Grow easy-care mandevillas for season-long color

vines that regularly need to be secured to the support. Just tuck any new tendrils through the trellis, pointing them in the desired direction as needed.

Use vining varieties in a container of their own or as a vertical accent on a trellis in mixed containers or flowerbeds. Set pots by an entrance to your home or garden for a colorful welcome or use them to dress up a bare wall or fence.

The more compact shrubby types can be planted with other annual flowers in the garden, grown in hanging baskets or used as a f iller in mixed container gardens. Just prune off or tuck any wayward branches behind neighboring plants.

Disease-resistant Sun Parasol mandevillas offer an array of colors, including white, yellow, apricot, pink, crimson and even red-and-white striped flowers. The original shrubby Sun Parasol mandevillas are available in the widest range of colors while the garden group makes excellent hanging baskets. Grow the vigorous climb- ing Giant group varieties for the largest flowers and the Pretty group when looking for a vine with the most flowers, dense vigorous growth and more cold tolerance. Include them on your patio, deck or balcony, and situate a few outside your windows. You will enjoy the flowers and winged visitors whether inside looking out or relaxing in your outdoor spaces.

Melinda Myers has written more than 20 gardening books, including “The Midwest Gardener’s Handbook, Second Edition” and “Small Space Gardening.” She hosts “The Great Courses’” “How to Grow Anything” instant video and DVD series and the nationally-syndicated “Melinda’s Garden Moment” TV and radio program. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine and was commissioned by Tree World Plant Care for her expertise to write this article. For more, visit here. www.MelindaMyers.com.