White Akebia

Day 203: Last year, I visited my favourite nursery hoping to find a shade-tolerant vine to crawl up the side of my garage. After a long discussion with the horticulturist, I settled on Five-Leaf Akebia, aka "Chocolate Vine," so called for the scent of the species' flowers. Akebia also produces a 5-inch long edible fruit, but is not self-fertile; therefore I needed two varieties. I bought a white and a purple. What the horticulturist neglected to mention is that Akebia is very prone to powdery mildew, and unbeknownst to me, one of the plants was already infected. By the time I realized the blackening of the leaves was something more serious than transplant shock, the problem was well-established. Some quick research on line told me what I needed to treat it, and I began applying a copper-based fungicide almost immediately.

From looking at the foliage, you might assume that this vine is deciduous. It is not, at least not in our climate. Both plants held most of their leaves through the winter, and about two weeks ago, I noticed tiny little clusters of buds on both vines...hundreds of them! Yes, the copper treatment worked and the Akebias are not only healthy, they show evidence of being very happy in their new situation. Today, the white one has a few open flowers; the purple one is in a more shady location, and therefore is coming into flower a little more slowly. Akebia can go rogue and become invasive if not monitored, but it is easy to control with pruning. I do hope I get some fruit, but even if I don't, the flowers are enchanting.