Pandorea pandorana

(Wonga-wonga Vine)

If a vigorous and stunning looking climber is what you need then Pandorea pandorana is hard to beat! This plant is found naturally in Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, Northern Territory and Queensland and is now a favourite landscape plant in many gardens around Australia.

It's a very fast growing, twining climber that can easily spread 10 metres and it produces a profilic amount of flowers during spring.

The flowers are tubular and small and are produced in dense clusters. The colour can vary from off-white, cream, pale pink or maroon and are often spotted with purple. A number of different forms have been cultivated too. These include 'Golden Showers' (photo left) which has golden yellow flowers that open from rust-coloured buds. 'Lemon Bells' has lemon coloured flowers and, as you would guess, 'Snow Bells' is a white flowered form.

All plants have glossy green and pinnate leaves, which mean a number of small leaflets make up one leaf. Inland forms of the plant tend to have narrower leaves.

Growing It

Not only is it fast growing, but this climber is also very hardy, although it does prefer a bit of moisture and well-composted soil. It also prefers full sun but will perform very well in some shade. And of course it needs something sturdy to grow over, but beware that it can be a bit too vigorous for suburban fences.

Close Relative

Pandorea jasminoides (Bower Creeper or Bower Vine) is also a vigorous climber but not quite as vigorous as P. pandorana. It's found naturally in Queensland and New South Wales and has also become a favourite landscape plant.

The leaves are a darker green and, as the name suggests, are Jasmine like.

It has much larger trumpet flowers than P. pandorana in white with a hot pink to purple throat. It flowers longer too (from spring through summer) but in clusters that are not as dense or prolific as P. pandorana.

There are many forms of this one, including the popular 'Lady Di', which has white flowers with a creamy yellow to orange-yellow throat. 'Rosea Superba' has pink flowers with a purple spotted throat, and 'Southern Belle' has light pink flowers with a darker throat fading to cream. There's even a variegated form, 'Charisma', which is pink-flowered with a crimson throat.

P. jasminoides is suitable for fence growing too, as it's not quite so vigorous, although it can still spread 8 metres. It prefers a semi-shaded environment but will tolerate some sun.

Propagation

Pandoreas can be propagated from seed, cuttings, or layering.

Incidentally, the genus name Pandorea comes from the Pandora's Box legend of ancient Greek times. This is because of the box-like seed capsules.

Information sources:

Photograph (top) courtesy of R. Hotchkiss, Australian National Botanic Gardens
Gardening Australia, 2004, Flora's Native Plants, ABC Books
Wrigley, J.W. & Fagg, M., 2003, Fifth Edition, Australian Native Plants, published by New Holland Publishers.

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