What's looking exotic in 2016

Zounds Longk !!! - you beat me to it. I have a single flower bud ripening. But isn't it nice to have something new to look forward to at this time of the year. That's a lovely specimen.

They had a massive plant at Fibrex Nursery (used to be The Old Walled Garden) when I visited some time ago. They had even supplied a similar one to Kew.

 

What I'm finding is that the cooler that you can grow it the better the flowers are. Obviously you need to keep it frost free though.

 

Thanks LongK - I had not given it any thought. I keep mine at 10C - because that's the temperature of my conservatory over winter. I often wondered if it was too cool. You have prompted me to have a Google.

http://www.strangewonderfulthings.com/237.htm There is a good article about it here from Strange Wonderful Things, whose pages I always enjoy. It quotes 7C as a recommended minimum, so mine sounds just right. It grows in the Laurel forests in the winter, high up in the Canaries. They are shrouded in mists at times, which makes Canarina happy in relatively high humidity. Mind you the outside humidity in a UK winter will always be high. I have a meter, and am always amazed that at 10C you never notice 100% humidity. But at 20C or 30C in the summer a lower humidity level could be unbearable.

I have just read - the fruits are edible.

 

As long as it remains frost free it stays undamaged. Plenty of buds coming (although they take longer to form fully) and the flowers are definitely better if I follow the "cool is better" regime.