Such a beautiful little shrub. It flowers profusely from spring to the first. It makes a pretty sight in my garden. It even survived a tr...Read Moreansplanting. Such a strong, resilient plant.
I have just bought one of these. The plant is from hot, dry slopes in South Africa. It's given hardiness is down to -8/-10°C on well-dra...Read Moreined soil, which is about what I get here, and up to 38°C in the summer. It is perhaps worth noting that plants used to summer heat and sharp drainage won't stand such low winter temperatures in wet soil. It's one of the main differences I've noted between gardening here and in the UK, where winters tended to be milder. If a plant has well-ripened wood from summer heat the shoots can take lower temperatures too.
'El Rayo' is a cultivar of this plant available in the UK.
In the garden centre it may not look worth buying -- in a 3 l...Read Moreitre pot it looks like a rather straggly Lavatera with smaller flowers, but it soon becomes much more impressive. It is very very fast growing and soon fills out to become a very attractive shrub if you prune back the long shoots to encourage a bushy shape.
In warm climates with regular rainfall it flowers all year, but in the UK it will flower continuously through the growing season -- much longer than Lavatera. The flowers of El Rayo are a bit larger than the species, and the leaves are bright green.
It's difficult to fault this plant, but it is probably not as hardy as the suppliers claim. I would say -3C will kill it in the UK, but I will wait until next Springtime (2006) and let you know if it survived. I will protect it with two layers of netting wrapped loosely around it.
Such a beautiful little shrub. It flowers profusely from spring to the first. It makes a pretty sight in my garden. It even survived a tr...Read More
I have just bought one of these. The plant is from hot, dry slopes in South Africa. It's given hardiness is down to -8/-10°C on well-dra...Read More
Bloom is showy, profuse, and continuous.
This is a sub-shrub with a woody base, not a true herbaceous perennial. It is som...Read More
'El Rayo' is a cultivar of this plant available in the UK.
In the garden centre it may not look worth buying -- in a 3 l...Read More