Some of the special and unusual plants I am growing in containers include:

Western Chokecherry
California Pipevine
California False Indigo
Dianthus superbus
Granadilla Passionflower
Hops
and White Alpine Strawberries

These plants are really performing well!

Joe: I get my Irises from a local grower/hybridizer. The newly dug rhizomes (end of July) don't survive our summers when new. The past two years I've potted them up to grow roots for a year. Last year I had so many that I was putting them in anything available..... even really nice pots that were wide and more shallow. This spring I've put the blooming pots out in the gardens to "show-off" and fill spaces where it's a little dreary. I'll make ground cages later and put the rooted irises in their permanent locations. But, for awhile anyway, I have Irises everywhere.

{{gwi:533988}}

cinnamomon Zeylanicum...suffering from being outdoors all winter. Sugar cane..
Ice cream Banana
Manila mango
Lemon guava.
Agave Americana
blueberries...rare in sacramento!
justicia... needs to go in the ground

Aloe polyphylla with red nasturtium and a Pachypodium

Clematis crispa with Viola 'Merlin', Muhlenbeckia (wire vine) and a little euphorbia called 'Diamond Frost'

Manetta vine with 'Blue Morn' Petunias' and Gloriosa Lily

Oro Blanco grapefruit with Huldine Clematis

Phormium 'Ed Carmen' with a large curly parsley, Gladiola cardinalis and 'Atom' Gladiolas (I had scarlet tulips in there for spring)

Lots of different South African bulbs (particularly Lachenalia species)

Aeonium 'Zwartkopf' with a couple of Lachenalia contaminata.

Phormium 'Jester' with bunny grass, a white Dahlia, and a red and white pelargonium

Carex buchanii, daffodils, and Clarkia tenella 'Lady in Blue'

Kangaroo paws with Ageratum (which is NOT annual...that sucker has been blooming non stop for going on 3 years...including all through winter), Asarina vine and salpiglossus.

'Purple Chariot' trailing rose with 'Gold and Pearls' Bacopa and Hagley Hybrid Clematis.

Jiro Shidare Jap. Maple with Fuchsia magellanica, yellow lamium and Heliotrope

'Gold and Pearls' Bacopa with an orange Lily and some species tulips.

Stephanotis with a Hosta, species Begonia, and purple tradescantia

Ebb Tide tree rose with edible strawberrys, Sisyrinchium striata and some bronze violas

and lots and lots of succulents, tropical stuff, bulbs, Japanese maples, Fuchsias, Begonias and whatever.

Mosses, lycopodiums, selaginellas (north temperate species), local opuntia species, dietes, orchids galore,
cattails, iris versicolor, ranunculus repens (not easy in containers), peas, salvia spatheca, Venegasia carpesoides-a very nice plant for a 2 gallon pot!, a hodge podge of trees and shrubs as well as ferns, different aquatic plants and a few carnivorous plants, equisetum, and my mom's Arucaria excelsa (Norfolk Island Pine)! There are more but I would have to go look!!!

Michelia foggi, Michelia alba, Michela champaca, Manglietia insignis 'Red Lotus Tree,' a superdwarf wisteria 'Kofuji,' a dwarf ginko 'Chi Chi,' a dwarf redwood tree, a dwarf Arbutus unedo 'Elfin King,' Hylocereus costaricensis, guatamalensis, undatus "Vietnamese" and 'Alice Snow,' Cherimoya 'El Bumpo' and 'Elixir,' a variegated Copa de Oro, Rosa "Secret Garden Musk Climber," Inga goldhammi, Crinum 'Sangria,' assorted fat plants, and around forty Plumeria, most named hybrids one very rare species collected from the hillsides of Zacatecas Mexico.

I have Muhlenbeckia (wire vine) in a large pot, with smaller pots of hybrid rhizomatous begonias set in the middle. Wire vine makes a lovely cascade when in a pot.

Also, Gloriosa Lily in (lower) pot set so that it can intertwine with euphorbia cotinifolia (separate pot - with purple-bronze bromeliads/neoregelias and Persicaria microcephala 'Red Dragon'.)

Aeonium 'Zwartkopf' under-planted with plectranthus discolor Green & Gold.

Strobilanthus, species geranium, Lysimachia clethroides, bronze-leaved cane begonia

Plectranthus discolor Green & Gold with geranium "JohnsonÂs Blue"

Haloragis erecta "Wellington Bronze" with red and dark pink hypoestes phyllostachya

Acer palmatum "Blood Good" with plectranthus madagascariensis.

Persicaria "PainterÂs Palette" with variegated small-leaved ivy.

Vinca major 'Variegata', plectranthus discolor "Green & Gold", impatiens balfouri, bronze-leaved cane begonia

Tibouchina heteromalla, salvia "ÂWaverlyÂ, yellow callas


Cuttings that I put in various pots (besides plectranthus discolor!) are Houttuynia cordata 'Chameleon', purple tradescantia, Rhoeo spathacea and plectranthus argentatus. (As you have guessed by now, various plectranthus species grow well in my micro-climate.)

Also have Davallia trichomanoides (squirrelÂs foot fern) growing in a wire basket hung on a wooden fence. The fern has covered the basket and spread onto the boards and is gradually covering the planks in the area.

Thanks to Wanda for many great ideas. And thanks to Joe for starting this thread. And to all the others who have allowed me a little peak inside their gardens, and their plant passions.

WOW!!!

So MUCH great stuff.

Except for westelle's wonderfully "romantic" iris photo (looks like a Renaissance painting), I don't see any other shots.

I have to start looking up some of this plant material.

Thanks all,
Joe

Nancy, I'm in Westchester......just where do you go to get your fabulous sounding plants? I've been looking for a nursery that carries some unusual stuff.

Hi Heather1,

It is so cool that you can grow:

Ice cream Banana
Manila mango
Agave Americana

in Sacto. I didn't know that it could be done. Where did you get the Manila Mango tree?

Cheers,

Angelique

Little Ollie (fruitless olive)
Bay Laurel
Strawberry (Arbutus) tree/bush
Limequat
Fig
Climbing Rose (Don Juan)
Blueberries
Kangaroo Paws
All doing well and are 2-3 years in pots.

I'm growing Grapes, Issai Kiwi, Black Satin Blackberries, Baba Raspberries, Heritage Raspberries,lemon grass and Black Raspberries.

Fairy fans (Clarkia breweri) -- heavenly fragrance. Available from Annie's Annuals.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fairy fans