Tunbergia is winged in nature, in natural conditions a rather invasive species - it grows like a weed, killing other plants.Acanthus family. Homeland rainforests of America, Asia, Africa, Fr. Madagascar. About 200 species of thunbergia grow in nature, among them the winged Thunbergia, beloved by all florists, is grown as an annual in garden flower beds, it is also great for landscaping balconies, if desired, it can be grown as a perennial plant for the house. But there are other more spectacular species that are in no way inferior in beauty to orchids. Most species are not difficult to care for, but are greenhouses rather than houseplants.
Species of thunbergia
Thunbergia alata is a grassy vine with a ribbed, branching stem with slight pubescence. The leaves are opposite, up to 7 cm long, triangular or arrow-shaped, pubescent. Flowers up to 4 cm in diameter, single, axillary. Corolla limb five-membered, orange or cream limb. Many varieties of a wide variety of flower colors (white with a dark pharynx, yellow-orange, pure white). It is the most famous and common species.
Thunbergia laurifolia is another spectacular vine, successfully suitable for landscaping balconies and loggias. This is an annual plant, its shoots reach 2-3 m in length. The leaves are elliptic up to 15 cm long and about 7-8 cm wide, on petioles. Flowers in long hanging racemose inflorescences. Corolla about 7 cm in diameter, purple or purple, white in the throat. The corolla tube is small, narrow, the petals are wide, almost the same shape and size, slightly wavy, the lower petal is slightly longer. Flowering is very abundant on the sunny side, blooming until November if the balcony is glazed (warm).
Thunbergia mysorensis is a shrub with long shoots (up to 5 m). At first, the stems cling to the support, rising up along tall trees or walls of houses, then long racemose peduncles form, which hang 50 cm or more down, in the likeness of orchids. Leaves are elongated-lanceolate, narrowed at the end, whole-edged, sometimes serrated. Brick-purple sepals, from which the tubular corolla blooms, it is four lobed, partially fused petals. The petals are bright yellow at the tips brick-red, the upper lobes of the corolla are larger, bent by a spoon, two lateral and lower ones are smaller, strongly bent back.
Tunbergia erect Thunbergia erecta is a shrub about 1 m tall, with a slightly ribbed stem. The leaves are oppositely located, up to 6 cm long, ovoid or broadly lanceolate, glabrous. Bracts yellow-green, flowers up to 4 cm in diameter, single, axillary, with a tubular corolla. Corolla five-membered, with bright purple petals, yellowish in the pharynx, white on the outside.
Tunbergia fragrant Thunbergia fragrans is a climbing vine with a ribbed, branching stem with slight pubescence. The leaves are opposite, up to 7 cm long, triangular or heart-shaped, dark green on the upper side and paler on the lower. Flowers up to 5 cm in diameter, single, axillary. Corolla limb white, five-membered. Very fragrant flowers bloom in the upper part of the climbing stems.
Thunbergia - care and cultivation
Thunbergia is a plant that needs support. In nature, these vines sometimes reach a length of about 6 m, at home, thunbergia usually do not grow more than 2-2.5 m. If you want to grow thunbergia on the balcony, you can arrange a green wall, fixing on the wall, for example, a fishing net that will hold the shoots of the plant with a green carpet. A plastic ladder of any size is successfully suitable as a support, but you can simply stretch the twine in vertical rows.
Temperature: In summer, normal, tunbergia grows perfectly at home, but it is better to put it in the summer on fresh air, on the balcony, you can go outside under the canopy, from the leeward side. In winter, thunbergia is more temperature-demanding, ideally it requires coolness, much colder than comfortable for us people. If you have a place where the temperature is about 10-13 ° C from October to February, great, you can grow thunbergia as a perennial. However, the easiest way is to throw out the plant with the end of flowering (in November). The fact is that tunbergia is greatly depleted from abundant flowering, and if it survives winter, it looks unpresentable. And since it breeds easily, it is easier to plant seeds in February-March and get a beautiful flowering bush by summer.
Tunbergia should be taught to the street gradually, so as not to harm too sharp temperature fluctuations. In late spring, when warm days are established, the plant is taken out for several hours on the balcony and cleaned at night. After a week, the pots can be left outside for the whole day, and at night they can be closed, for example, with a cardboard box or by placing the plant in a thick plastic bag.
Lighting: Thunbergia is light-loving, so it requires a sunny windowsill. The southeast window is good, the west window is dark on the north, some direct sun is required. Shading may be necessary on the southern or western windowsill on the hottest days in summer from 12 to 16 hours. It is not the sun itself that is dangerous, but the overheating of the plant (it is very hot on the windowsill on such days).
Watering: Plentiful in summer, the soil should be slightly moist inside the pot all the time, but dry well at the top of the soil. In winter, watering largely depends on the temperature; in cold conditions, the soil should be constantly almost dry. Almost, but not completely dry out. I.e. it can be watering once a month or two (if about 10 ° C). Just before watering, touch the ground in the depths of the pot and make sure that there is no dampness in the roots.
Fertilizer: From April to October, tunbergia is fed with liquid fertilizer for indoor ornamental flowering plants. Top dressing should be carried out every two weeks at the dosage recommended by the manufacturer.
Humidity: Thunbergia responds well to periodic leaf spraying. In the warm season, you can once a week or two give the plant a warm shower, wash off the dust and as a prevention of pests. During this procedure, it is better to cover the soil in the pot with cling film.
Planting thunbergia
Often after flowering, plants are thrown away, but with proper wintering, which consists in maintaining the optimal temperature and illumination, the plant can bloom the next year. Therefore, in early spring it is transplanted into loose, light soil, consisting of 1 part of turf, 1 part of leaf (or peat), 1/2 sand.
You can use such soil: 3 part of the garden land, 1 part of the humus, 1 part of the sand and drainage to the bottom of the pot. The main thing is that the pot is not too large (in this it grows and blooms worse), and the soil easily absorbs water, wetting evenly, and also dries easily. It is not bad to add a handful of coconut substrate and a handful of pine bark per half a bucket of soil to the soil to improve the structure. Often thunbergs are grown in hanging planters, in which case choose wide, but not very deep pots .
You can grow tunbergia in vertical landscaping by installing a support in the pot. Since there are many shoots and twigs, not one tube or stick is suitable for thunbergia, but a support in the form of a lattice or several arcs. Another option is several bamboo or metal sticks installed in a pot in the form of a pyramid. You can tie the stems with a woolen thread or small crabs (like hair clips).
Reproduction
Thunbergia from seeds
Thunbergia is easily propagated by seeds that are sown in late winter. It is not necessary to sow a lot of seeds if they are fresh, the germination is good, the shoots branch well, so 2-3 seeds are enough for one large plant. Perform sowing in the mixture of vermiculite and universal soil. For example, Terra Vita soil is suitable. Seeds need to be sprinkled with a layer of earth about 1 mm, you can not sprinkle at all, just sprinkle. Until seedlings appear, very high humidity is needed, so moisten the crops from the spray bottle and cover with film or glass. Ventilate two to three times a day, washing or shaking off the condensate. After flowering, the thunbergia has a fruit - a box, with one or two seeds. All described species tie seeds only after artificial pollination.
Thunbergia cuttings
This beautiful flowering plant can also be propagated by cuttings. To do this, they are cut in the summer, around mid-August. Cuttings are cut about 10 cm long. By dusting the sections with phytohormones, they can be planted in moist light soil. After that, for better rooting, the pot with cuttings should be placed in a spacious plastic bag and kept at a temperature of about 20-22 ° C. Cuttings should overwinter in a bright, cool (about 10-12 ° C) room .
Growing thunbergia from seeds and wintering at home
Says Victoria Korovitskaya: Thunbergia planted in the spring in the first decade of March, without soaking, immediately in cups, each seed separately. I do not dive, because they grow immediately in a separate pot, but I pinch the extended one, this is good for them. Until seedlings appear, I keep them covered to maintain humidity. And as they rise - I open it.
When the seedlings grew up, she transplanted them into pots with passiflora, since there was no more space, and the passiflora had a large pot. Thunbergia grew until mid-December, until frosts began. Then she moved the pots to the kitchen on the window. I cut off the thunbergia, and in January the kidneys came out. My kitchen is warm only when something is cooking, and so this is the coldest place - about 15 ° C (we are not pampered with heating). This temperature is suitable for wintering flowers, but not people. However, the born thunbergia still withered, so in the spring she planted fresh seeds.
Tick on thunbergia
Ticks are the most common pests of this plant. They pierce the integument of the leaf, suck out the cell juice. It looks like this: light dots or strokes appear on the surface of the leaves, the leaf seems to be pierced by a needle. Over time, the green color is lost, pale yellow vague spots appear, the leaves dry out. The presence of cobwebs is not typical for all types of ticks. The appearance of pests can be found by the presence of the smallest white grains on the leaves, somewhat similar to dandruff, usually in the underside of the leaf .
Ticks reproduce faster in warm and dry conditions, the leaves can turn very yellow in 2-3 days. When cool, the life of the pests slows down, but they continue to slowly oppress the plant. You can destroy ticks with the help of acaricide preparations, these include fufan, actellic, agravertin, karate, neoron. If the tunbergia is small, you can dilute the solution in a bucket of warm water and dip it "upside down" to moisten all the leaves completely. Then pour the soil with the same solution. It is necessary to treat the windowsill and the glass of the window where the pot with the flower stood. Repeat the procedure at a temperature above 25 ° C in 4-5 days, when it is cooler in 6-7 days. If ticks reappear, be sure to change the drug, where there is another active ingredient - ticks quickly develop resistance to pesticides.