{"id":2981,"date":"2020-02-17T06:58:01","date_gmt":"2020-02-17T14:58:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/?p=2981"},"modified":"2020-02-17T06:58:01","modified_gmt":"2020-02-17T14:58:01","slug":"corkscrew-vine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/corkscrew-vine\/","title":{"rendered":"Corkscrew Vine"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Corkscrew<\/a>Thomas Jefferson collected many things, including plants.\u00a0 But there was one specimen that he could never lay hands on: Vigna caracalla or corkscrew vine.\u00a0 Writing to one of his plant suppliers, Jefferson described the flowering vine, a member of the legume or Fabiaceae family, as \u201cthe most beautiful bean in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

I think of the third president as I look at the seed packet on my desk.\u00a0 In it are the Vigna caracalla seeds that I will plant in the hopes of fulfilling Jefferson\u2019s dream and raising at least one of the alluring vines.<\/p>\n

Native to tropical areas, including parts of Mexico, Central America and Brazil, corkscrew vine grows not from a bean, but a tuber.\u00a0 It is an evergreen climber that boasts attractive, three-lobed leaves, but its real glory lies in the corkscrew or snail shell-like flowers.\u00a0 Slightly reminiscent of its relative, wisteria, the vine\u2019s curling blooms are purple and white, aging to cream, and appear in upright racemes or flower clusters that can be as long as 12 inches.\u00a0 Corkscrew flowers are as fragrant as they are beautiful, attracting attention from humans, birds and butterflies from July through October.<\/p>\n

Corkscrew vine has been known to gardeners for a long time, through centuries of cultivation and several name changes.\u00a0 It traveled from Brazil to Portugal late in the seventeenth century and was eventually named by Linnaeus, the eighteenth century father of plant taxonomy.\u00a0 Linnaeus called it \u201cPhaseolus caracalla\u201d, literally the \u201ccorkscrew bean\u201d.\u00a0 In the twentieth century it was re-christened \u201cVigna caracalla\u201d, in honor of a seventeenth century Italian botanist, Dominico Vigna.\u00a0 Most recently, it has been renamed yet again, and up-to-the-minute reference sources now refer to it as \u201cCochliasanthus caracalla\u201d.\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cCochlia\u201d comes from a Latin root that denotes a spiraling, snail shell-like configuration.\u00a0 \u201cAnthus\u201d, also from a Latin root, means \u201cflower\u201d.\u00a0 Long before the vine acquired its latest, tongue-twisting name, it was sometimes commonly known as \u201csnail vine\u201d.\u00a0 Most sources still list it as Vigna caracalla.<\/p>\n

Whatever it was called, corkscrew vine\u2019s beauty and fragrance made it a hit with nineteenth century gardeners and, by the late Victorian era, florists.\u00a0 As the tides of horticultural fashion ebbed and flowed, it waxed and waned in popularity.\u00a0 Now it is back in vogue, and gardeners in search of unusual vertical accents are once again growing it in home gardens.\u00a0 Though Jefferson could never get his hands on corkscrew vine, it now flourishes at Monticello.\u00a0 Wherever he is, our first Gardener-in-Chief would undoubtedly be pleased.<\/p>\n

Corkscrew vine is quite vigorous, once it gets going, but cultivation is not without its challenges.\u00a0 It is hardy in warm winter climates, so those of us who live elsewhere have to grow it in pots that can be moved indoors in winter, or resign ourselves to digging up and storing the tubers, as some people do with dahlias, cannas and other tropical beauties.\u00a0 A mature vine can reach 12 to 30 feet, with a spread of three to six feet, so a sturdy trellis, arbor or other support is necessary to give the twining stems something to grip.\u00a0 If you intend to grow it outdoors and bring the pot in for the winter, rest assured that you can cut the growth way back before moving the pot.<\/p>\n

Since the vine takes time to get off the ground\u2014literally and figuratively\u2014I am going to start mine inside about eight weeks before the last frost date.\u00a0 In my area, USDA Zone 7a, where the last frost date is April 22, that means right now, around mid to late February.\u00a0 The seeds are relatively large and some authorities recommend nicking each one with a nail file before planting.\u00a0 Others suggest covering the seeds with boiling water and then letting them sit overnight in the same water prior to sowing.\u00a0 Either way, the objective is to make it easier for the sprout to penetrate the hard seed coat.\u00a0 I will probably use the boiling water method, or possibly try it both ways to see which seeds germinate first.<\/p>\n

You can also plant the seeds outdoors about two weeks after the last frost date for your area.\u00a0 The Old Farmer\u2019s Almanac<\/em> features a handy tool that will calculate your last frost date by using your zipcode.\u00a0 Find it at https:\/\/www.almanac.com\/gardening\/frostdates<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Once outside, corkscrew vine needs a sunny spot and moist, well-drained soil.\u00a0 If you are growing it in a container, feed regularly with a balanced plant food, according to manufacturer\u2019s directions and water when the top of the soil feels dry.\u00a0 This may be as often as once a day in very warm weather.\u00a0 Bring the pot indoors in the fall when night temperatures start falling into the fifties.<\/p>\n

If Jefferson had been able to grow Vigna caracalla, he would undoubtedly have entered that fact in his garden book and shared seeds with his Virginia neighbors, not to mention his vast network of correspondents.\u00a0 We twenty-first century gardeners, with our internet access, have a much easier time getting seeds or plants.\u00a0 Seeds are available from Select Seeds, 180 Stickney Hill Road, Union, CT 06076-4617; (800) 684-0395; www.selectseeds.com<\/a>.\u00a0 Plants are obtainable from the shop at Monticello, (800) 243-1743; www.monticelloshop.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thomas Jefferson collected many things, including plants.\u00a0 But there was one specimen that he could never lay hands on: Vigna caracalla or corkscrew vine.\u00a0 Writing to one of his plant suppliers, Jefferson described the flowering vine, a member of the legume or Fabiaceae family, as \u201cthe most beautiful bean in the world.\u201d I think of … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,2,3],"tags":[1878,157,2260,2257,2050,209,186,2259,1058,1940,2258],"class_list":["post-2981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-summer","tag-bean-family","tag-climbing-vines","tag-cochliasanthus-caracalla","tag-corkscrew-vine","tag-fabiaceae","tag-fragrant-flowers","tag-heirloom-plants","tag-snail-vine","tag-thomas-jefferson","tag-tropical-vines","tag-vigna-caracalla"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2981"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2981\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2983,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2981\/revisions\/2983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}