Please don't freeze tonight

Is there anyone else as daft as me. I have got fed up with having so many plants in the house, so I moved some of the tender ones outside today.


Iochroma cyanea 'Plum Paradise' thinks its spring.


Iochroma cyanea 'Trebah' does as well.


Echium pininana has had a horrid winter. I fed it grossly last year and it grew so fat and lush that when I moved it inside over the winter the upper portion turned to mush and rotted away. It lost its last two leaves from last year today as I was moving it outside. BUT ... I think its coming back.


This E pininana couldn't wait and started to flower inside. There is only a little flower left now. I don't know if it will produce any seeds as I am not sure any insects fertilised it inside. Its one inch under 9 feet in its pot - and felt a bit cramped inside.

I am hoping we will get no more frost. Some of those pots (35 and 50 litres) are getting rather heavy these days.

 

Like the Iochromas Peter

I've been doing a bit of juggling myself.
Erythrina has come out of the garage today along with Yucca, a largish brug, furcaea and I need to get the large hedychiums outside.

I'm not keen on this time of the year, in some ways its worse than winter.
At least in winter you know where you stand.

But lets hope we have seen the last of any frost till autumn now.

 

That's that then-- snow guaranteed this Easter.......

 

I've been moving some less tender stuff out of the greenhouse so far, young clematis etc, pretty soon the lot will have to be hardened off and brought out as I need the space for growing this year's crop of seedlings..

 

Those Iochroma are gorgeous!

My Erythrina is dug up and in the greenhouse now - hope it's ok. The Sutherlandia is in bud now, along with the Clerodendrum ugandense. And I may be wrong, but I think that one of my Vigna caracalla is producing its first buds too!

 

We have pretty mild nights for the next week Peter , but keep an eye out for any temperature dips. Your Iochrama looks great
I also moved some rather big containers today , they do seem to get a little heavier each year !

 

those shoots are exactly like the ones I picked off and used as cuttings, they rooted really easily.

 

LongK - whenever you post it seems that I have to resort to Google. I have never heard of Vigna caracalla. It looks most interesting. One up to you.

Thanks Harry - for some time I have used the local weather forcast as my homepage - I would never remember to look otherwise. It looks good for a while - but you never know.

Chopper - just seen your post. I would never have regarded the shoots as cutting material. I must have a go. Thank you.

 

If you're interested, I'll look at the tubers in the autumn to see if there are any offsets.
I have a fondness for climbers Peter. Had the house move not come off I was going to make maximum use of the conservatory by trying Allamanda cathartica and Passiflora quadrangularis.

 

Thanks LongK - thats very kind. I had noticed a lot of climbers amongst your plants. The only problem is that you need something for them to climb.


I had to Google your Allamanda cathartica - above, which as you say is a climber, but I came across this picture as a standard. Lovely. From Wikipedia

This reminds me of the T&M catalogue advertising Andersonia seeds (Boabab tree), which it said could grow to 60 to 90 feet and suitable for a conservatory. Some conservatory.

 

PeterS - just twenty feet! It would be lunacy to make Allamanda feel too welcome - this photo is from the Eden project..............

 

Read on another forum that Echium Wildpretii seems to be hardier than pininana and germinates easily. Dunno if there are other differences that would make it a less worthy choice? (Less dramatically tall flower spikes perhaps?)

 

I've put a lot of mine out during the day but back in the greenhouse at night, this area is very prone to frost so i'm not taking any chances.

 

I've only tried Wildpretii once, so not a definitive answer, but mine rotted very easily.

They are hairier than pininana so hold moisture like a sponge.

If kept dry, (not roots, but top growth), who knows what temperature they might take.
Wildpretii rosettes are more intresting.

 

The plant that I showed above in E. 'Pink Fountain' which is a pinanina wildpretti cross.

I was interested in your comments Pete. I can usually get 'Pink Fountain' to overwinter, but I lost both of my wildprettis.

As you say its the rotting of the crown that does it - with all Echiums. I was surprised that the sorry looking one rotted off inside the house. I even had a fan on it for hours, but to no avail. I am tempted to get a dehumidifier to use in my summerhouse where I overwinter most plants. It might cure the general condensation, and perhaps help the Echiums. But I gather they are a bit expensive to buy and to run.