Shrub · Apocynaceae
Mandevilla
Mandevilla × amabilis
Hand it full sun and summer heat, and mandevilla races up its support and fires off trumpet blooms into fall.
Full sun
Every 3–7 days
45–90°F · 7–32°C
USDA 10–11
Overview
Mandevilla brings the tropics to a summer garden and moves fast doing it. This quick-climbing vine from the dogbane family cranks out big trumpet flowers from summer into fall. It hails from the warm Americas, so it overwinters outdoors only in zones 10 and 11. Colder than that? Grow it as a summer container star and whisk it inside before the cold hits.
Two habits wait for you at the garden center, and both deliver. The tall twining Mandevilla scrambles up a trellis or post and shoots well past head height, while the bushier, mounding Dipladenia stays neat and packed with color in pots and baskets. Give either one the same trio it craves: heat, sun, and steady summer water, and it takes off.
The color is the reward, and it keeps coming once the plant settles in. Just respect the sap: snip a stem and it bleeds a milky sap that stings skin and eyes, so keep gloves in the tool bag. Feed it light and warmth and it pays you back with months of nonstop flowers.
Care
The short version: full sun to push the biggest bloom, steady water through the summer heat with a drier winter rest, rich soil that drains fast, and a bloom feed every couple of weeks once it gets going.
Light
Aim mandevilla at full sun, 6 or more hours of direct light a day, and it rewards you with the biggest flush of flowers. It hangs on in part shade or bright indirect light, but the dimmer the spot, the more it swaps blooms for leaves.
Water
Through summer, keep the soil evenly moist but never soggy, watering every 3 to 7 days and stepping it up in heat or in a pot. Come winter, back off and let the soil dry more between drinks while the plant catches its rest.
Soil
Set it in rich, well-drained ground loaded with humus, or a peat-based mix in containers. It shrugs off a wide pH from 6.0 to 8.0, so acidity is no drama, but it rots in soggy soil, so keep that drainage moving.
Temperature
It thrives between 45°F and 90°F (7°C to 32°C) and slows right down as the air cools. Frost wipes it out, so bring it in before nights drop below 50°F (10°C) and keep the momentum going.
Humidity
Straight from the tropics, mandevilla loves high humidity. When it overwinters indoors, huddle it with other plants or park the pot on a pebble tray so the air around it never dries out.
Feeding
Feed it every two weeks through spring and summer while it is charging ahead. Grab a high-phosphorus bloom fertilizer such as 10-20-10, because a nitrogen overload just piles on leaves and stalls the flowers.
Pruning
Cut it back in late winter or early spring before new growth breaks, clearing old crowded stems and trimming the rest, and pinch young plants to fire up bushier growth. Glove up first, since the cut stems weep an irritating milky sap.
Repotting
Bump it up a pot size every 1 to 2 years, or the moment roots circle the pot, water blasts straight through, or growth and bloom stall. Chase free drainage over sheer pot size every time.
Size & spacing
It scales from a tidy 3 feet to a soaring 3 to 10 feet (0.9 to 3 m) depending on the type, and spreads 3 to 4 feet (91 to 122 cm) across. Hand a climbing form a trellis or post and let it run.
When to plant
Mandevilla runs on heat and refuses frost, so time it to the warm season. Kick off seed or rouse overwintered plants indoors in late winter, send them outside once nights stay above 50°F (10°C), and watch the flowers pour on from summer through fall.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Sow: late winter to early spring
- Plant: after last frost when nights stay above 50 degrees F
- Harvest: summer through fall
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 10–11
Temperature: down to -1°C
Troubleshooting
Two snags trip up most mandevilla growers: pests that ride in on overwintered plants, and a vine that pumps out leaves instead of flowers. Spot the early clues and you can flip it around fast before it spreads. Match your symptom below, then jump on it while it still helps.
Wilting yellow leaves over soft dark roots in soggy soil
Soil that stays soaked while the leaves wilt points straight to root rot from overwatering. Pop the plant out and check the roots, since healthy ones stay firm and pale while rotted ones go dark, soft, and foul. Halt the watering, repot into fresh fast-draining mix, snip off the dead roots, and lock in free drainage from here on.
Fix:
- Stop watering and let the soil dry out
- Repot into fresh, fast-draining mix and trim away rotted roots
- Ensure the container has drainage holes and discard standing water
Fine webbing and speckled, yellowing leaves
Tiny moving dots and silvery stippling flag spider mites, which explode in the warm, dry air around plants overwintering indoors. Tap a leaf over white paper to catch the specks, then blast the foliage with a hard rinse, undersides first. Hit it with insecticidal soap or horticultural oil, crank up the humidity, and keep the plant apart from the rest until it clears.
Fix:
- Rinse foliage with a strong spray of water, especially leaf undersides
- Treat with insecticidal soap or horticultural oil, repeating per label
- Raise humidity and isolate the plant to limit spread
Cottony masses and sticky film on stems and joints
Sticky honeydew and white fluff give away mealybugs, scale, aphids, or whitefly, all itching to colonize an overwintering vine. Scan the stem junctions and leaf undersides to pin down which one showed up. Swipe mealybugs and scale with an alcohol-soaked swab, spray the rest with insecticidal soap or horticultural oil, and cut away any growth that is badly overrun.
Fix:
- Wipe off mealybugs and scale with a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol
- Spray with insecticidal soap or horticultural oil, repeating as needed
- Remove heavily infested growth and isolate the plant
A leafy vine that just won't flower
A mandevilla stacking on leaves but skipping the flowers is almost always just starved for sun, since it needs full sun to bloom well. Cool nights and a nitrogen overload push it toward foliage too. Shift it into at least 6 hours of direct sun, keep it warm, and swap to a high-phosphorus bloom feed like 10-20-10 to get the flowers firing.
Fix:
- Move the plant to a full-sun location
- Switch to a high-phosphorus bloom fertilizer such as 10-20-10
- Keep it warm, as bloom slows in cool conditions
Toxicity
Mandevilla sits in the dogbane family and bleeds a milky sap that no person or pet should eat. A curious chew leaves pets with a mild upset stomach, and that sap stings skin, eyes, and mouths. Nothing on the plant is edible, so keep it clear of grazing animals, pets, and small children, and pull on gloves before you cut it.
Toxic to
Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds · People
Cats Mild
A cat that nibbles the leaves usually lands a mild upset stomach, with drooling and maybe some vomiting. The milky sap can leave its mouth sore too, so keep the plant well out of paw's reach.
Dogs Mild
A dog that chews the foliage tends to drool and bring a little back up. Contact with the cut sap can redden the muzzle or irritate the mouth, so wipe it clean and stash the clippings.
Horses Mild
The same irritant sap can rattle a grazing horse, with drooling and mild stomach trouble the usual upshot. Good news: most horses taste the bitter foliage once and steer clear after that.
Rabbits Mild
A rabbit that samples the leaves may drool and lose its appetite for a spell. Keep clippings out of the hutch and hand it safer greens instead.
Livestock Caution
Grazing animals almost never target this bitter, sappy plant, but a hungry one could wind up with an irritated mouth and a queasy gut. Fence it off where stock roam.
Birds Caution
Little is on record about harm to birds, yet the irritant latex makes it worth keeping out of reach. Play it safe with curious pet birds around the foliage.
People Caution
No part of the plant is meant to be eaten, and swallowing the foliage can irritate the mouth and stomach. The milky sap is the bigger nuisance, since it stings skin and eyes, so wear gloves and wash up after pruning.
Wear gloves when pruning or handling cut stems because the milky latex sap can irritate skin and eyes; wash hands after contact and keep cuttings away from pets and children.
Helpline numbers
United States
ASPCA Animal Poison Control: (888) 426-4435 (fee applies)
Poison Control: (800) 222-1222
Canada
Poison Centres: 1-844-764-7669
Varieties
Mandevilla shows up in a huge lineup of named hybrids and series, but a few keep stealing the spotlight. Get to know these by name.
Alice du Pont
A classic big vining type whose deep pink trumpet flowers can rocket it to around 20 feet outdoors.
Sun Parasol series
A crowd-favorite run of free-flowering hybrids in every color, from compact mounds to full-throttle climbers.
Red Riding Hood
A vigorous vine that erupts in deep rose-red blooms.
Dipladenia (Mandevilla sanderi forms)
The bushier, mounding trade forms with smaller glossy leaves, still sold as Dipladenia but now grouped under Mandevilla.
How to propagate
Turning one mandevilla into several is a blast, and cuttings make it easy, though seed is on the table for growers who like to wait it out.
Stem cuttingsModerate
Spring through summer · 4-8 weeks
Cuttings are the surefire way to clone a mandevilla you love. In the warm season, snip softwood tips off new growth, strip the lower leaves, and sink them into a well-drained mix, where a dip of rooting hormone stacks the odds and roots grab hold in 4 to 8 weeks. Keep gloves on, since the cut stems ooze the same irritating milky sap.
SeedModerate
Late winter to early spring · Several weeks to germinate
Mandevilla will also spring from seed sown in late winter to early spring, though it drags out several weeks just to germinate. Most growers breeze past it, since cuttings root faster and keep the named cultivar true to type.
Myths
Dipladenia is a completely different plant from Mandevilla.
Not a chance, these are the same crew of plants. Dipladenia is just the old genus name, and they all fall under Mandevilla now. The trade hangs onto both words to flag a difference in habit, not genus: the tall twining types sell as Mandevilla and the bushy, mounding Mandevilla sanderi forms as Dipladenia.