If you are looking for something showy to plant around your mailbox or fencepost, try mandevilla (Mandevilla splendens).

This vigorous growing vine thrives in full sun and produces pink flowers throughout the summer and into early fall. It grows best in central and south Alabama and should be planted in April or when the soil is warm.

Mandevilla isn’t very cold hardy and should be cut back in the fall and mulched to protect the crown and root system, says Dr. Dave Williams, a horticulturist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System. If planting outside, place mandevilla around a mailbox, trellis or fencepost. They will provide needed support to the vine as it grows. Treat mandevilla as a herbaceous perennial.

It can also be planted in a large container and moved inside. It needs a large container to make room for its root system.

Allamanda is similar in some ways to mandevilla, says Williams. It is also a vine but it produces yellow, trumpet-shaped flowers. Unfortunately, it is less cold tolerant than mandevilla and is recommended for planting in the lower fourth of the state (Baldwin, Conecuh, Escambia, Covington, Geneva, Houston, Mobile, Monroe and Washington counties). It gets bigger than mandevilla and can grow up to 12 feet. Most parts of the plant are poisonous. Allamanda needs to be pruned in the fall after it has flowered.