Cup Of Gold Vine (Solandra maxima): A Plant With Major Attitude

Cup Of Gold Vine (Solandra maxima) is a plant with an attitude! The flowers are ginormous & the foliage deep glossy green. Care tips, pics & a video await you.

Cup  Of Gold Vine grows big and has ginormous flowers and buds plus large, glossy foliage. This twining vine is not one for small spaces or flimsy structures. It requires room to grow and something sturdy for it to grow on.

cup of gold vine
Here it’s trained with wire to wrap all the way around this courtyard.

Oh those 6-8″ flowers!  They deepen in color as they age, which make this plant so outrageous and appealing.  And, as their color deepens, they also get fragrant.  You can stick your nose right into the flower (watch out for any pollen!) and inhale away.

To me, their scent is similar to ripe bananas – sweet but not overpowering. They bloom heaviest in winter through spring and then off and on all year long.

Here I am in that courtyard, telling you all about the luscious Cup Of Gold Vine:

Here are a few things that you need to know about this plant:

Size

This vigorous vine can grow to 40 – 50′ tall.  Interestingly, I’ve also seen it pruned into a 5′ shrub.

Exposure

Full sun is best but it does okay in part shade too. It does great here in coastal southern California & tolerates fog & wind.

Water

Cup Of Gold Vine is not drought tolerant. It needs regular water.

Soil

Well-drained with a generous dose of rich, organic compost would make it very happy. It’ll enrich the soil making the roots & the plant grow strong. A 2-4″ layer of compost will also help to hold the moisture in.

Pruning

Pruning those tall, crazy vertical shoots will make it branch laterally which in turn brings on more flowering.

cup of gold vine
The buds are huge too!

This is such a lovely plant in every aspect.  Whenever I see one in bloom, I always have to stop and take a whiff. It sends my olfactory senses straight to a feeling of bliss!

Nell-Portrait-with-cup of gold vine flower
cup of gold vine flower
The flowers are lovely but a bit too big for behind the ear!

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10 Comments

  1. How well do these vines take from cuttings?…are they easily propagated?.. I live in Perth, Western Australia… The climate here is Mediteranian…… cool winters, min at night is maybe as low as 35F at worst. But hot dry summers up to 110F at its worst.

  2. Hi Dale – Yes, you can propagate the Cup Of Gold Vine from semi-ripe cuttings (a common way to propagate other vines & shrubs). The best time to do it is in the summer, probably late spring or early summer where you are. Nell

  3. Great info. Beautiful bloom examples. Here’s my problems. Mine are in large containers in a open courtyard. They were climbing and blooming great last summer. Now the leaves are green with yellow and brown. There’s very little new growth and no buds or blooming. Help!
    Thanks.
    Kim

  4. Hi Kim – I’m not sure where you are or what kind of winter you had, but it sounds like too much water. Nell

  5. I have cup of gold in huge pots along my side yard in coastal Capistrano Beach. They generally look good but sometimes leaves turn yellow and drop. What is it telling me? Fertilizer? I fertilize about every 6-8 weeks. Too much water? Not enough?

  6. Hi Toni – They grow vigorously in the warmer months & drop more yellow leaves at this time. It could be moisture stress, under or over. Scale insects can be an issue with this plant also. Nell

  7. Our cup of gold creeper did so well and blessed us with great flowers for years! Now it looks as if it is dying! How many years does this typically last?

  8. Hi – I’m not certain how long they live. I can tell you that the mother of a friend in Santa Barbara had 1 that she planted over 20 years ago. It was still growing beautifully when I last saw it 5 years ago. Nell

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