Thunbergia, Black-Eyed Susan Vine

On Jan 14, 2018, cheyotto from Rockland, MA wrote:

Love this plant but whatever you do, DO NOT OVER FERTILIZE. In fact, this year I am not going to fertilize it at all. I had hardly any flowers and instead a tower full of lush leaves.You don't even need to let the seeds dry on the plant as they can be hard to catch. When they dry, the pop open and shoot out the seeds. I just cut off the green pods and let them dry in a bowl in front of a sunny window. The few flowers I did get self-seeded. I dug them up and brought them in the house in the winter. It's growing slow but it is three less plants to buy this year. Hope this helps!

On Jun 21, 2015, elainewhite74 from Herndon, VA (Zone 7a) wrote:

I've been growing this vine from two balconies on the front of my house for the past two years. Very fast grower, by the end of the season last year, they covered the entire rail and hung down at least eight feet! Showy little yellow flowers bloom through out the season and provide a riot of color, my neighbors are always commenting.

On Sep 15, 2014, cnoteboom from Battle Creek, MI wrote:

I bought them from a catalog and they have grown like crazy on my covered porch here in Michigan. They are probably 5 foot tall and now I am wondering if i can cut them back to move into pots and move them in for the winter. I have a good south facing window so I am hoping they will do OK any suggestions?

On Oct 27, 2013, silversurfer01 from nottingham,
United Kingdom wrote:

I have two plants, one yellow & one orange. They are absolutely fabulous. They are on a flat trellis on my wall and are a mass of lovely flowers. The plants are now over 6ft high and must be at least 7-8ft wide and dont seem to want to stop growing, which is amazing. They were bought for me by my guest from Australia very cheaply at my local garden center. My friend, now back home, has found some in his local garden center so now has them growing wonderfully in his Brisbane garden.

On Mar 19, 2012, amelliso from Lubbock, TX (Zone 7b) wrote:

Planted a 3" pot in spring 2010. It died to the ground each winter and returned both spring 2011 and now spring 2012. Even had a couple of blooms in February, this year. I'm in zone 7b - it's planted in a bed between the driveway and the north wall of the house; so a bit of a micro-zone. It does prefer to ramble along the ground and needs attention to keep it in bounds. But anything that thrived through last summer, with record-breaking heat and drought here in West Texas, is a winner in my book!

On Jan 22, 2011, cece71 from Richmond, CA wrote:

Our beautiful Blackeyed Susan Vine is suddenly dead.
We have lived in our house for 2 1/2 years and have enjoyed the back "wall", a 10 foot fence/lattice, covered with the Blackeyed Susan vines. It has been one of the most beautiful aspects of our yard. I never dreamed this plant could be "killed off" as it has been in bloom and green the whole time we have lived here. During our mild winters it has had blooms on it all winter. With purple Morning Glories overlaying it this wall has been a riot of golden color in the summer months. The past month we have had 2 or 3 nights of fairly heavy frost. Must I replant seeds? Will it regenerate? These vines were growing over 12 feet high. Do I need to look for a special variety? Do I need to tear our the old vines that look dead or ca... read moren I let the new vines climb over the old ones?
Yes, we did have to watch that it didn't decide to become a "carpet" in our yard but it was so spectactular it was worth the bit of tending!

On Jul 13, 2010, DisHammerhand from Fontana, CA wrote:

When I first saw this plant I fell in love with it. The flowers are so cheery. Because I get frost in the winter here I planted this where the rootzone is sheltered by my porch eaves. I've had the plant longer than a year now and it's done wonderfully. it really took off this year and now my porch is sheltered in a blanket of fuzzy leaves and happy orange flowers. It seems to keep the house cooler in hot weather. It's not a common vine around here.

On Oct 13, 2009, Maggs06 from Garden Grove, CA wrote:

My backyard backs right up against the front of an elementry school. The only bummer is that the only thing seperating the two is a 75 foot chain link fence. I planted 3 black eyed susan vines and with in 3 months the vines had climed to the top of the fence and were starting to spread. That was back in April when I moved in. Now its mid October and I cant see a thing, its has created lots of privacy. The vines are thick and the flowers are there all year round it seems to be so far. They require little water compared to some other plants. I couldn't be happier with this plant.

On Oct 29, 2008, dimar7a from Quincy, MA wrote:

we tried this plant from seed this year for first time,had great luck.we put about 9 seedlings in a 2 gallon pot.it was slow to start, but buy mid july it really started to show alot of flowers,it,s the end of oct. now and its covered with flowers. after reading the other com.s i, m going to try to keep it over winter in a south ,south east facing window.

On Jun 17, 2008, LiliMerci from North of Atlanta, GA (Zone 8a) wrote:

Blooms again and again. Very easy to grow. Leaves are soft and hairy.

On Apr 30, 2008, CheekyTikiGirl from Van Nuys, CA wrote:

Once established, this vine will pretty much overtake any other vine. We planted several varieties of vines to cover a fence. The black-eyed susans over powered the honeysuckle, potato vine, mandevilla vines and even the morning glories!

On Apr 24, 2006, SudieGoodman from Broaddus, TX (Zone 8b) wrote:

Zone 8b, Broaddus, TX southeast
My Black-Eyed Susan Vine (Thunbergia alata) is potted in an 8" hanging basket on my 8' arbor in an area with good morning sun and part shade in afternoon. Many orange flowers and a healthy vine about 8 ft. long.

Try it, you'll like it!
Happy, successful gardening

On Feb 26, 2006, BlindPo from Garden Grove, CA wrote:

I have these in large pots on my patio with trellises and they go crazy, so crazy in fact they were twining around the balcony railing. I'm not a very organized gardener so I just started hacking away at the strays and ended up cutting some vital vines and the middle of my plants started to die out and it was ugly - that was probably at the end of summer/beginning of fall.

So all through winter, which this plant normally grows and blooms through, the plants continued to deteriorate. I finally cut them back completely. That was about a month ago and they're sprout-tastic now! I figure they'll be blooming again in another two months.

Very hearty plants in my area and good to know they can be cut back if necessary.

I've never been able to get t... read morehem started with cuttings. I do collect the seeds and start babies for my friends though.

On Dec 11, 2005, CastIronPlant22 from Lompoc, CA (Zone 10a) wrote:

This is a great vine/groundcover. Here they go crazy and just trail all over the place. Mine grew up into my tree and just started to hang down from it, its an amazing sight. I love this vine and would never get rid of it!

On Nov 15, 2005, trois from Santa Fe, TX (Zone 9b) wrote:

We transplanted this plant from a pot in the spring, and now it has all but covered one side of my A-frame. The info says 6 to 8 feet, but this one ran out of things to climb at over 16 feet. It has had a mass of yellow flowers, very bright yellow that look plastic, since day one. No slack off during August. The Sulphur Butterflies love it and it is usually covered with flowers and butterflies.
The area this plant is covering is 16 x 16 feet.

On Jun 11, 2005, berrygirl from Braselton, GA (Zone 8a) wrote:

I have been inundated with seedlings of this plant for 2 years now. I grew it in a hanging basket one year and now it is everywhere!! I would strongly advise against growing this near flower beds of any kind as it will smother anything- even morning glory!

On Dec 4, 2004, stitch_peddler from Lancaster, CA wrote:

this thing goes crazy here in the desert. I wish I could find out how to harvest the seeds.

On May 9, 2004, baileysmom from Lawrenceville, GA wrote:

I had great success in my zone 7 area (Lawrenceville, GA)last year in the shade. I collected seed and those planted this year have not sprouted. Any suggestions?

On Aug 30, 2003, DavidPat5 from Chicago, IL wrote:

Once these plants start seeding, they're almost done flowering. I doubt if anyone has enough light in their house to keep them going anyway. You're better off collecting a few seeds and replanting them directly in the pot they were in next spring. I've found them extremely easy to start from seed. I put two in each pot and the amount of flowers are amazing. Good luck :)

On Aug 19, 2003, htop from San Antonio, TX (Zone 8b) wrote:

Black-Eyed Susan Vine has become naturalized in Florida, Hawaii, Texas and Puerto Rico. This vine was purchased as an (expensive) hanging basket in late spring, but I removed the hanger and placed the pot in a tall wicker plant stand in front of an oak tree where it received morning sun and dappled sun the rest of the time. The tendrils did not attach to the rough oak tree bark so I attached 8 sturdy green yarn strands to the plant stand and stuck the ends of them in a fan pattern in the bark with stick pins. The vine quickly grew up the strands and then arched over where the strands ended. It flourished until the days became hotter with daily waterings being necessary.

I removed the strands and the pot the first part of August and repotted the vine in a large pot with a... read more more moisture retentive potting soil mix, cut the vine back to about a foot (almost cried as I did so), placed a six foot pyramid shaped metal trellis in the pot, attached the runners with plastic ties, placed the whole thing where the plant receives some afternoon sun but mostly filtered sun and prayed it would rebound. It has been a week now and the vine has grown at least a foot and has 2 blooms on it already. This is a tough vine and yet so delicate looking.

Update: 3/6/08 - I attached black bird netting (black, little squares) all around the bottom part and 6 feet up the trunk of an oak tree by "hooking" it on the bark. The vines have been growing up it each year and the netting is almost unnoticeable. Although some of the leaves were damaged in some areas, the vines are still blooming after many nights of freezing weather. The ones growing along the ground at the base of a privacy fence have no freeze damage at all and are blooming like crazy.

Nothing can compare in beauty to the cheerful blooms against deep green foliage and its rapid growth rate. I wish there were a rating better than positive.

On Jun 14, 2003, limo from Helsinki,
Finland (Zone 4b) wrote:

I am so surprised by its beautiful flowers that give joy while waiting for other flowers to bloom here up north :).

I am letting it grow up both sides of my kitchen window - and what a grower it is indeed ;)

On Jun 9, 2002, AustinBarbie from Harker Heights, TX (Zone 8a) wrote:

My Black Eyed Susan Vine is gorgeous! First I just had it in pot with some potting mix, but it wasn't doing much. Then I wrapped some plastic trellis around a tree and planted it at the base of the tree with some slow-release fertilizer. I helped it when I planted it by threading the vines through the trellis. I watered it regularly, and watch out! It grew like wildfire, and now it is completely filled in, with no blank spots (unlike the photo I uploaded). The best part it that it won't grow past the trellis, I guess the tree bark isn't enough for it to "grab onto", even though it is a rough bark. So it never gets out of control. I planted it about 4 months before I took this picture.