Here’s a really lovely conservatory plant with a bit of a drawback. For once it’s not a poor name, though it’s origin is actually obscure enough to win a Mastermind contest: Strelitzia reginae is named after the 1761 marriage of George III to Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Similar in many ways and closely resembling the banana […]
So many of our most interesting and useful tender crops and flowers are closely related and in the Solanum family. All the daturas and petunias, brunfelsias and nierembergias, cropping and sweet scented tobaccos, tomatoes and potatoes, peppers, physalis and aubergines, and even that oddly popular Goji berry. I really cannot bring myself to recommend this […]
This is a large genus of dozens of species carrying some of the most beautiful flowers of the world. (These were named after Christ’s Passion as priests tried to associate the curiously formed floral parts with particular items from the crucifixion, erroneously as it transpired that the flowers were not as drawn and there was […]
Now I must admit these are not the most attractive nor compact of plants however the Physalis family are exceptionally valuable subjects for growing under cover. Closely related to tomatoes but never suffering any of their problems these are surprisingly easy to cultivate and one can even substitute for a tomato crop. The best known […]
Now this is one of the finest conservatory and warm greenhouse plants you can grow. It is not quite, but almost, hardy in some varieties. Well it will survive a single short snap, but will expire if kept too cold for long. However it does not need much heat and it’s easy to grow replacements […]
Angels trumpets, or Angel Strumpets as someone punned, are spectacular, and easy. Once known as Datura now some are reclassified as Brugmansia which is not appealing and rebelliously many still prefer Datura. The most commonly grown form, D. suavolens, has huge lily like white trumpets with the fantastic scent most marked in the evening. There […]
I’ll bet this is not a plant you would ever previously thought I’d be likely to recommend. However wait, yes petunias can be a bit cheap and nasty, but they do have certain virtues other than the exuberant floriferousness they always exhibit. Too long associated only with garish town centre bedding schemes and pub frontages. […]
In this series of monthly articles Bob explores the incredible range of plants you can grow in a greenhouse, conservatory or plastic tunnel. Not just the purely decorative but the scented and edible also, and maybe those plants that are just downright interesting. This month Bob nominates ~ The Swiss Cheese plant. We all know […]
Now I must admit ginger is not the easiest crop to grow well, but then the sense of achievement is all the greater. The foliage has wide grass like leaves angled on verdant thick rush like green stems, somewhat resembling a rare lily, and reaching a couple of feet or even a metre in height. […]
In this series of monthly articles Bob explores the incredible range of plants you can grow in a greenhouse, conservatory or plastic tunnel. Not just the purely decorative but the scented and edible also, and maybe those plants that are just downright interesting. This month Bob nominates ~ Sweet potatoes. Now here is a plant […]
In this series of monthly articles Bob explores the incredible range of plants you can grow in a greenhouse, conservatory or plastic tunnel. Not just the purely decorative but the scented and edible also, and maybe those plants that are just downright interesting. This month Bob nominates ~Bananas. I admit bananas are not for the […]
In this series of monthly articles Bob explores the incredible range of plants you can grow in a greenhouse, conservatory or plastic tunnel. Not just the purely decorative but the scented and edible also, and maybe those plants that are just downright interesting. This month Bob nominates the Nycto-Cereus cactus. Now the Cereus, or Nyctocereus […]
