“Star of Texas” (Cypress Vine) Aug.10, 2013

Cypress vines have star-shaped flowers and lacy green foliage. The flowers are about the size of a US dime, or roughly 1.3 cm across (about 1/2 inch). This care-free vine re-seeds itself and returns each year. Each flower lasts a day and each day the number of flowers increases until the first frost stops growth. This vine is ideal for those locations in the garden where summer color is desired—it quickly takes over an area with it’s green lacy foliage and numerous star-shaped flowers, then vanishes completely in winter (easy clean up and no pruning!)

Common names for Cypress vine are; “Star of Texas” or “Texas Star” — so named to represent the single star on the Texas flag. The pink-flowering vine—a pass-along gift from an in-law–is an icon in my garden.

A friend recently shared some seeds to a red-flowering cypress vine. The seeds were planted, sprouted, and produced small plants with large, thick palmate-shaped leaves. These seedlings did not have the familiar lacy foliage and they grew more slowly than the Cypress vine. Continue reading →