WHATS LOOKING EXOTIC IN MAY 2014

It reminded me of this Poncirus trifoliata 'Tiny Dragon' :


Dunno about you? but to me they look like dragons

Serendipity: I stumbled over it earlier today reading a fascinating blog that I haven't come across before
http://florawonder.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/return-to-carolina.html
(picture is a long way down that article).

I spent a good while having a read, particularly the bit about grafting:
http://florawonder.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/winter-grafting.html

and then I had to give up as the day would have been gone! but I've bookmarked it to return.

I found it looking for a decent picture of the Weeding Cake dogwood - this is the one I found:


and then got interested because they had thought it worth keeping this dogwood Sport - just for curiosity!


they called it "Odd Leaf" Anyways, you can read the blog for yourselves if you like, lots of other interesting cultivars on that article alone, and I wish to heck they were a UK Nursery - I'd be broke already!!

 

Kristen - you are right that Poncirus trifoliata 'Tiny Dragon' really does look like tiny dragons. Thanks for a couple of interesting links.




Until I Googled I hadn't realised that Poncirus trifoliata can give a spectacular show as well - top picture, then being a citrus it gives fruit.

 

Saw a Cornus florida ("Rainbow") at Chelsea. First time I've seen a C. florida - I wasn't mad about the tinge of pink (which is presumably the "Rainbow" bit)



and what I really want is Cornus florida urbiniana



http://www.strangewonderfulthings.com/159.htm

 

LongK - I was only looking at a flowering Cornus on Sunday. I hadn't realised how beautiful they could be - I thought they just had red stems.

Armandii - you do me a dis-service. I was very good on Monday and Tuesday. I only yielded today Wednesday . I went to "cheap and cheerful" Gordon Riggs garden centre in Walsden, Lancashire today. Its a long trip, but its the only place, within reasonable driving distance, that sells any exotics. I wasn't planning to buy anything ........but I just saw these - they were on my wants list - well some were.


Two Dipladenias left and right at £1.99 each. And a bougainvillea in the centre at 99p. Not really on my wants list, except that at the bottom of my list is a note that says if its exotic and less that £2 - buy it. So really they were on my list.


I thought this was on my list. I thought it was an Allamanda carthatica. It just said Opale "Citrine" on the label. But I Googled it when I got back and have discovered its really a yellow Dipladenia - the world's first yellow one. So I am still pleased.


Crossandra infundibuliformis. The Indian Firecracker plant, so named as it spits its seeds out with a cracking sound. I was trying to grow this from seed this year, but just noticed that my last seedling had died. So this really was on my list, and at £2.25 it was cheaper than the packet of seeds.


Scutalaria costaricana. This has been on my list for some time, and I never expected to see it. And at only £3.50. I am delighted - that's only half the price of a common border perennial in many garden centres. I understand that it will grow up to 2 or even 3 feet high, and a chap in Kent wrote :- Beautiful plant but hard to come by. Flowers all year if temperature kept around 15C or above. Does quite well on bright windowsill. Have never had seed.


Ipomea quamoclit. This was also on my list as I had tried to grow it from seed this year, but none of the seeds germinated. The picture is not impressive as it was taken this evening and the flowers had closed up. I. quamoclit is an unusual variation of the normal Morning Glory climber. Unfortunately its a true annual, but its said to be very vigorous if its warm enough.


Caladium bicolour "Sweatheart". This was also on my list - but it needed to be cheap as I think it needs more winter heat than the 10C that I will be providing. However, I have just had a Google and see that it is tuberous - so perhaps it will survive in dormant phase.

All in all a good day, but tomorrow my iron discipline starts again.

 

Good job that it wasn't A.cathartica - your garden room would be full in a couple of weeks!!


What about Allamanda schottii - it's a shrub as opposed to a vine..................

 

LongK - that's a superb picture of Allamanda carthatica at the Eden Project. I wouldn't mind my garden room being full of that.

The Allamanda schottii is lovely and new to me. But the problem with so many of these is that you can see a picture on the internet, but you can't find the plant or any seeds anywhere.

That's why I like to buy these things when I see them - even though I don't have any room.

 

I've never managed to over winter one (although in fairness I have not put enough effort into trying), and I also don;t manage to get enough / large enough foliage on them (not put much effort into that either!) so have stopped incurring the cost of re-buying them annually until I have time & energy to try to do a better job

Colourful leaves though Mine came from Anglia Bulbs (as bulbs, not plants, natch!)

 

Thanks Kristen - that's very informative. Knowing that they were difficult to overwinter, I had only admired pictures and not looked at them seriously. I hadn't even realised until yesterday that it was a tuber, and so could be bought easily through the post.

It will have to take its chance over winter - but I am not inclined to pursue it too hard if it really doesn't want to live. We like them tough up here in the north - I would be horrified if soft southerners moved in next door.

 

Am I missing a trick here - why not just let the tubers go dormant through the darkest part of winter? You guys have/will have the facilities to start them earlier than they would normally be sold?

 

From memory (worth checking properly therefore!) they are Aroids, akin to Colo- and Alocasia. They will go dormant, but Caladium are hard to get back out of dormancy - that trait is shared by some Colo- and several Alocasia, and the normal advice for those varieties is to keep them actively growing over winter to avoid them going into dormancy. Dunno if the reason is the same in Caladium, or whether it is because they only produce small tubers (and thus lack "umph" in the Spring, or perhaps to have enough energy store for being over-winter stored)

 

Anglia Bulbs are £2.50 each, 3 for £6.95, so not very expensive ... but I hate to let things snuff it if I could keep them alive instead. I think it is more the "waste" than the "expense" in my mind - others who know me may say "No, its because he is tight" instead

http://www.angliabulbs.com/caladium/

 

EDIT: sorry Kristen, only just noticed your earlier posts after writing this - you seem to be saying something similar.

I am planning to leave the Caladium in my garden room over the winter at 10C. If that is not warm enough for it to continue growing, which some sources suggest, it should automatically revert to a dormant tuber.

However, it may not be easy to revive the tuber. I understand that whilst Colocasia tubers are relatively easy to revive Alocasia tubers are more difficult. Also, as I am growing some Gloxinia from tubers, I was interested in this on the net :- Although they [Gloxinia] are tuberous plants that will regrow from the underground tuber after blooming, it's probably best to discard bloomed plants as they will never regain their original vigor.

 

If the "Never regain their original vigour" do you need to do leaf cuttings or somesuch each year?

Long time since I've grow Gloxinia, but now you mention them maybe they would be nice as front-of-border edging for my Exotic garden?

 

So I was missing something!

Maybe a little too delicate to be that exposed? Rain battered the flowers beyond all recognition and snapped foliage when mine was outdoors.