Tigridia - An Eight-hour Miracle Of Nature

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

Even the short-term beauty of natural creatures makes the earthly world brighter, more colorful and splendid. Some plants have adapted so well to terrestrial living conditions that they have learned to delight the world with long flowering. Even their cut flower stalks adorn the human dwelling for a long time with their picturesque and fragrant flowers, feeding on water in a flower vase. But, there are such plants, the flowers of which live only one daylight hours. Such plants, for example, include the ubiquitous Russian weed, Common chicory, whose blue inflorescences-baskets, consisting of some reed petal flowers, live only one day. Representatives of the genus Tigridia belong to the same plants

In the wild, plants of the genus Tigridia preferred for their life the semi-alpine and semi-tropical climate of Central and South America, where since legendary times their bulbs have been used by the indigenous population as a food product. The American Indians ate baked onions. Raw onions cause a burning, unpleasant sensation in the mouth, while when baked they taste like sweet potatoes. It is believed that the Aztecs more than a thousand years ago cultivated a number of plant species in the genus, numbering more than thirty species. Indeed, in favorable conditions, Tigridia grows without any problems, easily multiplying with the help of seeds, as well as by building up daughter bulbs, which need to be planted in new places every three years, so that they can grow freely.

Used bulbs and for medicinal purposes, for the treatment of infertility.

Of course, in our time, when store shelves demonstrate an abundance and variety of food products, the culinary role of Tigridia bulbs has decreased, but the picturesqueness of the flowers of the plant, at a glance, resembling Orchid flowers, which reveal their fabulous beauty in the morning, and after lunch they lose it, everything is gaining more popularity not only in areas with a warm climate, but also in central Russia.

For the successful growth of Tigridia, the plant should be allocated the sunniest place on the site, which is simultaneously protected from drafts and cold winds. The soil should be loose, sandy, easily permeable to water so that no stagnation of water is created. Indeed, during the growth period, the plant requires a lot of moisture.

In order for the plant to delight with its unique flowers every day for one and a half to two months, a group of fifteen to twenty bulbs should be planted. With such a group planting, Tigridia guarantees five to seven flowers a day, which is quite enough to decorate a flower garden, since the flowers of the plant are quite large, reaching more than ten centimeters in diameter. Blooming on Russian lands falls from late July to September. The flowers of Tigridia are hermaphrodite, that is, they have both female and male organs. Pollination is carried out by insects.

In cold winters, the bulbs are dug up in the fall and stored in a cool, but not frosty place. Small corms are more effective to grow in a greenhouse throughout the year, and only after that they are planted in the spring in open ground.

A widespread species of the genus Tigridia used in decorative floriculture is Tigridia pavonia (Latin Tigridia pavonia). Depending on living conditions, the height of the plant varies from twenty-five to seventy centimeters. The light green xiphoid leaves of the plant are similar to the leaves of other plants in the Iris family, which include the genus Tigridium. One corm is capable of showing the world from three to five peduncles, bearing up to five flower buds. The buds conceal amazingly picturesque pictures inside themselves, opening one by one to decorate the planet for some eight to ten hours.

Tigridia growers start their mornings outside to admire the gorgeous new flowers, flirty and fabulously picturesque. The outer monochromatic petals can be white, bright yellow, pink, orange-red, and the inner petals are multi-colored and variegated.