Mina Lobata, Late Summer Vine

The Mina lobata vine came from England to America, where it remains a popular later summer or fall vine.

The Mina lobata vine, which blooms now at the end of the summer, grows as an annual in colder parts of the country.  It climbs several feet and is covered with long erect flowers in colors of red, orange, and yellow.

I first saw this vine in the gardens at the Burpee trial farm called Fordhook in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. I couldn’t believe how the flower’s color covered the trellis at the end of each row of plants.  There must have been 10 vines.

The plant came to the US in 1887.  According to the Currie Seed Company magazine, “The plant must have been flowering in the garden of the Royal Horticultural Society of London by 1841, when it first came to England from Mexico.”

We looked to England for this plant, and the plant merchants sent it to the American garden.  Currie’s magazine summed it when they wrote: “This is one of the most beautiful climbing plants we are acquainted with and one that is well worthy the attention of all plant lovers.”

It got my attention. Today I grow the Mina lobata vine in my garden.

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