What's looking Exotic in 2020

I am never sure where to post, exotic or normal. but I guess I am more exotic than normal ...

Jacaranda starting to bloom ...



Jacaranda, Oleander and Bougainvillea ...



Thevetia peruviana ...



Mandevilla and Iochroma ...

 

Ooer Vicky, I'd always thought that you were a bit on the exotic side myself

 

You just reminded me, I haven't took a piccy of my Mandeville yet.

How hardy would you say it is? Mine lives on my bedroom window with no heat at all during the winter and with the window open . It only gets watered about once every six weeks , in Winter and every week on Spring/Summer.

 

You are so sweet @KFF ... virtual

Gosh, I can't advise on Mandevillas as mine have always been outdoors since 2007/08 when I first got them. We never go to freezing, low for one/two days this past winter was 4c for an hour or two. Living in an old clay house with 60cm walls and small windows I can't have indoor plants. I still have this one in the same pot on the pedestal since 2008 when photo taken but drastically cut back in March. It is obviously watered frequently here, sometimes daily in Summer.

 

A few more from this morning on the dining patio ...

Tecoma stans (Ginger Thomas) ... it is about 4 meters tall but the shade sail is in the way ...



Beaucarnea recurvata, Beaucarnea guatemalensis , Ficus elastica "Variegata"and Scheffelera arboricola "Variegata" ... a corner being worked on ...



Pachira aquatica and Zamioculcas zamiifolia ... another corner being worked on ...



Need to retake photos when the sun moves around.

 

I bought a small rooted Plumeria (branch) from the flower market in Funchal January last year. not really sure whether it would live as there was damage to the stem at soil level. However it grew and even kept some leaves through the winter. It is now nearly 3ft tall and has a flower bud. I don't know what colour it will be but I will post when in bloom

 

I'm in the process of getting rid of this climber on my wall, its Dolichandra unguis-cati, struggling getting the roots out, I dont think I'm getting all of them.

Got really odd root system, long thick roots with tubers along them.

 

Hi @strongylodon hope you have better luck than mine. I was so annoyed when mine flowered (many years from seed) with no perfume and a fairly ordinary flower, that I didn't bother to keep them warm over winter, so the stems went to mush in my just above freezing greenhouse. I have to be a bit more realistic about how much I try to grow - the amount of flower compared to massive size of stem made them just not really worthwhile.

 

I've given up on plumeria, rsm has always stunted them for me in recent years.
Regarding scent I just wonder if being a cutting it might be a selection with better flower and scent than a seed raised plant.

I did flower one about 25years ago, from seed, I also wondered where the scent was.

 

I bought a couple of small plants from a former member who grew a small number of them from seed some years ago (Rootball?. They didn't get through the first winter indoors so I gave up on seed ones. This one has now grown to 3ft and may be too big to keep beyond next year. No rsm but it has just got scale only recently maybe from the lemons in the conservatory, now outside.
This is probably the last one I will have. I'll let you know if it has any scent.

 

Once it's flowered you could prune it back and have a cutting.
If it's a good one.
I think they branch after flowering don't they.

 

@pete I think they do but I would need some decent heat to root a pruned branch and anyway the propagator won't be tall enough.

 

Went to the Garden Center and got 2 x Hibiscus Rosa-Sinensis, I x Lotus Berthelotti and a Petunia Calibrachoa Confetti, the latter two hanging baskets. Have to get the Hibiscus in the ground, maybe tomorrow morning as it is too hot nearing 30c. Will put pics up.

 

Tried to photograph the Hibiscus but sun is at the wrong angle to show the colours nicely. The one is red, the other burnt orange and red, but here are a couple of pics ...









Lots of buds and only 8.50 each.