How to Grow Honeyberries

Native to South Africa, Streptocarpus – or Cape primrose – are lovely house plants that are grown for their fresh green leaves and pretty, primrose-like flowers in the UK. The flowers come in a wide range of colours, from white to pink, blues and purples, lemon yellow and red, and they are often bi-coloured. They bloom from spring though to autumn, offering a long-lasting display. Plants in the ‘Crystal’ series flower for even longer, and may even flower all year.

Are you dreaming of an exotic garden full of flowers with hard to pronounce names that will awe your guests? An understandable dream. But most tropical green life are not meant to grow in the weather conditions that the UK offers.

Photo by Agence Producteurs Locaux Damien Kühn on Unsplash

Loofah plant (Luffa cylindrica) is a vigorous, frost-tender climber grown for its edible, cucumber-like fruit that doubles up as an exfoliating sponge when dry and mature. Other names for it include luffa, vegetable sponge, washing gourd and sponge gourd.

Hollyhock family are from the Alcea genus but I couldn’t find a UK supplier of the variety above..

The Brown Turkey fig, Ficus carica, produces large, sweet, juicy figs even in British conditions.

Flowering Cherry trees contribute most to the floral pageantry of spring blossom and they are easy to grow. Cherries are graceful and well shaped trees and many varieties have excellent Autumn colour. (Scarlet leaves of Prunus sargentii and pubesens, yellow of hybrids Pandora or Tai-Haku or coppery Ukon.)

Bamboo is an intriguing plant, which contains over 1,200 species ranging from specimens 6 inches tall, to varieties which can grow upto a foot a day and reach over 130 feet. With the 1,200 species there are varieties which deserve a reputation for being an invasive plant. In the above picture, you can see how the bamboo is spreading away from the wall and is popping up in the middle of the front garden. This particular variety is not too bad, and digging up the rogue runners once a year is sufficient to keep it in check.

The pomegranate is a native of Iran and Pakistan. The shrub or small tree bears bright red flowers and juicy, if seedy fruit. Even if placed in the sunniest, warmest part of the garden they will suffer in the UK but with global warming who knows.

Arisaema sikokianum is a herbaceous perennial plant with vertically patterned  flowers.

Bromeliads are members of the Bromeliaceae plant family. They typically have striking, sword-shaped leaves and a bright, unusual-looking bloom, which is actually a bract surrounding an insignificant flower. They hail from tropical rainforests, where they grow naturally on the bark of trees, rather than in the ground. Their roots are used to grip on to their host, and they get moisture from a central ‘tank’ or ‘vase’ in the middle of the rosette of leaves that fills with water whenever it rains. In the wild, frogs sometimes raise their young in these tanks.

Honeyberries are deciduous shrubs in the honeysuckle or Caprifoliaceae family. Also known as the blue honeysuckle or edible honeysuckle, their native range includes Siberia and Japan. These hardy, low maintenance bushes have become popular in the UK recently. Unlike blueberries, they thrive in both acid and alkaline soils, and they make a fantastic addition to a fruit garden or a warm, sunny border.