Beware! Jatropha is a large genus (nearly 200 species).....All of which are poisonous to some degree-several are deadly! There is one Jatropha commonly grown here in Florida that attains small tree proportions that for some reason many people think is a Pistachio tree (?). Nope; and eating enough of the "nuts" may kill you....not even in the same plant family as the real Pistachio. breaking g., where do you live in Northern Queensland?

Hi Jim, Thank you for the detailed account of these two sweet plants. I have been to a talk about what triggers blooming, and it is mostly photo-periods. For some tropical plants and bulbs it could be the onset of dry season or wet season. One consensus is that there seems to be no "blooming hormone" so to speak, and a plant will bloom when it is mature and well-nourished. Since your fiddlewood is healthy and mature, maybe you can adjust your watering schedule to simulate habitat rain pattern. Many plants do bloom better when they are stressed a little bit. I am growing quite a few plants that are not hardy in my area. One Artabotrys is already over 6' tall and I wonder if I will be able to see my Cananga odorata seedling bloom before it gets too tall. I guess we just have to accept that these plants will only provide a shorter than normal period of enjoyment out of its native range, but certain plants can last quite some time. For example, I saw many Osmanthus fragrans f. aurantiacus in half-barrel containers with 4"-diameter trunks in gardens in Beijing. They must be at least 20 years old and they bloom reliably at very manageable sizes.

Tigerdawn, love your pink hellebore!! Do you have white? Want white? Want to trade seed? I only have white. (Sorry Larry, but your thread has been hijacked.) Things that are green in my yard right now include boxwood, spruce, camellia, rhodies, euonymus, holly, nandina,(flushed with burgundy) oxalis, hardy autumnblooming cyclamen, ajuga, lambsear, rose campion (these two are silver) Shasta Daisy and in the garden the arugula, winter onion, garlic, leeks, carrots, cilantro and kale are all still alive and green. And the windbreak on the north side of the orchard is a row of pine trees we planted 30 years ago. And then of course there are the winter weeds in the lawn. Henbit, chickweed, wild violets are all out there now. We never weedkill in our lawn so it looks green all winter. And much of it is fescue and that stays green all winter.

Where is this located ? Could be Puya.