PlantFiles: Cathedral Bells, Cup and Saucer Vine
Cobaea scandens

My sister gave me two seeds last spring and I planted them in a pot on my deck which is the only place where I get some sun...The plant had a few flowers in the spring and nothing in the summer, then to my great surprise this plant sprung lots and lots of flowers in the fall, it is now November here in the mountains of NC..I have been trying to get some pods to dry on the vine so I can collect seeds but the flower part drops off...I have several pods that have not opened and was wondering if these would have seeds in them IF I took them off the vine..Any help would be greatly appreciated...

I started the seeds in February and planted the seedlings outside in May. They grew great vines, but no flowers. Since it gets cold here rather early, and the vines were so healthy, I brought them inside and placed them on some very large ficus bushes I have inside. They are growing fabulously and have had a few flowers. I am hoping they will grow all winter and flower now and then. So lovely.

Hasn't bloomed yet, but these things are growing VERY fast. Began with starts in 4" pots from a local nursery, kept them in a window in the kitchen for a few weeks until I had trellis setup outside for them. now that they're in full sun, you can practically watch them grow tendrils before your eyes. They're already almost 2' tall.

Started indoors the beginning of March under grow lights.
Germination rate: 2 sprouted out of 12, all planted on their sides.
Both went outside at the end of April - only 1 thrived.
Because it's a vine, I did not expect much the first couple months as the roots need to get established. It wasn't until late July that I saw any measurable increase in growth: it just took off. We had a very cool summer, so I wasn't sure what to expect. But I am so glad I grew it: it gave a lot for so little.
In September (we finally had our "summer"), it started to flower & has been going strong ever since. I'm bummed because it will not survive the winter here, but I will start from seed again in 2009.
All stages of growth are exceptional: colour of stems & foliage, the stages of the flower from bud to well, I'm waiting for the seed pods to turn. I didn't realize the flowers change colour as they're progressing through opening. No fragrance detected. Definitely one of those stand-alone vines: don't plant it near anything you don't want swallowed up!
When the winds were blowing hard here a couple weeks back, the Cobaea kept the metal trellis from keeling over. Very strong...

I started this from seed in the spring of 2006. I grew it in a large container. It didn't grow that much that summer and didn't flower at all. So at the end of the growing season I moved it to an unheated shed where I winter over my tender plants.
This year (2007) it has really taken off and is covered in flower buds. I'm anxiously awaiting my first flowers on this beautiful vine.

I first got this in a small pot from the Luther Burbank Gardens in Santa Rosa. Because I rented my house then, I kept two of them in pots, so they never got very big. When I bought a house the first plant I planted was cup and saucer, and it took off like wildfire. It's now all over my trellis and arbor--about 25' and still hauling butt. We had two weeks of freezing weather in January and I was so worried it'd die, but only the leaves on top of the arbor died--it's still flowering like mad now, in February. I love this! I'm not going to cut it back...as far as I'm concerned it can keep going! One little caveat is that you need to remove it from anything you don't permanently want it adhered to--like our gas grill.

I am growing this on a driveway gate. The Vine is so tough that it does not break when the gate opens and closes. It is still blooming for me in Jan. (Berkeley, CA) I think it is fantastic.

My cobaea survived the winter outside so it started producing new shoots in the spring, it has grown and flowered like crazy and is still flowering now Oct 8 2005. I have found several seed pods so hoping they will ripen. I have also been hand pollinating to help to get more pods.

It is facing north so only gets the sun late afternoon but it seems very happy here, the ones I have in my back garden have more sun but do not do so well.

I planted seeds in January, left some in the seed packet next to the peat pots. Only two of the pots sprouted, but the seeds left in the packet ALL sprouted!! After planting them they covered a trellised wall and have grown like weeds. I still haven't gotten a bloom by June 1 but have been feeding with high phosporus fertilizer and will hope for the best. Thanks for all the info...just what I was looking for.

I wanted to grow these so badly that I started the seeds each February for 3 years running. I had no problems with germination or the plants growing - they took off like weeds once planted outside in May and covered the side trellis in no time. But I was unable to have success getting them to flower in our particular climate. Ithaca tends (like Seattle) to have more overcast days than sunny, and I believe this is why no flowers. I've gone back to putting Passion flowers out instead, I have no problems getting them to flower!

I bought these seeds from ebay and did everything i was supposed to do. Nothing happened. I put them outside in a small pot then my dog knocked it over. I gave up. About a month later I saw this new plant with tendrils coming out of the dirt. low and behold it was the cup and saucer vine. I will keep you posted on its growth.

I bought this in a 4" pot about a year ago. It is a tender (alledgedly) short lived perennial in my zone. It is a very rapid grower, and is now enormous, threatening to take over my neighbor's 30' tall incense cedar. It is doing well in sandy clay crowded in with several other plants and vines. I haven't had it set seed. Both hummingbirds and bees like its flowers. A little too enthusiastic a grower for small yards. However, the flowers never fail to provoke comment.

For those you, like myself, for whom this is perennial, unless you want to swing from branch to branch on its dangling ropes, cut it down to about 2 feet in early spring.

Cups and Saucers love to grow in Athens, Greece! I started them from seed, planting them directly into pots in mid-March. They haven't bloomed yet but have scaled the wall and one is reaching for a nearby tree (5 meters at this time- I beg to differ with the height posted at 6 feet!). I made the mistake of not pinching them back and some are growing as a single "jack and the bean stalk "stem while others that happened to break in their infancy (thank you, cats) have grown bushy, with many stems. I can't wait for the flowers. I use compost and fertilised once when they were about 6 inches.

I had tried last year to grow this with no luck, not sure if it was the seed, or human error, but I did hear to stand the seed up, so tried that this year and got wonderful germination!

As Deanne stated... a useful tip for germinating the seeds is to plant them in the soil on their sides. By laying flat they'll collect too much moisture and rot. These vines take a long time before blooming so give them a head start indoors, 4-6 weeks early. Transplant them out after you're last frost date. Once established they grow by leaps & bounds!

This plant is from Mexico, and there's also a white form of this plant, Cobaea scandens 'Alba'. When it has warm and sunny place and you water it enough it grows very fast. Don't fertilize, because then it just grows leaves and won't bloom. Flowers smell ugly but have pretty dark purple colour. The flowers are greenish when they open.

A vine growing to 20 ft. Needs support. Plant in Spring with seeds on edge so they don't rot. Germinate in 14 days. Thin to 12 inches apart. Keep roots cool by mulching around bottom of plants. Minimum temp is 41 degrees F/5 degrees C.May survive short periods of 32 degrees.