What's looking exotic in 2016

Are you sure that they're not just the anthers which you wouldn't normally see as they're tucked away in the corolla (tube)?

 

Nah, they're definitely seeds .

 

Not a plant I've grown, but on all the plants I have grown,the seeds form after the flower is dead, that flower appears to be still alive.

 

These have dropped out today....



PS, Pete , the flower is all dried out.

 

Simon - your garden looks fantastic.

I really love those big leaves. After Pete showed a flower forming on his - I spoke very sharply to mine - saying it was being shown up by a southerner - growing outside no less. I said if it didn't pull its socks up I would send it back into the EU. The fear of all that garlic has done the trick and mine has now also started to flower.


Yesterday I went to Gordon Riggs garden centre, and felt I couldn't come back without buying something. Most of my purchases were for plants that I have previously grown and killed. But I made an exception in the case of the above - which I thought was rather cute.


Gynura aurantica. Quite different from most tropical plants. I think I kill most of my plants over the winter by over-watering them. But I trampled my previous Gynura to death. It would be boring if all my plants died the same way.


Caladium bicolor


Columnea 'Krakatau'


And Pachystachys lutea.

 

The Mandevilla suaveolens has been a pleasant surprise. Raised from seed last year and overwintered in a blowaway greenhouse. Not as scented as I expected, though....
The top two photos are of the dog's breakfast of a border by the only sheltered wall. The 'red' is actually a double pink Nerium oleander. Then, Colocasia, Podranea, Melianthus major, Erythrina, Ipomoea indica, Olive, Myrtle, Plumbago, Bougainvillea, Canna and Dregea are all fighting it out!

 

Mandevilla look amazing.

 

I've never managed to flower a seed-raised one before. If only the seed-raised Podranea that's gone berserk would flower too!

 

I grow Podranea ricasoliana but it needs winter protection here.
Once it starts flowering it just goes on and on.

 

I covered the wall with fleece last winter, so it got well established..3 metres in one direction and 5 metres in the other but not a single flower bud to be seen. It's on a final warning

 

If a few plants don't die then you're gardening too far on the safe side!

It looks good enough to eat

 

Noisette - thats a fabulous shot of the garden. I am so envious, you are growing all the sorts of things I am trying to grow - but outside.

Don't be too harsh on your Podranea, I have found that a lot of things can take 3 or more years to flower. I grew Pandorea, a close relative and anagram, from seed and it has just produced its first flowers in its fourth year. But it would probably be quicker with you with your extra heat


My conservatory is a devil to water.

 

I envy you your beautiful conservatory, @PeterS You do incredibly well to keep such a wide range of plants happy and healthy!
It's a total gamble here...one bad winter and I could lose the lot...
Still, it's interesting to see how far you can push the boundaries of hardiness, even on heavy soil! The real surprise has been how well bulbous/tuberous plants do in the ground. Callas increase and even self-sow. Crinums, Hymenocallis, Freesias.....but not Nerines