Crossandra is an evergreen plant that has long attracted the attention of flower growers. We invite you to read the article «Crossandra: home care» to understand the subtlety of care and indulge yourself in the beauty of indoor plants.
This is a shrub with bright elegant flowers that came to us from sunny India. At home, the height of this shrub reaches a meter. Thanks to smooth shiny leaves and elegant flowers, the plant looks very elegant and decorative.
Saturated green leaves give the plant additional elegance. In our latitudes, it is grown as a houseplant and reaches a height of 50 cm.
There are about 50 varieties of this plant. And they are all decorative and very elegant.
Funnel-shaped crossandra, with bright red-orange flowers, will decorate any windowsill.
I would like to mention the nicolit crossandra, its brick-red flowers look very impressive, thanks to the green shiny leaves. Crossander blooms for a long time. With proper care, you will admire the blooming crossandra all summer and even the first month of autumn.
Caring for room crossandra
When caring for this beautiful flower, do not forget that its homeland is the tropics. The plant does best in a southern room. Therefore, in the room where you settled the crossandra, the temperature should be at least 15 degrees.
It is better to water with water at room temperature, plentifully, but do not fill. In winter, during the dormant period, watering is reduced to moderate. Since the native tropics have high humidity, at room conditions the plant must sometimes be sprayed. Spray it very carefully so that drops of water do not fall on the inflorescences. In order for the crossandra to please you with abundant flowering, do not forget to pinch the young shoots and remove wilted inflorescences in time.
This plant does not tolerate temperature extremes and drafts; under adverse conditions, the crossander sheds leaves. With good care, colorful flowers will delight you for a long time.
reproduction
Crossander is propagated mainly by cuttings. You can harvest cuttings all year long if the temperature in the room where your flower lives is above 20 degrees. For rooting, the cuttings are planted in a mixture of peat and sand 50/50.
After the appearance of the roots, we plant cuttings in several pieces and pinch the tops. Young plants need to be transplanted once a year, adults — if necessary, if the flowerpot is already small for them.
Once every 3 years, it is recommended to rejuvenate crossandra. It is possible to propagate crossandra with seeds, but in our conditions it is impractical.
Plant diseases
It is enough to look closely at the plant and you can determine how well it is taken care of. If the crossandra does not have enough moisture, the tips of the leaves dry out, and she sheds her leaves.
At low temperatures and drafts, this flower can also shed its leaves. Brown edging on the cuttings indicates excessive watering.
To avoid mold on the plant, treat it sometimes with fungicides. Aphids and spider mites are dangerous enemies for cross. With these pests you need to fight folk remedies or use insecticides of contact action.
Our theme «Crossandra: Care at home» came to an end, we revealed the main points, but if you have questions, ask us in the comments.