Are There Different Types of Mandevilla? A Guide to This Beautiful Flowering Vine

Mandevilla Types

Today, easy-care mandevilla come in two main categories: mandevilla vines and mandevilla.

Are the old-fashioned type, which more gardeners tend to be familiar with. These plants quickly twine up and around trellises, arbors, and other structures, making them valuable for adding color vertically. Mandevilla vines climb by wrapping their new growth around a support. It’s important to know they grow in a clockwise or counterclockwise fashion, so pay attention when you train them. If yours grows clockwise, and you wrap it counterclockwise around its support, your mandevilla will unwind itself. Different varieties of mandevilla vines grow different heights; the largest varieties tend to climb between 10 to 15 feet tall in a gardening season. Because they are vines, you can train them to grow horizontally or vertically.

Tend to be newer selections. Rather than growing up, they form tidy mounds, making them ideal for use in garden and landscape beds and borders, as well as in container gardens. Most mounding mandevillas grow 12 to 18 inches tall and and don’t need supports to climb. Because they have more of a bushy habit, they’re also choices for hanging baskets and window boxes.

Originally, pink-flowering mandevillas were most common, such as the old variety ‘Alice Dupont’, but over time, plant breeders have expanded the color range. Now you can find mandevilla flowers in all shades of pink, from soft, cotton-candy pink to bright and bold hot pink. There are pure white and bright red mandevilla varieties, as well. There’s even an apricot-colored variety available.

When you’re at your local garden center shopping for mandevilla, look for lush plants with lots of dark green leaves. Plants that have a lot of yellow leaves (especially in the middle or at the top of the plant) may be stressed and less healthy. The presence of flowers doesn’t necessarily show a plant is because most are sold in full bloom. Selecting a mandevilla with flowers helps you ensure you’re getting the exact color you want. Another way you can look at a mandevilla’s health is to slip it out of its pot and look at the roots. Healthy roots are firm and white or creamy. Unhealthy roots will look yellowed or brown and be mushy. If the plant is suffering from rot, you may detect a foul odor in the potting mix, particularly toward the bottom of the pot. You’ll probably see mandevilla vines grown two ways: with trellises or with teepees. Trellised plants are better for growing on fence or structure you want them to fan out. Teepeed plants are better suited for places you can grow them vertically, such as up a pole or trellis.

Heat- and drought-tolerant mandevilla plants require little care once they’re planted and established. All varieties do best in a spot with sun — at least 6 to 8 hours of direct sun each day. They also like well-drained soil or potting mix. (Tip: If you grow mandevilla in containers, use a potting mix rather than garden soil, which can lead to root rot or disease problems.) Mandevilla require regular pruning, though you can prune them at any time if they start to get too large or grow out of bounds. Mandevillas grown in shade or part shade benefit from regular pruning to keep them from lanky and leggy. Mandevilla in the ground typically don’t require fertilizing as part of their care regimen, but potted plants benefit from fertilizer to keep them blooming profusely. The easiest way to fertilize is to mix some timed-release fertilizer into the potting mix when you plant; these products continue to slowly add nutrients to the soil over time. You can also fertilize regularly with a water-soluble product you mix with water. No matter what type of fertilizer you use for your mandevilla, follow the directions on the product’s instruction label to know how much fertilizer to use. Learn more about fertilizing plants. These are tropical and don’t like frosty temperatures. If you live in an area that experiences frequent frosts, you need to consider them as annuals or bring them indoors for the winter to care for as houseplants. Get tips for saving tropical plants like mandevilla before winter. Get winter care tips for your mandevilla.

Today there are many varieties of mandevilla available at local garden centers, mass merchandisers, and home improvement centers. Some of the most popular types include:

This was one of the first varieties that was widely available. It features large pink flowers and textural leaves. It’s not as floriferous as newer selections.

Dipladenia is another name for mandevilla.

Summervillea is an especially strong mounding variety that shows off a profusion of rich red flowers. We’ve found that, in our Miami, Florida, Trial Garden, Summervillea holds up better than other varieties as a perennial.

Mandevilla and Dipladenia: Although similar flowers, one is vine, other is shrub

If you like trumpet-shaped flowers, you may be familiar with both Mandevilla and Dipladenia, and you may even have them in your landscape. If you do, you probably realize they are very different, even if their blooms are a lot alike.

Dipladenia and Mandevilla are both great choices for Mississippi landscapes. You can count on both to provide a showy display of summertime flowers, but Mandevilla has better flowering characteristics, in my opinion.

It may be the similarity in bloom shape that leads these two plants to be marketed as the same thing, but Mandevilla and Dipladenia have different growth habits. Mandevilla is vining, and Dipladenia is more shrub-like.

While both are great plants, the problem comes when unsuspecting gardeners buy one of these plants that is labeled as the other. If you are looking for a vine and get a shrub, that’s a problem, so be careful at the garden center when choosing one of these plants.

It’s been my experience that plants listed as Mandevilla often do not climb. I have fallen for this mistake in the past. There’s been some breeding work done with Mandevilla and Dipladenia, and there are hybrids found at garden centers. This may contribute to the problem.

Dipladenia, which rhymes with gardenia, has a shrub-like growing habit and does not climb. One of its great uses is as the filler role in a combination basket or container because you don’t have to provide any support for it.

I actually like Dipladenia better than Mandevilla because you get the beautiful flowers and don’t have to worry about having a structure for them to climb. The flowers and foliage of Dipladenia are smaller than Mandevilla, but I feel this enhances their landscape value.

Keep consistent container moisture, but make sure it is well drained. Feed your Dipladenias every couple of weeks with a water-soluble fertilizer.

Sunlight encourages Dipladenia to bloom, and the plants need at least 6 hours of direct sun each day. In very hot locations, partial shade helps prevent the leaves from getting scorched.

Mandevilla is a climber that wraps its growing stems around any support it can find. You can make your own supports from hardware cloth, plastic mesh or other materials that give the plants a surface to scramble on. These structures can be as simple or elaborate as you like.

These climbing vines grow and flower best when planted in full sun. They tolerate partial shade in hot locations, such as south-facing walls. Make sure the soil in the planting bed is rich with organic matter to assure good drainage, but don’t let the soil dry out too much.

Mandevilla is very tolerant to pruning, and you can train the plant to grow in a shrub-like form. Flowers are produced on new growth, so there is little worry about pruning too much and eliminating blooms.

Mandevillas begin to flower in early summer and don’t quit until frost in the fall. They are tender plants usually killed by fall frosts. On occasion, they may grow back from the root system the following spring. Most gardeners simply treat Mandevilla as a flowering annual.

If you enjoy trumpet-shaped flowers, one of these plants will likely be a good addition to your landscape.

Select the Right Mandevilla for Your Space

FAQ

What is the difference between mandevilla and Dipladenia?

Mandevilla are fairly aggressive vines, growing rapidly up any support or trellis nearby. Dipladenia possess a smaller, bushy habit that produces a shorter trailing effect. They make excellent hummingbird attractants, and awesome “thrillers” in a mixed annual container as they twine up and down their support.

What is the difference between mounding and vining mandevilla?

There are two varieties of Mandevillas, vining or climbing and mounding or non-climbing. This means mounding varieties will remain arranged in tidy small mounds, giving them a bush-like appearance and making them easy to identify alongside other Mandevillas.

Are all mandevillas climbers?

Note: Older varieties of mandevillas were all climbing vines, but some newer varieties offer attractive mounding habits and don’t need supports to climb up.

Does mandevilla need to be deadheaded?

Mandevilla flowers are self-cleaning, so plants don’t need deadheading.