In June I bought a white flowered solanum which I understood to be a vining type. It was in a pot and trained and tied to form a bushy column about 2' tall by about 9" diameter. I can't find the tag but it was described as a slightly tender vine which would need to be cut back to keep it bushy. It flowered profusely all summer but never got taller than about 3' even though it had a mesh support to climb up. The new shoots were not slender vining ends like the wild purple solanum (which I expected) but were more stiff bushy branchlets with lots of leaves and flowers and a mainly horizontal growth. They didn't need cutting back and it wasn't really possible to train them upwards because they never got more than about 8" to 12" long. The plant still has lots of glossy, stiff, deep green leaves 3/4" to 1 1/2" long and several bunches of flowers now despite a couple of frosty nights so it is obviously not that tender! It's pretty and compact but not at all what I expected. I'm not sure what it is or what to do with it. I've seen a couple of tall (10' plus) white flowered solanum vines around town (one near the Roundhouse Community Centre) which seemed to be hardy and grow similarly to deciduous clematis vines. Does anyone have an idea of what variety my plant is, and how hardy it is? Also does anyone know what variety the others I've seen are and where I could get one?
