Akebia Five Leaf Chocolate Vine

This rare, semi evergreen climber is quick to grow and establish creating a lovely dense display with chocolate coloured and perfumed (soft) flowers through spring.

The elegant foliage grows along 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, climbing whatever it comes across.

Akebia quinata holds the prestigious RHS Award of Garden Merit so you know it not only looks good but is easy for the average gardener to grow and care for.

The dainty foliage is deeply divided into five, lobed, mid green, rounded leaflets. They grow alternately along the twining stems creating a dense coverage. 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 quinata is commonly known as Chocolate Vine, Five Leafed Chocolate Vine, Raisin Vine or Five Leaf Akebia. It is native to Japan and South Korea.

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