Gentle Ixia

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Very beautiful, similar to delicate, but at the same time bright, stars. When they bloom, the flower bed looks like a fabulous carpet, decorated with small stars. But there is one but: tropical Ixia is thermophilic and does not tolerate our frosts. But still it can be grown in our flower beds. I will tell you how to do this in the article

Some general information

Ixia came to us from South Africa, gentle, thin, warm and light-loving. Its fragrant bright flowers attract the attention of both people and insects. Translated, the word "ixia" means glue for birds. This is due to the fact that she has a very sticky and aromatic juice, which was used to catch birds.

Ixia is a perennial plant, but in our climate, even in the southern regions of the country, it cannot survive in the winter, so for the winter the bulbs must be dug up, processed and stored until spring. Although there is information that it is possible to leave Ixia to winter in the southern regions, it is better not to risk it, since tender bulbs die even at a temperature of minus 1-2 degrees, and even in the south of our country there are short periods in which the temperature drops sharply below zero. The soil may have time to freeze at such intervals.

Ixia landing

We choose the place for planting Ixia carefully, there are a number of requirements for it.

Firstly, the flower bed must be in the sun, protected from the wind and be far from trees in order to completely exclude the shadow from falling on the plant! With a lack of sun, the flower begins to die, the flowers gradually lose their bright color, the peduncles stretch and become thinner, the plant easily gets sick. All this leads to the death of Ixia.

Secondly, the soil must be fertile and allow water to pass through well, preventing it from stagnating. Although Ixia, as a true tropical plant, loves moisture, it does not like waterlogged soils and stagnant water, this leads to rotting of the bulb. It is best to work a little on the soil and add humus, peat, sand, superphosphate and ash to it. Mix all this and distribute evenly throughout the flower bed. Then carefully dig up the soil, mixing with additives.

Thirdly, we choose the time for planting so that the weather is stable and without sudden fluctuations, as this will negatively affect the growth and development of a tropical plant.

The height of Ixia varies depending on the variety from 30 to 70 centimeters, keep this in mind when choosing varieties and planning a flower bed.

Ixia bulbs are planted at a distance of about 10 centimeters from each other to a depth of 5-8 centimeters. It is best to fill the holes with humus, but if it is absent, peat will do, in extreme cases we cover the planted material with soil from the flower bed. And we leave the flowers for 2-3 weeks, until the sprouts appear.

After the emergence of sprouts, we carefully monitor the moisture content of the soil, preventing it from completely drying out, watering as needed. After the ixia releases the peduncles, the moisture must be monitored even more carefully. Drought during this period is detrimental to the peduncle. Therefore, moisturize the soil well, but do not flood it. If the weather is dry and hot, then periodically irrigate the plant itself with water from a sprayer or spray bottle.

By the way, Ixia is a very interesting flower: every evening its buds close, “going to bed,” and in the morning they “wake up” again - they open.

Ixia blooms for only 2-3 weeks, then the petals crumble. After flowering, irrigation of Ixia is carried out less often, simply not allowing the soil to completely dry out. By about the end of August, the leaves of this plant also dry out. During this period, the bulbs can be dug up and sent for storage.

Storing the bulbs

After the bulbs are dug out, the earth is carefully cleaned off them, then processing is carried out in a 5% manganese solution. Then the bulbs are dried and put into linen bags for storage. The temperature at which it is best to store Ixia is 10-15 degrees Celsius.