Villa di Taranto - stunningly beautiful Botanic Garden at Lago Maggiore / Italy

[@FruitingPlanet]

The plant at 19:45 is most likely a camelia japonica variety or hybrid, sadly i am pretty sure it is not a Eugenia and certanly not Eugenia uniflora if you look at the leaf order, type of gloss, serration, the bark and shrub habitus. The literature states E. uniflora to be able to survive -5 C° as a mature plant, so maybe it is possible to grow it in the best microclimates around Lago Maggiore, maybe even Mango with protection too as i´ve heared from the central florida growers that most of their Mangos only died below -4 C° except for the young plants.Even Litchi chinensis can tolerate up to about -5 C° when it is dormant(they are easy to put into dormancy and drop their leaves just by cool temperatures for a few weeks)

[@FruitingPlanet]

The Edgeworthia at 50:02 is a really nice ornamental plant, it flowers during winter/very early spring in large clusters and smells nice too. Especially combined with other winter flowering shrubs like Chimonanthus praecox, Viburnum farreri(or x bodnadense) and Prunus subhirtella 'Autumnalis Rosea' you can make a garden arrangement that flowers during mild winter days, sometimes even while it's still snowy, Edgeworthia is not hardy in all parts of germany though, only in the milder regions.

[@azael1474]

I'm from near Lago maggiore and this plant used to be a popular garden plant (it's now fallen out of fashion). It's one of those plant which blooms very early while it's still winter and before any leaf has sprouted, which is nice in colder (for italian standards) regions.

[@azael1474]

I was in Villa Taranto last time during Easter. I agree it's worth any penny, I should actually cost more! I was there for the Davidia/Handkerchief Tree bloom and it was absolutely majestic. There are also some other younger hybrids around the lake which have been selected for even larger flowers, to the point it's too much, i much prefer the original. I don't think people can tell from the video but the tree has long branches and covers quite a large area.

[@allthefruit]

Nice

[@FruitingPlanet]

Btw. about the Taro/ Colocasia: a gardener in the botanic garden in Potsdam told me the usually keep the rhizom in the flowerbed outside and just cover the bed with some winter protection, i am sure it also depends on the variety, but if one can survive in zone ~6b in Potsdam it should easily survive at Lago Maggiore

[@allthefruit]

Wow, amazing

[@TropicalGardeningCyprus]

Man that was awesome!! About Nelumbo, I don't think it's true nature is tropical. I mean, they are deciduous here while my tropical water lillies are green year around. Plus, I've seen them in Volga river basin in Russia.

[@allthefruit]

In Russia? Where? In thermal springs?

[@TropicalGardeningCyprus]

@@allthefruit Astrakhan oblast, free in the wild. In the Volga basin.

[@allthefruit]

Wow