|Kennedia nigricans in bloom|
Today’s cover model is giving us some serious exotica! It’s a dark and mysterious stranger with an unusual, unique, and über-seductive savior faire. Ladies and gentlemen may I introduce Kennedia nigricans also commonly referred to as the Black Coral Pea. Kennedia nigricans is an evergreen vine that comes to us from western Australia. However, this is no ordinary vine. It’s a vine that produces some truly stunning black blooms that you’ll soon never forget.
|Kennedia nigricans form + flower + foliage|
Kennedia nigricans is one of the chicest climbing/crawling vines around. It outfits itself with large, lush, gorgeously green leaves in leaflets of three. It flourishes by twining its way here and there like a leviathan from 20,000 leagues under the sea. In spring and early summer, it produces a wealth of supercool wasp-like black flowers blazoned with a gold or ivory tongue of color. Absolutely extraordinary! Now this vine is definitely not for the faint at heart. It’s for the bold and the brave who crave boundless botanical beauty. It is very vigorous and if left unchecked can smother anything it is left to explore.
Kennedia nigricans likes full to part sun, regular to low water, well-draining, tough clay, and even poor soil. It can grow 10 feet tall/wide and beyond. It’s allegedly hardy down to 10 degrees fahrenheit/-12 degrees celsius, however, I have seen it damaged by light frost, so I would say its more hardy to around 30 degrees fahrenheit/-1 degrees celsius. Aesthetically, it looks great covering a sturdy, unsightly fence as well as covering tough to garden embankments. So if you love flowers that are like nothing you’ve ever seen and are feeling adventurous, check out Kennedia nigricans. It will definitely be still your heart with its fashionably ferocious blast of black!
