The Majestic Travellers Palm

It's been a quiet month for blogging as it has been wayyyy to hot to even think about gardening. Here is something I am currently looking for. The Ravenala madagascariensis

Common name: Traveler's palm, traveler's tree, arbol del viajero, waaierpalm, Arbre des voyageurs, Baum der Reisenden, Travellers Palm

Family: Streliziaceae (Bird of paradise family).

Overview: Although Traveler’s palm is called a palm; it is not a true palm. It grows up, to 50' tall, while the big banana-like leaves can grow up to 15' long. The leaves are arranged in a fan-shaped manner; it has a rather short, palm like, trunk. The small white flowers are held in bracts. In these bracts and leaf folds, rainwater is collected. The fruits are brown while the seeds are blue.

Hardiness: USDA zone 9B - 11.

Propagation: Seeds, replanting of the clumps. Due to recalcitrant nature of the seeds, they have a short viable life, can not be dried well and can not withstand low temperatures.

Culture: Full sun / partial shade; grows well on moist and rich sandy loam and clay soils. The traveler's palm can be used as an accent plant. Protect from frost or plant in frost free locations. It can also be grown indoors or in the greenhouse.

Strongylon Macrobotrys Jade Vine

I want one! - But wont have one, will not survive zone 9. Neither do I like the pollinaters - Bat's.

The jade vine (Strongylodon macrobotrys) is a native of the tropical forests of the Philippines. Its flowers are the color of jade, and hang in bunches up to 90 cm long; each clawlike flower is about 7½ cm long. In its native Philippines, the jade vine's flowers are pollinated by bats.

S. macrobotrys is prized in tropical and subtropical gardens for its showy flowers which are a highly unusual blue-green. It is usually grown over a pergola so that the flowers may hang down below where they can be seen easily. In South Africa the jade vine is mainly restricted to the warm humid strip of coastal Natal but grows in a few frost-free spots inland.
The superficially similar red jade vine is in fact a species in a different genus, namely Mucuna bennetti.