Lapageria

[Richard K]

For the uk, crug farm list philesia. I'm not sure for myself, my soil is chalky so it would be permanently in a pot.

[MartinNicklin]

Richard mine is now in a pot (for a couple of years actually). It's a fairly low growing, suckering shrub and you have to get right down to see the lovely blooms. Growing it in a pot allows you not only to give it the acidic soil it prefers but also to see the flowers from a position which suits you. I think I saw a picture of Charlie's plant flowering nicely in a pot a few years ago (???) which is where I got the idea to dig up mine and put it into a nice pot. I think Crug charge £15 for a 9cm pot which may seem expensive to some but it's hard to propagate, slow growing, rare, beautiful and lives a long time so is worth it. The postage costs, however, are not so good unless you put in a decent order! I bought mine many years ago from Mark Filan when I called by his place (along with lots of other plants which I still have) and it has travelled with me. It's worth it.

[Glen in BC]

Charlie...you're quite the optimist, regarding lapageria having any chance in the ground here! My latitude looks okay but the comparison goes downhill after that unfortunately. We've probably discussed before, the disadvantage of being connected to the large cold landmass of North America which delivers arctic outflows here most winters.

Nonetheless, I persevere with lapageria since they are such iconic beautiful flowers...mine remain in containers which need to be moved to the shade in our summers that regularly see 30+ temperatures, then a slightly heated greenhouse for the winter ;) Please do let me know if you ever think of selling seed from any of your more unusual colour forms...so far just the common pink ones here

[all43]

Couple more plants have decided to flower, I've aquired a good size red variety but I'm might have to pay Charlie another visit next year or perhaps meet at at plant fair.