Vanilla flower - this is how the cultivation succeeds

Interesting facts about the vanilla flower

• The perennial vanilla flower is suitable both as a bedding plant and for cultivation in a tub (balcony plant or hanging basket). Since this plant is not hardy, it is mainly cultivated as an annual, but it can also be overwintered. The strong scent of the vanilla flower is not only popular with its owners, it also attracts butterflies and bees. Oil that is also used in the perfume industry is extracted from the flowers of the vanilla flower.
• You can buy the vanilla flower in nurseries or nurseries as seeds or plants. There it is now offered with white flowers, in addition to its widespread blue-violet flowers. The only negative aspect is that all plant parts of the vanilla flower are poisonous, which should be considered especially in households with children and pets.

Care instructions for this plant

• The location should be bright, sheltered from the wind and sunny. However, young plants should not be exposed to blazing sun at first. The vanilla flower prefers a less nutritious, sandy and well drained soil. fertilizer should also only be given very sparingly and if so then in half the concentration. A normal fertilizer is suitable for flowering plants.
• The water requirement of the plant, however, is very high. If there is a lack of water, she lets the leaves hang, which then get brown edges and dry up. Such parts of the plant usually do not recover and should be removed. As a rule, the root ball should never dry out.
• Although the vanilla flower needs a lot of water, you should protect it from rain as its flowers are not rainproof. A rain cover or a covered balcony is advisable. You should always remove parts of plants that have faded to encourage new flower formation.


Fat hen - grooming

Fat hen or sedum are unflattering names for this ...

• This plant is very sensitive to frost and should therefore overwinter frost-free. A bright, cool room with temperatures around 5 ° C is ideal. At higher temperatures it needs a lot of light. In addition, at higher temperatures in winter it can quickly sprout and become horny. Aging means that the plants can briefly grow rapidly upwards due to a lack of light, sometimes several centimeters per day. These long shoots would then have to be removed regularly and the plant cut back sharply in spring. The watering must be significantly restricted in winter and the soil kept drier. However, even now the root ball must not dry out. You should avoid fertilizer in winter.
• The vanilla flower can be propagated both by sowing and by cuttings. The seeds are sown in February / March in a small indoor greenhouse, which is available in the DIY store or garden center. It should be noted that the vanilla flower is a light germ and should not be covered with substrate. If sown later in June, the small plants have to overwinter inside. The advantage here is that you have strong plants in spring that bloom earlier.
• In the case of plug-link propagation, the cuttings are taken from one of the overwintered plants in February and then put into a sandy, humus-rich substrate. The cuttings usually take root within 2-3 weeks. This can be seen from the new shoot. From mid-May, the young plants can then be planted outdoors at intervals of 20-25 cm.