Ruellia - home care and flowering options
Content:
The ornamental flowering plant, ruella, has beautiful greenery and vibrant flowers. If you grow it as a ground cover, it is ready to be reborn on its own in greenhouses and florariums.
Description of species
A lover of tropical conditions of detention will delight with her beautiful flowering for a long time. Fading in just a few hours, some flowers are quickly replaced by others and, as a result, ruelia blooms continuously for several months.
In apartments, ruelia is found as an ampelous one or is formed by a small bush
Flowers are tubular, five-petaled with a large pharynx, have several color options - pink, lilac, purple. The leaves of some species also have a bright decorative color or the edge of the leaf plate. Ruella greens are juicy green shades.
Ruellia belongs to the acanthus family and has only five species.
The most common ones are:
- Ruella Portella. The inhabitant of Brazil has large leaves and inflorescences. The flowers are pink, 2-2.5 cm in diameter. The velvety leaves are dark green with white veins, the reverse side is colored green-purple.
- Ruelle blue - Britton. A sturdy shrub that grows almost a meter in height and width. The stems grow stiff over time. Britonne has an interesting leaf shape - narrow and long, painted in a dark green color. In the sun, the greens acquire a metallic blue tint, it looks very impressive. The flowers are large, 5 cm in diameter, tubular, blue with a purple tint.
- Carolina ruella. The flowers of this small bush reach 2.5 cm, painted in purple, with a slight bluish tint. The leaves are dark, edged, ovoid. Caroline is the most unpretentious ruelle in home breeding.
View of Portella
Ruellia: home care
A resident of the tropics loves warmth, moisture and light. If you like the home care of ruella, it blooms profusely, its leaves are dark saturated shades, the bush grows quickly. Everything you need for healthy flower growth is listed below.
Lighting is one of the most important factors in the abundant flowering of this exotic. The more light comes in, the greener the leaves will be and the more active the ejection of new buds. In the summer, it is important to protect delicate leaves from direct sunlight. Since flowering occurs mainly with the onset of autumn, the flower needs additional lighting.
Indoor flower ruella will feel comfortable on the western and eastern windows. If the window is directed to the south - in summer you need to protect from direct sunlight. If a northern window is selected, an additional light source is required in the autumn-winter period.
Ruellia needs abundant watering during the warm season - from spring to autumn. But you need to water only when the topsoil dries out. In winter, watering is somewhat reduced, depending on the temperature of the content and the humidity of the air. The main signal of a lack of moisture in the soil will be sluggish leaves. If watering is completely started, the ruelia will begin to shed foliage.
Ruelia loves moisture very much, but since its leaves are often pubescent, spraying spoils their appearance. Moisture is maintained by pallets with wet expanded clay. If the flower lacks moisture in the air, its leaves begin to dry out and curl.In especially hot periods, the plant is placed in greenhouses and florariums, where the humidity will be high.
The tropical beauty is very fond of warmth, the optimum temperature in the summer is 23-25 degrees. In winter not lower than 18 ° С, optimally 20 ° С.
You need to replant a young plant every spring. The soil is needed loose and light. A mixture of equal parts of sod, leafy soil and peat, dilute with 0.5 parts of sand.
Top dressing is needed with the beginning of flowering. Complex fertilizer is suitable for decorative flowering plants. Complementary foods are applied after watering, once every two weeks.
The tropical beauty is loved by breeders not only for the decorativeness of the leaves, but also for the abundant flowering of long and rather large flowers.
Why does not ruella bloom
Sometimes it happens that a plant bloomed for one year, and then, with the onset of September, does not throw out buds.
The reasons should be sought not in the flower, but in the conditions of its content:
- Little light is the main reason. This will be confirmed by the dull color of the greenery and elongated thin young shoots.
- Little heat - ruella is very thermophilic and if the temperature is low, the plant will not dare to bloom. If a beauty is standing on a window that is open all the time, cold autumn nights and temperature drops may be the reason. In winter, the cold can come from the glass or window frame, if it is not possible to remove the pot, you can put it on foam plastic.
- Drafts are something that ruelia is very afraid of. Lack of flowering, loss of decorativeness, falling foliage - these are all consequences of a draft.
- Growing in an oversized pot. In the presence of a large earthen coma, the flower will be busy building up the root system. Only when the ruella fills the pot with its roots will it bloom profusely.
Pinching young shoots stimulates ruella to bush and discard buds. Young shoots bloom more actively.
Reproduction of ruella
Since the plant grows very quickly, it is prone to overgrowth, losing its decorative effect. The trunks become bare, coarse, the leaves turn yellow and fall off. To renew a plant, it is most often cuttings.
Cuttings
For reproduction, you need to cut off young, herbaceous shoots. Slices can be placed in water or immediately rooted in a mixture of peat and sand. The main condition for the active growth of the root system is warmth. The water or soil temperature must be at least 22 ° C. The roots will appear in a week.
You need to take care of young plants, as well as for adults, protecting them from temperature extremes and drafts
Seeds
At home, you can get seeds after flowering and the formation of the seed pod. It is important to wrap the box with a bag or cloth, since after opening it, the seed shoots in different directions.
The seeds are sown in a mixture of sand and peat. The temperature should be at least 22 ° C, the pot is covered with glass and placed in a sunny place.
You can spray the soil with a biostimulant for better germination. Seedlings are ready to be transplanted into separate pots after two full leaves appear.
Ruelia is a wonderful and unpretentious flower, suitable for home, office or winter garden. A favorite of florariums and phytowalls, it will warm with the warmth of its flowers when the rest of the room friends are immersed in hibernation.
