Akebia quinata (chocolate vine)

[HaveYouSeenHerLately]

Does anyone have any opnions on the above?

I'm thinking about getting one for my sunny SW facing fence (in SE England).

Are they difficult to grow? I'm not sure I've ever seen one before Maybe there's a reason for this!

Am I going to have to bite the bullet and order online? I'm a bit of a cheapskate and used to picking things up for a song from Homebase/ supermarkets/ cuttings and divisions from family I don't feel as much pressure if they don't take (although I have a fairly high success rate phew!)

Has anyone seen smaller versions for sale in the cheaper retailers?

Yes I have one, I got it q couple of years ago but I can't remember where from, sorry

I have it on a NE facing fence which is probably less than ideal but it's doing pretty well. It has really attractive leaves

It's pretty rampant OP, I eventually managed to get rid of mine last year. It was growing along our fence and 15' up the wall!
It is pretty when in flower but drops its leaves in winter and looks pretty boring for 8 months of the year 😕

I wanted it as a green backdrop and it's doing that job pretty well. I suspect the lack of sun means it won't go quite so bonkers

I had one growing on northfacing wall in poor soil and was fine- quite dark purplish leaves. It needs something to climb on (tendrils like clematis) not like clematis. I liked it, but did get rather tangled

Climbing hydrangea another option?

Thanks all!

Does anyone remember where they got theirs from?

I'm trying to decide what to grow up the fence panel nearest the house which has the least privacy due to an imperceptible slope. It's a 5ft panel (with support wires) and I'm about to add a foot of trellis on top.

I really, really want a passionflower. I've lost two so far and last years's is clinging on but looking a tad ropey. It's in its infancy and basically two leggy 5ft stems! Should I try trimming it to encourage new growth? I'm loathe to cut any off

Last year I gave up and planted sweet peas and sunflowers which worked a treat but meant I've been admiring bare panel for the last 6-7months.

Jumpingship I do like climbing hydrangeas however quite a few of my climbers have white flowers and I fancied something different Unless you get different coloured ones...

Ideally I'd like an evergreen, or mixture of deciduous and (semi) evergreen climbers. I already have a number of pyracantha, evergreen clematis, ceonothus, buddjleia, star jasmine, evergreen honeysuckle, ivy and so on. Maybe a solanum?

How about a climbing rose and a clematis grown through it?

Dordrecht the chocolate vine from an online plant company ?Parkers or someone like them? It was a freebie brochure if I remember correctly.

We have one! It's just getting going though, so can't tell you how it will fare. It did survive the winter neglected in a pot, and is now in the ground climbing happily, so it must be pretty hardy. I bought mine from the agroforestry research trust (they have an online shop) which sells all sorts of unusual edible plants. Apparently chocolate vine fruit is delicious!

Thank you, this is all very helpful!

P1nk I have a climbing rose/ clematis section already, strangely I'm not the biggest fan of roses, I can't get the hang of them

I got from Burncoose:
A passionflower
Climbing hydrangea
Chocolate vine
Evergreen clematis
Deciduous clematis

And they've all done well. The hydrangea took a year to find its feet I'd say but the rest went crazy straight away.

My hydrangea hasn't flowered yet :-(

Git mine from local (big) garden centre (wyevale one)

Errr got

I've just ordered one off ebay (gulp) and hopefully it will arrive tomorrow... I'm a bit worried now that it's going to be too big for the space (a couple of 6foot fence panels) and also boring for 8 months of the year! Thinking of putting it on the NE facing fence now...