Some plants are very late coming into bloom in our garden. As we live in a blame-blame culture I am going to point the finger at a hard winter, a late spring, followed by a sweltering summer. It could be one, the other, a combination of any, whatever, they are tardy. This reluctance to flower may have been exacerbated by inadequate cold protection and lack of watering during the great drought of ’18. Unlikely though, it couldn’t possibly be anything to do with my poor husbandry or lack of enthusiasm after tending to other peoples’ little darlings all day. Crazy talk.
Dahlias, fuchsias, salvias, are all dawdling along as if they had all the time in the world. Well let me tell you something my lovelies, you laid-back-to-vertical slovens, the winter is fast approaching and do I need to remind you what happened last year! Get a move on, flower, shut down and prepare for the worst!
A beauty that is often late on parade is Tibouchina urvilleana, the Brazilian Glory Bush. A gift from Mrs Fish before she headed south for the summer, the buds are almost as glorious as the flowers. Not quite. But almost. Won’t be long.
Off The Edge Gardening 
Oh boy, those Tibouchinas are rude! I had one for a while and he left without saying goodbye.
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You are right, no manners at all. I am hoping to keep this one from leaving, especially as it was a gift. Fingers crossed I don’t get diverted ……
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The T word strikes fear into gardeners here. Have you seen Lagerstroemia speciosa?
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I’ve seen pictures of it and drooled!
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I keep thinking I will plant some instead of killing another T.
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I wonder if it will do here ……..?
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In a pot not frost tolerant..Lagerstroemia indica is frost tolerant. Check out Muskogee Crape Myrtle.
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Thanks, will check it out.
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What?! How can you compare those two? There is nothing as purplish blue as the T! Crape myrtle is such a trashy common default tree here. That is why I often spell it without the ‘e’ in ‘crape’. No one wants to prune in severely enough to promote the real flashy bloom that it is capable of. Oh my; did I just rant again?
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You are ranting. We were talking about the tropical L.speciosa, Queen’s Crape Myrtle – check it out. Zone 10 plant.
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hmmm, still no replacement for T.
It is interesting that the tropical species looks something like the common specie that does better with (un-tropical) extremes of weather. The common specie does (too) well here, but does even better where winters are cooler. I believe that the tropical species is in San Diego, albeit uncommon. However, I do not remember ever seeing it in the Los Angeles area. Now you got my attention though. An alternative to the common crape myrtle? Hmmmmm (again).
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I have confused the Queen’s Crape with Tibo, the tree in different in habit from the Crap Myrtle.
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Different in habit would not be a problem. It just means that it would be used differently, like so many other trees. The common crape myrtle has many attributes. I just dislike it so because of what it is. Something with similar attributes that is NOT the common crape myrtle sounds appealing. Does it happen to have comparable color in autumn? I know that would be too much to ask of a tropical specie
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If that Tibouchina makes it through the winter, please let me know how you managed it.
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Interesting species! Dahlia is still flowering here 🙂 so why do you want to rush yours?
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That is good to hear, have they bulked up nicely?
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Do you have to put it in the greenhouse for winter (lock it in to prevent it from leaving, presumably).?
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Unfortunately I don’t have a greenhouse big enough (only a weeny plastic one with holes in it). It will be wrapped in fleece and snuggled up with the others.
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Yup. The long finger of blame pointing at everything and everyone else……. Congratulations on making it past the scaffolding and builders’ bums to take that photo. Hey, will we get six bums on Saturday? As long as they’re all in your garden …..
Uh, no thanks.
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Rest assured Saturday will be a bum free zone!
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That Tibouchina will be lovely when it opens. I have some dawdlers here, including my Salvia microphylla, probably ‘Kew Red’, the one I gave you a cutting from. It is usually in flower by July, it has only just opened some flowers this past week. Tardy indeed!
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Glad my lot are not alone!
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You are not alone, and many of my plants have gone over very quickly after bursting into a delayed blooming. I had to correct ‘pants’ to ‘plants’, that would have sounded strange!!
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But much funnier 🙂
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So glad to hear that the Tibouchina is doing its stuff in new surroundings! It survived its first winter with just a fleecy wrap in an unheated greenhouse – so not a particularly delicate flower this one?! My transported Salvia, Fushias and Pelargoniums are all enjoying the early Autumn sunshine too – all in full bloom still 🙂
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It is much loved! Glad to hear your plants are doing well, hope you are all too x
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Some of my dahlias are stubbornly clinging to their unopened buds, and the temperature is going down day by day. Eeek.
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