What's looking exotic in May 2012

Thank you, I have a group of "dark" items in different pots and I will group them altogether when I rearrange the patio pots. After everything's been removed and planted from the miniGH which will then be taken off to sit in the back of the garage until late Autumn. It's a bit like living in a caravan here - everything just about earns a place but vies for position!!

 

A couple, one a bit strange, Asimina triloba, the hardy American paw paw.



And the Aloe, not sure which one it is but it gets big, but its never flowered before, I guess I scared it taking this cutting last summer and dumping the main plant that was very top heavy.

 

The conservatory - a complete mess with delay by weather this Spring ...



Some Colocasia and Caladiums - new to me this season



A tray of Bishop of Llandaff hardening off and ready to be planted out:



and some Cannas waiting to be planted in the new Exotic Garden:



Slight over-catered for some Coleus to provide some edging colour (there are more trays in the Conservatory!) (The spiky taller one is Cleome - I haven't grown that since about 30 years ago! saw it in Will Giles garden last Autumn and I thought it looked Tropical ):



and the Cleopatra Canna that Pete kindly sent me (sorry, lens was steaming up in the conservatory when I took this one) :

 

Persicaria Red Dragon pots to be planted - with Paulowinia seedlings alongside



and some Arum and Calla (never quite sure which is which)



I planted these when they arrive, gave them some bottom heat, the roots grew at an alarming rate, and out of the top of the soil as well as the bottom of the pot!

They've been in the conservatory to "bring them on" as its their first season, but I hadn't realised that would make them flower so early ...

That may have "forced" them rather, so I'll give the supplier the benefit of the doubt, but I wouldn't have called the white one "Big Mama" - it looks big in the photo, but its only an inch or two wide; I presume that is an Arum. The dark one is Calla Lily Black Forest I think.

 

Thank you Kristen,
All lovely, interesting specimens. You don't do "ordinary " do you!!

 

Dunno what you mean! I've got some Lettuce, and Carrots, and Sweetcorn (in the greenhouse of course ... )

 

Hymenocallis festalis in bloom about seven weeks after setting the bulb!


It's really big this year.............


I've moved it to the spot in the front room previously occupied by the Strelitzia which is now in its spot for the summer...........

 

That hymenocallis is very unusual JWK. Thank you for excotic updates today,
Jenny

 

Snap! Went out to the conservatory this morning and there she was

You've saved me taking a photo and uploading it

 

P.S. Can I plant them out? I may have ordered them because they were White (for the Blue and White border), and probably 'coz I liked the Photo (Perhaps a bloke CAN begin to understand how a teenage daughter feels looking at outfits in Vogue?!) ...

... but I probably never looked at the cultural instructions or Winter survival temperature. I'd need it to flower a bit later (outside) too ... my garden is designed around July-September spivey-ness, mid June at the earliest please!

 

A large bulb in a good summer should bloom outdoors, if somewhat later.
However, not a hope in hell of it surviving any winter, except for the very mildest and driest of winters.

 

Thanks, I had got of my bone idle behind and called up the spreadsheet I had made of the new plants, and it said "Tender" ... you talked of plunging pots in another thread (I *think* it was you - at my age difficult to be sure ...)

I'm game for that too, especially as I'm fitting drip irrigation to the Jungle bed as pressure-restricted irrigation is allowed here under hosepipe ban. So a bunch of pots isn't going to be anything like the nightmare that I remember (and vowed never to do!) in my Mother's garden when I was a nipper and chief-water-bearer

I'm going to plunge-pot my Bananas, Brugs, the T. rex and probably the Cyas, Chamaerops and maybe the Waggy. Partly that's to be able to move them around for the first year or two if I don't like the placement, partly to be easier to bring in for the first (or every) winter.

Perhaps I should think of that for Colocasia and the like too?

All my new Lilies and other bulbs I have bought this year are in deep "Rose" pots, I figured I should walk them round, when in flower, to see where they are best suited - and then plunge-or-plant

 

I reckon that there's a lot to say for it Kristen, especially for those of us on a water metre. I back-fill the hole with a mix of compost from the pile, vermiculite and coarse grit.

Obviously a pants idea for anything that dislikes root disturbance, but that tends to be quite a small bunch of plants.

 

Can I get away with this, depends on your definition of exotic.

Peach and Fig.



This one came as a bit unexpected, Victoria sent me some seed of Melia azedarach a few years ago.
I've got two small potted trees and both are flowering this year.

 

Is that Melia hardy with you Pete? - it looks as though it could become quite a big tree. Never seen it before.