The Coral Vine/Mexican Creeper/Chain of Love or Queen’s Wreath is a charming plant to have in your summer garden. It is perennial which does not tolerate cold weather but does well in warmer climates. It can be invasive in many cases so contain it in a large pot and it looks beautiful with its vivid pink flower. It is also a special favourite with the bees. In the Gulf, it flowers through the year, apart from when the temperatures cross 44 degrees centigrade, at which point it does look rather sad. When the temperature drops to around 40 degrees it starts to green again and produces its beautiful pink coloured flowers. It also has a rarer white flower variety which is equally pretty to see.
Called Antigon Leptopus botanically, this beautiful vine can be invasive as it propagates both by tubers and by the dispersal of its seed far and wide.
The Coral Vine needs to be regularly pruned to keep it from growing wild and we can hard prune it in October which removes the dead branches and it bounces back in no time. It is a climber which requires a sturdy trellis so give it support and it will reward you with multiple flowers bunches. Water well when you first plant it or at the start of the season and after that it is quite drought tolerant so does not require much watering. It also does not need much fertilizer so a round or two in a season of some all-purpose fertilizer does the job.
Just remember to keep a strict check on it as it can engulf the neighbouring plants and smother them.
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