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In recent years, climbing or ampelous plants have become especially popular among gardeners and summer residents. Considering the fact that they can be used outdoors in flower beds to create vertical compositions, and in tall containers, and in hanging pots, and to decorate the balconies of city apartments, it is not surprising that more and more people are interested in such flowers. In addition, the choice among them is not so great compared to ordinary herbaceous or shrub flowers.
One of the typical representatives of the kingdom of lianas is tunbergia - a flower with a rather exotic look. Despite the fact that its inflorescences look rustic, their colors captivate with the brightness and richness of colors.
Tunbergia is native to the tropical regions of Africa and Asia - therefore, the plant is very thermophilic. On the other hand, its big plus is the fact that it gets along well in ordinary room conditions, so it can be brought into the house before the onset of cold weather and, if appropriate conditions are created, tunbergia can delight you with its flowering all winter.
After all, growing tunbergia from seeds does not require any special knowledge and conditions. She does not need, like many other sissies, warm conditions in winter, she will be quite content with the usual room temperature. But for flowering, she will need additional lighting and a fairly spacious pot. But even if you cannot please her, and she refuses to bloom in winter, tunbergia will also be interesting to look at as a small indoor vine.
Varieties of tunbergia and their description
Thunbergia is a perennial flower from the acanthus family. It was named after the Swedish natural scientist Karl Thunberg, who studied plants and animals in South Africa in the 18th century. The genus is quite extensive, and up to 200 species of this exotic flower can be found in the wild. But in culture, only a few species are most often found.
Multi-flowered or blue, or grandiflora (T. grandiflora)
Homeland is India. The plant is quite powerful, broadly oval bright green leaves reach a length of 18-20 cm, there is pubescence on the underside. It curls actively, can reach a length of 7-8 meters. Flowers of a blue or purple shade with a white center are collected in racemose inflorescences. Their size can be up to 8-9 cm in diameter.
Fragrant (T. fragnans)
This flower is native to Southeast Asia and Australia. It is an evergreen liana that grows up to 6 meters. The leaves are ovoid, dark green above and light with a white vein in the center below. Single white flowers up to 5 cm in diameter have a pleasant aroma.
Mysore or Mizoren (T. Mysorensis)
This type of tunbergia is also native to India. Outwardly, it looks very exotic and looks more like some kind of orchid than a tunbergia. In height, the shoots can reach 5-6 meters, the leaves are elongated-lanceolate. Flowers of amazing shape in warm shades hang on long racemose peduncles sometimes 50 cm in length.
Winged (T. alata)
This type of tunbergia is not only the most famous and widespread, but also practically the only one that is widely grown in Russia and in most European countries. The people call him the Black-eyed Suzanne for the characteristic, peephole-like, black centers of the inflorescences. Although there are varieties without a peephole, they look no less attractive.
The stem is ribbed, strongly branching, the leaves are triangular-heart-shaped, pubescent below. Single flowers of medium size (up to 4 cm) are most often orange, yellow, beige, and sometimes pinkish and salmon. In culture, the species has been known since 1823.
Usually, in the open ground of the middle strip, shoots grow no more than two meters in length. And in room conditions, she most likely will not have enough lighting. Therefore, you can see Tunbergia in all its glory in our latitudes only in greenhouses or winter gardens.
Flower use
Among annual lianas, tunbergia looks the most impressive - because its cheerful flower-eyes can positively affect your mood throughout the summer. In the garden, tunbergia can be sown with seeds or planted with seedlings at the base of walls, various kinds of fences or decorative trellises. In this case, the shoots, clinging to the supports, will be able to grow upward, beautifully twisting around the posts. Thus, you can not only revive certain corners of the garden or courtyard, but also disguise the ugly sections of the fence or walls.
Thunbergia, in combination with others curly annuals, can perfectly revive a garden gazebo or serve to create a green flowering wall that will separate a cozy corner for relaxation on your site.
It is also good to plant tunbergia along the southern or western wall of the greenhouse to shade greenhouse plants from the sun.
In general, the appearance of the tunbergia will greatly depend on the type of support you choose for it. If you put it on the net, you can get a low wall, if it is a single stick, then a fountain of flowering stems will hang from above. The most impressive pyramids will look narrowing or, conversely, expanding upward.
And it can also be allowed to curl along the southern side of conifers or shrubs that have faded in spring.
If you plant several tunbergia plants near an alpine slide, then it will be able to spread over the surface of stones and boulders and decorate their gray bases in sunny tones. The same effect can be obtained by planting tunbergia simply on flower beds with small supports diverging upward. In this case, some of the stems will be able to crawl up, while others will decorate the surface of the flower bed with bright colorful flowers against the background of abundant green foliage. Thunbergia can also serve as a great framing for a lawn, if planted along the edge in a row at a distance of 40-50 cm from each other.
But the most impressive tunbergia will look in vertical flowerpots, or hanging planters and baskets, when its shoots will beautifully descend, creating a waterfall of flowers and greenery.
Growing from seeds
Winged Tunbergia reproduces quite easily with the help of seeds. Most often, the seedling method is used to grow it from seeds, although in the southern regions with early and warm spring, you can try to sow it directly into the ground. Most of the most popular tunbergia varieties flower approximately 3 to 3.5 months after germination. Therefore, when sowing seeds in open ground, you will be able to see the blooming Black-Eyed Suzanne only at the end of summer.After all, this flower, being a native of the tropics, does not tolerate frost, which means that it can be sown only at the end of May, and even then under temporary shelters.
When to plant seedlings
The timing of planting tunbergia seedlings depends on when you can plant it in open ground. But the sooner you do it, the
- the plant will have time to develop more powerful shoots during the summer season;
- you will be able to observe its flowering faster;
- flowering itself will be more abundant;
- more will be able to set seeds on plants.
Typically, tunbergia seeds are planted for seedlings from February to April.
It is interesting that you can sow tunbergia seeds even in August and keep it indoors all winter, although for this it is imperative to arrange additional lighting for the winter period. But if you plant similarly grown tunbergia plants in the ground at the very beginning of June, they will amaze you with their growth, as well as early and abundant flowering.
In the same way, you can dig up and save the plants blooming in summer for the winter period, after cutting off the shoots at a level of 10-15 cm from the ground.
Sowing seeds
The photo below shows how large the tunbergia seeds are (their diameter is 3-4 mm), so they are relatively easy to sow.
Before sowing, it is advisable to soak the seeds for 6-12 hours in a solution of stimulants: Humates, Epine, Zircon.
Sowing substrate requires non-acidic, light and breathable, but retains moisture well. You can take:
- A mixture of equal amounts of humus, leafy earth and sand.
- Add about 1/10 by volume of vermiculite to any seedling soil.
You can grow tunbergia seeds both in general medium-sized bowls, and in separate cups. Young plants tolerate picking and replanting well, so the method of growing depends on the amount of space you can allocate to the tunbergia seedlings and the time you want to spend on replanting them. If you have little space, but a lot of time, then it is better to initially sow tunbergia seeds in a common container in order to transplant the sprouts into separate pots when deploying three to four leaves.
In the video below you can see the process of sowing tunbergia seeds for seedlings in all details.
If you have problems with time, but there is a sufficient amount of space, then it is better to sow the soaked seeds immediately into separate cups, so as not to bother with transplanting seedlings in the future.
The seeds should not be deeply buried in the ground, you can only sprinkle them with loose soil, a layer no more than 0.5 cm thick.Tunbergia seeds do not need light for germination, and it is desirable to maintain the temperature around + 22 ° + 24 ° С. Under these conditions and constant maintenance of humidity, seedlings should appear from 6 to 14 days. When the first sprouts appear, the tunbergia seedlings are placed under additional lighting, and it is advisable to slightly lower the temperature to + 18 ° + 20 ° С.
Seedling care
If you have planted tunbergia seeds in a common container, then when 3-4 leaves are formed, it is advisable to plant the plants in separate pots. And a few days after transplanting, feed with a complex mineral fertilizer diluted in a small proportion (approximately 70-80 mg per 1 liter of water).
An important procedure during this period will be to pinch the main stem over 3-4 leaves for good branching of the tunbergia. It is also better to immediately put separate supports to avoid entanglement of the stems even before the seedlings are planted outside. Before planting, the tunbergia seedlings must be hardened, gradually accustoming the plants to a temperature of + 10 ° + 12 ° C.
For the rest of the seedlings, nothing else is required, except for an abundance of light, without which it cannot fully develop.
When sowing tunbergia seeds at the end of February, you can plant seedlings in flower beds outside at the end of May - beginning of June, and the buds will already open on it.
Cultivation of tunbergia implies only abundant watering, especially in hot summer conditions, and periodic feeding. The rest of the plant is very unpretentious and will delight you with its abundant and colorful flowering.
If you want to harvest your tunbergia seeds in order to grow flowers next season, then watch the plants. In place of faded flowers, seed pods are formed pretty soon, which must be collected before they open and fall to the ground. In this case, it will be almost impossible to collect them. The collected seed pods are dried, the seeds are taken out and stored in a cool dry place.
The seeds remain viable for about two years and, as practice shows, the tunbergia seeds collected with their own hands germinate much better and faster than those purchased in the store.
Conclusion
Thunbergia is a very interesting and spectacular blooming vine, which will not only help you decorate the site in the summer, but if you wish, you can save it to decorate the rooms in the winter. Moreover, it is easily propagated by both seeds and cuttings.
