WHAT'S LOOKING EXOTIC IN 2018

I have grown Litchi/Lychee many years ago along with Custard Apple, keeping them in the public Palm House in Weymouth but they never really looked much. As with LongK a heating failure caused the death of the Litchi and the Custards were (I think) disposed of at about 6ft high due to lack of space. I agree that they are a fun thing and nice to see what they look like if you can't get to see them in the Tropics.

 

Our Aldi has quite large specimens of these in for Valentines at 4.39 Euros.

 

Hi Victoria - that's cheap. You rarely used to see them, but they are pretty common now. I went to Hampsons in Wakefield, one of the very few places locally that have a variety of house plants. They were all 75% off, so I picked up a small white Anthurium for £1.25. I don't think I will ever see that price again.

 

This was my bargain price Anthurium. I was looking closely at the pot and saw that the plant has quite a few separate stems. This implies that it would be very easy to propagate by division.


Thunbergia grandiflora has decided its spring.


Ipomea indica is still flowering. Each bloom comes out as true blue then fades to purple, the whole process only lasts a day or so


Aeschynanthus or is it Columnea - I am never sure of the differance. @longk knows.


And Pachystachys lutea blooms are still growing.

 

That one is Columnea. Here's a link to our first discussion on the subject...............

WHAT'S LOOKING EXOTIC IN 2015

 

Thanks LongK - I knew that you would know. I will probably raise the same question next year - so hang on to that link.

 

Lachenalia aloides is kinda exotic.............
Lachenalia aloides by longk48, on Flickr

Lachenalia aloides by longk48, on Flickr

It's a winter blooming bulb from South Africa. Needs a frost free but cool greenhouse.

 

Justicia rizzinii was bought a few weeks ago out of a bargain bin and is making new buds has started to bloom..............
Justicia rizzinii by longk48, on Flickr

Justicia rizzinii by longk48, on Flickr

Lachenalia aloides continues to bloom (in the garden now)...................
Lachenalia aloides by longk48, on Flickr

 

My apologies, I have been sidetracked and not around for a while. But here are a few pictures that I had been meaning to show.

Pachystachys lutea. The flowers are white, but its the yellow bracts that leave the lasting impression. A long flowering member of the Acanthus family.


Strelitzia reginae - the bird of paradise flower. Whilst you don't get that many flowers, each one is worth the wait. I have recently taken an interest in Heliconia, and its surprising how similar the individual Strelitzia and Heliconia blooms are.


Unknown variety of Arbutilon, but a very welcome sight so early in the season.


Brunfelsia australis. The "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow" plant. So called because the blooms last just three days, being blue on the first day, fading to pink on the second day and then white on the third day. This was my first bloom of the season. Since then the plant has become covered in all three colours at the same time. If it had stopped raining for an instant, I would have gone out and taken another picture.


Old faithful Ipomea learii. The flowers only last one day, but they just keep coming and coming.


Thunbergia coccinea. This one is very close to my heart having travelled back, quite legally - I later found out, in my suitcase from Madeira. It started to flower for the first time before Christmas, and I have since learnt that it is winter flowering.


This is one of my silliest plants - The Climbing Onion - Bowiea volubis. Its a succulent member of the Asparagus family and native to Kenya and South Africa. It needs a minimum temperature of 15 C and in winter and spring it will start growing the curly top-growth, which will last until autumn then dies back to leave just the bulb. Later in spring I understand that it should produce small white flowers, and eventually offset bulbs. It hails from desert regions, but seems to be quite tolerant of my high humidity.

 

Pete i have this one mate in my Lizard tank artifical...looks lovely mate

The other plants look so fragile

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A general view of my conservatory.


I was delighted when I recently found this - Heliconia stricta. I have never before seen it on sale in the UK.


A lovely big flowered Anthurium.


The very colourful Anthuriums that you often see for sale now are, I believe, cultivars of A. andreanum. However there are something like 800 more species, that generally have bigger leaves and less attractive flowers. This is one of them, A. ellipticum.


Mandevilla.


Anomathica laxa from eastern and southern Africa.


Asclepias curassivica. Very long flowering.


Scutellaria costaricana.


Begonia rex. They are lovely foliage plants.


You can buy Guzmanias fairly cheaply, but I am proud of this one as it has now reflowered, after a couple of years. We were told by a lady in Costa Rica, who had 3,000 of them in her garden that full sun is the secret of getting them to flower.


Bougainvillea back into flower.


Various Alpinia - a member of the ginger family. Not much to look at currently, but there is a nice story that goes with them. A week ago I went to the Harrogate Flower Show, and got chatting to the owner of an Orchid nursery.

I said that I had a sun room with high temperature and humidity that ought to be suitable for orchids. I also mentioned that i grew some Heliconias, but almost nobody else does in this country. He said he had a friend that ran Butterfly World outside Stockton on Tees, who had plenty.

So I made a trip to Butterfly World, where his friend Gareth had an amazing collection of very rare tropical plants, including 40 different types of Heliconia. He goes all round the world on plant hunting trips about three times a year. His place is well, well worth seeing. We chatted for a long time, and I said that I has seen some lovely Alpinias in Costa Rica, but it was not possible to obtain them anywhere in the UK at any price. So he said "follow me" and picked up a trowel and dug up the plants you see above and gave them to me. What a gentleman, and so unexpected.

 

Peter, you never cease to amaze me with the variety of plants that you grow and the knowledge you have of them.
Are you the same bloke that was growing hardy annuals a few years ago?

Nothing against hardy annuals, just that the difference is a big step.

 

Aloe @shiney ?

 

Thanks Pete - sometimes I think I am being adventurous and trying out new things. And sometimes i think I am just being disloyal and dropping my old plant friends.

As to knowledge,I am afraid that I just repeat what I have Googled - though actually you do learn if you Google enough.