What's looking exotic in September 2012

Not a great photo in terms of the colour authenticity, but this shows what appears to be slightly different shaped petals..................

 

I thoroughly recommend that you get your hands on one!

 

Cotswold Garden Flowers and Hill House have plants (and both have other things that I want ...) and Jungle Seeds have ... seeds so might have a go at that too (mixed colours, and C.G.F. "Edwardsii" gets a Bob's Score of 9, so might hold out for that named variety ...

 

I'll be interested to see how "Edwardsii" gets on outdoors though - they're very delicate blooms at the best of times without being three times larger.

Might take a drive down there this weekend..............

 

Before you jump in the car ... I think their website said they were out of stock of Edwardsii - although maybe they have mother-plants in flower?

 

I already have mine, but it is now time to buy Lachenalia and Ferraria. Always fun to look around too..........

 

Gloriosa rothschildiana. This has finally flowered and I am so pleased having had a complete failure last year.

I have only just seen the flower in detail and it is strange, with six upfurled petals and six prominent stamen (male part) with their yellow pollen. And at the bottom you can see the style (female part) that splits into three at the tip.

 

That's great Peter! They're a most absorbing flower aren't they.
Is this the first of many?

 

Thanks LongK. I am pleased to say that there are 10 or more buds on the plant, which is now standing by the window in my sitting room - hoping to get enough heat to continue flowering. I also have another plant that is only two feet tall and way behind - no chance of that flowering this year. I now realise that they need heat (a heat mat?) early on to get going and no water till the first growth appears. So hopefully next year might be better (and warmer).

I went to the Harrogate Flower Show today. Living only 5 minutes walk away, I was there at 9.30 am when it opened and there was virtually no one else there. That's a wonderful time to chat to people and I spoke to a nice lady who ran http://www.oldwalledgarden.com/ .They produce an interesting range of exotic/tender plants, and also sell Tibouchina. I think I must organise a trip there one day.

I asked what the difference was between T. urvilleana, and the one I believed I had T. organensis. She said that organensis had a much bigger flower but was extremely rare and virtually never seen outside Brazil. She said that the one I had was undoubtedly T. urvilleana. There is a slightly larger flowed cultivar of urvilleana that is sometimes sold under the name organensis - but it isn't.

This lady also specialised in breeding tropical Hibiscus - so I was able to ask the question as to why the ones you buy are so compact with short inter-nodes, but the ones I am growing from seed are so straggly with long inter-nodes. She said that all the ones you buy have been sprayed with a growth inhibitor, which will either kill the plant in time or the plant will grow through it and revert to the natural long inter-node variety. This also addressed another point - that I had been told, some time ago, that nearly all the small Hibiscuses that you buy don't live very long.

 

I also bought some bulbs at the Harrogate show. Fritillarea persica and F. imperialis.


However there was another bulb that I didn't recognise - Urginea maritima (Sea Squill). The picture above is taken from Lachevredor.com.

I recognised all of the 100 or so bulbs being sold on the stand as hardy so assumed this one was too, but only when I got back and had a Google I found that it wasn't. Which is part of the reason that I had never heard of it.

Has anyone ever tried this? Its quoted as zone 9. That wouldn't be a problem as its easy to overwinter tender bulbs, except for the fact that this one grows its leaves over winter (ie needs heat and light then), but doesn't actually flower till the following autumn. Any hints on cultivation?

 

I'm sure the Old Walled Garden was in Kent until a few years ago, I went there a couple of times and bought a few plants, including P. anastasia.
I think they moved about 3yrs ago, sadly missed down here.

 

The warmth of an unheated conservatory and the moisture of fresh compost always seems to work.

"interesting range of exotic/tender plants" is an understatement! They're the only UK based source of Strongylodon macrobotrys that I know of. When Mydleton house were looking for one I was able to point the head gardener in their direction and he was pleased with the plant.

Interesting..................

 

Yes Pete. I think the lady I spoke to was called Heather, and reading from her site - she married John Angrave who runs the Fibrex Pelargonium nursery. So she moved her business up to be on the Fibrex site.

I presume that's Passiflora anastasia. I had to think for a moment. If you say sadly missed, and with LongK's comments - then I definately must make a trip there.

 

few more updates
my aptempted of making chilli bonsai

the silver moss and the galangal

cassabanana , no fruit and no flower.

calocasia , getting bigger and bigger.

passion fruit from shop

aloe stritula regrowing from the ground

blue tradeschianta

venus trap eating snails.

sarracenia indigestion , some snail managed to get revenge on her

fruit growing on cactus , don`t know what the cactus is.


carmensita Red!!!

blue new zeland giant

sarracenia

goji berry in flower ,

and finally the solanum is growing

 

What Solanum is that Sal?
Looks vaguely like quitoensis without the pesky thorns.