Billardiera longiflora, My Favorite Plant in the Garden (this week.)

My favorite plant in my garden for the last few days has been Billardiera longiflora, a sweet vine native to Tasmania and NWW, Australia.  Earlier in the season, it has nice little buttery yellow hanging trumpet shaped flowers which turn to lavender as they age.  The blooms are nice but often overlooked especially because I grow this vine with a showy double clematis (Josephine's a big show off) whose blooms upstage the subtler flowers of  Billardiera.

Stems are wiry and the foliage is nice but  not horribly substantial. If they'd been the only leaves handy in the garden of eden, many ecclesiastical paintings would loose their G ratings.

Neither flower nor foliage is the main attraction of this sweet vine; rather, it's these marble-sized, dark violet fruit that remains colorful through most of January.

I first saw this in fruit at Heronswood years ago and finally bought one three or four years ago.  It's grown slowly because it's growing in poor soil and only receives sporadic summer waterings. 

 This is the first year that this has produced fruit for me and since it's very near the front entry of our house, I'll see it and smile for months to come!

Hardy to zone 7 or 8 (conflicting sources)
Drought tolerant once established.
Fruits are seedy but edible.  Their taste is  somewhat like that of apples and hence the other popular name apple berry. (AKA Climbing Blueberry)
Climbs 3 - 10 feet.
Dan Hinkley says, "If I lived in a colder climate, I would attempt to grow this vine in a container - simply too remarkable for words.

My favorite plant in the garden (this week) is sponsored by Loree at Danger Garden.  Click on the link to find links to lots of other favorite plant posts.
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