Drunken Sailor, Combretium indicum indicum

Best, and most, common names ever: Burma Creeper, Madhavi lata, Chinese Honeysuckle, Irangun malli, Ishq peccan, et alia. I read at some point after we planted it that this is the most popular/commonest vine in Delhi. I can believe it. It's got so many virtues. It's vigorous (more on that later), it's fragrant, it's pollinator friendly though possibly more so in its native habitat than here (it does attract certain moths in our garden, it flowers for at least 8 months for us in Central Florida, it seems to be pest and disease free, I never water it at any point in our, occasionally 8 month, dry season. Wow it's like a perfect plant. I have read that some people find the fragrance unpleasant, but smells are like that. I enjoyed the scent when I could smell it. I was never diagnosed with Covid, but a couple of years ago, I lost the ability to smell certain flowers and this is one of them. Oh well.  Before I forget, the plant is highly regarded by Feng Shui designers being considered indicative of abundance and prosperity.

We have been watchin Good Karma Hospital for a few weeks; it's filmed in Sri Lanka, not Delhi, but there's plenty of  Drunken Sailor in the backgrounds. Last night, the plot featured a drunken, maybe he was a sailor... It appears to be native to a wide range of tropical East Asia possibly even stretching around the Indian Ocean to Easter Africa. Undeniably a beautiful plant though its color, white flowers aging to red, and its relentless exuberance may make it more suited to some gardens than others. We love it.

As to invasiveness, I can say that in 5 years we've not seen seeds or seedlings but apparently it can, and is, a problem in South Florida. The flowers are hermaphroditic so, barring physiological or timing issues it could be self fertile. After a limited search all I could find on the subject is that there seems to be some level of self-incompatibility. So maybe if you have only one plant you're safe. Of course that's only if your neighbors don't have a compatible individual. It's hardiness is generally listed as 10a or 9b and we are securely 9a. There's a list of plants that are hardy in 9b that we lose regularly. I'd lose to grow Sea Grape, Coccoloba, that is very comfortable in Tampa, but no... Maybe I'm being unduly optimistic about chances of it escaping but I weed relentlessly and identify all seedlings especially new ones. Still, I wouldn't plant it in South Florida so we're going to keep it.

 

Hurricane Idalia Coming to Wildwood!

Tropical Storm Idalia will break from Cuba, become a hurricane, and race north northeasterly picking up strength till it crosses from the marine Gulf to the terrestrial state of Florida. That'll slow it down considerably and quickly but by then it'll surely be at least a 3. And we're only just under 50 miles inland. Up to the minute forecasts have winds not exceeding 40mph, but hey, twenty four hours ago, the spaghetti models almost all had it pointed far enough west of us to where rain would have been problematic and wind a non-issue. Until it starts to move, who knows?

In the meantime, I'm roaming the garden taking pictures and trying to commit things to memory. At a minimum the bananas will be shredded and likely, some of the elephant ears. And we'll get enough rain to last us a week, which is good. We planted a jacaranda this year and it went from four feet to eight. Should I remove the staking and let it move freely with the wind or leave it loosely staked at 4 feet? 

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