I tried to overwinter one last year in my unheated garage. It didn't make it. When I dug it up I noticed several tubes. (I'm still new at this so pardon if I don't use correct terms) Out of curiosity I divided some of the tubes and kept on inside in my propogation box.

When I looked at it a few weeks ago it looked good. Had nice roots. But its just a tube with roots. I'm going to try planting it and see what happens. I have no idea of this will work.

They are expensive but last year it was so beautiful. It did great in our heat & humidity. It was no bother at all with pests, water, sun vs. shade etc. If my rooting doesn't work I will definitely pick up another one this year and try again.

Mary,
I am in Zone 7B and I got my first mand. vine last year. It did great all summer and fall so I brought it in on November 2nd(shortly before our first frost was expected). I cut it back to about 3 feet, dug a biggish rootball(about 14 inches) and plopped it in a pot. I kept it in my unheated garage for a few days and then had my hubby tote it up to my third floor. It is heated up there but the vent is closed since we don't do much up there unless guests come. It only gets radiant heat from the roof and whatever wafts up from the second floor. It has an eastern exposure window and I put it right next to it. I had to pick up a lot of yellow leaves over these last months but it never lost them all and took off growing around January. It is now climbing up my mini-blinds, and I will have hubby carry it down on Saturday to put it on the screen porch. I'm planning to leave it there til the temps level off a bit warmer and back in the ground it will go.

BTW, I tried cuttings last fall to try and hedge my bets if I lost the one I dug up. They all mildewed and died. I do recall seeing online that fall is not the time to root this plant though.

Hope this helps and I'll check back to see if anyone has info on rooting it.

Meredith

Thank you for describing your experiences ladies! I do hope others will chime in on this too.
One thing I love about plants is their generosity! I'm always willing to 'try' to see what will come of a cutting or how much I can divide something etc..
so interesting! Mary

I had several Mandevilla vines when I lived in Houston - I know different zone, but my experience was that if they were in the ground and even got a nip of frost (yes, it did freeze there several times in each winter) it died down to the roots. They would come back, but not bloom until late in the summer. If they didn't get any freeze, they would not grow until it got warm, but they took off right away and bloomed months earlier. So, I just put them in pots, put them in the garage on nights frosts were expected then planted the pots in the ground as soon as I was sure there would be no more freezing weather. When the temps got over 90 and the humidity was dripping out of the air, those vines were happy campers.

I have one of the dark velvet-y red ones. I have never planted it in the ground, I keep it in a pot and move it around the yard depending on the season. They seem to like heat and humidity the best. I believe they are propagated by layering which is a slow process. I overwinter mine in a temporary greenhouse I build in the garden each year. They don't care for the dry air in most houses which is why a cooler room will suit them better.

deborahz - though it may not apply to this plant there are few out there that form the tubers like you found but when planted they never sprout into a plant. Asparagus fern is one of them - they make all these swollen fleshy masses along their roots but these are just to store water they won't grow if you sepperate them from the mama plant and plant them.

In the fall we cut our mandavillas down to about 18" and put them in the crawl space under the house - my husband will go and water them about once a month just to keep them from drying completely out - They were starting to put on new growth in February so we brought them out and just put them in the garage on cold nights. THey have a ton of new growth on them now. Ours are in pots and I keep them on the front porch to grow up the posts and across the top of the porch - very very pretty.....

Lynne

Mary, I took a few cuttings from mine late last summer. I didn't do anything special, just dipped in clonex and stuck in my usual rooting medium, which is at least half perlite. They rooted outside in the fall and have spent the winter in the garage with the momma plant. I watered about once a month or so, and they should all be ready to go outside in another few weeks. I don't have any idea how fast the cuttings will grow after the weather warms up. I just rooted them because a piece got torn off the main plant and I wanted to see how it would do.

Don't know about mandevilla but my diplodenia (which the nursery said is a relative) has done well being inside all yr and I put it outside on nice days. When it gets warm outside I will put it on the deck in the sunshine again.
As far as layering, my experiences have been positive (though amateur). I have rooted forsythia, Carolina jasmine and honeysuckle through layering. Basically, you push a branch gently on to the ground and put dirt over the center of it. Make sure there are some joints on the section covered, and that there are leaves uncovered at the end of the branch, then leave it alone. Check it in a couple months, if it has roots, use a pitchfork to gently lever it up and then stick it in a pot w/ potting soil. Good luck. Brandy

thank you all so much! I haven't been responding--I'm fighting off some kind of nasty spring cold/sinus thing. It seems that after being perfectly healthy all winter and waiting for spring everything is conspiring to keep me inside!! Every weekend off --bad weather of some kind and now not feeling well. :(

But my plants are waiting for me to put them in their beds. I started lots from seed and I see they are mostly getting to be pretty big. the Mandevilla is in the house still, with my new fuschia. The mandevilla is trying to branch out, I gave it a piece of bamboo to conquer for the time being so it will stay out of the blinds til I get it a nice big pot. I'm planning to have it grow up a post on the front porch and live in a pot so I can bring it in for winter. I guess I may break down and buy it a partner--but not decided yet- for the post on the other side of the porch. Just for grins I did put some of a new growing tip into some water to see if I might just get really lucky. (ya never know) thanks again! Mary

I got the Parks Annuals & Tropicals catalogue yesterday and they had a gorgeous white mandevilla vine. I had never seen one before, only the pinks. I may have to break down and buy that one.

Can finally reply to the original question :) Just brought our Mandevilla plants out from the crawlspace. 2 of them were the ones Lynnencfan mentioned above (3 years ago- wow!), and the 3rd one was from a tip cutting I took in Nov, 2008 before we stored them for the winter.

The cutting in question was from new green growth, and about 8" long. I rooted it in water for about 2 months, then potted it up (4" pot) and kept it in a South window during the winter. Last spring, it got repotted into a 10" pot with a 3' tomato cage for support. The vine itself probably grew about 10 total feet, but I kept it wrapped around the cage. Did not flower last year.

I didn't cut that one back but put pot and cage under the house for storage. Just brought it back out this morning, and there's an abundance of nodes just waiting to pop out with new growth!

So yes, they can be propagated from cuttings. Hopefully, we'll get some blooms this year. I'll report back in this thread again on the plants' status this summer.

In the meantime, we also had 2 viable seedpods from the older Mandevilla last fall,and I'm getting ready to pull the seeds and sew them today. Will also report back on their status later in the season.

Since that original post I have also been able to root them from basic cuttings. Nothing special except that I wait for it to be the hottest and most humid part of summer to do it. I take a lot of tropical cuttings during that time (July, August) otherwise you would have to provide bottom heat while you wait for them to root.

My Mandevilla took off from a 4" pot last May here on Cape Cod , Ma. on a trellis. I just potted it up in a 2 gal. ceramic and cut it down from 5' to 3'with a small trellis for it's move to Fl.I have put the two 2' cuttings in water and will transport them also to see if I can root them down there. I'll keep you posted, Jagdoran