What's on your wish list or what's new in your garden?

@alp, so sorry, I've created confusion by quoting CarolineL's post selectively. It was actually me she was offering the ruscus to - she was telling you about her rockii (now that one I've never heard of!) See her full post below.

So glad you like Ken the retired racing greyhound on his yoga mat. Yes, his apprenticeship proceeds slowly - he tells me that having had one career already as a professional athlete, he has learnt the importance of pacing himself!

 

Haha! I'm getting a bit demented. @CarolineL Just ignore it. I don't have a big garden and if I move, it will be smaller still. @Clare G Are you in London? So nice to have a garden in London.. I might have made another mistake, again! Hehe! I might have confused you with someone else..

 

Yes in London @alp So it's a small garden but on the other hand it's nice and warm and sheltered!

 

@Clare G - right - tomorrow I am going to start digging around the ruscus! Unfortunately I have checked and don't currently have any spare youngsters, so I'll produce some more.

 

Thank you!

 

I rarely cash in on the likes of Morrisons etc but I do cash in at Aldi and Lidl. They have more ecclectic choices before the others largely due to the fact that they are buying in to sell throughout Europe. The likes of Tibouchina or Brugmansia sanguinea for £1.99 are too good to pass over.

I think that the first one is Clerodendrum panniculatum. The second one is familiar and I think that it's a member of the Acanthus family. Any ideas @PeterS ?

 

I would agree with LongK that the first one is a Clerodendron. I wouldn't know exactly which. There are one or two red species - paniculatum, speciosissimus, splendens and japonicum etc.

The second one looks like Pyrostegia venusta. It's a fairly distinctive colour. I have only seen it once in flower in Madeira. But I was lucky enough to find a stall selling it - so a small one came back to the UK in my suitcase.


As far as my wants list is concerned I was very lucky recently to find, by pure chance as it wasn't being offered for sale, the item that was at the top of my list - Strongylodon macrobotrys shown above. The colour of the flower is amazing, but my small plant is a long way off blooming.


I have had to find a new top want, so I have set my sights even higher - on Mucuna bennettii. This is a red cousin of Strongylodon, and even rarer. The chance of finding this is nil - but I can still dream.


Somewhat more possible is Heliconia rostrata - though no one in the UK is selling it. I think it's the most beautiful of a whole family of Heliconias. But apparently it's a difficult one to get to flower.

But gardening is all about dreams and hopes.

 

Never really looked at the plants in Lidl/Aldi ... plus, I've moved further away from them (geographically) to make them a regular visit There is a Lidl opening not too far away soon ... I'll pop it on my "must make more effort" list

Oh, yes! Mine too!!! Such a charming man, with a great sense of humour ... and have you seen his photography? Second to none IMO! Ain't that right @strongylodon

 

The large leaved plant in your pic @Linz is Philodendron bipinnatifidum (selloum) it used to be sold as a house plant decades ago but rarely seen these days, too big for most homes.

I too would like to grow my user name but not with an 8x10 greenhouse and a max winter temp of around 5c!! I rooted a Strongylodon cutting given to me when I worked at an exotic nursery in the 80's but the company went bust, plants were sold off and it went to Wisley.

Thanks @"M" we must do some plant swapping again sometime.

 

That's interesting Strongy. I always understood that they were very difficult to propagate, which was a major reason for their scarcity.

 

Shineyland 2018?

 

Goes without saying!