WHAT'S LOOKING EXOTIC IN 2017

Braved getting close enough to look inside. Only lasted long enough for two shots

Stinky #1 (no more flies ) first angle



Stinky #1 second angle



They are actually quite beautiful deep inside

 

Just a few bits,
Anyone who didn't grab an Aloe striatula at Shineys, this is what they flower like.
Above is Aesculus californica, the California buckeye.
The Snow Banana, Musa glaucum, pretty tender really.

Needs a repot.

Chamy and Washy, plus a small seed grown C. cerifera.

I need more space.
House plants any one?
Papaya seedlings two months on, if you over winter for the next year you get a pretty amazing foliage plant.

 

Don't think I did?

Rearrange these words: Into the salt, wounds rub!

 

Some wonderful plants folks....and some new to me

 

My windowsill orchids are performing well - vanda caerulea, a NOID phalanopsis and oncidium Sharry Baby (good perfume). I think they deserve an extra dose of their pound shop plant food this week!

 

@PeterS Have you looked close at your Tillandsia? mine has it's first 'flower' this year.

 

Hi Caroline - Lovely picture. I have always admired Vanda, but never had to courage to get one for fear of killing it. Do you manage to overwinter them and get them to flower again?

Lovely Strongy. I did look and didn't see any sign, but I will look again. I asked a woman on the epiphyte stand at the Chatsworth Flower Show why mine hadn't flowered and she said it probably had but I hadn't noticed it. I am pleased you have pinpointed the time of year - so I will look again.

Justicia suberecta. I bought this earlier in the year and it has now flowered. I am really impressed with it.


Alyogyne huegelii. A member of the Hibiscus family from Australia.


Clerodendrum Thomsoniae. I think this is really pretty. It is a deciduous tropical plant (for me) and always scares me over winter when it looks as if it has died. But it came back well this spring and has done better than ever.

 

Dracunculus vulgaris I've got three them that have opened to greet the sun in their own special way.

 

That's fabulous Nigel - it's definitely on my wants list.

I recently acquired a Sauromatum venosum. How does that compare? I get the impression its a smaller relative.


Thunbergia battiscombei. I love the colour. I saw the National Collection Holder of Thunbergias - Tynings at the Chatsworth Flower Show. Their nursery is only open by appointment. I pass it regularly on the M5 near Bristol, but it makes it a bit difficult to drop in for a browse. If you make an appointment, its a bit rude to look rather than buying something.

Edit. I have just remembered - that they said that Thunbergia alata is a genuine annual, which is why I have failed to overwinter it on a couple of occasions. However there are some named alata cultivars, that look just the same, but are genuine perennials.


Pachystachys lutea


Iochroma australis. I left this outside over the winter and it looked very dead. But now its fine.


Rehmannia elata (Chinese Foxglove). This is a perennial that is probably hardy in some parts of the UK. I wouldn't trust it in Yorkshire, but it did stay outside over the very mild winter.

 

Love the Alyogyne huegelii and Clerodendrum Thomsoniae. They are both very pretty.

 

Hi @PeterS - the Vanda lives all year on the south facing hall windowsill. The only concession to cold is that I drop the cloth blinds behind the plants at night in winter. It lives in a large plastic clear container (for food storage from pound shop!) full of hortag and gets filled up with water and randomly diluted feed once a week, left for a few hours, then drained. It seems to like it, it is flowering quite regularly now. But we haven't had a REALLY cold winter for a few years... if we do then I might have to bring it (and quite a few cattleyas) further into the house over winter.

 

Lovely collection @PeterS !

Here's my Brugmansia Grand Marnier after being outdoors all winter............


I didn't expect that!

 

A couple of hibiscus flowers

 

Arisaema candissimum

Arisaema consanguneum