Aeschynanthus speciosus

That looks lovely and healthy Meanie !

One of my favourite house plants Amy.

Just like mine Meanie, do you find they drop a sticky sap ?

It does, although nowhere near as bad as A."Mona Lisa". They grow like boogery too don't they!

They do Lol, I keep pruning mine.

That's beautiful! I like these vines. There's so many species. I have Aeschynanthus radicans - Lipstick plant. I got some cuttings from my friend back in July and they're doing really well growing outside in the back yard in semi-shade.

Can you grow it outdoors in summer?

" I have Aeschynanthus radicans - Lipstick plant."

Me too. It has three or more flushes of flowers a year here, and grows well. Nice easy one.

"Can you grow it outdoors in summer?"

Haven't tried yet, but I do have two pots of this and will try one outdoors next year. No reason why it shouldn't.

I was asking if you can grow Aeschynanthus outside in summer; because it needs very warm nights or morning lows (consistently above 68ºF [20ºC]) to grow and flower well (being such a tropical plant native to Java and Malaysia).

I'll let you know. The biggest sticking point may be the very long daylight hours we get in the summer..............

I stick mine outside all summer and it seems to be quite happy.

Meanie, I would guess the long days would be perfect for it.

Grandamage:

It seems the cooler nights there doesn't affect the plant.

Is your plant Aeschynanthus speciosus or A. radicans?
A radicans is a much more tropical plant.

Ah good question Delonix, how would I know the difference?? Mine looks just like the one above :)

The Lipstick plant (A. radicans) has much darker red flowers (pretty much scarlet in color). It's also much more tropical and tender to cooler weather (I think it'll grow outdoors in San Diego's subtropical climate all year, though).

A. speciosus has about the same hardiness as Goldfish plant (Nematanthus wettsteinii). I have a Goldfish plant which has been on a wall in the same spot for many years.

Mine must be the Speciosus then as the flowers are a dark ish orange. Thank you, I must say I treat mine very badly, I forget to water it etc and it repays me over and over with gorgeous blooms!!

It sounds like A. speciousus.

Many plants are pretty forgiving...I think many people kill their plants because they over water them. You're lucky you get summer rains, if you forget to water you get some rain to water them. Here in San Diego we don't receive rain for about 9 to 10 months. The plants here would most definitely die in the heat of summer without water.

Funnily enough this years summer was very dry, no rain here for weeks on end, but that is all over now, the garden is quite soggy/boggy it's crazy. Do you spend your time watering the garden or do you grow plants that don't need much attention?

I pretty much have to water every day...this includes most days in winter, also. The reason is the Santa Wind Season overlaps our fall, winter and early spring (most people can't relate not unless they live in Southern California). The Santa Ana Winds (or SOSA [Sort of a Santa Ana]) can bring us very hot and dry weather. The Santa Ana Winds can bring our temps up to more than 90ºF (32ºC) even in the middle of winter. A SOSA can last a couple of days or sometimes last weeks.

Phew........90*, I would be all of a bother in that heat D. !! We do rather take our seasons for granted here but your weather? I suppose it's what you are used to or is it?

Yes, I'm quite used to it being mild to very warm all year here in inland San Diego, CA. Today the high temp was 85ºF (29ºC) tomorrow the same until it cools down to our normal high of 76ºF (24ºC) this weekend (which is perfect!)

The summer heat and humidity is what I can't tolerate very well...especially when it's 95ºF (35ºC) or more and very humid and when the nights stay hot. The last few years it's gotten me ill. The a/c just cannot keep the house cool enough.

Grandmage - the weather in SoCal is perfect, much as Delonix moans about it!!!!
I wish that we still had proper seasons here though as at least we would know where we stood.

I agree Meanie, it's November and still very mild ! Crazy.

Meanie:

The weather in inland San Diego is perfect most of the time. It's been hot and dry for the last 5 days - - to almost 90ºF (32ºC); however, the humidity is extremely low this time of the year...only around 15% during the daytime. It's suppose to stay hot this whole week. November is statistically the sunniest month of the year...although, compared to where you live it's always sunny and warm here. LOL! :>)

Strangely enough it has been cool and wet here, although well above the seasonal average.

I noticed the high temp (today) in London was 55ºF (13ºC) which was close to the record high temp for the date.

It's so strange to me. The normal morning low is 55ºF (13ºC) here, for this time of year. LOL!

Felt colder though...................

Maybe because it's cloudy, rainy or windy?

The temps today will be in the mid 80's and tomorrow in the low 90's here. You need to come and visit.

"Maybe because it's cloudy, rainy or windy?"

All three actually!

That's doesn't sounds very good. I hear an arctic blast is heading your way. I hope it's not too severe!

You definitely need to come to San Diego for vacation. Yesterday it was 90ºF (32ºC) here where I live and further inland it was warmer. It's already 85ºF (29ºC) at 9:30a.m. and suspect it'll be warmer today before it cools down this weekend.