PUSHING THE BORDERS

Two lots of seeds arrived over the weekend.Strelitzia nicolai.S parviflora juncea,S reginae,S reg Mandelas Gold from Jungle seeds.
Tibouchina grossa,Begonia heracleifolia,Dahlia imperalis caerulea,and Musa Tiger Stripes from plantworld. :D

All exciting additions.

Please post on progress, particularly of Dahlia imperialis 'Caerulea'.

I'm being a bit nosey for two reasons.

I can't flower the giant Dahlias [imperialis, campanulata etc] outside here. We have had autumn gales that strip them back before they flower, and...

Blue is a pigment noticeably lacking in the genus Dahlia.

Even a 'blue-ish' colour would be exciting.

Chad

Some really exciting new plants everyone is trying, I am feel very stuck in the mud! not trying anything adventurous this year, just trying to get on top outside in the garden, various sections have quietly grown away from optimum over the last 30 years and I have done a good bit of "Chain Saw Pruning"

I have some new land to play with which has been keeping me out of trouble during lockdown and will do for the foreseeable. :) The old fella next door died last year and, eventually, the tumble down old house was offered as 'land' so we decided to buy it and have been clearing for a few months on and off. The sale finally went through 3 weeks ago (massive hold up at the land registry) and the house was demolished a couple of weeks ago. We asked to have all the rubble left on site which has now become a large sunny south facing perfectly drained scree! It is going to absolutely bake in summer as all that rubble underneath is going to be like a giant storage radiator. To say I am excited by this is something of an understatement. :)

My main banana seed order came this week.Ensete ventricosum,Musa balbiana atia black,Musa sikkimensis,Musa Helens Hybrid,and Musa itinerans Burmese Blue.Will probably start on them Monday :D .

It is a long time since I tried bananas from seed. I recall that I didn't do at all well germinating Musa species and not a lot better with Ensete. My basic propagator wasn't very good at maintaining 30C, well that was my excurse anyway.
Good luck with your seeds.

durnovaria wrote:My main banana seed order came this week.Ensete ventricosum,Musa balbiana atia black,Musa sikkimensis,Musa Helens Hybrid,and Musa itinerans Burmese Blue.Will probably start on them Monday :D .

I had some success with all of the above except Burmese Blue.The Ensete were the best germinators.

Chad wrote:All exciting additions.

Please post on progress, particularly of Dahlia imperialis 'Caerulea'.

I'm being a bit nosey for two reasons.

I can't flower the giant Dahlias [imperialis, campanulata etc] outside here. We have had autumn gales that strip them back before they flower, and...

Blue is a pigment noticeably lacking in the genus Dahlia.

Even a 'blue-ish' colour would be exciting.

Chad

The Dahlias are as i write planted in the stock bed (soil) and one is in a 20 litre pot.The pot one is about six feet tall,the open ground a little smaller.They were all very slow to start growing due to the cool early season.I hope to lift the tubers from the ground before frosts and store them with a view to taking cuttings in the spring.I will keep the pot one growing as long as i can.There have been no sign of buds so far.It is an interesting foliage plant though.Also some of the very few seedlings had darker foliage so i will keep an eye on them! ;) .

My latest additions are on the way.Tibouchina urv Edwardsii.And Plumbago capensis a darker blue form.

Popped over to Abbotsbury gardens plant centre yesterday.Picked up an Impatiens sodeni Ravishing Rhi,and finally have a correct plant of Ageratum corymbosum.This is my third attempt to secure this plant.The first two supposedly A c turned out to be A petiolatum.Bought online from two seperate nurseries. :?