Butterfly Pea, Blue Pea Vine

On Jan 1, 2017, TersaPluto from Mount Dora, FL wrote:

I have more of a question than a comment, for anyone here in central Florida. I've planted some Butterfly Pea seeds, and the seedlings are coming up now. Keeping the little pots with the seedling indoors until the spring, except for putting them outside on nice afternoons like today.

For butterfly pea, and basically every other plant listed in Dave's Garden, gardeners are warned NOT to overwater.

Trouble is, a large swath of Florida is in the midst of a drought. This past summer and fall, I yanked out numerous plantings that were dead, the roots bone dry, even crumbling to the touch.

What constitutes "overwatering," in Florida, in the middle of a yearlong drought? It's forecast to continue well into the spring (2017).

When it com... read morees to watering, I feel like I'm damned if I do (water daily while roots become established), or damned if I don't. Any Floridians have words of wisdom for me? Thanks in advance.

On Aug 22, 2016, rahuljawale from Hyderabad,
India wrote:

I have a Blue Pea Vine which flowered for a few months after it was bought at the local nursery. And then for almost a year, i.e. till today, I have not seen a single flower on this vine. There have been a time of neglect in terms of feeding but I never stopped watering the plant.

Apart from the blooms, there is nothing wrong with the wine, it's growing with healthy rate. I do not see even a single leaf yellowing on this vine.

Can you please help me on what I need to do to make it flower again.

Thanks!

On Aug 5, 2014, sueroderus from Bluffton, SC wrote:

Beautiful vine as others have already said. It is one of the host plants for the Long-tailed Skipper (Urbanus proteus). and this week a female layed eggs on my plant. In my zone 8b it will probably not come back unless we have a mild winter. So far I have not had seeds, but will keep hoping.

On Sep 5, 2013, yingthai from Phoenix, AZ wrote:

I grew mine from seeds that I bought from a U.S. sellers on eBay. They're producing beautiful flowers right now. You can use them in salads or grind them with a little water and use the liquid as natural food color.

On Jun 22, 2013, eslwoman from Victoria,
Canada wrote:

Through this wonderful site, I have just discovered the name and data on a few seedlings I have been calling my "Magical Mystery Plants." I knew they were vines because of their twining nature, but never mind that boring stuff--on with the story!

Earlier this spring, while I was down in the basement searching for one garden implement or another, I espied in a dark corner a crinkled piece of paper, much yellowed and somewhat brittle. When I unwrapped it, I found a few pods and several seeds obviously "beanish" in appearance. The only information written on the page was a woman's name and telephone number--and not a telephone number code from either Canada or the US. Hmm.

Curious as most gardeners are, and always up for a challenge, I planted five of the seed... read mores. Within a short period of time, three seeds were up and healthy as could be. But I didn't recognize them, nor could any other fellow gardeners. Then it hit me. The name of the person on the paper was clearly Latina (I speak and teach Spanish), and the phone prefix was definitely Mexican.

These were the seeds I was given 23 years ago (!) after chatting with the gardener at the hotel we were staying at in San Miguel, a charming town in the mountains north of Mexico City.

It all came back to me! I raced to the drawer where I store my journals, and voila--there it was, a travel diary dated "Summer, 1990." The hotel gardener who gave me the seeds did not know the name of the plant, so she wrote down the name (Violeta) and telephone number of someone who would know. I admit I have been wondering who this Violeta is, and if she still resides at that number? I could call and find out, I suppose...another mystery for another day.

Nevertheless--putting all mysterious persons aside--there you have it. Viable for 23 years, these seeds!! I have heard incredible (but true) tales of seed viability, but now I have proof. Moreover, now on the trail (as it were), I headed to Wikipedia for some more information on this plant. There I learned the following:

"...it has been used in traditional Ayurvedic medicine "as a memory enhancer, nootropic, antistress, anxiolytic, antidepressant, anticonvulsant, tranquilizing and sedative agent.[1] In Southeast Asia the flowers are used to colour food. In Malay cooking, an aqueous extract is used to colour glutinous rice for kuih ketan (also known as pulut tai tai in Peranakan/Nyonya cooking) and in nonya chang. In Thailand, a syrupy blue drink is made called nam dok anchan. It is sometimes consumed with a drop of lime juice to increase acidity and turn the juice into pink-purple. In Burmese and Thai cuisine the flowers are also dipped in batter and fried.

In animal tests the methanolic extract of Clitoria ternatea roots demonstrated nootropic, anxiolytic, antidepressant, anticonvulsant and antistress activity.[2] The active constituents include tannins, resins, starch, taraxerol and taraxerone.

Recently, several biologically active peptides called cliotides have been isolated from the heat-stable fraction of Clitoria ternatea extract. Cliotides belong to the cyclotides family[3] and activities studies show that cliotides display potent antimicrobial activity against E. coli, K. pneumonia, P. aeruginosa and cytotoxicity against Hela cells. These peptides have potential to be lead compound for the development of novel antimicrobial and anti-cancer agents.[4]"

(End Wikipedia quote.)

Coincidentally, I have suffered from a mental health disorder for years, and whether the info on the plant is true or not, I found the related Wikipedia data of great interest.

If someone out there has a similar story about such surprising seed viability, please write in to tell me your tale. After my vines have grown, I'll send in some pics.

Thanks very much "Dave" and all other commentators, as if it were not for this site, it would have taken me considerably more time to understand the culture and habits of this amazing plant.

On Oct 15, 2012, Bharat_Sanghavi from Trenton, NJ (Zone 6b) wrote:

In India, Butterfly Pea is commonly known as Gokarn or Kajli. i have this vine in my private garden since four years. and at present, it has reached height of 9 meters by creeping on a nearby tree. now all i do is water it once a day. during rainy season, i avoid watering lest it may rot.

once the Butterfly Pea flower dries itself on the vine, it turns into a bean pod and seeds from these pods can be planted for a fresh vine. if the soil is favorable, the plant reseeds itself.

On Jun 18, 2012, acemy from Brandon, MS wrote:

I found this vine growing in the woods behind my house in Mississippi. It took awhile to find out what it was.

On Aug 16, 2011, koa from Haiku, HI wrote:

This is one tough little vine! I found it growing wild along the side of the road outside of the central landfill in Kahului, Hawaii (on the island of Maui). The rainfall there is about 18 to 19 inches a year. Everything else around it had turned brown and died from lack of water. This little plant was green and blooming! I tried to dig it up, but the ground was as hard as cement. I half pried and half yanked and got a few small clumps of the plant. I separated the plants at the roots and planted several in pots. They grew! I also took some of the seedpods and tried to grow the plant from seed, though the pods were still green. They didn’t grow.

I did have the same issue as bijoux2 had with yellowing leaves and dieback on a couple of the plants, but I increased t... read morehe water and fertilizer and the yellow leaves greened up and the plant began to thrive again.

On Nov 12, 2009, bijoux2 from Hollywood, FL wrote:

I purchased 3 of these plants (double flowers) from Home Depot to grow on 3' x 9' trellises. While they started out growing beautifully up the trellis, certain parts of the plant are now wilting, turning yellow and starting to die. Other parts of the plant are still thriving with dark green leaves and an abundance of flowers. I have been cutting away the dying parts of the plant, but I don't now why this happening. I want these plants to cover the trellises, but I am having a lot difficulty. Thinking I should replace them with something else, but they are so beautiful (the parts that are thriving) I don't want to remove them. Any suggestions? Thank you.

On Sep 10, 2008, cynixeyes from Bangkok,
Thailand wrote:

Edible purple food dyes are also extracted from the butterfly pea flower ("anchan" flower) in Thailand, and used in making desserts.

To make your own purple dye from butterfly pea flowers in the Thai way, begin by placing a flower in the bottom of a small glass. Add a little bit of water, then push and grind at the flower with a spoon (the way you would use a mortar and pestle). The water will appear blue at first.

Then, slowly add a few drops of an edible acid (such as lemon or lime juice) until the solution turns purple.

When added to food, the result is a beautiful and demure shade of light purple. Enjoy!

On Sep 13, 2006, carolschuman from Arlington, TX (Zone 7b) wrote:

These grow as cool season annuals here in zone 7/8, going by what I have seen and read online. They reseed so easily that I am happy to have them as annuals. I had the white (alba) variety when I moved to this house last May and was given seeds for the blue last fall (2005). I planted the blue in the spring '06, but with the dry conditions we had this summer, I was afraid I wouldn't get any blooms and might even lose them. Luckily I had one survivor and today I seen my first bloom on it!

On Aug 26, 2005, mgagnon from Spring Hill, FL wrote:

Lovely vine, have searched for it since I picked up a few seeds at a local botanical garden here in Florida. So happy to know its name etc. It has given me much pleasure =just moved to a new home and will plant again.

On Apr 13, 2005, DawnRain from Bartow, FL wrote:

This is a favorite perennial in my Florida garden where my original plant is several years old. And I do know it is the original and not a dropped seedling. It has been through freezes and come back from the roots. In a frostless year it is evergreen, but bloom production does fall off alot in Feb and Mar. Just starting to put on plenty of bloom now in April. This is the wonderful double variety. I also have single which does not seem to be as hardy and has to be replanted. And I have the single white in a plant going on 3 years old.

On Mar 12, 2004, Dinu from Mysore,
India (Zone 10a) wrote:

It is a lovely vine to have, esp. the blue one and in particular, the double blues. Flower colour is stunning, easy to start from seed and grow. It can tolerate some neglect. Seed pods have to be removed when it is fully ripe -- you can know by shaking the pod to hear the seed rattle. When pressed along the edges, it opens out like a coiled spring. If seeds are not removed, they can reseed easily and the following growing season, you may find lots and lots of seedlings many feet around it, since the pods throw open with great force to disperse. All in all, it is a beauty.

On Aug 1, 2003, ChristinaLee wrote:

Would like to share this interesting note:
This flower is very popular with Nonya (a culture of people from intermarriage of Chinese and Malays living in Singapore and Malaysia) as a natural (blue)food colouring often used in their kuehs (traditional rice cakes)and jelly. A few flowers are boiled in a little water to extract the colour.
Very easy to grow from seeds from pods that dried and browned on the plants. Commonly grown as hedge plant here in Singapore. As I am helping in kid's school garden, I have recently successfully grown 2 pots from seeds, 3-4 plants in 8" diameter pots, as they have soft stems. Pinching tops often will encourage bushier growth. Flowers bloom for 1 day only, so pinch off flowers in early evening to store in container in fridge to maintain freshne... read moress if not used that day, else leave on plant to develop into pods.
I noticed many varieties on various websites. The one used here bluish purple with a hint of yellow in the middle.

On May 24, 2002, JlpnSon from Lafayette, LA (Zone 8b) wrote:

I have searched the internet for 3 days looking for this exact vine. I absolutely LOVED this vine. The flowers are a beautiful blue and the foilage is a consistent gorgeous medium to dark green. Mine did beautifully on the south side of the house where it got about 5 hours of direct mid day sunlight. It grows well without much fuss. (We have a huge oak tree that soaks up most of the water and nutrients from the soil, which has caused a problem for everything else, but not this vine) It could take over the flower bed easily, and that would be o.k. by me. We moved to Arizona and leased our house out and I some how ???? I forgot about the vine until I really got back into taking care of our yard again and I can not wait to have this vine again!