What are the weirdest? rarest? or most unusual plant you grow?

[Palm crazy]

And the Winner has to be this plant which is hand made from a Dutch sculpture ( Cedric Laquieze) who makes creepy looking animal plants. 

 

[Cindy Adair]

On March 24, 2012 at 1:53:45 AM, Randall SD said:

 

Here it is in full bloom last August . I'm not sure how they would do in S. Florida as they're originally from a cool mountain cloud forest in southern Mexico. For me here in San Diego

they seem to tolerate the summer sun and heat planted against the north side of my house. I don't know if anyone has tried growing them there, it might be worth a try in a sheltered

shady location or even as a house plant..

I love these flowers! I have several in pots grown from seed with the biggest about 4 feet tall but no flower buds yet. Hoping this will be the year!

[Cindy Adair]

On June 11, 2017 at 4:30:31 PM, Palm crazy said:

And the Winner has to be this plant which is hand made from a Dutch sculpture ( Cedric Laquieze) who makes creepy looking animal plants. 

 

This is the stuff of nightmares!

[Palm crazy]

1 hour ago, Cindy Adair said:

This is the stuff of nightmares!

Yeah that one is scary all right. He’s mostly famous for making fairies out of bugs that are quite nice. 

 

1 hour ago, Cindy Adair said:

I love these flowers! I have several in pots grown from seed with the biggest about 4 feet tall but no flower buds yet. Hoping this will be the year!

If only this cool plant was hardier I would grow it too. Last thing I need is another non hardy plant, LOL! 

[greysrigging]

I think the Western Australian Christmas Tree would have to be up there with the most interesting, weird and difficult plants to grow in cultivation. They are spectacular when in full bloom in December/January.

http://esperancewildflowers.blogspot.com.au/2011/01/nuytsia-floribunda-wa-christmas-tree.html

https://griffithreview.com/articles/striking-parasite/

http://www.australiannativenursery.com.au/2015/12/02/wa-christmas-tree/

[Hillizard]

On 6/9/2017, 1:58:17, Hillizard said:

I think the motto of my tough little Butea monosperma is: "Never give up. Never surrender." I had given up hope personally that it was still alive after overwintering it indoors, but I just noticed today it's regenerating outside on my patio where I had "abandoned" it to the elements. Now if I can just protect it from insects...

Here's an updated picture of my Butea, which has regenerated nicely outdoors from what I had assumed was a dead plant. Overwintering it will be the challenge, even in my sunroom. I couldn't even predict if it'll ever bloom for me.

[Hillizard]

On 6/19/2017 at 1:37 AM, greysrigging said:

I think the Western Australian Christmas Tree would have to be up there with the most interesting, weird and difficult plants to grow in cultivation. They are spectacular when in full bloom in December/January.

http://esperancewildflowers.blogspot.com.au/2011/01/nuytsia-floribunda-wa-christmas-tree.html

https://griffithreview.com/articles/striking-parasite/

http://www.australiannativenursery.com.au/2015/12/02/wa-christmas-tree/

Here's another article on Nuytsia I just saw: http://www.indefenseofplants.com/blog/2019/1/9/the-largest-misteltoe Such an amazing hemiparasite!

 

[Meangreen94z]

My weirdest looking would probably be my fouquieria Columnaris(Boojum Tree) from Baja California . Here’s mine:

heres some more mature specimen:

[Meangreen94z]

I snapped a few pictures of my Agave Utahensis var. Nevadensis . I figure this falls under an oddity on a palm forum.

[waykoolplantz]

Fall is not a word you wanna hear when looking at this plant.

[greysrigging]

Some weird ( in my limited experience ) succulent plant I spied in a mate's yard in South Australia.... no idea what it is but a cutting made the 2500 mile trip home and I'm waiting to see if it survives...

 

 

[Marius]

On 3/23/2012 at 3:58 PM, Eric in Orlando said:

I think the weirdest/oddest plant of all time is Welwitschia mirabilis. It grows in the Namib Desert of SW Africa and can live for hundreds of years. Some are claimed to be over 1000 years old. They only grow 2 leaves their entire life and the often split at the base giving it the appearance of more than 2. They are a gymnosperm and their closest relatives would be pines. They are a primitive "living fossil".

Here are some of the Welwitschias being grown at Kirstenbosch in Cape Town.  They are young plants that were grown from seeds. 

On the right in the second picture is Hoodia 

[Marius]

My weirdest is my thorny Euryale ferox water lilies 

[Than]

On 6/11/2017 at 11:11 PM, Palm crazy said:

That is some blackish leaves, what the heck is it? Very cool. 

Pentagonia wendlandii?

[Darold Petty]

I have the red leafbase form of Geonoma undata, restricted to one tiny area in southern Ecuador, distributed by the late Dick Endt, and an undescribed Anthurium species from 8500 feet asl near Loja, Ecuador. 

In my greenhouse I currently have very small starts of Dietes robinsoniana ! 

PS  No Photoshop here, I am clueless about digital stuff, and can barely deal with my phone.     

   

[metalfan]

My most rare plant is not al that rare I am sure on this particular site, but no one where I live has one, so there is that. Pelagadoxa henryana

My 2nd would be Darian palm

[Sevilla]

Once I have grown this cool specie:

 

It is a carnivorous plant, but not from flooded or swamp habitats, it grows in costal arid region from South of Spain. Its closest relatives are a weird species of african tropical plants. But it is a difficult plant to grow. 

Edited December 19, 2023 by Sevilla

[Darold Petty]

Sevilla, please tell us the scientific, (latin binomial),  name of this plant.   

[Silas_Sancona]

6 hours ago, Sevilla said:

Once I have grown this cool specie:

 

It is a carnivorous plant, but not from flooded or swamp habitats, it grows in costal arid region from South of Spain. Its closest relatives are a weird species of african tropical plants. But it is a difficult plant to grow. 

Have seen these in a collector's collection once.. Very intriguing, esp. since it is one of the few Carnivorous plants that will grow in dry habitats ( Clearings, often near Pine and Cork Oak, or Heather ).

[Silas_Sancona]

20 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Have seen these in a collector's collection once.. Very intriguing, esp. since it is one of the few Carnivorous plants that will grow in dry habitats ( Clearings, often near Pine and Cork Oak, or Heather ).

Really good article from Botany One discussing how fire effects these plants ( helps more than hurts them )  ..Very similar to numerous plants here, and in California which need fire to reproduce properly.

https://botany.one/2017/09/carnivorous-plant-needs-home-burn/

[Sevilla]

 

16 hours ago, Darold Petty said:

Sevilla, please tell us the scientific, (latin binomial),  name of this plant.   

Drosophyllum lusitanicum. 

[subsonicdrone]

my aloe barberae from seed is my weirdest plant at the moment

[Silas_Sancona]

1 hour ago, subsonicdrone said:

my aloe barberae from seed is my weirdest plant at the moment

Picture?

[subsonicdrone]

I forgot about my  pachypodium 

 

here are some pics of the aloe

I buried it a bit deeper when I potted it up last

it was in the same pot but with only a small amount of soil in the bottom of the pot for quite a while (like a couple years)

I cleaned a bunch of mealybugs off it for the pics... good motivation to clean it thoroughly... thank you

 

[Silas_Sancona]

6 minutes ago, subsonicdrone said:

I forgot about my  pachypodium 

 

here are some pics of the aloe

I buried it a bit deeper when I potted it up last

it was in the same pot but with only a small amount of soil in the bottom of the pot for quite a while (like a couple years)

I cleaned a bunch of mealybugs off it for the pics... good motivation to clean it thoroughly... thank you

 

Very nice specimen

[Tom in Tucson]

On 3/7/2019 at 3:58 PM, greysrigging said:

Some weird ( in my limited experience ) succulent plant I spied in a mate's yard in South Australia.... no idea what it is but a cutting made the 2500 mile trip home and I'm waiting to see if it survives...

 

 

This appears to be a rare and beautiful cactus currently called Haageocereus lanugispinus. How is that cutting doing?

Hi 55°, Lo 46° Dec 23 .05"

[greysrigging]

On 12/25/2023 at 12:16 AM, Tom in Tucson said:

This appears to be a rare and beautiful cactus currently called Haageocereus lanugispinus. How is that cutting doing?

Hi 55°, Lo 46° Dec 23 .05"

Nope, didn't survive my climate, but the piece I gave my mother is thriving ( near Sydney )

[tropicbreeze]

Aroids are amongst some of the most unusual.

Amorphophallus gigas, grown near bamboo for support in case of any windy stormy weather. Overall height is about 3 metres.

The petiole (stem) about 2 metres with the spathe and spadix about 1 metre.

The actual flowers are clustered on the bottom part of the spadix, female on the bottom and males above them. They're not self-fertile, the male and female flowers aren't synchronised. Pollen must be brought in from another plant.

 

 

[piping plovers]

Though not tropical, the Fagus sylvatica 'Purple Fountain' (a European weeping beech cultivar) in my garden receives the most comments of any plant I grow.  Here it is looking particularly menacing and haunted with its springtime growth (1st photo ). All it needs is a black raven perched in the branches for Halloween.

 

after a haircut. Foliage really darkens by June.

 

[Rivera]

It may only be unusual in the way of considering such a diminutive genus the crown jewel of a garden, but the Dudleya are my favorite. Quite a few species and hybrids are represented, some common and others less so. 

Dudleya brittonii x D. virens ssp. hassei surrounded by Dudleya nubigena. 

[Than]

On 7/19/2017 at 8:19 PM, Hillizard said:

Here's an updated picture of my Butea, which has regenerated nicely outdoors from what I had assumed was a dead plant. Overwintering it will be the challenge, even in my sunroom. I couldn't even predict if it'll ever bloom for me.

updates? 

[happypalms]

On 12/19/2023 at 5:48 AM, metalfan said:

My most rare plant is not al that rare I am sure on this particular site, but no one where I live has one, so there is that. Pelagadoxa henryana

My 2nd would be Darian palm

Nice palm and setup 

[Hillizard]

9 hours ago, Than said:

updates? 

My Butea continues to grow over the past few years, but no flowers yet. I bring it indoors each winter and it drops all its leaves for a few months. When all risk of frost is past, I take it back outdoors where it gets direct sun half the day in an eastern exposure.

[Than]

36 minutes ago, Hillizard said:

My Butea continues to grow over the past few years, but no flowers yet. I bring it indoors each winter and it drops all its leaves for a few months. When all risk of frost is past, I take it back outdoors where it gets direct sun half the day in an eastern exposure.

Oh I thought you kept it outside all year round. Where in northern California are you? You reckon it wouldn't take the cold temps?

[metalfan]

Thanks Happypalm. They are bigger now LOL. I used to have a big Salacca magnifica. I had to remove it unfortunately, it got very dangerous

[Hillizard]

5 hours ago, Than said:

Oh I thought you kept it outside all year round. Where in northern California are you? You reckon it wouldn't take the cold temps?

Than:  I live in the Sacramento suburbs. I'll wait until the Butea has woodier stems before I try it outdoors in the winter. Same thing with my pink-flowered Pseudobombax ellipticum. For December through March they'll both stay indoors and keep my Erythrina acanthocarpa company! 😉

[Than]

3 hours ago, Hillizard said:

Than:  I live in the Sacramento suburbs. I'll wait until the Butea has woodier stems before I try it outdoors in the winter. Same thing with my pink-flowered Pseudobombax ellipticum. For December through March they'll both stay indoors and keep my Erythrina acanthocarpa company! 😉

Aha. We are in very similar climates then. I'm also in 9b. I'll watch your posts closely hehe

[Cindy Adair]

On 7/19/2017 at 1:19 PM, Hillizard said:

Here's an updated picture of my Butea, which has regenerated nicely outdoors from what I had assumed was a dead plant. Overwintering it will be the challenge, even in my sunroom. I couldn't even predict if it'll ever bloom for me.

I just took a photo of my awkward looking Butea overdue for pruning after Hurricane María dealt a blow in 2017.

No buds yet.