Worth knowing:
The evergreen Sturt’s Desert Pea is a slow-growing climbing bush with neatly pinnate, round-shaped and velvety haired leaves. Its trademark are the remarkable long-stalked and up to 8 cm long, upright standing petals. In the center of the shiny red, rostrate flowers is the characteristic black spot located. With a climbing aid the Sturt’s Desert Pea can easily be cultivated as a tub plant and will decorate your balcony or garden all summer with its exotic blossoms.
Natural Location:
The Sturt’s Desert Pea has its natural habitat in the dry zones of Central Australia as well as in northern South Australia, where it is the national flower.
Cultivation:
Seed propagation indoors is possible throughout the year. To increase the germinability, you can slightly roughen the seed with a soft file or a piece of sandpaper and place it for about 24 hours in warm water for priming. Since the seedlings will be quite sensitive to pricking out later on, it is advisable to use a bigger pot for the propagation right away. Just plant the seeds about 1 cm deep into moist potting compost, put some compost earth on top and cover the seed container with clear film to prevent the earth from drying out. Don’t forget to make some holes in the clear film and take it every second or third day completely off for about 2 hours. That way you avoid mold formation on your potting compost. Place the seed container somewhere bright and warm with a temperature between 20° and 25° Celsius and keep the earth moist, but not wet. After two to six weeks, the first seedlings will come up.
Place:
To develop a strong growth with rich blossoming, the Sturt’s Desert Pea needs a warm and sunny, wind-protected place during summer. Therefore, your tub plant should only be kept outdoors during the warm summer months.
Care:
The Sturt’s Desert Pea is sensitive to strong wetness. It is advisable to use a mixed soil with a good portion of sand, perlite or expanded clay. Waterlogging, especially in the saucer has to be avoided. From May until October you should give fertilizer for tub plants every two weeks. As for pruning it is enough to thin out old branches once a year.
During the winter:
The Sturt’s Desert Pea is best be kept in a bright room with a temperature of 5° to 15°Celsius. Dark places or not suitable for hibernation. Water the plant only modest, so the roots don’t dry out.
Picture credits:
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- © Frank Laue - © Saflax - http://www.saflax.de/copyright
- © Alexandra at lb.wikipedia - CC-BY-SA-3.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
- © Jim Bendon - CC-BY-SA-2.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
- © Blueday - Public Domain - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/publicdomain/
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