Tropical Gardening

I've been growing musas for years now and still find them fascinating I've even had one of them produce 'fruit' . when it comes to pups I tend to leave them until their 1-2 feet then with the aid of a hose pipe and a sharp knife I water around the pup enough to get my hand deep enough down in...

@NigelJ WOW! Thank you so much. That is so detailed. V

I am in central Cornwall and this is new to me so I googled it. It is sold by Charlie Pridham at Roseland house in Chasewater so should be OK for you. Apparently it dies down in winter so would avoid the worst winds. I have a shrubby calceolaria grown from a cutting, now a 2 foot high shrub...

Hi @Punkdoc it grew well for me in rural Nottinghamshire in an open garden but needed a good year to flower well

yours were about the same size of mine before the "Beast from the East" KILLED THEM mine flowers in the summer which it hadnt done before then fell over lolIf me I would use a saw cut off cleanly to the height you want it at .. let it heal over for a couple of days .. pull of about 50% of the...

Daylilys look quite tropical and so do Crocosmias and both are fully hardy.

Hiya Rod. I love Pandas. Hope you are all well. xxI read a post by Woo from years ago and he said he cut his back to a foot ... so I had J cut the above and one (can't remember name) which I have had longer than yours.

It looks very dehydrated. You need to put the whole plant into a bucket of rain water and then allow all the water to drain through. Do not cut off the roots outside. Then put the plant on a saucer of gravel and mist it to allow the humidity to increase.

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Lovely. I bought a black velvet recently

@ricky101 Yes they do give a good display. Some are from the same stem while others send up new stems and flower from those. We have one pure white one, variety unknown as we bought it from a florist who just wanted the flower spikes for s wedding. This has been in flower now for over 4 years...

Thought this may be of interest ... I found pictures from when I bought it in 2008 ...... 2009 ... ... 2010 ... ... 2012 ...

Those pots do look good @Cjxblade but the tapering will restrict the root growth if you intend to keep them in pots long term. A pot with a wider base will also provide more stability as the plants get taller. If you have a suitable location in the ground, as @pete says, they will be much...

Spotted yesterday, at Tremenheere Sculpture Garden, Cornwall. These are the only images I could get, as access to that spot was just impossible. any ideas, guys? TIA Fof

Hi @Paceman - I have two large Phormiums (half the height of yours but still big) and I’ve just done my first neat-up of the year on them. I agree with @Plantminded in the method. I find scissors the best tool for cutting leaves as they are super tough. I take out brown stuff and cut off any...

My Pachira just keeps growing and growing and has quite a trunk now ...

If you look at the one in Victoria's picture it has a stem which divides into three stems. Its just a bigger chunkier plant probably due to a free root run and stronger light all year round.

I think they flower next year - mine flowered after the drying off it got over winter. I suspect if your keikei has flowered, and has lots of roots, it's worth separating and planting up.

I have given up with Plumerias now, lack of sunlight, tricky overwintering and RSM.

Off topic, but the more specialised (aka precious) my choices have been - especially bonsai and acers - the worst they have fared. For years now, my preferences have been Mediterranean and prairie plants, which have done very well (in Berkshire). If I had to choose a favourite, it is red...