Anyone had luck growing this diva? Plant stays outdoors spring/summer, then indoors during chilly months. I've had it three years but about ready to give it the heave-ho. I'm in zone 7a.

Hi Lisa, we really need to know what part of the planet you are living in, please. City and state at least, or country? Your zone only tells us how cold, on average, it gets in winter. Could be anywhere from the Pacific Northwest to northern Florida. Humidity, strength of the sun, altitude, air pollution and other factors all count towards plant success.

I'm in central Florida and Tibouchina are garden plants here. They like morning sun, not all day. Also rich soil, consistent fertilizer and water. My mother grew it in Vancouver BC for years as a house plant that went outdoors in summer. Her patio also got full, morning sun until about 2pm.

The most likely cause for yours not to bloom (I assume that's the problem?) is not getting enough sun. What's your fertilizer regime for it?

Howdy, I think Lisa is one of the recent "transplants" from another garden.

Which of the Tibouchinas are you growing?

Hmm, thought fertilizing during winter was a bad idea. No clue what variety my tibouchina is. Deep purple flowers, hairy leaves once upon a time.

Some species are short-day bloomers and don't bloom until late fall/winter. Are you cutting it back when you bring it inside? If so, then the buds may be getting cut off.

What is your fertilizing schedule? The plant should receive doses of fertilizer during the active growing period.

It would be helpful if you could take some detailed photos of the leaves showing the shape of leaf and the veins; photos of the stem; photos of buds, flowers, seed pods if any. Also step back and take some photos of the entire plant so we can see the size, shape and form. That may help to narrow down which one you are growing. You are growing a tropical tree/shrub in a cool zone; yes, you selected a diva of a plant but the blooms are rewarding. Tibouchina like heat, humidity, acid soil and many hours of full sun.

The velvet-leaf, purple-bloom varieties that I can find:

T. urvilleana/Athens Blue Glorybush/Hybrid Glorybush

T. grandifolia/Large-leaved Princess Flower/Velvet-Leaf Tibouchina

T. heteromalla/Silver-Leafed Princess Flower/Glory Bush; sometimes sold asTibouchina grandifolia (or as Tibouchina grandiflora).

T. 'Jules'/Hybrid Glorybush/Jules Glorybush; dwarf variety developed in Australia; grows to only about 3 feet tall rather than 10 feet.

T. lepidota/Colombian Glorybush; native to Columbia and Ecuador - leaves are slightly hairy.

There may be others.

Curious. Why are you ready to give it the heave-ho? Is it too much work or is it not producing flowers for you?

I checked in our ATP database. The Tibouchina owned my most members is the T. urvilleana; they all live in California or Florida. Maybe they can give some you some pointers on how to keep a Tibouchina plant happy in your zone.
@HamiltonSquare
@rocklady
@Calif_Sue
@RyansNurseryGarden (hasn't made a post in 41 months)
@zuzu
@plantladylim

(Also owned by RyansNurseryGarden but he hasn't made a post here on ATP in 41 months.)

Greene, here's a snapshot of my pitiable tibouchina.

This is T. semidecandra and I also very nearly considered moving or ditching it for it's poor flowering..you can see how hard it was pruned its first year. The second year it wasn't pruned and it was just not performing but this year it was great. It is shade by a large oak from midday on. We amend our sandy loam with a mulch. No fertilizer. I may give it a little Horse manure today that we use for the roses.

I'm ready to dig up my Tibouchina urvilleana and allot the space to something that blooms more often. It bloomed nicely in 2011:



After that, it did not bloom again until 2015, when it produced only a few blooms before the frost cut it down to the ground. Each year it is killed down to the ground by frost. It comes back from the roots each year, but it usually doesn't start producing buds until November, at which time it is then killed by the frost again before the buds have a chance to open.

It's a very pretty shrub, but I can't wait four years between blooms anymore.

I don't suppose you can send it to me??

It would be more trouble than it's worth, Hetty. My plant shipping days are over. I don't have a car and I don't feel like walking two miles to the post office in winter with a heavy box.

I understand, I was not really asking

I've been quite confused about the different types of Tibouchina for awhile now and the more I read, the more confused I get. The two plants I currently have were tagged with the same name (T. grandiflora) when I got them @ 6 or 7 years ago but they are quite different. One has small, soft, pubescent leaves while the other one has small, glossy leaves.

I noticed just now that our database has a listing for

Glory Bush (Pleroma heteromalla) with T. grandiflora as a synonym

* The Catalogue of Life does not show a T. grandiflora but rather this comes up when you type in T. grandiflora:

~ Tibouchina claussenii var. grandiflora Cogn. Infraspecific taxon synonym for Tibouchina claussenii (Naud.)

~ Tibouchina gracilis var. grandiflora Cogn. Infraspecific taxon synonym for Tibouchina gracilis (Bonpl.)


I don't remember where I found this information when googling a few years back so I don't know if any of this is correct but this is descriptive info that I put in a word doc some time ago.

Glory Bush (Pleroma granulosum)
Zone 10 Evergreen Shrub.
Leaves: Shiny, dark green, 4 to 8 inches in length, narrow to elliptic to lanceolate shape. Pubescent below and shiny green on top.

Glory Bush (Pleroma heteromalla)
Zone 10 Evergreen Shrub.
Leaves: Velvety, pubescent, green, rounded; tends to thin out during the winter season.
Spikes of upright flowers.

Princess Flower (Pleroma urvilleanum)
Zone 9b and Zone 10 Evergreen Shrub.
Leaves: Soft, pubescent, velvety.
More cold tolerant than other Tibouchina.

Just plugged in fertilizer spikes. Say, do those things have an expiry date?

You're misreading the names, Lin. The synonym of T. heteromalla is grandifolia, not grandiflora.

zuzu said:You're misreading the names, Lin. The synonym of T. heteromalla is grandifolia, not grandiflora.

My eyesight does stink but I should have paid more attention there.

Whoa, that plant sure does look like it's on its last legs. Pretty pot it's in, but does it have a drain hole? Growing a plant like that without drainage would surely kill it.

Also, what is the medium it's growing in? Looks like coarse bark such as you'd grow orchids in, and that wouldn't retain nearly enough water or nutrients for a foliage plant like Tibouchina.

Suggest you gently slide it out of the pot, and see what the roots look like. If you want, you could post a picture so we can see, too.

Looks to me like you should try re-potting, and see if it recovers. A new pot with a good drain hole, fresh potting medium (wash off all the old stuff, as best you can) and let it sit in filtered light for a few weeks to see if you get new leaves. If not, you should pitch it and try another.

If you're going to keep it growing indoors through the winter, you definitely do need to keep feeding it. If you keep your home on the cool side and especially if you let the temperature drop at night, then cutting back your fertilizer to half strength is a good idea, as the plant will grow more slowly with lower light of winter, and the cool temperatures.

5601Lisa, thank you for uploading the photo. How sad the plant looks. I think it is homesick for it's native country of Brazil. I agree that it needs some drastic action. Remove from the pot, clean off the old planting medium, check the roots, pot it using new medium in a pot with a drainage hole, prune back as needed, fertilize at half-strength and...cross your fingers and hope for the best. Old fertilizer spikes are better than nothing but it may be best to buy some fresh fertilizer.

Good luck and hope the plant recovers.

Thanks Greene, Dyzzy and Others. Took the plant out of blue/white pot, which does have a drainage hole. You're right, the pot did have a bit of orchid bark, but that was just on the surface. I refreshed the tibouchina's potting mix last year.
Shall give it another go but have modest expectations. Divas take far too much maintenance.