Chocolate Vine

This elegant vine is worth snapping up. The soft, vanilla scented, chocolate red flowers open in trailing bunches of up to 20cm. The dainty foliage grows alongside, on the fast, twining tendrils. It is simple to grow and care for and wonderfully graceful in form.

You could grow it up a trellis, shrub, fence, obelisk or pergola. It will even ramble freely through the garden as a form of ground cover, gently climbing whatever it comes across.

The dainty foliage is deeply divided into five, mid green, rounded leaflets. They grow alternately along the twining stems. Here in the Dandenong Ranges it remains evergreen but in cold climates they may be herbaceous, they are hardy to -10C. The leaves can turn purple through winter, but we haven’t noticed that on ours.

Akebia longeracemosa is commonly known as Chocolate Vine or Long Racemed Akebia. It is native to Taiwan and SE China.

Plant into a sun to part shade or filtered light position with protection from the hot afternoon sun. They aren’t shy of heat though and can flower better after a long, hot summer. Akebia aren’t much bother and will only need a light prune after flowering to tidy. They can fruit (sweet, edible) in autumn, but need two different varieties/seedlings and are best to be hand pollinated, there are both male and female flowers on the same raceme.