"Nick Maclaren" wrote
Can anyone grow these things outside and, if so where and how? They
seem to hate any temperature below 25 Celcius, or even the slightest
lack of water. I am really not into mollycoddling adult plants.

We grew them once in large pots with water trays in full sun and did very
well, got a first in the local show, but have never been able to repeat the
process. Yes, it did take a lot of daily TLC and it was a warm summer.
In the ground we have never been able to get a good crop, the plants just
seem to take too long to mature and flower, perhaps if they were got going
very early in a heated greenhouse and planted against a S. facing wall (sun
trap) and constantly watered (drip or seep) and fed they might do well ( I
suspect they like a damp atmosphere too).
We decided it wasn't worth the bother for the few we use.

--
Regards
Bob H
17mls W. of London.UK