Bouvardia is an evergreen shrub plant that is part of the Marenov family. Distribution area - tropics and subtropics of Central America and Mexico.
Bouvardia Description
Flower height from 50 cm to half a meter. The trunk is erect, branched. The foliage is short-leaved, located opposite, length from 30 to 110 mm. The surface is leathery, smooth.
The flowers are tubular, have 4 petals. Inflorescences resemble bouquets.
Types of Bouvardia
The following types of bouvardia can be grown in the room:
| View | Description | Flowers |
| Yellow | Up to 1 m high, lanceolate foliage. | Color is yellow. |
| Long flowered | It grows to 1 m. The leaves are ovoid, slightly pointed at the ends. | White, very fragrant. |
| Jasmineflower | The trunk is about 60 cm. Flowering occurs in winter. | White, fragrant, similar in appearance to jasmine. |
| Home | The most popular type of plant. Reaches 70 cm. The foliage is ovoid, pointed at the edges, up to 5 cm long. | Color from light pink to raspberry. |
| Pink | From 65 to 70 cm. The leaves are ovoid with sharp edges. | The color is pale pink. |
| Smooth-flowered | Shrub plant reaching a height of 60 cm. Flowering long, begins in mid-July. | They are located at the top of the bush, with a diameter of about 2.5 cm. The outer side is bright red, the inside is pale pink. |
Bouvard care at home
Home care for bouvardia depends on the time of year:
| Factor | Spring Summer | Autumn winter |
| Location / Lighting | Located on the south window, shaded. The lighting is bright, with a lack of color fades. | Cover up with phytolamps. |
| Temperature | + 20 ... +25 ° ะก. | +12 ° C. But during winter flowering, a rest period is not satisfied, and the temperature is kept the same as in summer. The minimum allowable indicator is +7 ° C. |
| Humidity | Medium, do not spray. Occasionally, a flower is sent under the shower to remove accumulated dust. | Showers stop. |
| Watering | Perform after drying the top layer of the earth. | Moderate, prevent stagnation of water. |
| Top dressing | Once every 2 weeks. | Once a month in the presence of flowering in the winter. In other cases, fertilizer is stopped. |
Pruning, transplanting
The life span of the bouvardia is small, but in the first year of cultivation, the plant still needs to be transplanted into a new pot. The best time is spring.
Transplanting soil suitable for universal flowering domestic plants. But the substrate can be prepared independently, combining in the ratio 4: 2: 1: 1 such components:
- soddy soil;
- peat;
- sheet soil;
- sand.
Pruning is performed to stimulate the flowering process and give the bouvardia a beautiful appearance. Spend it a year after planting, up to this point you can occasionally pinch the tops of the flower. A suitable time is spring, when the plant leaves its dormant state. Make a cut of all the long shoots and fattening branches.
Breeding
Reproduction of bouvardia is performed in several ways:
- apical cuttings;
- division of a bush;
- by seeds;
- root offspring.
The most common method is considered the first. Cuttings are prepared at the end of the winter or the beginning of the spring season. They should have 2-3 internodes and a length of at least 10 cm.
Rooting is performed in pure water with the addition of a root stimulant (Kornevin). When the root length is 1 cm, the cuttings are moved into containers with nutrient soil.
Diseases and pests attacking the bouvard
When grown, bouvardia can suffer from a number of diseases and pests:
| Causes | Symptoms on foliage and other parts of the plant | Troubleshooting |
| Spider mite | Light spotting and cobweb. | Increase the frequency of irrigation, process with Aktar. |
| Aphid | Stickiness of the tips of the shoots, twisting and yellowing. | Cut the affected areas of the flower. It is treated with a soapy solution with further bathing in the shower. |
| Root rot | Yellowing and falling, excessive soil moisture. | Cut off all injured roots, and then treat with carbon powder. Transplanted into a new pot and reduce the frequency of watering. |
| Leaf chlorosis | Blanching along the veins. | Sprayed with a tool that contains iron chelate. |
| Infectious spotting | Gray or brown spotting. | The affected leaves are removed, sprayed with Bordeaux liquid. |
With quality care for the bouvardia, the likelihood of diseases and pest attacks is reduced to almost zero.
