WHAT'S LOOKING EXOTIC IN 2017

If I remember correctly lantana has a habit of changing flower colour as the flowers age.

 

Not the best photo ever, but it'll give an idea of the colour, which doesn't vary much with age..

 

And you say it might be hardy?
@noisette47

 

That's a very different colour from the blue Lantana I saw in Italy recently. What I saw was a very clear true blue.


much more like this picture from the internet. Though as Pete said the colour will change as it ages.

 

Hello both Well, that is spectacular, @PeterS. Obviously not the same species....or it could be a hybrid? L. montevidensis has proved hardy in a sheltered spot in the ground here for the last 3 winters, @pete, although I'm still waiting for it to invade It's formed seed heads this year and I shall do cuttings of what's left of the top growth so you're welcome to some of both. The photo doesn't really do it justice as it's going dormant now. Although the flowers aren't quite as big as the Lantana hybrids, they're not bad and they're scented.

 

A cutting would be nice @noisette47 , thankyou for the offer, again, not a great time of the year to be rooting softwood cutting though, ..... is it?

That is a fantastic blue @PeterS, I'm sure you would have a lot of "friends" if you had brought back a few cuttings of that.

 

Not the best but I've only just got round to doing my 'insurance' cuttings The stems are quite wiry, a bit like the shrubby sages, and seem to root easily. Failing that, I'll pot up a division....

 

They are still rooting at this late stage?

 

Don't know yet!

 

Its late in the season, but there are still some things flowering.


Impatiens niamniamensis is almost always in flower.


Thunbergia coccinea is a good sized plant now but being so young it only has one flowering raceme. However it has just kept going.


Heliconia psittacorum has become a real favourite. Not only does it look exotic, but it just keeps throwing up more flowering stalks.


Hardenbergia violacea, shown earlier, is still going.


No not flowers, but they look pretty. Aphelandra, poinsettia and a Begonia rex. I am not really cheating - Poinsettia is an exotic - so I think it deserves its place.



Ipomea learii keeps on putting out a few flowers.


Asclepias curassavica


Dahlia imperialis is always a late flowerer. I haven't deadheaded, but it seems to just keep flowering anyway.


Arbutilon - don't know which.


Anthurium - just keeps going.


And a different colour.

 

A good selection of pretty unusual stuff there @PeterS

 

Looking at how clean they are @PeterS I assume you haven't suffered from RSM or Mealy Bug!!
If not, you are very lucky and/or very careful.

 

End of year update of Wirral's exotics, photos taken today.

Monster Cordylines at West Kirby, Wirral


Assorted Agave americana, West Kirby, Wirral


Phoenix canariensis at West Kirby, Wirral


The large, locally much loved Pinus pinea in West Kirby, Wirral


Phoenix canariensis forgotten about most likely, in someones front garden.


Fantastic looking specimen, Phoenix canariensis, at New Brighton, Wirral


Another forgotten palm I suspect. Chamaerops humilis, New Brighton, Wirral.


This is a great garden.. this line of palms features a Washingtonia robusta in the foreground and Trachys further along.


Butia in the foreground alongside Trachys, in New Brighton


I can't work out which one will win the title for the largest Phoenix canariensis at the furthest north in the world.. this one or the one on photo 6? This one is actually inland, in a town called Wallasey, not far from New Brighton


An large Agave americana in New Brighton, Wirral

 

Hi @stephenprudence ,

Fantastic photos , Thanks for sharing.