Bower vine is what Australian gardeners reach for when a bare fence needs covering quickly but a rampant climber would be a mistake. Pandorea jasminoides comes from the rainforest margins of eastern Australia, holds its glossy foliage all year, and from early September hangs itself with soft trumpet flowers that keep coming until the weather cools. Because it twines rather than clings, it never marks render or brickwork.
Quick facts
| Detail | Bower vine, Pandorea jasminoides |
|---|---|
| Mature size | 4 to 6 m of stem, covering 2 to 3 m of a fence or trellis |
| Position | Full sun for heaviest flowering; tolerates half a day of shade |
| Soil | Free draining and humus rich, slightly acidic to neutral; will not tolerate wet feet |
| Water | Deep weekly soak for two summers, then largely self-sufficient |
| Climate zones | Subtropical Brisbane, warm temperate Sydney, temperate Melbourne with shelter, Perth with summer water; marginal in frost-prone inland districts |
| Flowering | Early spring through summer, with sporadic flushes into autumn in warm districts |
| Growth rate | Fast once established, roughly 2 to 3 m of stem in a warm season |
Choosing the right bower vine
All the bower vines share the same habit and the same care, so the choice comes down to flower colour and how much wall you need to fill.
- The straight species, bower vine, carries pale pink trumpets with a deep crimson throat and is the most vigorous of the group. Use it where you want a whole fence line covered.
- Alba is the pure white form. It reads as cooler and cleaner against a dark fence and is the easiest to combine with an existing planting scheme.
- Pink Magic holds a stronger, more saturated pink and flowers heavily on a sunny north-facing wall.
- Bower of Beauty is the classic deep-throated selection, the one most often seen on Queensland verandah posts.
If your site is cold, exposed or genuinely dry, look instead at wonga wonga vine, Pandorea pandorana: the hardier cousin, reaching six to eight metres with smaller cream bells marked in maroon, flowering in late winter. For a pergola, compare bower vine with star jasmine, which is slower but perfumed, and wisteria, which is deciduous and far heavier.
How to plant
Plant in early spring once the soil has warmed, or in autumn in Brisbane and coastal New South Wales. Fix the support first: three or four horizontal galvanised wires 300 mm apart, tensioned between eye bolts and held 50 mm clear of the fence, will carry a mature vine for decades. Retro-fitting a trellis around established growth is a miserable job.
Dig a hole twice the width of the pot and no deeper. Keep the top of the root ball level with the surrounding soil, or 50 mm proud on heavy clay, and backfill with the native soil rather than a rich imported mix that encourages roots to circle in the hole. Water in thoroughly, then mulch to 75 mm, keeping it clear of the stems.
Set the plant 300 mm out from the base of a fence, where rain actually lands. The strip hard against a fence is a rain shadow, and it is the commonest reason a new climber sulks through its first summer. Tie the leading stems loosely to the lowest wire and fan them sideways rather than letting them race for the top.
Ongoing care
Watering
Through the first two summers, give one deep soak a week rather than frequent light watering, roughly 10 to 15 litres delivered slowly at the base. In Perth and on sandy Sydney soils, twice weekly through January and February is more realistic. From the third season the plant carries itself through ordinary dry spells, though flowering is better where summer moisture is consistent.
Feeding
Bower vine flowers on the current season's growth, so aim for steady growth without a nitrogen surge. Apply a controlled-release native or general shrub fertiliser in early September and again in late January, and skip high-nitrogen lawn food entirely; a vine beside a fed lawn produces a wall of leaves and almost no flowers. A handful of sulphate of potash in late winter improves bud set on leafy plants.
Pruning
Prune once the main flush finishes, usually late February to March. Cut the plant back by up to a third, clearing tangled woody stems from the centre and shortening long whips to an outward-facing bud, so the flowering shell of growth stays close to the trellis rather than drifting to the top of the fence. Avoid pruning after August, because next season's buds are already forming on that new wood. Bare-based plants respond well to a hard renovation prune to 500 mm in early spring.
Common problems and fixes
Aphids on new growth. Soft spring tips attract them in numbers. Hose them off, or spray with horticultural soap early in the morning. Populations collapse once ladybirds and hoverflies arrive, so avoid broad-spectrum insecticides.
Scale and sooty mould. Brown or white scale settles on shaded interior stems, and the black sooty mould that follows feeds on their honeydew. Thin the plant to let light in, then spray thoroughly with horticultural oil, repeating after two weeks. The mould weathers off once the scale is gone.
Two-spotted mite. Bronzed, stippled leaves and fine webbing in hot, dry, sheltered positions. Hose the underside of the foliage and mulch to keep the root zone cool.
Yellow leaves and collapse. Almost always drainage. Bower vine will not survive in a boggy strip beside a downpipe or in compacted clay. Mound the bed 200 mm and improve it with gypsum and compost before replanting, and read our guide to root rot if a plant is already declining.
Bare at the base. Normal in an unpruned vine. Fix it with the renovation prune above, or underplant with a low shrub; our notes on softening fences and retaining walls cover the pairings that work.
Frequently asked questions
Is bower vine invasive in Australian gardens?
No. Pandorea jasminoides is native to the rainforest margins of eastern Australia and is not listed as an environmental weed anywhere in the country. It twines around a support rather than sending out runners or suckers, so it stays in the space you give it. Cut stems will not root where they touch the ground, which is what separates it from genuinely troublesome climbers.
Will bower vine damage my fence or wall?
It will not. Bower vine climbs by twining its stems around a support, so unlike climbing fig it produces no adhesive rootlets and leaves no residue on render, paint or brickwork. Give it wires, mesh or a timber trellis held about 50 mm clear of the surface. That gap keeps air moving behind the foliage and lets you paint the fence without cutting the plant down.
Why is my bower vine not flowering?
Shade is the usual culprit. Bower vine will grow happily in half a day of sun but only flowers heavily with five or more hours of direct light. The second cause is too much nitrogen, which is common where a vine grows along a fence next to a fed lawn. Switch to a low-nitrogen native or rose fertiliser, and stop pruning after August so the spring buds survive.
How cold-hardy is bower vine?
Young plants are frost tender and will be scorched by anything below about minus two degrees. Once the stems have hardened after two or three seasons the plant tolerates light frost, especially with a wall behind it. In genuinely frost-prone inland districts, plant wonga wonga vine, Pandorea pandorana, instead. It is tougher, more drought hardy and flowers in late winter.
Can bower vine be grown in a pot?
Yes, in a container of at least 50 litres with a permanent trellis or obelisk fixed into the pot. Use a premium potting mix, feed with a controlled-release fertiliser twice a year and expect to water daily through summer. Potted plants stay smaller, usually around two to three metres, and need repotting or root pruning every third autumn.
Ready to plant?
Spring is the moment to get a bower vine into the ground, while the soil is warming and the plant has a full season ahead of it to reach the top wire. Browse the full range of climbers to compare it with the other twiners and self-clingers we grow, or the climbers and groundcover collection if you are covering ground as well as vertical space.
