What is this plant that I thought was a succulent?
Brian Gore, by email
Stefan says: You were given this lovely plant with its large, bellshaped flowers several years ago, believing it to be a succulent. What you have is an abutilon, probably the variety ‘Canary Bird’, sometimes called the Chinese lantern.
You’re right to put it outdoors in the summer and take it under cover in winter because it’s not hardy. In time it will grow as much as 3m (10ft) tall and they’re not amenable to hard pruning . Keep an eye open for signs of whitefly and have some sticky yellow card traps handy.