PUSHING THE BORDERS

I have been caught like you with the Monnina xalapensis, amazing just how misleading a picture can be

Some of the Hedychiums have started to flower here
Hedychium densiflorum 'Stephen' by Andy Cowlishaw, on Flickr
Hedychium forrestii by Andy Cowlishaw, on Flickr
Hedychium spicatum by Andy Cowlishaw, on Flickr
Another ginger
Cautleya spicata 'Robusta' by Andy Cowlishaw, on Flickr
Until 'Pink China' came along I didn't think it possible for a Colocasia to have 'weed' potential in the UK. This clump is in a root barrier and even with that it is invading the lawn.
Colocasia 'Pink China' by Andy Cowlishaw, on Flickr
This is so easy to propagate that I feel obliged to have at least one plant in the garden
Podochaenium eminems by Andy Cowlishaw, on Flickr
At last I happened to be in the garden with the camera when a flower was fully open on the Nicandra sp. Nova, now at 2M height.
Nicandra by Andy Cowlishaw, on Flickr

Lovely to see the gingers so nice and early, still a couple of weeks off here

Podochaenium eminems flowering outdoors may be a UK first.

Mine flowers in May in the tunnel, on last year's growth.

And the Nicandra at 2M, all very exciting.

Chad

009 by charliepridham, on Flickr

Cestrum neweli 004 by charliepridham, on Flickr

One of the few plants that actually looks better than the same thing on Madeira!

Abelia 010 by charliepridham, on Flickr

Jasminum simplicifolia 005 by charliepridham, on Flickr

Hedychium 'Devon Cream'
IMG_5074 by Andy Cowlishaw, on Flickr
Canna of unknow parentage
IMG_5085 by Andy Cowlishaw, on Flickr
Borinda papyrifera with Ophiopogon planiscapus
IMG_5084 by Andy Cowlishaw, on Flickr

Did you move down with the Bamboo Andy? it looks to be well established already, I found Borinda didn't like us here which is a shame. I know they can be a nuisance but I do like the way Bamboo adds evergreen height to the garden

Andy, did the purple leaf canna come to anything?

charlie wrote:Did you move down with the Bamboo Andy? it looks to be well established already, I found Borinda didn't like us here which is a shame. I know they can be a nuisance but I do like the way Bamboo adds evergreen height to the garden

Very soon after we moved to Falmouth we arranged a visit to Mike Bell's plantation and came away with good chunks of the B. papyrifera and B. nujiangensis, both happy in our new garden.

Paul S wrote:Andy, did the purple leaf canna come to anything?

Yes Paul, it is about 4ft tall and doing ok. I should have given it more water in the long dry spell we had late spring, it would be doing a lot better if I had. How is the C. altensteinii doing?

At 4ft you must be feeling a tad disappointed! My long established clump with periodic irrigation is 10ft high and flowering.

The altensteinii is still potted but growing well, just coming into flower. I need to do a bit of a Rubic's cube with my planting to free up the space I have in mind for the altensteinii, so that will hang on for a month or so. Pleased to have it back, though, so thank you :)