Pandorea Vine Information: Tips On Growing A Bower Vine Plant

Bower Vine With Pink-White Flowers
(Image credit: Lastovetskiy)

The bower vine is a beautiful, subtropical, twining plant that produces fragrant pink and white flowers throughout most of the year. With the right care, growing a bower vine can be very rewarding. Keep reading to learn more about how to grow bower vines in your home garden.

Pandorea Vine Information

What is a bower vine? The bower vine (Pandorea jasminoides) is an Australian native that goes by several other names, including bower climber, bower of beauty, and just plain Pandorea. It is a frost tender evergreen hardy in USDA zones 9 to 11. It can grow 15 to 25 feet (5-8 m.) in length. It doesn’t grow especially dense, instead spreading out with a delicate, open structure. At the same time, it grows quickly and can be used as a screen. From spring through summer, it produces trumpet-shaped white flowers with deep pink centers. The flowers are very fragrant. Bower vines are best grown on trellises near or over pathways where the scent will linger. It also grows well twining up railings or along balconies and porches.

How to Grow Bower Vines in the Garden

Bower vine care is relatively easy. The plant is not at all frost hardy, but in hot zones it will grow vigorously. It thrives in full sun and partial shade, and it will grow in all soil types as long as it is rich, and the pH is slightly alkaline. The plant is somewhat drought tolerant, doing best with regular watering, as long as the soil is allowed to dry out slightly between waterings. It does not require much extra feeding, usually doing well with just a simple slow-release fertilizer. It responds well to pruning and can be pruned back hard after flowering has finished to keep the vining in check and growing densely.

Liz Baessler
Senior Editor

The only child of a horticulturist and an English teacher, Liz Baessler was destined to become a gardening editor. She has been with Gardening Know how since 2015, and a Senior Editor since 2020. She holds a BA in English from Brandeis University and an MA in English from the University of Geneva, Switzerland. After years of gardening in containers and community garden plots, she finally has a backyard of her own, which she is systematically filling with vegetables and flowers.