Leafing through the catalog with exotic plants, I came across an interesting new name - Holmskioldia (Holmsheldia). I got interested and ordered a cutting. A twig with five leaves and small roots came by mail. Six months have passed. The stalk has grown, and I want to share with you some experience gained from communicating with this interesting plant, not so common on our windowsills.
Who is she?
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This vine owes its difficult-to-pronounce name to a botanist from Denmark, Joan Theodore Holmskyold. For some reason, the plant became Holmsheldia in Russian-language reference books.
I determined that the blood-red holmskyoldia settled in my house (Holmskioldia sanguinea) the family is clear. There are, in addition to the above, other types, for example Holmskyoldia Tahitian (Holmskioldia taitensis)... She has the tubes coming out of the bowl open with lilac butterflies. I dream about this! A plant with lemon flowers is called holmskyoldia citrine (Нolmskioldia citrina)... True, these are even rarer species.
The leaves of my plant are pointed and slightly toothed. The flowers are funnel-shaped, and the narrow orange-red tube is crowned with a wide crimson-red bowl: like the straw hats of Chinese peasants in ancient drawings, with such wide flat cones. From this and the second name of the flower "Chinese hat".
You can buy holmskyoldia from collectors, write it out from a foreign nursery, or try to grow it yourself from seeds.
It's easy to look after
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If you know firsthand how to grow lantana or clerodendrum, then making friends with Holmskyoldia will not be difficult for you either. For example, caring for Holmskyoldia reminded mecaring for clerodendrum ugandan (Clerodendrum ugandense)... This is also a climbing shrub (needs support), which is formed by pinching. Blooms on the shoots of the current year. You need to prune it after flowering.
Prefers light, breathable soil. I grew Holmskyoldia in a ceramic pot with a good drainage layer, in medium acidic universal soil with the addition of perlite. The plant is very fond of spraying.
The planted stalk pleased me, grew over the summer (although it was quite hot on the southern balcony in summer) and bloomed in the first year. The plant does not like direct sunlight, it instantly turns yellow. However, due to personal circumstances, my not too thorough care (breaks in watering, for example, fertilization every other time) was stoically transferred.
The breeding attempt also ended well. The stalk quickly gave roots just in water and then rooted well in the soil. It should be borne in mind that Holmskyoldia grows quite quickly. If you purchased a cutting, it will need a transplant soon.
The plant hibernates on a windowsill under normal conditions. It is necessary to stop feeding from the end of October, reduce watering and make rejuvenating pruning, giving the shrub a neat look. By the way, you can trim the plant before the start of the growing season, that is, in February-March.
Photo by the author
"Garden for the soul and good rest" (Nizhny Novgorod), No. 4, 2014
