WHAT'S LOOKING EXOTIC IN 2017

It will bloom pretty much all summer but young plants can take a year or two to get going. I reckon that it will be hardy there as long as it doesn't get overly wet over the winter. I've found it hardy here given the protection of evergreen shrubs, the eaves of a house etc.

I'm easy on the Caiophora although seed would save overwintering. I still have your Puya here!

I'm very jealous indeed!

 

Schizanthus

 

As a side line @PeterS , I grew Hoya bella as a houseplant for many years.
Found it very easy, and not fussy at all, nice scent as well when in flower.

I used to grow it in hanging pots, when macrame was all the rage.

 

Thanks Nigel - that's a very interesting site - I have never seen so many Hoyas for sale.

I like those Schizanthus KFF. Its something I have never grown.

In the picture of my sun room, there is a Hoya linearis hanging down, and it was easy to see the flowers on that last year. I think I must find a hanging pot for H. bella.

Now that I have got my sauna up and running (the ventilation comes next week), I might have to rethink the plants that I am growing. Some will love the conditions, but some like Hoya bella may not.

 

Having only grown H. linearis until recently, I had never given a thought to the growth pattern of Hoyas. But, of course Shiney, you are right - they are climbers (or trailers which is almost the same thing).

I have just Googled Hoya bella and see that it is really H. lanceolata subspecies bella and is in the Asclepius family. I grow Asclepias curassavica and I can now see the similarity.

 

Interestingly both Hoya and Stapelia are in the subfamily Asclepiaoideae and although they look very different and smell very different the flowers have similar shape and pattern.

 

I found the fact that H. bella was not a climber to be an advantage, to be honest, the only other one I have is H. carnosa, nice when in flower, but not what I would consider good as a house plant.

 

This Echinocereus has been growing outside for 5 yrs plus now, growth is slow but it flowers every year, this year the flowers look particully fresh and undamaged.

And a BOP update, sorry..

 

@pete I am green with envy! Is that a puya just above the echinocereus? I thought my puya died after flowering last year, but the same rosette seems to have recovered. What soil have you got all your impossible plants growing in please? I would assume you have tons of grit and not a lot of organic matter?

 

That Echinocereus is impressive @pete . What sort of lows has it seen do you think?

Puya coerulea var. violacea just about scraped through the winter here but P.mirabilis croaked (at least it had flowered though). I'm not risking the Puya berteroniana outdoors until after blooming.

 

It's a plant known as Dyckia frigidia,(I think its some kind of joke), it was given to me by someone who is a member on here, but we dont hear from him often., think it was Gaz at a meeting of another forum at Wisley some years ago.

The soil is mostly ballast, the kind of stuff you mix with cement to make concrete.
I just left out the cement,

Had a few cold ones, but then I've got pot grown Opuntias on the allotment that freeze solid most winters, the main thing is quite a lot of cacti will survive low temperatures in winter.#
The trick is, being able to have them looking good in summer.
Rain shelter help a bit.

But if you look at a lot of wild cactus, they can be pretty badly scarred by the elements.
There is alway the difference between survival and flourishing.

 

The trick with a lot of things I'm finding.

 

I've always found that with Pelargoniums as well.

They will survive freezing temperatures but they have to be kept dry.