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TheColumnea ( goldfish plant)is a tropical vine make a smashing , interesting alien hanging basketball hoop to enhance your interior .
A Columnea not only has attractive foliage , but its varieties and cultivars have peak in a wide array of colors .
In addition to the many cultivated Columneas , over 100 species produce in the tropics of Costa Rica , Panama , Central America , and South America .
Popular coinage of hang Columnea Varieties
All are fibrous - rooted epiphytes , and many get on tree trunk in the wilderness .
The speciesColumnea tulae flavahas yellowish flowers for almost the entire yr . This treasure hails from the mountainous areas of Haiti and Puerto Rico .
Another species , Columnea linearis , has stiff shank than most and is suited for growing in a hanging basketball hoop or pot culture . Its idle pinkish flush light up dark winter days .
Two slick - riff Columneas arebanksi , a hybrid , andarguta . The former is a leafage flora and difficult to make it blossom .
Paul Allen ( 1911 - 1963 ) of the Missouri Botanical Garden introducedargutafrom Panama . Its leafage is small and guide , and its 2 1/2″ inch flower are orangish with yellow throats .
Alleni(named for Paul Allen ) has foresighted slim stems display stunning red bloom which emerge from reddish calyxes .
Hirtahas fuzzy and more unbending leaves . Gloriosais tinged with purple and velvety textured .
Their flowers are profuse and bloom large . Hirtahas orange blooms and those of gloriosa a cryptic scarlet red .
Perhaps the most graceful ismicrophylla . Its recollective , ticklish stems embrace with dainty leave and Brobdingnagian reddish - Orange River flowers .
At this point perhaps you are thinking , you could never grow such a splendid plant . If you have luck with African violets , then you may and must own a Columnea .
It belong to the same botanic house , the gesneriad along withEpiscia ( flame violet ) .
10 Tips For The Best Hanging Columnea Basket Plants
Light
During light winter days , Columneas ask shining light . Shade them or allow for sink in collateral light during the remainder of the year .
Temperature
If at night your thermoregulator is set between 60 ° -65 ° degrees Fahrenheit your Columuea should flourish . On nebulose days , 65 ° degrees Fahrenheitis nonesuch .
When sunny , the temperature can be ten to 15 ° degrees warmer .
Air
There should be free circulation of breeze but avoid draft .
Water : In the sunrise as the temperature begins to rise , water thoroughly . Then let the plant life almost dry out .
Whether this means daily watering or every other , or third day , depends upon household temperature .
leafage should be dry before the plant receives sunshine or there will be spotting .
Drainage
upright drainage is a necessity . Although Columneas require moisture when growing actively , they must never be waterlogged . Use sufficient gravel , broken pot chips or charcoal at the bottom of the basket .
Humidity
Is the prime essential . Fog - becloud your plant on ironical days , using an atomizer occupy with tepid urine .
Also , plants nearby cater natural humidness and a genus Pan of water placed inconspicuously nearby is excellent .
Soil
Sterile African reddish blue soil is especially desirable . If you do n’t mind fertilizing more often , try peat moss moss or fir barque .
Sterility , however , is another important factor .
Fertilizer
What to use is not as of import as when to employ it . Remember , people would be sorry specimen without proper nutriment feed your works well .
Good Housekeeping
casual app of insecticidal and fungicidal sprays are worth the effort . Preventing trouble tot more pleasure to indoor gardening .
Natural Habitat
When ethnical question arise taste to incur the answer by reading about your works and by discovering where it produce crazy .
Blossom time should be the same as in its natural habitat . stress to simulate these grow conditions .
Propagate
Lest you forget , each bound , pass around another plant to maintain your collection . The cognitive process is simple .
After removing a stem cuttingdip the press clipping in rooting hormone , target it in a sterile medium , such as perlite , vermiculite , or land combined with either .
As increment continues , nip back smartly , right up to Thanksgiving , until the branches form the desire size and shape .
Transplant twice during this point for Columneas like lots of room .
The Joy Of Flowers
Your greatest joy will come each time of year as the buds of your new plant unfold . For now , you are a gardener in the truest sense .
Those types of Columnea which make attractive trailing basketful plants should have their rooted cuttings set in baskets in spring , allow them to hang downwards .
This method practiced displays the sweetheart of their flowers .
