A lovely thunbergia vine grows over the bridge in Hope Gardens, near the Lily Pond. - photo by Rita Elliott

You won't believe what I am about to tell you regarding the lovely thunbergia. This vine has been placed on the Alert List for Environmental Weeds - Weeds?! Well, I mean, it's considered a weed, in Australia.

The vine was introduced there as a garden ornamental vine. Sure enough, it escaped into native vegetation where it now is causing havoc. Thunbergia is a major threat to monsoon vine thickets and remnant tropical rainforests across northern Australia, including the World Heritage-listed Wet Tropics.

It climbs and smothers native vegetation, shading out and killing surrounding plants. It can merrily pull down mature trees through the weight of its vine.

If a thunbergia is climbing somewhere in your garden, my advice is: keep an eye on this character in case it turn into a treacherous weed. Just kidding!

Landscaping Uses

In Jamaica, thunbergia is generally seen growing on trellises or fences, but there are many other ways to use this vine.

When sent cascading over a wall, it looks absolutely stunning. It looks majestic trained across a (sturdy) roof. Send it up a tree and you will create a dome of blue flowers.

Thunbergia will also happily grow in a container and will look its best in a hanging basket. Ever thought of that?

To top it off, thunbergia is easy to care for. It loves full sun or afternoon shade, needs rich, organic soil and plenty of water. If these three conditions, are met, you will have non-stop flowers.

Fertilise with a well-balanced liquid fertiliser diluted to half the recommended strength on the label.

Never hesitate to cut back often, as often as you want, to control direction or size. Trimming also encourages the plant to grow vigorously and produce more blooms.

As I know from bitter experience, whiteflies (spider mites, too) are fond of ruining this fine vine.

Finally, thunbergia has many common names: Bengal Clock Vine, Bengal Trumpet Vine, Blue Sky Flower, Blue Sky Vine, Blue Trumpet Vine, Indian Sky Flower.