WHAT'S LOOKING EXOTIC IN 2015

my Colocasia has come through the winter , I watered it last September and it had its first drink at the weekend , kept in the cold greenhouse but well wrapped up and the pot surrounded with polystyrene packaging , so into its 3rd growing year with me , lots of the stems are really rotten but tidied it up today and helped release some of the new leaves that are literally stuck fast in the old stems .
I think this was 2013 and its so much bigger now and lots of side shoots


Spruce is happy

 

Clerodendrum ugandense has sneaked back into bloom without me noticing...........

 

I've been looking at C. ugandense in a catalogue, longk, and they have it as being hardy to 0C - -2C (whatever that means). What do you think? Are they being wildly optimistic?

 

No they're not. But that is for a mature woody plant. I grow mine in a pot and shove it in the shed after it has finished its winter flowering. I force winter flowering by leaving it out to take a couple of light frosts and then bring it indoors. It refoliates and starts blooming six to eight weeks later. This year it just went into the greenhouse in February after flowering.

 

Hooo that's brave! What if the Met office get things wrong by a couple of degrees?
Well, thanks for the reassurance. I'm regaining confidence (slowly) after the -17C winter. The Pandorea has survived outside this year and the Acacia is flowering so things are looking up

 

Alocasia calidora has started into growth.
All the thing seems to want to do is flower.

 

Albuca bracteata................

 

Schefflera arboricola been outside for 2.5 years is starting its Spring growth for this year.

 

The wait for my first Cantua flowers is getting painful!

 

The first flower on my Cantua buxifolia at last


The colour is outstanding, far better than the photo!

 

It is! The whole plant would have been covered had not the electrics failed at the top of the garden. As a result the greenhouse dropped to -4 or 5°c in the new year causing a lot of last years growth to die

 

very very pretty colours on the Cantua flower.

 

almost the same colours as your Avatar Stephen