In article ,
says...
Anyone know how to make on of these flower? We've tried everything,
small pot/ground/large pot left it out, put it in cold greenhouse, warm
greenhouse. Pruned it left it. The blasted thing refuses to flower for
the past 8 years!!

Janet

Janet if you are talking Tibouchina urvilleana and you have not allready
done so prune and repot in early spring but leave the pot inside untill
mid April to recover (you may be a bit late this year), once the weather
men stop threatening frost it can go outside for the summer in a warm
spot, lots of water in summer and not too much shade, bring the pot back
in during September it should be just starting to flower. Things that
stop flowering are frost/cutting back at the wrong time, lack of
water/draughting, but other than that they are pretty bomb proof. Leaving
mine out in the ground I never get flowers although the plants come back
from the roots each year, so I always have some pot fulls for plunging
There are however many other Tibouchina species, heteromala, grandifolia,
paratropica, etc apart from paratropica all are less hardy than
urvilleana but all can be made to flower in the same way allthough I find
they are more sensitive to wet in winter and can die from botrytis if not
well ventilated
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea