Pachystachys lutea 'Golden Candles'
In 1974,The Australian Garden Lover Magazine described this as ' one of the latest indoor plants to hit Australia coming here via Belgium from its native lands of tropical America and the West Indies.' Since then it has graduated to being a reasonably well know garden shrub for warm temperate to tropical gardens especially useful to brighten shady spots. Its main attribute being its capacity for a long flowering time ,starting in a pot when it is about 30cm high, and continuing even into the middle of winter. It has been used to great effect with some cane stem Begonias in the shade of some big Fig trees in Centennial Parklands in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. Needless to say it is regarded as a bit of a "weed" in Trinidad where it is seen along the water courses of cocoa plantations.
2017 update: It will grow in some sun.I don't have any stock at the moment, but small plants are available from the Growing Friends Nursery at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney
2017 update: It will grow in some sun.I don't have any stock at the moment, but small plants are available from the Growing Friends Nursery at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney
A slightly finnicky species, but once you get it to grow it can form lovely specimens, even in deep dry tropical shade. Once it starts flowering an armada of butterflies hovers around the shrub - a delight only coming to an end when flowering has subsided and plants are pruned back. That is the time to delight all your friends with new plants for their garden, or be a suck and just keep them for yourself until the garden overflows (so far we're sucks / sooks / whatever, but that will change some time down the road ☺).
ReplyDeleteI saw it mass planted in Bali last year in full sun and looking terrific. I propagated a batch this summer but I think it will be a couple of years before they become saleable plants.
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