What's looking exotic in June.

The Adeniums are flowering now, well they dont actually stop for long.




Verbascums are starting to look impressive on the allotment

I think my Trachy in the front garden might have mated this year. Looks like some seed might have set

This is Zoe, came from an exotic part of Wales a good few years ago

 

Is that the Waggy Pete, any others near by?

 

Not the waggie, it's fortunei, the waggie is out back and flowers just slightly later.

I've not seen any male plants in the area, but who knows what is lurking in the back gardens around here?

 

I love those Adeniums Pete - are they easy to grow especially to overwinter, and do they need a lot of summer heat.

I am finding that whilst I can provide a certain amount of winter heat, I can't do anything about summer heat.

 

Peter, I grew the Adeniums from seed, so from two packets I grew about 7 plants, two flower well,......... up to now, the rest dont seem that interested.

Warmth and sunshine rather than all out heat seems to be what they like,.. not cacti like heat anyway.
"Desert rose", is perhaps the wrong common name, as I find they like humidity and quite a lot of water, its just that they grow a caudex that can get them through drought.

I think summer heat in a greenhouse is plenty with a little shade even, if you can keep a minimum of 15C you get flowers all the winter, if not dry off and keep at 10C.

 

Many thanks Pete - I think I will have to give them a go. Though I am wary of filling my very small greenhouse up too much in summer.

 

Summer is when my greenhouse is empty Peter.
Winter it's packed, I'm only now feeling a bit of relief in that area.

 

You are right Pete. However I am finding that, being further north than you, I am still keeping it pretty full at this time of the year just trying to get a bit of heat into some of the exotics. And I am coming across plants that seem to need to be in the greenhouse all summer to flower properly (if at all) - such as Gloriosa, Sandersonia, Dahlia coccinea - and now Dahlia imperialis. Last year I grew a (supposedly) 5 foot Amaranthus that never reached much more than about 12 inches outside.

 

I would only grow gloriosa in the greenhouse down here, I think it's too unreliable outside, dont grow Sandersonia or D. coccinea, but I'd never attempt D. imperialis in a greenhouse, unless it was at Kew.
As to Amarathus, not grown any for a while, but I think the key might be to grow in large pots until, say mid June and then plant out.
I know its usual for late May early June for planting out half hardies, but it can still be cold and damp at that time, so I'd give a few of the more tender ones another month hardening off.

 

We've probably had this conversation (and I've forgotten already!) in which case I apologise, but why do you want D. imperialis to flower -is it not impressive enough without the somewhat insignificant flowers? (Not that I've got one, but its on my wants list)

 

Started my Gloriosa rothschildiana off in a seed tray as I didn't know which end was the business end - nor did I have a shallow pot that was wide enough ... now I know how it grows (weird!) I haven't got a pot tall enough, so I knocked the bottom out of a rose pot and mounted it into & onto another. Hope I'll be able to get the plant out to plant it out (or pot it on - maybe it needs to stay greenhouse bound?)

 

Pete - I think the answer is to give a lot of tender plants a good start in the greenhouse. They won't die outside now - but they won't grow much either. I am always very mindful of Christopher Lloyd talking about tender annuals such as Cosmos and Cleome. He said don't sow too early. They need heat early on because if they get chilled they tend to sulk and never really do much later on. I have had this with both of them - really good in a hot year and really rubbish in a cold year. I am going to grow my D. imperialis in the greenhouse for as long as possible (for the heat) - its only 1 foot high currently

Kristen - I really want to see D imperialis in flower to judge whether I want it to flower or not (if that makes sense).


I think this picture looks fantastic even though the individual flowers are not that big. But I am not sure that mine will look like this.

That is so nice to see Gloriosa sprouting. Last year was a disaster for me, even in the greenhouse. The guy I bought my tubers from, said plant them at a 45 degree angle leaving one third (the thin end) out of the soil. He even said that you can break off part of the thin end without doing any damage. I presume this is to get it into a smaller pot, but without placing the bud too far below the surface.

 

Yup, not thought of it like that. The photo does look impressive, but I wonder how visible them will be such a long way up. I just want to grow it to see the rate of foliage growth!

Ah ... I wonder if I should have planted it deeper? I've planted the sprouting-and-shooting end at soil level, and I've planted the thin end down ...

I'll toddle off and have a google ...

 

... all sorts of information, most reads like it has been written by people who have never seen one, let alone grown it!

Consensus seems to be to plant "on its side" which I take to mean horizontally as the tuber is cylindrical! That won't work for me, my tuber was too long, perhaps the norm is for shorter tubers (certainly looks that way in the photos).

"Plant the tubers 4 inches deep and 6 inches apart. If a tuber is shaped like a "Y," plant it with the legs pointing down. Be careful not to break off the legs. If the tuber is long, lay it horizontally in the ground with its ends parallel to the trellis or growing support. Add a 2-inch layer of mulch over the growing area after planting the tubers."

I suspect the "Y" is a tuber that has formed a "pup", and could be broken to make two plants.

Most say to allow the plant to completely dry out between waterings (allowing it to start wilting in Summer), and to never let it stay wet (as the tuber is prone to rotting) - perhaps I should have used Soil-based compost instead of M.Purp. I'll go with what I have for this year. If the new tubers grow vertically that's how I'll plant them in future.

Store dry over winter. My thought, for plants that require this, is to change the compost in the Autumn/Winter. Repotting in the spring will disturb any newly emerging Roots & Shoots, doing it in the Autumn avoids that, then the plant can just get under way at any time. Planning to do this for Colocasia and the like.

Sorry, I'll shut up now, this thread is supposed to be for what is LOOKING good, not HOW to make it look good

 

Just to clarify - re reading my post. Last year I had a disaster with Gloriosa. I laid them flat and must have got the compost too wet as they just rotted - only one sprouted and then died after a bit. It was this year when I bought some more tubers that I was told to grow them at 45 degrees.

I think we have said enough on this. However I see this thread as a general chinwag on exotics. I always like listening to other peoples banter, and learning how to make them look good is fundamental.