My new Sollya heterophylla already flowering

Sollya heterophylla, aka 'Australian bluebell creeper'
Earlier this year I found I was missing one of my favourite plants which had died a couple of years ago. I’d found it by chance when I passed a garden centre in the middle of the Dorset countryside and wanted to have a look around. The owners were local people and not one of the large franchise operations which seem to predominate these days. 

The plant I saw was about three feet high with many thin stems climbing around some canes with a mass of tiny delightful blue flowers hanging in clusters from the midst of the foliage. I was told it was a Sollya heterophylla and originally hailed from Australia. I had to have it.

I brought the plant home and it stayed in its large pot for several years and brought into the protection of our well insulated garden cabin to overwinter. The original plant died after a few years, probably from lack of proper care and attention, but I managed to find a less well developed plant in a local garden centre at Whitminster, but that too has now gone. 

So this spring I tried hunting online for garden centres that might have a Sollya but could find nothing available. but I did see an mail order company offering to supply very small young plant-lets by post, so I grabbed the moment and paid my money. It tokk nearly a month for them to arrive, by which time I’d nearly forgotten about my order. I was delighted to open the really well packaged parcel to find three small but very healthy plants in individual pots.

I put them out in the cabin for a couple of days to recover their spirits after the postal journey, and then brought them out onto the patio for a few days. they are growing well and have already produced a good number of healthy flowers whilst their leading stems are growing rapidly. It is time to pot them on and give them a good frame to climb. I’m not sure whether to keep them as three separate plants or combine them in one large pot to more easily care for them. I’ll have to decide soon. 

My picture is a close up of one of the small bunches of flowers. Each blue flower is probably only an inch in diameter when it is at its widest extent.

Here is my blip taken just before my original plant's demise.