"Jade vine" is a type of plant that is native only to the Philippines but is now popular worldwide because of its beautiful jade-colored flower. As the name implies, it is a vine. It bears little claw-like flowers which come in clusters a foot or even longer, and dangles like a pendant.
When I saw an online picture of this plant I just knew we have to have it. So on they went to garden stores and nurseries on a quest to find this plant. And find it they did. Then the seller said they also have jade vine in red.
That's how we ended up with "Jade vine" and "Red jade vine". Later on I found out that these two are not related at all, they just look and behave alike. The botanical name of "Jade vine" is Strongylodon macrobotrys while the "Red Jade vine" is Mucuna bennetti.
Both are doing well in the farm, but so far the red is faring better. In fact it has already flowered and they said they were really beautiful. Unfortunately ( for me), they did not take a picture of it when it was in full bloom. They did manage though to take a snapshot of the early flower buds.
They tried to propagate the plant from cuttings but to no avail. The flowers failed to seed either. From what I read, they need insects to pollinate the flowers. I guess we'll just have to keep trying. But for a quicker result the better solution is to buy more of these plants. And that's just what we did.
