Skip to main content
← All plants

Thunbergia

Thunbergia alata
Also known as: Black-Eyed Susan Vine, Clockvine

Thunbergia is a flower in the Acanthaceae family. It grows best in full sun to part shade with medium moisture, and is listed for USDA zones 2-13. Plants reach maturity about 56–63 days after planting and sit about 12 inches apart.

Varieties

1 from True Leaf Market · sorted by days to maturity
  • Alata Mix56–63 days

    Non-GMO; Container; Annual

    56-63 days maturity. Thunbergia alata. Thunbergia Alata Mix Seeds. Non-GMO, Annual or Perennial. Ornamental. Thunbergia Alata Mix seeds are an essential plant for your garden, home, or patio for nearly any season. Alata Mix thunbergias are easy to grow from seed and produce hardy and vigorous perennial vines and, as natives to tropical African climates, can bloom year-round indoors and in warm winter climates. Alata Mix thunbergia seeds are ideal to liven up baskets, trellises, trees, or interior decor. Alata Mix mature into 5-8 foot long lush, leafy vines with countless dozens of canary, orange, yellow, and cream color petals that promise to excite all year long. About 1,100 seeds per ounce.

    View on True Leaf Market
Family
Acanthaceae
Category
Flower
Form
Vine
Lifecycle
annual
Zone
2-13
Height
5–8 ft
Spread
1–2 ft
Sun
Full sun to part shade

Plant spacing

1 plant per square footSquare-foot planting diagram: one thunbergia fills a 1-foot square, spaced 12 inches from its neighbors.
1 plant per square foot

In a square-foot bed, space thunbergia about 12 in apart — that fits 1 plant in each 1-foot square (1×1). Wider rows or containers space the same.

Water
Medium

Plan your thunbergia planting

Add thunbergia to a free GardenDraft plan and get sow, transplant, and harvest dates computed for your ZIP code — with a drag-and-drop bed layout and reminders when it’s time to plant.

Start your free plan →

At a glance

Days to harvest
56–63 days
From transplant or sow to first harvest
Harvest style
Keep picking
Crops over several weeks
After harvest
Use within days
Quality eases off after peak
Frost tolerance
Tender · to ~32°F
Lowest temperature the foliage usually survives
Germination
~60%
Typical minimum germination rate

Growing timeline

When to plant and harvest thunbergiaPlanting timeline for thunbergia, relative to last frost: start indoors from 7 weeks before last frost to 1 week after last frost; grow from 1 week after last frost to 9 weeks after last frost; harvest from 9 weeks after last frost to 10 weeks after last frost.Start indoorsGrowLast frostTransplant
Start thunbergia indoors ~8 weeks before transplanting 1 week after last frost; first harvest 9 weeks after last frost.
Seed to transplant
42-56 days
Outdoor planting
7 to 14 days vs frost
Propagation
Seed
Schedule anchor
Last Frost

Care & troubleshooting

No curated care & troubleshooting advice for thunbergia yet. Our extension-sourced library currently focuses on common edible crops; we're expanding it over time.