Tropical Mandevilla

Every year, a friend of mine gets two pricy Mandevilla Dipladenia plants from her kids for her birthday. She likes the “Red Riding Hood” for its scarlet blooms. In the fall of 2011, I caught her as she was getting ready to throw them out at the end of the season and asked if I could take them home. I placed them by an east window and over-wintered them. In the spring, I re-potted them and set the two pots on the inside of the trellis on which the purple clematis grow. They climbed over the top and began to bloom just as the clematis finished. They were a beautiful splash of color for the rest of the summer.

Blooms ready to open

 I repeated the process the second year, but jumped the gun in the spring and set them out too early. I lost one of them to a cold snap.

In the fall of 2012, I once again cut the plant back and moved it into the house. In the spring of 2013, I took three stems from the remaining plant and looped them down, “pinning” them in the soil at the base with plastic forks. Since the pot was behind the pergola swing, I couldn’t check it easily, so left well enough alone. Sure enough, when I was ready to take the plant in for the winter I had three new well-rooted starts, which I placed into their own pots. So, for 2014, I have four plants to transfer to the garden in when the temperature is consistently over 50 degrees. Can’t wait!