Lapageria

This is one of those plants worth the greenhouse space if you can't grow it outside, which we can't. An evergreen vine from Chile where it is the national flower and once you see this bloom, it will likely be your personal national flower as well. Big waxy pendant flowers of typically a rose red, but can be white to pink to dark red. These are seedlings from our friend Ilse who has some of these other colors as well. While these are seed from her rose red plant, there may have been some interesting co-mingling going on with the greenhouse doors open at night and the hawk moths out and about, but pretty sure these will be rose red.

These normally flower in late summer and fall, and we were entranced by beautiful specimens in bloom when we visited the west of Scotland in the fall of 2013. A memorable moment was getting asked to leave the Chilean Terrace at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh where this was flowering beautifully against a wall. We have no idea how they found us at closing time as we were one with the Lapageria and our pleas "But the Lapageria is in flower" were met with polite firmness and an aura of "If I just had a few bob for every time I've heard that". Small plants but strong and well rooted.