Cardinal climber,I. sloteri, is a tender annual vine with red, trumpet-like flowers in the Convolvulaceae family that’s easy to grow and provides sprawling color from summer to frost. It grows fast and is a favorite of butterflies and hummingbirds.
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In this article, you will learn how to cultivate this species at home.
Cultivation and HistoryCardinal climber is a cultivated species that was never wild.
It’s an easygoing plant that likes full sun but will tolerate part shade. Poor to average soil witha nearly neutral pH, an inch of water a week, and good drainage are all that’s needed for cultivation. Topping out at six to 12 feet, it likes to have room to roam.
I. sloteri originated in 1897 when a man named Logan Sloter crossed a red morning glory, I. coccinea, with a cypress vine, I. quamoclit. He did this manually and took every precaution to protect the plants from contact with any other pollen.
Eleven years later, one of the plants finally produced a seed – just one! It was subsequently planted and produced over 500 more, and a new species was born.
Noted botanist L.H. Bailey recognized the plant some years later in one of his scientific journals, Gentes Herbarum, Vol. 1. Fasc. 3, 1923. In it, he referred to a letter he had received from Sloter, stating that this was not just a “chance hybrid.” Bailey was actively cultivating the species himself at this point and published a photo of it.
Sloter’s attempts to cross I. sloteri with each of its parent plants were unsuccessful.
The I. sloteri hybrid is unique because it has four sets of chromosomes, two
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