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Your 'Plant of the Year'? https://growingontheedge.net/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=10686 |
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Author: | Chad [ Sun Dec 31, 2017 4:24 pm ] |
Post subject: | Your 'Plant of the Year'? |
Amongst the rarities and challenging things to grow my 'Plant of the Year' has been an old fashioned annual! Kiss-me-over-the-garden-gate or Persicaria orientalis was put in as a 'filler' amongst a new hydrangea border that will take a few years to 'bulk up'. I've flowered a couple of esoteric rarities this year, but I've had most pleasure from this 'common' annual! Which of your plants has pleased you most in the last year? Chad. |
Author: | Kev Spence [ Sun Dec 31, 2017 6:21 pm ] |
Post subject: | Re: Your 'Plant of the Year'? |
Nice filler Chad I have a few pink contenders the late flowering Nerines were spectacular my Olender at the front door flowered for months but my pick I do not want to flower.....this plant should so not grow this far north. Xanthorrhoea glauca |
Author: | Stan [ Sun Dec 31, 2017 9:16 pm ] |
Post subject: | Re: Your 'Plant of the Year'? |
Aloe tongaensis. Why? Because it was dying off from either mealies or a gopher attack or maybe both. After watering it deeply a year plus after the decline started with a systemic ( I waited to see if it would snap out of it on its own) it began its recovery. This is the first flowering in nearly three years. It may have been its best ever flowering too. They lasted for 6,7, weeks? something like that. |
Author: | KeithG [ Mon Jan 01, 2018 9:03 am ] |
Post subject: | Re: Your 'Plant of the Year'? |
My initial reaction is to say my Swainsona formosa but on reflection (and given that I have a minor Salvia obsession) I'm going to say Salvia atrocyanea................. by , on Flickr by , on Flickr This should be hardy in a large part of the UK (given good drainage) and I think that it would not look out of place in an exotic themed garden. |
Author: | Paul Spracklin [ Mon Jan 01, 2018 5:26 pm ] |
Post subject: | Re: Your 'Plant of the Year'? |
Difficult to say as it was a decent year all round. My first thought was the big Nolina nelsonii. I've had it quite a few years but it never fails to make me smile when I see it. I trimmed the lower leaves in April which exposed the trunk and made it look huge. Now, at the back end of the year, it is almost got to the same point again having added perhaps 10cm of trunk. I am going to do it again every spring for the foreseeable. Here in spring immediately after the trimming. But I think it is going to be Solanum mauritianum. Mainly because it is my first year that it really performed and because it is always nice to see a new and unusual plant do so well. I planted it in 2016 and over winter it was cut back by cold so that, in spring, it was a stick around 90cm tall. As soon as it warmed up it started to go ballistic and ended up flowering and branching like mad - finally reaching over 2.1m. I have now cut it back again and am optimistic that the, now much woodier, stem will overwinter and repeat the performance this year. |
Author: | Mark Longley [ Mon Jan 01, 2018 7:38 pm ] |
Post subject: | Re: Your 'Plant of the Year'? |
Kev that grass tree looks amazing! I bought 3 of these back in 2005/6 from the Palm Centre and a couple from Nigel. They are rare as hens teeth here in NZ and command a very hefty price tag in the thousands for a trunked one. My plant of the year would have to be Cyathea Australis. I planted a spore grown one in very dry sandy clay a couple of years ago and despite my neglect it has flourished and starting to turn into a really substantial plant this summer. |
Author: | junglejason [ Mon Jan 01, 2018 8:45 pm ] |
Post subject: | Re: Your 'Plant of the Year'? |
Author: | Tim B [ Fri Jan 05, 2018 8:16 am ] |
Post subject: | Re: Your 'Plant of the Year'? |
For our z6b climate it’s gotta be Yucca filamentosa x rostrata, a hybrid I grew from seed created by Benny Jensen of Denmark. Second place would be Araucaria araucana. I can’t believe it survived -13F (-25C) two years ago. |
Author: | Stan [ Sat Jan 06, 2018 12:03 am ] |
Post subject: | Re: Your 'Plant of the Year'? |
Love that Y.rostrata in back. Another plant that somehow I never found small..or affordable when I saw them 3-4' tall. |
Author: | Tim B [ Sat Jan 06, 2018 2:10 am ] |
Post subject: | Re: Your 'Plant of the Year'? |
Hi Stan, I have no seed of pure rostrata but Mesagarden.com typically does. Rostrata is a great Plant and surprisingly hardy. |
Author: | KeithL [ Mon Jan 08, 2018 2:45 pm ] |
Post subject: | Re: Your 'Plant of the Year'? |
Has to be my faithful Agave striata (or should that be stricta). Been with me for 30+ years and will now have to start all over again. |
Author: | JonathanG [ Thu Jan 11, 2018 12:19 pm ] |
Post subject: | Re: Your 'Plant of the Year'? |
Wow, that's a stunning photo Keith! It's difficult to choose, but (if it's not too late, now we're well into January!) I think my plant of the year had to be this pretty little begonia which I've grown on from a tiny piece of rhizome and which flowered for the first time. Unfortunately I have no idea what species it is - any ideas? |
Author: | davidmdzn7 [ Fri Jan 12, 2018 12:10 am ] |
Post subject: | Re: Your 'Plant of the Year'? |
I love that Agave photo, too. It's way too early to assess cold damage, but fact is, we had the coldest first week of January ever in central Maryland...and various things are already showing very obvious damage. Minimum was roughly 2F/-16.5C. So...assuming the early evidence proves valid, my plant of the year would be Pittosporum heterophyllum. Other than some very light bronzing, the foliage and stems look just fine so far. Most people here in zone 8, 9 or even 10 have plenty of Pittosporaceae to choose from. I have to take what I can get. Even purportedly hardier strains of Pittosporum tobira have not done well. P. parvilimbum got to be a nice full 4'X4' shrub but was taken out by the polar vortex winters, so badly it could not return from the roots. It's especially promising that P. heterophyllum looks this good with only one growing season to establish. The foliage isn't as cool looking as many of the species, but it's still a nice BLE. It was probably the last species I was going to try. Persistence pays off? We shall see...curiously Woodlanders seems to think P. parvilimbum is hardier! UPDATE: just realized I'm probably cheating, as I'm basing my selection on 2018 information haha. |
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