Mystery Climber

After a few trips to the nursery looking for a Jacquemontia climber to replace the one that died out bore no fruit I decided to go with another nameless climber that we had in our garden nursery growing in a large bag. I had purchased it a few months ago and by now had forgotten its name but the leaves looked attractive and the plant seemed to be healthy so we planted it in place of the Jacquemontia

The climber grew well and had soon got to the Lake View Gallery level above the kitchen and over the little trellis there. The leaves were shiny green and very attractive but even a year down the line there was no sign of flowers. I delved through many books hoping to learn more about the plant including its name and flowering habits but came up with nothing.

When Swati and Suchitra visited us in May 06’ we spent many enjoyable evenings looking out at spectacular sunsets from this lovely Look Out Gallery. We often admired the mystery climber with its dense dark green ornamental foliage and wondered when it would flower. I began to joke that maybe it’s a male and was never going to flower.

Then by early June I noticed something that had to be a spray of buds. They took their own time opening keeping me guessing a little longer and finally revealed bell shaped rose magenta mildly scented flowers.

I was ecstatic. Bunches of gracefully arranged flowers stood out against the shiny green foliage looking pretty stunning. A long wait it had been but a fruitful one. With a clear visual of the flowers I was once more inspired to hunt down its name. Armed with a visual of the flowers in I surfed the net for a few days and finally I hit pay dirt. The mystery climber had a name after all.
Botanical Name: Saritaea magnifica,
Family: Bignoniaceae,
Other names: Glow vine, purple bignonia, saritaea
Origin: Colombia

The mystery was solved but the case shut for good about a year later when the plant died out!!!

Astrid Rao