Paphos Life

Termites Dream wrote: ↑Sat Jul 08, 2017 8:18 pm I wonder if we could seek some local knowledge with regard climbers. I am after some colourful climbers that bloom for long periods during the summer but without thorns. Perfume would be a bonus but not absolute. We are also interested in any combination of climbers that people have tried and enjoy. The plants will be in 100 litre pots, fed and watered.

Cyprusmax, if this is your area of expertise we are all ears, but anybody else with any ideas or pics would be great. I can cope with veggies but no idea about flowers.
Thank you.
TD

Some more infos would be helpful. Are there trellis where the plant can climb, is the place in full sunshine in Summer, do you have time to water the pot every day in the heat? What is the problem with the thorns?

Max

Termites Dream wrote: ↑Sat Jul 08, 2017 8:58 pm Cyprusmax.....Cannot say you are slow to respond....Thank you.

Trellis ....yes or wires

Full sun for the majority of the day...12 midday to dusk
It will be on irrigation for 15 months but daily care after. We are trying to get plants moving now, before we arrive full time. Not wanting to deviate into Brexit

Re thorns.....Everything we seem to have has thorns already, across all plants and this would be in a heavy traffic area. It has all to be trimmed and I shred, mulch or compost what I can....Thorns seem to be indestructible, long after they leave the plant. The plants would be in an eating area with perhaps children and some thorns are measured by the inch.
TD

Sorry, but I think with Sun for the majority of the day it will be complicated that plants can survive with only an irrigation system for the pots. I tried this in the past with trip irrigation etc but it was not working. There are cats, sometimes wind which can create problems with the piping. As plants are growing so fast in Cyprus( with good care) I would wait until you are permanent here. Maybe other members have a different opinion about that.


The climber you can see at the pic was that size after one year only. But was watered by bucket twice a week at least 20 l each time. Not to forget that you have to feed any climber more often with fertilizer. (every month)


Concerning thorns: for example this type of bougainvillea has got only tiny thorns and this plant which is 4 years old needs only one time in Spring pruning, in case it grows too much another time in Autumn. Fertilizer every 3 weeks (12-8-18) NPK, 2 times per week 15 l water...


I tried also Passiflora (maracuja) to grow in a large ceramic pot with many pretty flowers and sometimes fruits. Also the so called pakistani shrub grows like a climber with (OK only white) flowers smelling like perfume in the night and can grow 3 m per year. (my favorite)

Max

Try Mandevilla: big flowers from May to November. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandevilla. We have had a white-flowering one for 3 or 4 years, very showy and climbs a treat. One warning: it will not tolerate frost, especially the roots. If in a pot, move it to a sheltered position. If in a bed, choose where to put it, close to the house.

I wondered about a Clematis as they're extremely good climbing plants....

I searched on Google and the lady on this site indicates her Clematis fared much better when she changed its' position: http://www.mediterraneangardensociety.o ... iners.html

Another lesson I have learnt is the importance of a plant’s position: a mere metre in one direction or the other can make a significant difference to the amount of heat and light it receives. I’ve said that one can’t very well grow trees in pots, but in fact I do have two: a lemon tree and a small Ginkgo biloba. These are both in the courtyard rather than on the terrace since, unlike the terrace, part of the courtyard receives a bit of shade in the late afternoon. The lemon tree is happy where I put it and hasn’t been moved. The ginkgo, however, was leaning at a slight angle where I didn’t quite want its branches; I thus thought I’d make it lean in the other direction and turned the pot round by 180 degrees. This was disastrous: within a few days the leaves became badly scorched and browned by the sun. I thus hastily turned it back to its original orientation, realising that the ginkgo knew what suited it best, whereupon it promptly recovered. Similarly, I thought my Clematis armandii would look lovely growing over the grille of the kitchen window, facing west. I was quite wrong: it suffered desperately. I replaced it with a Thunbergia grandiflora which loves the heat and sun and moved the clematis to the other side of the courtyard, to an east-facing position where it is now twining happily up the spiral stairs that lead to the terrace, in company with a Maurandya (syn. Asarina) scandens – a successful combination since they flower at different times. One of the advantages of growing plants in pots is that if you make dreadful mistakes in the position you’ve chosen for them, you can always move them easily.

No problem
We're looking at getting a Clematis to go on our front of house wall and knowing they're quite hardy was what made me research them for Cyprus too...

The first photo in CyrpusMax's post is Pandora. Very easy to grow in either full sun or shade, but it does need water. I have three - two in large pots and one in the ground, all being fed by irrigation. One of these, after seven years in a pot, started to produce seed pods last year. I dried the pods and sowed the seeds. All has gone well, but it's only in the last few months have they started to grow very rapidly, after being a few inches high for the best part of six months. Never give up!

Termites Dream wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2017 9:53 am We arrived in Cyprus yesterday and on checking other plants we will be following Cyprusmax advice and wait until we arrive. Many plants on irrigation in pots are struggling. I would ask anybody with any further ideas to nevertheless post. I would imagine it could become a ideas page for others.

Plants in pots is a headache in Cyprus. If you are not permanent here even more. Clay pots are better than plastic as they store some humidity.
But it is not only in Summer a problem with pot plants. If you living a bit higher up and you get 2 days frost - thats a problem for many of the plants we normally like to put in containers.
Max

Hi TD,
If you are looking for scented, thornless vigorous climbers, then I would suggest Jasmine & Honeysuckle, both have evergreen & semi evergreen species, I also love the Passion flower climbers.