bougainvillea bloom? Bougainvilleas like their roots to be crowded in a pot. If planted in the ground, the Bougainvillea may not bloom as much. If you want more color in your garden, grow your Bougainvillea in containers! Its vivid color is formed in the three bracts that surround the little white flower.
Bougainvillea does well growing on a trellis. The 2 vines in the picture are a Bougainvillea vine in a pot next to the Mandevilla Vine growing in another container. I trained both vines to continue growing up the trellis.
The pictures of these plants growing on our front porch gives you and idea of how happy the Mandevilla Plant is in the large container and how well the Bougainvillea Bush does in a pot.
To grow your flowering Bougainvillea shrub/vine choose a very sunny place. Be sure your pots have good holes in the bottom, so you will have good drainage. Fertilize with Hibiscus food as it has more potash than many other fertilizers. Be sure to measure exactly the amount of food according to the size of your pot. Bougainvillea comes from a hot humid climate, and they love the heat!
Be sure the dirt in the pot feels dry before you water your bougainvillea. Water large pots until water runs out the drainage holes in the bottom. There are exceptions to watering and caring for your Bougainvillea. Here in the southern Arizona desert we have had some temperatures above 110 degrees F. When I saw any of our plants wilting, including the Bougainvillea plant and Mandevilla vine I watered them. Being very careful not to get water on the leaves so they do not get burned from the Sun!
The Bougainvillea is climbing up the bamboo sticks to the trellis and combining with the Mandevilla vine.
If you want your Bougainvillea to grow up and not out you must trim/prune the stems that grow outwards. Keep them short around the bottom.
I found that the plants we cut back are growing straight up the bamboo garden stakes, look at the picture of our bougainvillea. The Bougainvilleas I do not prune, have many leaves but fewer blooms, color.
During this winter, both the Mandevilla bush/vine and the drought tolerant shrub, Bougainvillea, did ok. The winter temperatures dropped to the mid 30’s. I removed all the dead leaves.
Bougainvillea is drought resistant, I do not call it drought tolerant because it is not a desert native plant. Bougainvillea are native to South America. This flowering bush or is heat resistant to the extreme. Probably the best heat resistant desert plant is the Bougainvillea. Caring for and growing a Bougainvillea takes more effort but it is worth it. Note how short I prune the bottom branches of the Bougainvillea in the front pot.
Growing a Mandevilla – traditionally it is called a Dipladenia, but they are different in how they grow and look. For basic purposes they are vines with the Dipladenia growing better as a shrub or bush and being planted in a container or does well as a hanging plant. The Mandevilla is a climbing vine and does well twining and growing on a trellis.
Our Mandevilla Vine prefers part shade. It receives bright light but is also partially protected from rain and the Arizona Monsoon season. It is NOT drought tolerant or drought resistant. But the Mandevilla plant is HEAT RESISTANT. Our Mandevilla is doing incredible and growing well in the pot. Please see the attached photos.
It has bloomed continually most of the year. As far as pruning the Mandevilla Plant. I remove the Mandevilla yellow leaves, and trim a few branches that may have died but that is about it. This Mandevilla vine, bush, plant takes very little pruning. Although it is NOT drought tolerant, it doesn’t seem to have any problems with the desert heat as long as I water it every day. If your Mandevilla vine/bush can be planted in part shade… I would recommend this tropical flowering bush for any garden, from planting in Florida to growing in Texas, Arizona and California.
In this picture, we took 4 large trellises bending the top 2 to form the arch. As the Mandevilla Plant grew I used garden tape and ties to gently connect it to the trellis. The Mandevilla vines grow back and forth along the top of the trellis giving our desert yard a tropical, lush look. Our trellises were purchased from Home Depot. http://www.homedepot.com/
Mandevilla is a genus of plants belonging to the Dogbane (attributed to its toxicity) family. Native to South America. It has about 100 species, mostly tropical and subtropical flowering vines (any plant with a growth habit of climbing, stems or runners).
The Mandevilla flowers come in a variety of colors, including white, pink, yellow, and red. The Hummingbirds and butterflies visit our Mandevilla often. It is a pollen yielding plant that is fast growing and high flowering. In conclusion, Mandevilla is easy to care for as long as it gets watered regularly, has a trellis to climb on, is in part shade and protected from winds and rain.