The tropical flowering plants known as Mandevilla are popular for their vibrant, trumpet-shaped blooms that provide a splash of color throughout the warmer months. Native to Central and South America, these plants are often grown in containers on patios or trained to climb up trellises. While many people encounter a single type in garden centers, the genus Mandevilla encompasses a wide range of species and cultivated varieties. This diversity results in significant differences in growth habit, flower color, and size, meaning a suitable type exists whether a gardener seeks a towering vine or a compact, bushy shrub.
Understanding the Mandevilla and Dipladenia Connection
The names Mandevilla and Dipladenia frequently cause confusion, but the distinction is primarily horticultural rather than strictly botanical. Historically, Dipladenia was recognized as a separate genus, but modern plant taxonomy has merged all former Dipladenia species into the genus Mandevilla. Today, the term Dipladenia is often used by growers and retailers as a common name to describe a specific type of growth.
Plants sold as Dipladenia typically feature a compact, shrub-like, or mounding habit, making them ideal for hanging baskets and small containers. They usually have smaller, glossier, and thicker leaves than their vining counterparts. In contrast, the name Mandevilla is often reserved for the vigorous, twining varieties that require a support structure like a trellis to climb.
This practical distinction helps consumers choose the right plant for their space. The flowers of the two groups are structurally similar, though Dipladenia blooms are sometimes smaller than those on the classic vining Mandevilla. The ability to breed new hybrids with varying growth habits has further blurred the lines, with many modern cultivars possessing traits from both the compact and vining forms.
Key Species and Their Distinct Growth Habits
The wide variety of modern Mandevilla plants stems from the inherent traits of a few foundational species native to the Americas. One primary parent is Mandevilla sanderi, often called Brazilian Jasmine, known for its pink-red flowers and fast, vigorous, twining growth. This species also possesses a distinctive tuberous root system, which allows the plant to store water and survive periods of drought, an adaptation growers value.
Another influential species is Mandevilla laxa, or Chilean Jasmine, a larger vine that can reach heights of 15 to 20 feet. This species is prized for its clusters of creamy-white, trumpet-shaped flowers that release a strong, sweet, vanilla-like fragrance. M. laxa is unique because it is deciduous in cooler climates, losing its leaves during the winter.
Mandevilla boliviensis is a third key species, distinguished by its delicate white flowers and a less aggressive vining nature, typically growing between 3 and 10 feet. Breeders combine the genetic material from these species—vining habit, flower color, fragrance, and tuberous roots—to create the diverse array of hybrids seen in garden centers.
Cultivar Diversity and Aesthetic Differences
Modern plant breeding has dramatically expanded the aesthetic range of Mandevilla, resulting in hundreds of commercially available cultivars. Hybridizers select for traits like flower size, bloom density, and non-vining growth to suit container gardening. This effort has created a vast palette of colors, including vibrant reds, hot pinks, pure whites, and newer shades like apricot and yellow.
Commercially successful series, such as Sun Parasol and Rio, exemplify this hybrid diversity by offering both compact, mounding plants and traditional vining varieties. The Sun Parasol series features different lines, such as the Giant collection, which boasts large, five-inch flowers, and standard varieties bred for a controlled, bushy habit. These cultivars are often treated with growth inhibitors to encourage the desired compact form for potted plants.
The result is a spectrum of visual types, from plants that aggressively twine up an arbor to those that form tidy, self-supporting mounds perfect for a patio table. This focus on controlled growth and heavy blooming has made Mandevilla one of the most versatile and popular tropical plants for seasonal outdoor display.