Tibouchina

This is one of my favourites - a tree which in full bloom produces masses of purple flowers - and as purple is my favourite colour, I am a big fan of the tree.   We had a healthy tree in our garden at Wynnum West, but my new abode has nothing other than ground cover.  And my pot plants - those which have survived my moves and travels.

The Tibouchina is native of South America.

Tibouchina

This year the Tibouchina is blooming beautifully. Around the suburbs this brilliant splash of purple. The bushes are around 8 - 10 feet tall, and the purple blooms flourish with the sort of weather we have been having lately. It had been dry, and then the rains came, which somehow stimulated the prolific flowers.

Sadly the flowers do not last long, and do not do well in a vase, but when the spent blooms drop there seems to be many more coming along so the 'season' can be quite long and they often have two or more blooming seasons.

The photos above are of my plant which is beside the side fence.

This variety is most likely Tibouchina Alstonville.

Tibouchina

My Tibouchina are looking a bit bedgraggled. Of course the lack of water with the drought is one cause, though they get quite a bit of water as I empty my washing machine water near the base of the tree.

The greatest cause of mischief the plant is the passionfruit vine that sprung from nowhere, and despite the drought has produced an amazing crop. I've preserved them, I've given them away, I've frozen them, I've eaten them - and still can't keep up with them.

The weight of the heavily laden vine has broken branches on the Tibouchina bush - because it is somewhere beneath that the passionfruit vine has sprung from.

Soon the passionfruit crop will be finished, and then I can try and revive the Tibouchina. In spring it should be a mass of purple flowers.