Lonicera japonica ‘Halliana’ aka Japanese Honeysuckle Vine

The first mention of it in the US is in the early 1800s in Ohio. It was brought to US to use to control soil erosion. Later it became a popular ornamental plant.

Flowers open at dusk to attract hawk moths who are the main pollinators. While they are frequently visited by bees, bees tend to remove more pollen than they leave for pollination.

Propagate by cutting

Native to Russia and Central Asia, listed as invasive by multiple sources. Birds eating seeds do most of the spreading, to control, trim plants before seeds form.

Many components of the plant are medicinal and parts are edible (Foraging Texas), but the berries are poison. Near as I can tell almost every plant down here is trying to murder you so proceed with caution.

Dodder vine (Cuscuta pentagona)

Dodder vine

Dodder vine is an amazing plant, it is orange rather than green due to its lack of chlorophyl, it can’t make its own food.

Instead the dodder vine hatches in the spring from a seed and very slowly moves in a circle searching the air for beta-myrcene a volatile chemical emitted into the air by tomatoes and other plants. When it picks up the scent of beta-myrcene it grows in the direction of the odor until it finds the plant emitting it.

Once it reaches the plant it tightly winds itself around the plant, sinking roots into the host plant. The roots then suck up the juices in the host plant to feed itself. The host plant will then wilt and die.

Dodder vine also appears to exchange RNA with the host plant. Whether this is a way of exchanging information with the host plant or a way to reprogram it, much the way viruses reprogram our DNA is unknown.

Plants use RNA as a way to send messages through out the plant. When a dodder vine attacks a plant some of the plant’s RNA gets sucked up by the dodder vine. The dodder vine can then read the RNA to better evaluate how to attack the host.

Professor Neelima Sinha and colleagues at the UC Davis Section of Plant Biology studied dodder vines growing on tomato plants in the lab. They found that RNA molecules from the host could be found in the dodder up to a foot (30 cm) from the point where the parasite had plumbed itself into the host.

Plants often use small RNA molecules as messengers between different parts of the plant. In a paper published in Science in 2001, Sinha’s group showed that RNA could travel from a graft into the rest of the plant and affect leaf shape. Plants can also use specific RNAs to fight off viruses. . . [ read more Plant Parasite Wiretaps Host ]

Dodder is a member of the Morning Glory family.

It has very tiny leaves that are more like scales than leaves and tiny white flowers.

It is considered an invasive plant and a threat to the local ecology in Texas.

A new method of plant communication?
Genomic-scale exchange of mRNA between a parasitic plant and its host
YouTube video of dodder vine locating and reaching for a tomato plant
Dodder management guide lines

String of Pearls ( Asteraceae Senecio rowleyanus)

This is the first String of Pearls I’ve owned in a very long time. The flowers caught my eye, it’s the first one I’d seen in flower. Flowering takes place in the winter. The flowers have a sweet cinnamon scent.

This makes a great house plant despite liking lots of light. The brighter the window the better, mine is in direct afternoon sun and very happy. When the light is right the plant will flower in the winter and the pearls will be close together on the strand, too little light and you’ll see larger gaps between the pearls (leaves).

They are a succulent so be careful not to over water them, especially in the winter months. Treat it as you would a cactus only watering it when the top of the soil is very dry.

It is fairly hardy temperature wise and can handle temperatures occasionally down to 10’F, far lower than any indoor location is likely to get.

Every part of this plant is toxic.

It is a vine, so it is easy to make plants to share, just snip off a bit of a strand, remove pearls so that three or more nodes can be placed in soil and keep moist until it roots. Because it is a succulent let the cuttings dry over night before planting.

The strings will grow 2′-3′ easily and if happy 6′-8′, a bit of trimming will keep the plant lush and prevent it from getting too stringy.

This plant does well in a cactus potting mix.

Native to South Africa

Asteraceae is the sunflower/aster family of plants

Bric brac vine aka zigzag cactus (Cryptocereus anthonyanus )

I picked this up a year ago May at Smith and Hawkins. It is a fast grower and sold often as a hanging plant. It grew, and it grew and was too large to bring inside come winter so I left it to fend for itself. It survived the winter.

Then on the garden club garden tour I saw one potted up and growing up a trellis. How cool thought I. So I cut a branch off the monstrosity and planted it near the front door. As you can see it’s already growing strong a couple of months later. It also found the garage wall and has started its climb. I’m hoping it’ll cover a good portion of the wall before long.

I’ve had this in full sun and just afternoon sun. It’s thrived in both locations. I’ve totally ignored it in the winter and forgot to water it, still it grew.

It will survive a mild Houston winter, it did not survive the several hard frosts we had last winter. 40’F is the lowest suggested temperatures.

It is rumored to flower, I’ve yet to see one. Flowers will open only at night, for one night, and are very fragrant.

It is an epiphytic plant, you can grow it in soil or in orchid bark, use which ever pleases you. In its natural habitat it grows on trees with aerial roots. I haven’t tried that yet.

It can be trained up something or allowed to hang down something, which ever pleases you.

Propagation is easy, cut off about 4″ of a branch and stick in in some dirt.

So far I’ve not had a single problem with this plant, except that it stubbornly refuses to bloom inside or out. It’s a great climber for a cactus garden.

Indoors:

It is a fast grower and should fill this basket in no time. One branch broke off and we have it rooting in another pot. To propagate, take a small piece of stem, place it in soil, keep moist until you see new growth.

This plant loves light, put it in your brightest window. Keep the soil moist, but not wet.

Chestnut vine aka Tetrastigma voinieranum

How can you not love a plant with a name like tetrastigma? Tetra refers to the 5 fingered leaves, the stigma I’m sure time will tell.

I first saw this plant growing in a nursery greenhouse back in Massachusetts. It grew all along the ceiling and had the most wonderful 2′ long tendrils that reached down as if to nab you.

The leaves are dark green and shiny on top, and soft and fuzzy underneath. Leaf size I’m told can reach 12″, I’ve never seen it more than 4″.

This vine is from Laos. It will grow a foot or more per month so be brave with the pruning shears. This picture is just a few days after we brought it home. It’s been a week now and we have 4 vines that have about 4″ of new growth each. It has wonderful long tendrils that hang down to grasp trees so it can climb on them.

I tried growing it as a house plant with little success. It just couldn’t handle the low humidity in the house.

In a last ditch attempt to save it I placed it outside last fall. And while it hibernated and dropped some leaves over the winter, it did come through and started to grow again the beginning of March.

I have one planted in shade with little dappled sun, and one in dappled sun for most of the afternoon. Both are planted in very dry areas of the garden, both are happy. All accounts report this plant loves frequent watering so it should do well in damper areas as well.

These plants are heavy feeders, notice the discoloration on the leaves? Despite frequent feedings they are begging for more.

Keep the soil moist, drought tolerant when established but just barely. New leaves will fall off if the soil gets dry.

Will die back to the ground in cold winters. One of two just re-appeared the first week of April.

This plant is native to Vietnam.

The clear beads you see on the underside of the leaves are secretions from the plant, not an infestation.

Like most vines, propagation is by cutting. The nursery where I originally purchased this plant told me that they had very limited success with cuttings and propagation. I haven’t tried yet, the plants are not large enough to take cuttings.

There is little information on this plant in my books, as I learn more I’ll post it.

Note: did not survive heat ( 3 months 100’F plus ) and drought of the summer of 2011