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Polemoniaceae
Cup and Saucer Vine
Cobaea scandens
Gossip, charm, exotic curiosity.
- Family
- Polemoniaceae
- Genus
- Cobaea
- Native to
- Mexico
- Bloom season
- Summer, Fall
- Type
- Tender perennial vine
- Height
- 6–9 m (20–30 ft) climbing
- Sunlight
- Full sun
- Soil
- Rich, well-drained
- Water
- Moderate
- Hardiness
- 9–11 (annual elsewhere)
- Lifespan
- Tender perennial
Did you know
- Each flower opens green and creamy white, then matures into a deep purple bell sitting in a flat green 'saucer'—creating a literal teacup-and-saucer in the garden.
- The flowers smell unpleasantly musky to humans on their first night (attracting bats), then sweet and honey-like on the second night (attracting moths and bees)—a two-day fragrance switch.
- Native to Mexican cloud forests, cup and saucer is one of the fastest-growing climbers in cultivation—it can cover a 30-foot wall in a single growing season from seed.
- Vita Sackville-West grew cup and saucer vine on the walls of Sissinghurst, calling it 'the most aristocratic of all annual climbers'—and it remains a Sissinghurst signature today.
- The genus is named after Father Bernabé Cobo, a 17th-century Spanish Jesuit missionary in Peru who first wrote scientific descriptions of New World plants, including potato, cacao, and quinoa.
Color meanings
0
gossip
1
charm
2
exotic curiosity