Cardinal Creeper

My cardinal creepers have fully covered my arch this summer and are bursting with flower buds! I keep waiting for them all to open at once and smother the vine in hot pink, but they seem determined to do it sequentially, which is infuriating but I guess it means that I’ll have colour for longer.

Cardinal creepers (also known as Prince Kuhio or Lady Doorly's morning glory vine) are native to tropical regions in South America, although they are naturalised in Hawaii (hence the name Prince Kuhio - who was a Hawaiian prince - I have no idea who Lady Doorly was). I’m not exactly sure how they became naturalised in Hawaii though, because they are extremely difficult to propagate and in their native environment they are nearly exclusively pollinated by hummingbirds. Without them, the plants very rarely fruit or set seed (and there are no hummingbirds in Hawaii…). I waited nearly a year for the two plants I bought because the nursery was having trouble propagating them. But they’ve definitely been worth it.

Once established they grow fast and will quickly smother a trellis or arch with twining stems, and glossy dark green leaves which are beautiful in their own right, but over summer the show really starts, and the vine should be covered in intense dark pink trumpet shaped flowers (just perfect for a hummingbird beak!).