Worth knowing:
The exotic African Climbing Lily is a perennial climbing shrub that can grow with a climbing aid up to two meters and best suited for cultivation as a tub plant. Its inflorescences are long-lasting cut flowers. The fiery-red coloured blossoms with a yellow seam and a strong yellow maw, are showing usually from June. With its six curled, and strong outwardly bend petals, the blossoms resemble a crown or a butterfly. The delicate sprouts can grow quite long during summer and need a climbing aid to hold on to.
Natural Location:
The Gloriosa rothschildiana has its natural habitat in Africa and is widely found in the Tropics and Subtropics.
Cultivation:
Seed propagation indoors is possible throughout the year. To increase the germinability, you should place the seeds for about 12 to 24 hours in a bowl with lukewarm water for priming. After that, plant the seeds about 1 cm deep into moist potting compost and cover the seed container with clear film to prevent the earth from drying out. Don’t forget to make some holes in the clear film and take it every second or third day completely off for about 2 hours. That way you avoid mold formation on your potting compost. Place the seed container somewhere bright and warm with a temperature between 20° and 25° Celsius and keep the earth moist, but not wet. After two to four weeks, the first seedlings will come up. Water the seedlings of the Gloriosa gently since they tend to rot and fall down rather quickly.
Place:
For a rich flowering you may want to keep your plant in a bright and wind-protected place. It even tolerates the strong sun around lunchtime. During the warm summer months, a sunny and wind-protected place outdoors is also possible.
Care:
The plant is best cultivated in standard soil with a drainage layer of expanded clay on the bottom of the pot. Keep your Gloriosa steadily moist, but avoid waterlogging in the saucer. Especially during hot days you may spray the plant with lime-deficient water and provide a high humidity. From May until the end of August you should also give fluid fertilizer for tub plants every three weeks. The best time for shifting pots is in February or March after hibernation.
During the winter:
During autumn the Gloriosa starts to withdraw all the airy parts and dies off. Only the tubercle is left for hibernation, for which you can place it into a pot with peat or flower earth, and keep it somewhere bright or darker and dry with a temperature between 10° and 15°Celsius. When it starts to sprout in February/March, you can also increase the watering again.
Picture credits:
- © © Maja Dumat - CC-BY-SA-2.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
- © Frank Laue - © Saflax - http://www.saflax.de/copyright
- © Frank Laue - © Saflax - http://www.saflax.de/copyright
- © Jean-Jacques MILAN - CC-BY-SA-3.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
- © Karl Wimmi - Public domain - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/publicdomain/
- © Oeropium - CC-BY-3.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
- © Yoann cormier - CC-BY-SA-3.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
- © Maja Dumat - CC-BY-SA-2.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
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