12/18/2023 0 Comments Tibouchina trees![]() ![]() Ken Dunstan also developed some other Tibouchina cultivars, named after members of his family, including 'Noelene' (flowers begin white then turn to lilac-pink as they age pictured above) and 'Kathleen' (bright pink flowers). ![]() They can be propagated by cuttings in late spring and summer. If you decide your specimen is just too tall, you can prune it very hard at that time and it will recover! This can be done in stages to reduce the shock on the plant. Pruning will depend on whether you want a shrub or tree shape - but even if you are training your Tibouchina into a tree, light pruning around August of the spent flower-heads will be beneficial. Regular moisture will help them to establish - after a while, they are fairly drought tolerant if summers are very dry, they will appreciate some moisture every so often. They enjoy a sunny position (flowering will be sparse in a shady spot and the growth habit will be lanky), and like a soil with organic matter incorporated in at the time of planting. These plants may be difficult to establish in areas with very frosty winters, unless given protection in their early years and/or planted against a sunny wall. Tibouchina Noelene, developed by Ken Dunstan, breeder of Tibouchina Alstonville ![]() Tibouchina flowers are also striking when paired with the foliage of red Iresine herbstii 'Brilliantissima', which glows like exotic cellophane, or the burgundy chenille tassels of annual Amaranthus caudatus, which achieves shrub-like stature by autumn. They also look stunning grown against a background of autumn-colouring trees or near autumn-berrying trees or shrubs. True drama can be achieved by pairing the purple flowers with some of the brilliant orange or red blooms of autumn, such as Canna and Dahlia, the bird-like blooms of Strelitzia or red Pentas. Tibouchina can be grown in many tasteful planting schemes of pinks, white, blues and other purples, such as with Camellia sasanqua, crepe myrtles, Salvia (especially some of the tall-growing autumn-flowering ones), and Brugmansia. I am not sure how high it will go left unpruned - apparently they sometimes can get to 12 m, though 5 m seems to be the usual height! Anyway, at the moment it fits in well to my semitropical-style garden, and its large veined leaves provide welcome background greenery in every season. They can be shaped as small trees by training to a single trunk, which is what I have now done with my new one, due to pure laziness, after years of cutting back very heavily in late winter so that the shrub would stay around 3 m in height. Tibouchina Alstonville with Salvia elegans Golden Delicious ![]()
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