PUSHING THE BORDERS

I'm trying new combinations of plants in the garden but I'm not really being very bold this year. I planted this border with plants I've grown before but not together like this

IMG_1308 by atropica1, on Flickr
The Tithonia rotundiflora has got a lot bigger than I'd expected, on previous occasions I'd grown a dwarf form. To the right of the Tithonia is a purple form of Saccharum officinarum, I think it is 'Violaceum', and behind that is a Megaskepasma erythroclamys. I'm quite sure that if I leave these plants in the ground that the first frosts will turn them all crispy so I'm not exactly pushing the limits of horticulture by growing these as summer bedding.
Perhaps this patch is more bold.

IMG_1310 by atropica1, on Flickr
Both the Butia eriospatha and the Montanoa bipinnatifida (Madeira) will be staying in the ground for the winter. The Montanoa is next to a south facing wall and they will both get a bit of extra protection come the winter. I nearly lost the Butia in 2010/2011 and I have no idea if the Montanoa has any chance of survival but at least I will learn something by giving it a go.
So what are you doing to push your borders this year?

Trying a whole bunch of climbers and some fruiting plants this coming winter some of them have died several times before but I always live in hope that this time the walls will be better or the position more suitable, sometimes worth persevering as I have finally got Mandevilla laxa and Marsdenia established

Climbers include Pandora pandorana and its form Golden Showers
Passiflora actinia
Clytostoma callistegoides
Araujia sericifera
Hibbertia scandens
A number of Bomarea species

a couple of named Acca for fruit and I also had a palm planting frenzy a month or two back!

Which Acca do you grow Charlie?. I've tried A.sellowiana twice and lost them to a cold winter but would like to try again if I can get the right plant for the right spot.

Like you Andy I've tried some Tithonia this year but mine are nowhere as big as yours. My new garden is not all going to be about exotics and the bed at the front of my house which was started earlier this year from scratch is a bit of a trial but looks quite nice so far. The bees and butterflies like it :)

Here's a photo from around 2 weeks ago and looking at it last night, its even better. Its a mixture of perennials and annuals but mostly hot colours.




Lots more to come into flower aswell such as Helianthus and Rudbeckia.

AndyC wrote:Which Acca do you grow Charlie?. I've tried A.sellowiana twice and lost them to a cold winter but would like to try again if I can get the right plant for the right spot.

I had a nice 4' shrub just in the garden which flowered a bit every year but it was fatally damaged in 09 so this spring I bought two small grafted named fruiting sorts from Burncoose, they were nice little plants, not huge, but both have grown away well. one is flowering the other maddeningly is not! I think the varieties were 'Triumph' and 'Mammoth' and they have gone into my fruit cage on walls, I may provide some winter protection. The plan/hope is that having the two they will cross pollinate and I may get fruit!