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Strobilanthes is a large genus and some of the species are moderately hardy. Unfortunately, that leaves the rest.
Information is quite limited so distinguishing the hardy from the tender is difficult. The easiest way it to buy an
unknown species and give it a try. Strobilanthes anisophylla is hardy in New Zealand and it has good enough foliage to be worth a try. The leaves were its downfall. It produced very dense growth and rapidly filled the pot with root. I was keen to keep it under cover through the winter so I put off repotting it until the spring, by which time it had dried out and died. I still don't know how hardy it would be (though it seems to have slipped off nursery lists) and if I see another I will try again. In 2017 I got a second chance and kept it through several winters in the greenhouse. It seems to winter best as relatively young plant so I was trying to propagate it frequently but in 2020 I forgot and lost the stock plant again. Singapore National Park say on their Flora and Fauna web: " An erect and bushy herbaceous plant, able to grow up to about 1.5 m tall and 0.8 wide. Dark purplish green leaves, opposite, lanceolate and slightly toothed margins, measuring about 11 cm long by 2 cm wide, foliage tends to be unequal in size. Light purple flowers are in a cone-shaped inflorescence, measuring up to about 5 cm long." There is a selected cultivar, S. a. 'Lankveld15' BRUNETTHY which is currently being distributed under Plant Breeders Rights. Plants of the World online says: "The native range of this species is Bhutan to Bangladesh. It is a perennial or subshrub and grows primarily in the subtropical biome." |
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| 8th October 2010 | ||
