How to Grow Cypress Vine Flowers

About Growing Cypress Vine Flowers in Your Home Garden

The Annual Cypress Vine is a fast-growing, flowering vine, with an abundance of bright, star-shaped flowers. Native to Central America, Mexico, and tropical areas of South America, the vines grow and climb to quickly cover their support. It is a member of the Morning Glory family. Growing Cypress vines is a floral delight! This attractive plant is a good re-seeder.

Cypress Vine is easy to grow an annual plant. Flowering vines can grow quickly. The Cypress Vine is no exception. It can grow ten to fifteen feet in a single season. It produces hundreds of small, star-shaped flowers in the summer. Deadheading spent blooms will promote more blooms.

Butterflies and Hummingbirds are attracted to the bright blooms.

As flowering vine, they need some type of support to climb. A trellis or fence works well. Grow it up or down a deck. From the ground, it climbs up the deck posts and wraps around the railing. Or, grow it in a large flowerpot on your deck and let it grow across the railing or down towards the ground. You can even grow it up a tree, if you prefer. The support should be big enough to support ten to fifteen feet of vine growth. The vines are not heavy. So, you don’t need a very sturdy object for them to climb.

Cypress Vine Plant Specifications

Flower Colors: Red is the most popular color. Other colors include white, rose, and pink.

Flowers Blooms: Summer through Fall.

Plant Height: Six to fifteen feet.

Days to Bloom: 50 days from seedling germination.

Light Requirements: Full sunlight.

Ideal Soil pH: 6.0 – 7.5.

Hardiness Zone: 11 – 12.

Toxicity: The mature pods are toxic to people and pets.

Deer Resistant? No. Deer will eat the leaves and flowers. This is especially true when other sources of food are scarce.

Native To: The 22 species of Cypress vines are native to tropical America.

Plant Type: Perennial

Botanical Name: Ipomoea quamoclit

Other Names: This plant is also called Hummingbird Flower and Star Glory.

Are Cypress Vine Plants Edible?

YES and NO.

The flowers and leaves are edible. Generally, people do not eat them. The seed pods are toxic to humans and pets.

We recommend you avoid consumption of any part of this plant.

Medicinal Uses for Cypress Vine Plants

In the world of medicine, cypress vine plants are very useful. They stimulate anticancer, antioxidant, antidiabetic, and antimicrobial activity.

Here are some of the specific medicinal uses:

Eases inflammation and swelling.
The plant is a traditional herb for treating cancer, diabetes, hemorrhoids
Relieves skin problems including dermatitis, rashes, wrinkling, and premature aging of the skin.
This plant is used to treat tumors, especially those outside of the body.
It is used to treat premature baldness, early graying, dandruff, and fading hair color.
Treats urinary tract disorders.
Use it as a treatment for gonorrhea.
It is also used to treat poisonous snake bites.

Light Requirements

Select a planting location where the plant will receive full sunlight all day long. The vines grow upward searching for the sun. If the plant is shaded, the flowers will not bloom.

Cypress Vine Plant Propagation

Annual Cypress Vine is grown from seeds.

Garden Planting Tip: To improve germination, soak seeds overnight before planting.

Sow Cypress Vine seeds directly into your flower garden after all danger of frost has passed. Plant seeds 1/4″ deep.

Final plant spacing should be twelve inches apart.

Towards the end of the growing season, you can harvest dried pods with seeds inside for next year. Or, leave a few pods on the vine. The cypress vines seeds will fall to the ground and sprout next spring.

Days to Germination: 5 – 15 days.

How to Grow Cypress Vine Flower Plants

Cypress Vine plants are easy to grow.

Select a planting location where they will grow in bright, full sun.

The plants prefer rich, well-draining soils to fuel their fast, season-long growth. Mix a healthy dose of compost into the soil prior to planting.

Plants like a lot of water and nutrients. While they like lots of water, they do not like wet soil. Keep soil moist, not wet.

Add fertilizer when planting and every month during the season. Use a high phosphorous formula just before the first blooming period.

Cypress Vines need some form of support to climb up. Trellises or fences work well.

Keep the areas weeded when plants are young. A layer of mulch will keep weeds down, and create a neat appearance.

Plants will begin to bloom in as little as 50 days. Deadhead spent flowers to promote continuous, summer-long bloom.

Plants are annuals and will succumb to frost or freeze.

Cypress Vine can be invasive, as they are good “re-seeders”. If the pods are allowed to open and pour out their seeds, you will find many new plants next year. Do not disturb the soil until seedlings have begun to grow. Thinning will almost certainly be needed. If you don’t want them to spread too rapidly, pick seed pods as they appear.

Also, you can save seeds by removing them from the dry seed pods. Then, dry the seeds on a screen in a cool dry place out of direct sunlight.

Pruning Cypress Vine Plants

Normally, there is little or no need to prune these fast-growing, healthy vines. On occasion, there may be a broken or dead leaf or stem. Remove them as needed.

Removing spent blooms encourages the plant to develop new flower buds. As soon as the flower, begins to die off, take them off the plant where the flower stem meets the vine.