From “Dipladenia Splendens” in The Floral World, Garden Guide, and Country Companion (1879), edited by Shirley Hibberd:
“The large, convolvulus-like, and exquisitely-colored blossoms of this plant are hardly matched by those of any twiner with which I am acquainted, and, under proper management, its charming flowers are produced very abundantly for some two or three months in succession. Notwithstanding that, it is, perhaps, the finest of all twiners which we possess, it is by no means universally cultivated; for in the hands of many it is found to bloom very shyly, or not at all, consequently it has never received the attention which it deserves.
“To insure success in its culture, a light, warm, moist situation and a brisk bottom-heat are indispensable, and where such accommodation cannot be commanded, it is useless to attempt to grow it; with proper convenience, however, it grows very rapidly and blooms abundantly. Cuttings, made of short-jointed, half-ripe shoots, root freely if inserted in sandy, peaty soil, covered with a bell-glass, and afforded a sharp bottom heat….
“In autumn, gradually reduce the supply of water, expose the plants to a circulation of warm, dry air, in order to ripen the wood, and, when this is effected, remove them to a house where the temperature may average from [50 to 60 degrees], and allow them a period of rest, giving no water to the soil during that season. Towards the end of January, or as soon afterwards as circumstances will admit, turn the plants out of their pots, shaking away a portion of the old soil, so as to be able to repot them in fresh materials without using larger pots, at the same time cutting back the shoot to a strong bud near the base. Be careful to have the fresh soil in a moist, healthy state, so as to prevent the necessity of giving much water until growth shall have commenced, and the roots taken to the soil.”
From “Autumn Dipladenia” by Claude the AI:
White petals unfurl like delicate fans,
Yellow centers aglow in fading light,
Dipladenia blooms on weathered back steps,
A graceful display as day turns to night.
Autumn whispers through waning warmth,
These flowers defy the season’s chill,
Their brightness a lingering memory of summer,
On steps where time stands still.
Hello!
Every spring for the past bunch of years, I’ve gone to one of the nearby garden centers to buy six dipladenia plants. I come home and dig out the previous year’s spent roots from six pots, replace them with the new plants, then set three pots on each side of my back steps. I’ll sometimes choose red dipladenia or sometimes pink — but I especially like these white ones with the yellow centers (officially known as “Dipladenia Rio White”), pictured below. Once they start blooming, they make a nice bright visual pathway from my back door to the courtyard, producing vines that are just robust enough to be attractive and shapely, but only require a trimming or two all season to keep the human or the dog from tripping on them.
I had tried other plants in these same six pots in the past, but have kept returning to dipladenia since — it seems to me — squirrels will leave these plants alone. Any stems or vines they chew or slice with their Freddy Krueger fingernails will exude a sticky white substance they probably don’t like. I don’t like it, for sure; so I’m guessing squirrels don’t like it either and so tend to stay away.
Dipladenia also has a strong root system, even in medium-sized pots, and isn’t bothered by the torrential waterfalls that flow from the double-peaks of my roof during thunderstorms. And here in the southeast, they’ll bloom from April until right about now (or longer, in warmer autumns) so are especially fetching at dusk when receding sunlight catches the contrasting white, yellow, and dark green colors. Late summer and early autumn — when many other flowering plants have passed their blooming stages but fall color hasn’t yet appeared — are my favorite times to photograph them.
If you read the quotation at the top, from the very old book The Floral World, Garden Guide, and Country Companion (sometimes shortened to “The Floral World and Garden Guide”), you know now how to propagate dipladenia in a greenhouse, 1879-style. I don’t actually have a greenhouse — though I’ve often wondered if I could ensqueeze one on my property somehow — but was impressed by how concisely (though somewhat old-Englishly) the author Shirley Hibberd described the process. It would be fun to try it, so if you do, let me know.
If you’ve been here before, you know I often hunt down poems about what I photograph and post them along with one or two non-fiction selections about each kind of flower or plant. I’ve written before — see here and here — about discovering all sorts of excellent books and poetry on the Internet Archive, and how much I’ve learned by doing that. But the Internet Archive (including my favorite part, “Books to Borrow”) has been offline since October 9, after suffering a data breach and a cyberattack — one so significant that it’s gotten its own Wikipedia page: Internet Archive Cyberattack. The organization is still recovering from the attack over a week later, and remains offline until… well, until it’s not offline any more.
Having used it for several years now, I can honestly say that I’ve found it indispensable, and I’m really missing my fingertip access to thousands and thousands of poems. So for today’s poem — “Autumn Dipladenia” — I instead asked my imaginary friend (and amateur poet) ClaudeAI to produce some poetry by prompting it to “write about the Dipladenia variant with white flowers and yellow centers, in pots on someone’s back steps, as they appear in late afternoon autumn light.” After a bit of back and forth with me, it developed that two-stanza poem, which surprisingly placed the plants on “weathered back steps” — which is how my steps look in real life, though I didn’t mention it when asking for the poem. Apparently ClaudeAI has (somehow!) sneaked a peek at my back yard; and I’ll leave you to decide if the poem is any good or not (it does have some pretty good imagery).
Thanks for reading and taking a look!
