What's looking exotic in July 2012

So glad they have come up LongK - mine haven't even started to flower yet.

 

Ah! Well, they look pathetic at present. IF they flower THEN you can have some

 

That's shocking Joolz, you need to start planning an Exotic Border (or converting your whole garden, conservatory, greenhouse and HOUSE!!) immediately

 

My B.O.P. never flowered.
So eventually I gave it to another "tropical friend".
I think a year or two ago he left it out too long into the winter, and killed it.

 

I am planning,ive been buying plants for weeks(red bannana,cordylines etc) but prob need to wait til next yr now to plant them...its all in pots just hope i keep it all alive til may i dont have a conservatory so im limited i think as what i can buy exotic flowering wise

 

Ah ... you are forgiven then!!

Many / most of them will be happy if you can keep them frost-free. Garage (if frost free) or attic will be fine. If you pick the right ones they need almost zero water, and no light - although if you can provide enough artificial light to keep them "ticking over" that helps, as some of them can be stubborn / slow to kickstart in the Spring.

I know folk who chop all the leaves and roots of Ensete bananas and store them, dry, in their loft. Come spring-time pot them in the smallest pot they will fit in, with just enough compost to "fill" the pot around the stump, and away it goes ... I think you can do much the same with Brugs, and things with Tubers (Cannas, Colocasia etc.) can be stored in boxes with minimal water (e.g. cannas) or bone dry (colocasia / alocasia) although the latter can be hard to get out of dormancy next year - bottom heat, e.g. reptile mat, or airing cupboard will help, but its a bit of a race between sprouting and rotting :(

 

Thanks, i do keep jotting down instructions to myself from info you all post so then i dont have pick all your brains again later and i bought canna seed to avoid the virus that most of you mention :patpat: got some echium snowtower arriving this week(bit of colour) , my t-rex & black magic colcasia are sprouting new leaves
Airing cupboard or reptile mat i dont have so i will add a mat to my list x

 

Don't worry about that, I'm too senile to remember that you might have asked before ... the trick, for me, is to give the same advice the second time !!

 

I'm going to bore you senseless with this - the first buds on my Bomarea hirtella are coming along nicely and are starting to show some colour..................



I have two seed grown Abutilons left. This first one is planted out in the garden..........



This second one is variously in the greenhouse or stood outdoors...........



Found this bulb the other day that was in need of potting up - Sprekelia formosissima....................

 

Sprekelia formosissima is blooming..................



The upper petal is a little limp, but hardly surprising when you consider that it did most of its growing in a paper bag!

First blooms are opening on my Pandorea jasminoids "Rosea"too............



The Clerodendrum ugandense is getting going now..................



As the thread says what's looking exotic, another photo of Tricyrtis "Taipei Silk"............

 

They are lovely LongK. That's the first time I have seen the flower of Pandorea. I have some growing from seed (thanks Victoria) but nowhere near flowering. And my Sprekelia doesn't seem to want to flower at all.

 

This is the first time that I've got a Sprekelia to bloom - treat 'em mean seems to work!!