The characteristic differences of the plant, advice on growing acanthus in the open field and at home, breeding rules, the fight against diseases and pests, facts to note, species. Acanthus is called Acanthus in Latin and can be found under the term Acanthus. The plant belongs to the Acanthaceae family, whose representatives are distributed in territories with a tropical and subtropical climate, which prevails in the regions of the Old World. There are some species growing in Asian lands and in the Mediterranean, and also found on the African continent. Scientists have assigned up to 30 species to this genus.
Often among florists you can hear how acanthus is called "bear paw", "bear claws", "holly" or "oyster plant", because this is how the shape of the leaves is characterized. Although the name in Latin has the designation "bracts", since the plant is the owner of the bracts of prickly outlines, lilac color.
| Family name | Acanthus (Acanthaceae) |
| Life cycle | Perennial |
| Growth features | Evergreen, upright, rosette |
| Reproduction | Seed and vegetative (cuttings or division of the rhizome) |
| Landing period in open ground | Rooted cuttings, planted next spring |
| Disembarkation scheme | 70-80 cm apart |
| Substrate | Rich soil with neutral or slightly alkaline acidity (pH 6, 5-7, 5) |
| Illumination | Open area with bright lighting |
| Moisture indicators | Moisture stagnation is harmful, watering is moderate, spraying is recommended in summer, drainage is necessary |
| Special Requirements | Unpretentious |
| Plant height | 0.4–2 m |
| Color of flowers | Snow white, lilac, purple |
| Type of flowers, inflorescences | Racemose |
| Flowering time | May-July |
| Decorative time | Spring-summer |
| Place of application | Flowerbeds, containers |
| USDA zone | 4, 5, 6 |
All varieties of acanthus are perennials with a herbaceous form of growth, but there are also those that take the form of a half-shrub. Their height can vary within 0, 4-2 meters. When the plant grows, it becomes very tall and spreading. The foliage has spines or its surface is bare. Its shape is concave, in the form of wide lobes, or it can be pinnately dissected or pinnately divided. The color of the leaves is dark green. The length of the sheet plate is about 100 cm, while sheet rosettes of rather impressive sizes are assembled from them. Foliage even without flowers attracts gardeners who decide to decorate their flower beds with this plant.
However, flowers are the decoration of the plant. When blooming, buds open with petals, casting a snow-white or purple hue. Their flowers collect racemose inflorescences with cylindrical outlines. They are crowned with tall flowering stems. The length of the petal is 5 cm. The flowers are hidden in the bracts, covering them like with hoods. The color of the bracts is purple. Flowering is an ambiguous process in acanthus: so in one year it is lush, with the formation of multiple buds, and in another season the grower will be disappointed by the lack of flower buds.
But if the acanthus "decided" to please the owner with flowers, then the buds begin to open in the period from late spring to mid-summer days, while the duration of this process is 3-4 weeks. All this directly depends on which climatic zone Acanthus grows in, and what the weather is at the specified time. When grown outdoors, it can be kept as a single plant or in group plantings next to various geraniums, alliums or cuffs. Florists are used for cutting to create dry phytocompositions.
Tips for growing acanthus outdoors and at home
- Lighting. Acanthus prefers bright, but diffused light, direct rays can cause burns.
- Content temperature in the spring-summer period should be 20-25 degrees, and in winter not lower than 16. But many species perfectly tolerate wintering in our latitudes, only the bush needs to be covered with sawdust or fallen leaves.
- Air humidity. In the heat of summer, the plant will be grateful for spraying from a spray bottle or garden hose. But at the same time, it is important that drops of moisture do not fall on the flowers, and the soil is not flooded with water. In the summer, you can carry out the operation a couple of times a month, and when grown at home and in winter, you can spray the acanthus once a month.
- Watering. From spring days to autumn, watering should be abundant, but waterlogging of the soil is not recommended, as it can provoke root decay. If the "bear claw" grows indoors, then in the autumn-winter time watering is reduced, but drying the soil in a pot is not allowed.
- Acanthus fertilizers. With the arrival of spring and until autumn, it is recommended to fertilize acanthus at intervals of 1-2 times a month. Using both mineral and organic fertilizers. The latter can be vermicompost, nettle solution, potassium humate or tincture of onion peel, charcoal. Some growers advise using manure, potash salt, tobacco dust or feces.
- Pruning. As the growing season goes on in acanthus, it is necessary to remove parts that dry out or begin to rot, as well as cut off the faded inflorescences so as not to provoke diseases.
- Transfer. The plant does not like frequent changes in its place and therefore the transplant is carried out when it grows in a pot, and the entire proposed soil is completely entwined with roots. Then you can change the pot every 2-3 years. For the substrate, a soil mixture is prepared from equal parts of peat, humus, sod substrate and a half dose of river sand. Drainage should always be used.
Acanthus: tips for breeding
To grow a bear's paw, it is recommended to sow seeds, divide an overgrown bush or root cuttings.
If there are seeds (purchased or harvested), then it is best to sow them in the spring. When you buy seed, you should make sure of the expiration date, as it is not too long. This is because it is seed reproduction that gives good seedlings in the future. Before planting, scarification is carried out, that is, the seeds must be processed with coarse sand, sandpaper, or they are slightly incised to slightly damage the surface. Care is needed here, since the inside has not been hurt. After that, it is required to soak the seed in warm water for three days, while changing it to a new one as it cools.
Then the seeds are planted in prepared seedling boxes with fertile and loose soil. The containers are placed under glass or covered with plastic wrap. Germination takes place in a dark place. Ventilation of crops and moistening of the soil are regularly needed. After 10–12 days, you can see the seedlings that have sprung up together. When the opportunity arises, and the plants have grown, the seedlings are transplanted into open ground next spring or immediately into individual pots. Acanthus obtained in this way will be able to please with flowering only in the third year. If the seeds are sown in a prepared place in the flower bed, then flowering will also be delayed.
When you want to propagate acanthus by cuttings, they are cut and planted in seedling boxes or directly into the ground in the spring or autumn, but the best time is spring, when there is an active movement of life juices. The length of the cutting should be 10-15 cm, they are cut from the tops of the stems. The foliage is removed from the bottom. For successful rooting, planting is carried out in a peat-sand mixture, and the cuttings are covered with a film to create conditions for a mini-greenhouse. Cuttings take root at a temperature of about 25 degrees indoors. Ventilation and watering of dried soil are periodically necessary. When root shoots appear in acanthus cuttings, they are transplanted to a suitable place in the garden either directly or directly into flowerpots, or you can wait for next spring. It is known that in the first couple of years of its life, the "bear's paw" builds up its leaf rosette, but only when the plant is three years old begins to bloom.
If it is decided to divide an overgrown bush, then it is important to remember that the plant has long tangled roots and transplants bring great trauma for it. On autumn days, you can stick a shovel between the overgrown shoots of acanthus, and when spring comes, you will notice the growth of small young growths, which can be easily separated from the mother bush and transplanted to a new place. The distance between young acanthuses should be within 70–80 cm.
Fight against diseases and pests when growing acanthus
You can please flower growers that Acanthus is rarely affected by harmful insects, but when cultivating a plant in open ground, snails or slugs can become a problem in too rainy weather. These pests eat the leaf plates and naturally deprive the acanthus of its decorative effect. For the fight, you can use drugs like Meta-Thunder. When grown at home, if the air humidity is very low, then the acanthus is attacked by a spider mite or scale insect. In this case, it is recommended to spray with insecticides with a wide spectrum of action.
The undoubted difficulty is a disease such as powdery mildew. When all parts of the plant are covered with a whitish bloom, as if they were watered with a solution of lime. It is urgently necessary to remove all foliage with such signs and carry out a fungicide treatment.
The following troubles may also arise:
- wilting of foliage indicates a violation of the irrigation regime or about too heavy soil used for planting;
- if the edges of the leaves began to dry out, then this was due to insufficient feeding or low humidity;
- with hypothermia of the roots or the action of a draft in acanthus, the leaf plates turn black and fly around;
- refusal to bloom occurs in acanthus, if a transplant was carried out or its bush was divided;
- due to sunburn or overheating, whitish spots form on the leaves.
Facts to note about acanthus, plant photo
Acacntus soft and prickly are usually grown as ornamental crops. Since the leaf of the plant resembles a bear's paw in outline, this gave rise to the appearance of the second synonymous name - "bear's paw", and has long been applicable in architecture, since there is a drawing with the same name - acanthus.
Due to the fact that the foliage is decorated with multiple thorns and thorns, Acanthus has long been considered a sign of triumph and a symbol of overcoming life's problems and trials. In ancient times, the Greeks planted a plant on the graves of heroes, and therefore patterns with this flower adorn Corinthian capitals. However, as a symbol of the Christian religion, acanthus foliage has always been associated with the rebelliousness of sinners to fate and subsequent suffering.
In the Mediterranean, the plant is characterized as life and immortality, signifies the horn of the waving moon, as well as a symbol of worship of the fine arts.
Acanthus species
- Balkan acanthus (Acanthus Balcanicus) can be found under the name Acanthus Hungarian or Acanthus longifolia. This variety is considered the most adapted of all wild acanthus species. Reminiscent of Acanthus mollis. The flowering process begins later, but the plant is resistant to late frosts. The foliage has deep cuts, and there is a noticeable narrowing at the base.
- Soft acanthus (Acanthus mollis) can be referred to in the literature as Acanthus blunt. It is the most popular species for its lush bloom, however, flowers suffer from late frosts in the spring. Native lands are in the Mediterranean. The height can reach 190 cm, but in our gardens the maximum height is 50–75 cm. The stems grow erect, the leaf plates are rather large, devoid of thorns in the root zone. Indicators in length are 30-60 cm with a width of up to 5-15 cm. The color of the bracts is lilac or dark pink. The corolla grows in length up to 5 cm, the petals are whitish with a pattern on the surface of purple veins. There are garden forms that have leaves of different sizes and the presence or absence of thorns.
- Acanthus spiny (Acanthus Spinosus) bears a synonym name Acanthus pungent and differs in softer leaf plates than the variety Acanthus Mollis, in appearance it is quite similar to a thistle. It is popular among florists. The plant bears the specific name because of the shape not only of the leaves, but also of the bracts, which are covered with thorns. Height indicators are approaching one and a half meters. During flowering, very beautiful buds open, the petals of which differ in two different tones: the lower ones are snow-white, and the lobes above are lilac. The flowering period lasts from mid-summer to September. The buds bloom from July to August. There is a garden form, which is distinguished as a separate species of Acanthus spinosissimus, which is distinguished by the presence of white cusps covering all the teeth on the leaf plate.
- Badian-leaved acanthus (Acanthus ilicifolius). Most often, in nature, the plant can be found in the coastal areas of the Pacific, as well as the Indian Oceans. There it prefers to settle in dense mangrove thickets or independently forms large groups growing in brackish water. At home, it can be grown as a pot or greenhouse crop. The root system is aerial, the shoots of the roots are located on different sides, which makes the view especially attractive for flower growers. In nature, such supporting roots help to rise above the surface of the water. An evergreen shrub, which can vary in height in the range of 1.5–2 m. The shape of the leaf plates is pinnately dissected, the indicators are 20–30 cm long and about 8–10 cm wide. The edge of the leaves is decorated with thorns, but the surface itself is smooth, painted in dark green color scheme. During flowering, spike-shaped inflorescences are formed, which are large in size and cylindrical outlines. They are located at the tops of the stems, in each axil of the bracts, in a single copy. The inflorescence contains flowers with petals of a whitish-purple color.
- Mountain acanthus (Acanthus montanus). The native lands of growth are in the coastal West African territories. The form of this evergreen plant is shrub. There are a large number of aerial roots. The height of the stems reaches two meters. Leaf plates with feathery outlines, the shares into which are divided are wide, the color of the foliage is olive green. The length of the leaf can reach 30 cm. The surface is covered with thorns, the edge is wavy, the upper part of the leaf plate is wrinkled-convex, and each of the bulges is decorated with an elongated thorn. The leaf has a pattern of yellowish veins located on the sides. In the process of flowering, there is an opening of white-purple flowers, which are collected in apical inflorescences, their length does not exceed 25 cm. The corolla and the diameter of the flower in length is equal to 5 cm. The bracts covering the flowers are distinguished by a reddish-brown tint and resemble scales. They are also covered with thorns. The plant differs in that we have taken root as an ornamental pot culture.
