Sunday 15 February 2009

basal flowering tappenbeckianus








Whilst potting around in the garden this morning, I noticed that my Costus tappenbeckianus had produced basal flowers. Although I read about this before, I have never seen it, so naturally I was rather thrilled.  

The Costus tappenbeckianus is highly attractive because it produces lilac \ pink flowers and has lush double-toned foliage which spirals gracefully upwards. It is also one of the very few costuses which produces flowers both at the base of the plant and on the terminal ends of the stems. The photos above depict how the flowers would look in either case.

Costus tappenbeckianus is one of the easiest costus to grow and cultivate. They root readily from stem cuttings and do especially well in a compost / volcanic soil mix. They can also be grown from offshoots which emerge from the stems and these can be removed when roots start to appear. As it only started flowering after I transplanted it into the ground, I gather it probably does do as well in pots. 

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