STH EAST QLD - In this region of bright sunshine and drought and flooding rains in can be difficult to find plants for your garden that don’t need a lot of tender loving care to survive.
One way to track down vines, shrubs and trees that will forgive neglect and a paucity of water and reward you yearly with ‘wow’ moments when they flower is to check out those that thrive along the sides of our backroads.
One such plant is the Wonga Vine – the one which bears the scientific name Pandorea pandorana.
This vine was once an abundant and bright performer along the edges or at the top of trees in the drier rainforests the settlers called scrubs – throughout much of the local regions.
Nowadays, it is more often seen draping over stunted shrubs and trees beside the less travelled roads in the rural areas.
The photograph of the Wonga Vine in full flower was taken this week and bears true to its stated role as a roadside survivor.
It has been draped over that same half dead shrub for years and annually gives a lovely floral display, although this year, like many of our native plants, it is enjoying a spectacular flowering.
In time seed capsules will appear. They normally grow to about six centimetres long and have an inflated look.
When mature the capsules will split to release the seeds with paper-like ‘wings’, which have been growing inside.
The vines are easy to grow from seeds or cuttings and while they happily twist and twine over shrubs and trees, they don’t smother their live trellises.
The Wonga Vines will grow in most reasonably drained soils, enjoy a reasonable amount of TLC to get them started but after that are happy to grow in whatever the prevailing weather throws at them.
On an end note, the scientific name for the genus ‘Pandorea’ comes from the Pandora of Greek mythology – the lady who couldn’t resist opening the box she was told not to open and in so doing released all the worlds troubles – which in plant talk refers to the pods splitting open and releasing a mass of winged seeds. The genus name of this vine, ‘pandoreana’ simply points back to the genus name and by its repetition means ‘more so’.
Of course, there’s no ‘evil’ in this vine just lots of ‘good’.