Grow your own Swan

OK, it's not a real swan, it's a gourd apparently. This is to amuse the children (me), this gourd fruit grows with a bulbous base and a curved slender downwards neck so that means my efforts will properly resemble a hippo. Not edible, pity.

Requirements: Start off indoors. Plant seed edge downwards, larger container later. (available here) Yes I know it says 'For Children of all ages' that does include me!

 

June 28th: Well well, we've had a little spurt, the swan now stands at about 9 inches in height with a 'wing span' of around
12 inches, there is even a hint of a runner reaching out.

 July 4th: Now standing at 21 inches (53cm) it looks like a new home is needed. Support cane added
July 14th: Now standing about 3 foot high it's reached the top shelf in the green house and is poking through. Three days later and it's grown beyond the top shelf if you compare this and the last picture.
July 18th: Now standing at 56 inches (1.4 metres) it's just about reached the top of the mini greenhouse, there also seems to be a couple of buds appearing at last.
I have discovered how the tendrils work, they reach out, find a support of some kind, grip it and then takes up the slack by coiling, clever huh!
July 30th: Now over seven foot in height I started to wonder if it was going to do anything other that grow upwards, then under a leaf I found a flower. The other good news, it's found a wind chime and has griped if firmly - I'm grateful for that.
August 2nd: Caught you at last.

At around eight foot high (and rising) the swan gourd stills astounds me at times. This rather wonderful yet delicate flower has a life span of two days at the very most.

There have been no male flowers (as far as I can tell) and so it may not bear fruit which would be a great pity. Once it has flowered it closes up like a clenched fist and turns a tan colour but remains soft rather than drying up.

This is flower number two, there are another 12 possible flower buds and I hadn't realised that it has an off shoot growing at about 3 foot up and is now about a foot long.

 
August 5th: Dead and dying, The first flower shrivelled up and dropped of, the second looks like doing the same and with no males about the odds on fruiting are dropping drastically.

On the up side there's still signs of future flowering.
August 18th: At last.

Despite my concerns that time was running out nature never fails to surprise me. Out of no where a gourd is forming, about 2 inches long and the size of a gooseberry. The plant itself is now over 7 foot tall and is throwing out side shoots which are starting to bear flowers.
           
           
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