Tropicals & Tender Perennials: Iochroma cyanea , 1 by PudgyMudpies

PudgyMudpies wrote:
I have a few of these, the plum beauty, white, red and the royal blue. I love them all! they get really big and do great in the ground, not so good in pots. They also need full sun. They are brug relatives and are prone to the same pests, aphid, scale, whitefly to name a few. Oh, and not to forget the ever popular mealy bug...HA
They tend not to bloom in the pots because no matter how big a pot I put them in, the roots are quick to fill it and they are always thirsty, even with daily waterings. The ones I have in the ground are content with the regular watering I do in my flowerbeds. These get easily 6 foot tall and need support as they get really lanky. I usually put a large tomato cage around them while small and when they get big, which is QUICK, they complete hide it and I am not stuck trying to stake it. Mine freeze to the ground and come back on their own. The royal blue did not come back in the spring and I thought it was a goner, which surprised me since it was the one I had the most years, so I set the pot by the trash and forgot about it and I noticed in June, it started sprouting and had not even been watered since Spring. So these really are tougher then I thought. I notice when I fertilize mine, I do not get blooms. Was kind of surprised by this as they are brug relatives, maybe others have had better success with that. But regardless, I don't think you can go wrong with iochroma. From what I have read, actnistus is supposed to be the old name of iochroma, but I have my doubts about that as the iochroma have long slender tubular flowers about the diameter of a pencil, and the actnistus I have are shorter and have a wider, flaring skirt. Kartuz has a great selection (annies annuals has some too which is where I got a few of mine) but have never bought from them, I just use them as a reference.

Here is my plum beauty which is blooming like crazy right now. Hope I helped. :~)