Tibouchina Grossa

Masses of goblet shaped, carmine-red flowers open amidst dark green, deeply-carved, soft fuzzy leaves on this very rare shrub, which can eventually become a compact tree. A magnet for butterflies and bees, in the wild it is actually pollinated by hummingbirds, where it thrives high in the cloud forests and paramo of the Andes, in Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador between 2400 and 3800 m. Seldom yet seen in cultivation, it will make an outstanding specimen in cool temperate climates.