Cobea .. Cup and Saucer Plant

There are 2 varieties.Cobaea scandens and cobaea scandens alba.Alba is a greenish white colour and doesn't change colour.
Seed can be obtained from www.chilternseeds.co.uk for both varieties.
They don't keep well though, as I found that seed stored for 2 years had very poor germination.
Yes, the Forest of Dean is a lovely place to live.Rank Xerox was in Mitcheldean, although their factory has been scaled down now.
I live in a village called St.Briavels, which borders the Forest and Wales. We have no shop or post office, but we do have a castle and 2 pubs, so it's not all bad.(and some fantastic scenery.)

 

I bought my seeds here and, looking at the packet, they appear to be Dutch and are called Cobea Scandens Violet. It says flowering May - September and here I am December and it's going crazy!

 

Here is one of the fruits from the Cobaea ... looks more like a pear on the inside and I sure can't see any seeds .... what now?

 

Nowhere near ripe LOL.
That would be flowering May to September in Holland, I only ever managed flowers here in late summer, then the frost got them.
Your able to grow them as if in their natural habitat, so the seed pods hopefully will go on to ripen, but it could be next spring before that happens by the looks of it.
I'm pretty sure that will dry out and split in some way when the seed is ripe.

 

It's still flowering now ... just doesn't seem to give up, pretty little thing. My garden centre friend came over before Christmas and was shocked by it's splendour here and wants lots of seeds!

Thank you, pete. T'other half's idea was to try to plant one of these fruits but I said no, it was "winged" seeds planted to get this vine.

So onward to Spring ...

 

Recently whilst looking through an American seed site I came across Cobea, and it said that in its natural habitat its pollenated by BATS.
If thats so all my info on pollenation was totally wrong, but I'm glad you got some seed pods anyway, maybe it was moths.
By the way, are they ripening yet?

 

I have bats as well, pete ....

No ....

 

Patience is required, as long as they still look healthy.

 

They do but still VERY green and we've been having 20 degree weather for a week now, most unusual, so ... I've probably got more chance than most, I guess!

 

I got a subscription to Gardener's World for Christmas and there's been a series by Sarah Raven in it - she recommends growing Cobaea for cut flowers, but she does say it needs to be sown early (indoors in Feb in the UK) as it only flowers once it gets to 2m tall (from memory).
I've ordered some seeds for it from her company but they were part of the order that hasn't turned up yet (see my moaning post in the supplier review section if you really want to hear more about that!) so I'm really hoping it turns up in time to get big enough, the flowers look gorgeous!

 

Hello Claire75 and welcome to GC as I don't think I've welcomed you already.

As the owner of this wonderful climber, I must say I cannot possibly imagine it as a "cut flower". I don't know this Sarah Raven and if this is what she is saying, I'm pleased I'm not watching that programme!

What I will say, if you can get it going, it's the most wonderful "weed" to cover something as you can see by my photos. The root of mine (only started last year) is in the shade 100% of the tie time.

A beauty I never thought I would experience to be honest.

 

Success at last!

I have picked the first three ripe fruit (froo-it as I lovingly call them) today and I think the others will take a few more weeks.

The seeds have formed between the pear-like centre and the skin in four sections.

Claire75, if you have no luck getting yours, send me a PM with your details and I'll post you some.

pete, interested in trying again?

 

I'll give it a miss if you dont mind LOL, thanks all the same.
I would like to see a pic of the ripe fruit though, would you say they are wind distributed? The individual seeds that is.

 

Hi LoL and all, I have two Cobea Scandens grown from seed sown in January. They are now 4ft high and growing frighteningly quickly, about 2 inches per day. I have pinched the tips out hoping that the shoots in the leaf axels will now grow on, have I done the right thing? I hope I can keep them contained in the greenhouse until they can go outside, probably May time.

 

Hi, Blackthorn. Yes, I could almost watch mine grow, amazing, isn't it? I guess mine is about 20 feet now (seed from last Spring) and still blooming! I was taking the dead leaves off it yesterday and it's sending new growth all over the place! :eek:

I assume you can pinch them out like most plants ... keep us posted on how yours does.