Distinctive features of the plant, agricultural technology in the cultivation of bouvardia, transplantation and independent reproduction, diseases and pests, interesting facts, species. When you are tired of ordinary home geraniums and violets, and exotic plants that require painstaking care are scary to start, you can pay attention to representatives of the flora, which are not yet very common in home floriculture. These "green pets" will delight the eye with a beautiful bloom, both in summer and winter. One of these unpretentious examples of the green world of the planet is Bouvardia.
It belongs to the Rubiaceae family and is a small evergreen plant with a shrub or herbaceous form of growth. It also includes up to 30 varieties of representatives of the terrestrial flora. Bouvardia is related to plants such as gardenia and coffee. In natural conditions, this flower is found in the lands of Mexico and Central America, where the tropical and subtropical climate completely dominates.
In places of its natural growth, bouvardia is called “firecracker bush”, “hummingbird flower” (Hummingbird) or also “little trumpeter” (Trumperella). Naturally, all these names directly or indirectly indicate the shape of the bouvardia flowers.
The plant came to European countries in the 17th century and was named after Charles Bouvard, who lived in 1572-1658. This man was the personal physician of the French king Louis III and worked as a caretaker of a botanical garden located in the capital of France. In 1857, they learned about the "little trumpeter" in an old woman in England, and a year later, work began in the field of breeding this plant. This flowering shrub quickly spread over many areas with a subtropical climate. It was cultivated in gardens where bouvardia delighted the eyes with its flowers from the end of summer days to the beginning of winter.
In its homeland, the plant is pollinated by small birds - hummingbirds, as they rush to the delicate aroma of buds, where sweet nectar awaits them in the depths of the corolla of the bud.
Bouvardia reaches in height, depending on the variety, from one and a half to 2 meters. Shoots do not have strong branching, their internodes are rather rare. The branches are upright. On them, in opposite order or in whorls, leaf plates are located. They are simple in shape, up to 3–11 cm in length. The outlines of the leaves are from oblong to broadly lanceolate or ovate, with a pointed tip at the top. The foliage surface is smooth, slightly leathery.
The flowering process is very long from the beginning of summer days and October, sometimes also in winter. The inflorescences resemble bouquets in outlines, and are collected from tubular flowers, which in some varieties reach 15 cm in diameter, formed by four bent petals with the shape of lobes. The shades of the petals are very diverse, including snow-white, pink, red and crimson colors.
Thanks to hardworking Dutch growers in the 80s of the XX century, wonderful hybrids were obtained on the renovation of bouvardia. Today in flower shops you can find up to 30 varieties of these plants, and 11 of them can delight with flowering all year round. Bouvardia with double buds appeared, and multiple shades of pink, crimson, red and lilac color schemes, there are flowers with a double corolla.
Rules for growing bouvardia, home care
- Lighting and location of the pot. The plant loves a lot of sun and good bright lighting. Only at noon, when the sun is especially aggressive, will it be necessary to shade the bush with the help of translucent curtains. You can place the bouvardia on the windows of the south, south-east or south-west orientation.
- Content temperature. The ideal heat indicators in the spring-summer months when cultivating the "hummingbird flower" will be a range of 20-25 degrees, and with the arrival of autumn, it is worth lowering the temperature to 12 degrees. The bouvardia does not tolerate heat. As soon as the threat of spring morning frosts has passed, you can take the flower pot out to the balcony, veranda or terrace, garden, just make sure that the scorching rays of the sun do not fall on the bouvardia.
- Air humidity when growing a "hummingbird flower" should be in the range of 60-70%. There are no buds yet, you can carry out shower procedures, washing away the dust accumulated on smooth leaves with warm jets. Sometimes you can spray, but not in winter. As soon as flowers appear, vessels with water or artificial fountains are placed nearby.
- Watering. During the period when the bouvardia is in the process of growing, it is necessary to regularly, but moderately, moisten the soil in the pot. Watering is carried out when the soil has dried out 2-3 cm in depth. It is also important not to allow acidification of the substrate, as this will cause rotting of the roots and stems. With the arrival of winter, watering decreases. The water is soft and warm.
- Fertilizers. In the phase of activation of growth for bouvardia, top dressing is applied - solutions of complex mineral agents are used for this. Regular feeding every 2 weeks. When flowering, formulations are used for flowering plants.
- Recommendations for replanting and soil selection. The worst property of bouvardia is that it blooms profusely only as a biennial plant. After that, she practically does not release buds or flowering is very poor. Therefore, it will be necessary to carry out the procedure for updating the bush every 2 years. Only specimens of a one-year lifespan are transplanted; a container of a larger diameter is selected for them. However, some growers continue to grow the "hummingbird flower" for a long time, replanting it as needed, the cord, the root system will fully master all the soil offered to it. This procedure is carried out only in the spring. Bouvardia should be grown in nutritious soil with good air and water permeability. Some growers use simple universal soil mixtures, mixing perlite, vermiculite or agroperlite into them. You can compose the substrate yourself based on the following components: sod soil, peat and leafy soil, as well as river sand (in a ratio of 4: 2: 1: 1). After the transplanting process, the bouvardia should not be fertilized for about two months.
- Pruning Bouvardia is carried out to give the bush more lush forms, as well as to stimulate abundant subsequent flowering. For the same purpose, it will be necessary to pinch the shoots of young "hummingbird flowers" in the very first year of existence. And in the autumn months or at the beginning of spring, until the bouvardia begins to intensify its growth, the branches are cut in half. All this is explained by the fact that in the conditions of natural growth, the bush has a completely unsightly appearance, therefore it depends on the owner to give it an attractive shape.
Self-breeding tips for bouvardia
To obtain a new plant bush, you can use sowing seeds, dividing the bush and cuttings.
If a decision is made to propagate bouvardia using cuttings, you will need to cut the tops from the branches, in February-March They should have a length of at least 10 cm and 2-3 internodes. You can put the cut twigs in a container of water and they quickly develop root shoots. When they reach a centimeter in length, then you can plant 2-3 units in a small pot (with a diameter of 7-9 cm) and a soil suitable for adult specimens. Cuttings are also planted in containers with moistened sand and placed under a glass jar. In this case, it is necessary to ventilate the branches and moisten the soil, if necessary. After the twigs take root, transplant is carried out in separate pots with soil.
In the process of transplanting, it is possible to divide a heavily overgrown bouvardia bush. In this case, the plant is taken out of the old pot, the soil is gently shaken off from the roots and then the root system is divided with the help of a sharpened disinfected knife. Only the parts should not be too fragmented, since then the recovery process will take longer. After that, the delenki are planted in prepared pots. According to the diameter corresponding to the size of the root system, drainage should be laid at the bottom of the container and a suitable soil mixture should be used. However, at the same time, the plant is not renewed, which means that further flowering does not have much stimulation.
You can sow bouvardia seeds in a container with a sandy-peat substrate; for germination, the temperature is maintained within the range of 18-21 degrees. The container should be covered with a piece of glass or wrapped in a plastic bag. The container with crops is placed in a shaded place and high humidity is provided. It will be necessary to air the crops and moisten the soil from a finely dispersed spray bottle with warm soft water every day. When the sprouts hatch, the container is transferred to a more illuminated place, just do not put it in direct sunlight, as they can burn the delicate leaves of young bouvardia.
There is also the possibility of propagation by root cuttings. In this case, you will need to cut a piece of root from the mother bush of the bouvardia and plant it in a container with a regular substrate. Care is the same as for an adult plant.
Difficulties in cultivating a flower and ways to solve them
Most often, with low humidity, bouvardia can be affected by spider mites or aphids. Green aphids like to settle on the roots of the plant, but young shoots suffer most from it. To combat aphids, you will need to rinse the bush under warm shower jets. Then you can process the stems and leaves with soap, oil or alcohol solutions. To do this, the agent is applied to a cotton pad and the parts of the bouvardia are wiped with it, manually removing pests and their waste products. After that, it is recommended to spray the bush with broad-spectrum insecticides (for example, Karbofos, Aktara or Actellic).
If there is stagnation of moisture in the substrate, then most often the plant will suffer from root rot. It will be necessary to remove the bouvardia from the pot, cut off all the affected parts of the root system, sprinkle them with crushed activated charcoal or charcoal for disinfection and transplant into a new pot with disinfected soil. The new container needs a good drainage layer. If the lesion is strong enough, then it will not be possible to save the flower - you will have to throw it out, having previously cut the branches for grafting.
When watering with too hard water, chlorosis develops, a sign of which is the blanching of the leaf plate with an increase in the green color along the veins. For treatment, it is recommended to use preparations with iron chelate. If spots of gray or brown color have appeared on old (very rarely on young) leaf plates, then the reason for this is infectious spotting. With this disease, the leaves dry out completely. To fight, first remove all the affected leaves, and then the plant is treated with Bordeaux liquid.
Interesting facts about bouvardy
From time immemorial, bouvardia was considered a primordially female plant, so its flowers were included in wedding bouquets. Such floristic compositions may not fade for more than one and a half to two weeks. Also for this reason, the buds are usually used in corsage decorations and boutonnieres. This flower gave the wearer a sense of fragility, vulnerability and insecurity. Therefore, it is customary to give bouquets of bouvardia to young girls. If you follow the Victorian language of flowers, the bouvardia, which has delicate, graceful buds, means "enthusiasm."
Also, when building phytocompositions, bouvardia has proven itself well in round and pyramidal shapes. Its flowers are very picturesquely emphasized by the delicate branches of asparagus, eucalyptus stems, and Tillandsia leaves. When the petals are painted in bright shades, then such flowers look favorably in bouquets with brunia or boronia. It is also customary for florists to use bouvardia inflorescences next to spray roses, delphiniums, as well as in compositions with curly stalks of sweet peas.
But we must not forget that all this delicate beauty is very sensitive to ethylene and tobacco smoke. Therefore, decorating holiday tables or rooms where there may be smoke from cigarettes, these flowers quickly lose their attractiveness. Also, you should not put a plant or bouquets of bouvardia flowers in the kitchen, since there is not only fumes, but also fruits and vegetables that emit ethylene, which is dangerous for flowers.
Since a bouquet of bouvardia flowers costs perfectly from 7 to 14 days, the “Royal” variety was developed on its basis, which can hold out in a vessel with water and additional food for up to 13–22 days. Also, this time can be extended by keeping the phytocomposition in a cool room or by using means to preserve the cut.
Types of bouvardia
- Bouvardia smooth-flowered (Bouvardia leiantha) is a shrub plant, reaching a height of 60 cm. The leaf plates are arranged in whorls, gathering in 3 units, can grow in opposite order. Their shape is elliptical. From the flowers are collected inflorescences with outlines of scutes, reaching a length of 2–2, 5 cm. Their color is light red inside, and on the outside the petals are painted in salmon-red tones. The flowering process begins in July and the bouvardia blooms a second time in the winter months, usually a large number of buds bloom.
- Bouvardia longiflora (Bouvardia longiflora). This variety grows in the form of a shrub, reaching a height of 80–90 cm. The arrangement of the leaf plates is opposite, they are elongated-elliptical in shape, there is a narrowing at the top, and at the base the shape changes to a wedge-shaped one. There are stipules growing in the shape of an awl. A lot of buds are blooming. From them, inflorescences in the form of scutes are collected, located at the tops of the branches. The color of the petals of the buds is snow-white, the size is large. The length of the tubular corolla reaches 5 cm. Flowers emit a pleasant fragrant aroma. The flowering process is long.
- Bouvardia yellow (Bouvardia flava). The plant can reach almost meter indicators. The leaf plates have lanceolate outlines. The flower bud is painted in yellow color.
- Bouvardia jasminiflora (Bouvardia jasminiflora). This variety is dwarf in size, its bush measures only 60 cm. Flowers have a scent very similar to that of jasmine buds. The color of the petals is snow-white. The flowering process occurs in the winter.
- Bouvardia domestica (Bouvardia domestica) the plant can reach an average height with indicators up to 70 cm. The leaf plates are painted in dark emerald tones, their shape is ovoid-pointed, the parameters in length vary about 5 cm. The petals of flowers are painted in a wide variety of colors: from pale to bright pink and crimson shades, depending on the species.
Hybrids with double buds have already been bred. The most popular among all of them is the President Cleveland variety, the petals of which are painted in a raspberry color, as well as the Royal varietal lines such as Royal Katy with delicate flowers. The variety with double flowers, which is very rarely found on the market, has the name "Bridesmaid" - its buds have pink shades.
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