Bower Vine Pandorea jasminoides Bower of Beauty

Bower of Beauty is the pink selection of the bower vine, with wide open trumpets marked by a deep rose to crimson throat, carried in flushes from spring through the warm months. Foliage stays glossy and divided all year, which makes it better cover for a fence or a carport than most deciduous climbers, and it is vigorous without behaving like a thug. It twines rather than clinging, so it wants wire or lattice, and it is usually planted where a bare paling fence needs covering quickly.

Keeping the bottom half clothed

Warm coastal and subtropical gardens are where it performs. It grows happily through Brisbane, Sydney, Perth and coastal New South Wales, tolerates a light frost once woody and sulks badly through a hard one. Give it composted free draining soil, full sun to part shade, and shelter from salt laden wind. Support it properly with wire or mesh, since it has no tendrils, suckers or aerial roots and will not attach itself to masonry, which at least means it does no damage to render or paintwork. The predictable failure is bare ankles. Left alone, every strong shoot races for the top of the support, flowers at head height and above, and the lower half turns into a bundle of leafless woody stems that no amount of feeding will re clothe. Head that off from the first year: pick two or three long stems each season and cut them back to knee height so the plant is always making new growth from low down. Where the base has already gone, plant a low hedge or shrubs in front of it.

Pink, or the white Alba

Its sibling here is Pandorea jasminoides Alba, the white form without the marked throat. Growth habit and care are the same, so pick on how the colour sits in your garden. Bower of Beauty carries across a distance and looks right against dark stained timber, green hedging or a colorbond fence, and it is the one most people picture when they hear bower vine. Alba is quieter and better against red brick or terracotta. Where a pergola needs perfume more than flower size, star jasmine is the alternative, though it gives a few weeks of flower rather than a long warm season of them, and it takes far more cold.

Pruning after the flush

Prune the whole plant back after the main flowering flush, shortening the season growth and thinning any tangle where stems have wound over each other. Combine that with the annual hard cut on a couple of low stems so new growth keeps coming from the base. Avoid pruning late in autumn in cooler districts, since soft new growth is what frost damages first. Feed in early spring and again after the first flush with a complete slow release fertiliser. Being an Australian native does not make this one phosphorus sensitive the way a grevillea or a banksia is, and a long flowering season on a vine this vigorous needs a full ration rather than a native blend. Mulch to keep the root run cool through summer. More options in climbers.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 3 sizes, from 140mm up to 200mm, priced from $16.95 to $29.95 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. These are younger plants, priced for planting in quantity, and they establish quickly once in the ground. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to fast growing screening plants.