What's looking exotic in August 2012

I'm thinking now I have finally sussed where I've been going wrong all these years with Albizia
Not spectacular but it reminds me of other places, Chilopsis linearis.

Hedychium "Tara"

 

Looking through this tropical thread has already got me thinking about next year.
The seed list gets bigger, the hedychium "Tara" has caught my eye Pete

 

Pete - that Chileopsis flower looks lovely. They look as if they are all outside, but you can't overwinter any of them outside can you?

 

We have the Hedychium gardneranum here (it is considered an invasive species). The leaves are used in traditional bread baking (the dough is wrapped it the leaves and put in a wood burning oven). It is now in flower and will go dormant for the winter. It also grows from the rhizome in the spring.
Here are some photos of my Plumbago:

And I also have it in white:

It is also the time for Amaryllis belladonna. Normally in pink, I managed to get some in white. It took 3 years for it to finally start flowering:

 

I was on a bus the other day and passed a house in Derby and my jaw nearly hit the floor when I saw a fantastic example of the plain green Arundo donax, standing at what looked a good 10ft+ tall and the clump must have been as much across - awesome

 

My Red Banana is growing faster now, no sooner has one leaf open another one follows it





My "Lidl" Banana is doing good too


Canna Altensteinii coming on great guns now, huge apple green leaves

 

All looking rather super Bilbo.

Gloriosa superba "Rothschildiana" this morning................


.............and this evening....................


Scadoxus multiflorus starting to bloom................

 

Yes Peter, the Albizia and Chiliopsis are trees so both overwinter outside unprotected, but they do like summer heat.
This is the growth habit of Albizia, I find it similar to African acacia trees, but then I've never seen them.


H. "Tara" seems slow to bulk up, but I'm hoping to get a root to try outside soon.
Flowers earlier than H. garnerianium, and would fit in well, in a protected spot.


At the risk of repeating myself yet again,
The Campsis look good in the early morning heat, radicans in the foreground and "indian summer" on the house wall.

 

Here is a photo of my H. gardneranum:

I had dug up lots of it, trying to clear an area, and dumped it along a wall. It refused to die, and all summer I have a wall of these flowers. Unfortuately, conditions are excellent for its seeds to germinate by themselves.

 

Oh well, it just proves that one persons weeds are anothers plants.
You must admit, it does smell nice.

I'm sure if I lived in the tropics I'd be struggling to grow primulas or some such plant.

 

It would be colder here if the Gulf Stream didn't bring up the warmer water (and Hurricane Gordon which should be affecting us tonight).
I do like my wall of Hedychium, but when you get a lot of them together, the scent can be very strong.

 

Not very double either! How large is the bloom?

 

Large leaves and chunky stem? Could be D.metel....................