Chocolate wine is still relatively unknown to us, but there are many who already have it at home. So here are 6 tips for caring for your chocolate wine.
The exotic chocolate vine (Akebia quinata), hardy to about minus 20 degrees, comes from Asia and is still largely unknown in our gardens. Which is why we would like to introduce you to this bizarre-looking and slightly chocolate-scented plant in more detail.
| Chocolate Wine or Finger-Leaf Climbing Cucumber / Akebia (Akebia quinata) | |
|---|---|
| Growth Speed: | 40 - 50 cm a year |
| Growth: | 600 - 700 cm |
| Growth: | 40 - 250 cm |
| Root system: | Shallow roots |
| Location: | Sun to partial shade |
| Floor: | nutrient-rich, loamy |
Pretty flowers and edible fruits
In chocolate wine, there are male and female plants that are easily recognizable by their different flower formations. The female chocolate wine has violet-brownish flowers and the male chocolate wine has pink flowers, which are also responsible for its pleasant scent. This blooming splendor is evident very early in the season, namely from April (depending on the weather conditions).
Purple-violet to light-violet edible fruits then develop from the flower, which taste wonderfully sweet and can be harvested from September to October. They need a mild autumn to reach their optimum degree of ripeness. Attention: unripe fruits are poisonous!
The plant itself even keeps its green, quite filigree-looking foliage until December. Precisely because of its filigree leaves, the chocolate wine is also called finger-leaf akebie or climbing cucumber.
Tips for the care of the climbing plant
Tip 1 - Location/Soil:
The chocolate wine, which is considered to be absolutely easy to care for, loves a sunny to moderately semi-shady location with loamy or humus-rich soil. However, it also tolerates poorer soils quite well,However, you should then regularly enrich it with compost and/or fertilizer.
Tip 2 - watering:
Furthermore, it only needs additional watering during longer periods of drought or on hot days. However, you should always make sure that irrigation water and rainwater around the plant can run off or seep away easily, as there is a risk of root rot if there is waterlogging.
Tip 3 - Winter protection:
The chocolate wine is hardy, i.e. it only requires moderate winter protection in particularly winter-intensive areas. Here you simply need to pile up the stick area with soil and/or leaves.
Tip 4 - Multiply:
You can propagate your chocolate wine with cuttings that you take from the existing plant in summer and keep in a cool room over the winter. You can then apply them next spring. (Link tip: Propagating plants - 4 techniques)
In principle, chocolate wine seeds are also commercially available, which you should sow outdoors in early autumn. However, growing a chocolate vine from seeds is quite difficult.
Tip 5 - Cut back:
After about 5 years, the chocolate wine has already reached a growth height of 6 to 10 meters and has certainly had to be shortened a little with garden shears. You should always cut back the unwanted shoots just before they sprout freshly in early spring.
Tip 6 - trellis:
Since the chocolate vine is a climbing plant, it must also be able to climb up a trellis. Although you should still braid the creepers around the trellis by hand for the first few years.
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