It bloomed! I've been wanting to see that. Maybe not the best the plant can do, but in a dry, hot and winter-cold area, it may be the best I'll ever get. At least it finally did.

Very pretty. I had one I was growing in a pot because of my climate and it never bloomed after 6 yrs. I gave it away. But now I miss it because the leaves were so pretty.

It looks great! I finally took mine out of the pot and planted it. It just bloomed also. Must be all the rain!

@Cinta

Mine is growing in a large clay pot. It's sort of hard to handle because it has a spread of about 4 1/2'. I had to cut off most of the stems? after the first year because of sunburn. This year, after it over wintered in the garage, I put it close to the garage on the east side. It still got some sunburn and I have some permanently bent limbs from moving it around until it got located for the summer months, but I didn't have to cut most everything off. I think that's why I got the bloom. I grow it for the foliage, so the blooms are just sort of a bonus. What happens to the stem that blooms? Does it need removing after the bloom is finished?

I think the stems that bloom will die off gradually by fall, Donald. You should cut them off when they get scruffy looking.

It does take a few years to get mature stems on the plant so it will bloom. My big ones in the front yard shady beds bloom every year now. But if you have a really cold winter that kills back all the top growth, the plant won't die, but it also won't bloom for a couple more years.

So if you're growing them where there is winter chill, it pays to throw a blankie on them when it goes below 40 or so.

Thanks Elaine. Mine is a container grown plant. I think it's too cold here to chance growing outdoors during the winter months, even with heavy mulch. It spreads out so much, bringing it indoors takes up a lot of space! The car got banished from the garage last winter because there were too many plants taking up the room. It's a two car garage, but the pickup never gets to use it because I have to have a place to keep the cow feed away from racoons and squirrels .