Rangoon Creeper (Quisqualis indica) Growing in an Arch or Arbor

The Rangoon Creeper is an extremely spectacular vine that blooms throughout the year in tropical heat. When in full bloom, it is covered with large trusses of tri-colored flowers that are very showy and pleasantly scented.


For propagation, I had limited success propagating the Rangoon Creeper by air-layering. Many other gardeners vouch other methods like by seed and even stem cuttings. I never had success in any of these two methods. But if you have a mature rangoon creeper with plenty of branches at the base, you'd have a good success rate propagating the Rangoon Creeper by root division.


If you're planning to get a Rangoon Creeper (Quisqualis indica) plant, the first thing you need to decide is where to grow this vine. So before you even remove the garden support stakes that came with your Rangoon Creeper vine, determine the location that will give it the most sunshine during the day.




Mature Rangoon Creepers will yield the most colorful blossoms when they get full day sunlight. This is not to say that they won't flower in partial sunlight though; they will.


Arch or Arbor for the Rangoon Creeper

The Rangoon Creeper or Quisqualis indica or Combretum indicum, is also known commonly as Chinese Honeysuckle and Drunken Sailor. When mature, it can be a robust and heavy vine that will require a very sturdy support like an arch, arbor, pergola, and the like. In areas exposed to storms or typhoons, arbors with frames or posts made of concrete or steel would be preferable. It's either those or heavy-duty lumber.

Even before I planted the vine in-ground, I had our garden gate arch constructed out of welded 3-inch angle bars that are 1/4-inch thick. A pair of these angle bars were welded to each other to resemble a 3" x 3" metal post. The frame on top had 12-mm round bars. The two metal posts were welded with the steel reinforcement bars inside the concrete posts.

The Rangoon Creeper's young shoots may be trained to twine. You only need a wire or a rod to train the young branches twine up and find their way up in an arch, arbor or pergola. Here is the garden arch that I had built. Under it is a service gate that opens to the street in front.


Because the Rangoon Creeper vine was already 4 feet high, I only had to train the branches from that height up to the top frame of garden arch. To do this, I tied an insulated solid strand wire from the top of the support frame down to steel grill of the front fence. These locations are indicated by points A and B in the above photo.





Where to Plant the Rangoon Creeper

You could actually plant the vine in a big pot or in-ground like I did. If you plant it in the ground, be ready for its vigorous growth. When planted in the ground, it can grow so fast to the point of being invasive. The branches will grow very long and would would want to monitor their growth and prune them when necessary.

The young Rangoon Creeper was planted a few inches from the front fence as shown below. I just temporarily staked a bamboo stick for it to lean on.


Notice it was still bushy and had leaves near its base. Its being near the concrete front fence allowed it to be watered completely because water runoff is towards the front fence. This setup benefits the vine because the Rangoon Creeper needs plenty of water.

See part 2 for the continuation of this article.



Go ahead, post your comment below!

Anonymous said...

can nylon trellis support rangoon creeper vine in a long run? Planning to set it up in the borders of our rooftop for natural privacy.

Winlove Mojica said...

This blog is the reason why I bought a rangoon creeper. I felt confident I could grow it by reading your step-by-step process. Now I also bought a garlic vine...and you also have it in this blog! Thank you! Can’t wait to read all your posts...hope you can make more :)

Blackdove said...

Not sure what you mean by 'nylon trellis'. If it's a nylon net, it may not be strong enough to support the vine. Rangoon Creeper can become big and heavy.

Blackdove said...

Thank you, Winlove Mojica. Good luck on your flowering vines!

Winnie said...

I first read this article of yours in December 2020 and was inspired to plant rangoon creeper in the ground of my small 9'x 10' garden. I planted 2 in my garden and 1 in my sister's which is next door to mine. We were amply rewarded 7 months later when all 3 plants were in full and spectacular bloom. A big THANK YOU to you and Irene!

Blackdove said...

You are welcome, Winnie, and we're glad this blog article has helped you.