Blooming plants on the windowsill bring joy all year round. Those varieties and species that bloom in winter are especially appreciated. Outside the windows there is snow and a blizzard, and on the windowsill there are bright flashes of colorful flowers. One of the main decorations of the house, flower lovers note Guzmania, a bright tropical plant.
About the guzmania plant
Guzmania is an evergreen herb from the bromeliad family. The homeland of these beautiful flowers is the tropical forests of Asia and India, where there are more than 120 species of them. Among themselves, the species of guzmania differ in the shape and color of leaves, inflorescences, rosettes. The plant is no more than 40 centimeters high, has belt-like leaves with a variety of bracts and inflorescences. The root system is superficial, therefore, in nature, the guzmania prefers to cling to any support, be it a tree or a shrub.
Types of tropical plants for growing at home
There are several popular varieties for home cultivation:
Guzmania Minor Rondo is a low-growing bush with intensely green leaves, connected in a dense rosette. At the top of the red stipules is a flower with white petals.
Mosaic gusmania.
A sprawling plant with green leaves in a watermelon strip, pink stipules and yellowish petals at the arrow flower.
One-spike gusmania.
A beautiful plant with a spike-shaped trunk and the same inflorescence. In the striped axils of the inflorescence, white flowers sit.
Guzmania Hilda is yellow.
The rich green leaves are collected in a rosette, which smoothly turns into a yellow inflorescence and is crowned with the same yellow flower.
Plant care at home
The plant does not tolerate direct sunlight and excessively dry air. The most optimal place for placing a flower will be a shaded window sill in the room or in the kitchen. And following the recommendations for caring for gusmania, it will delight you for a long time with its unusually beautiful flowering.
The recommendations are as follows:
- the temperature in the room should not be above 27 and below 10 degrees;
- regularly ventilate the room, avoiding drafts;
- place a flower in partial shade;
- humidify the air in the room;
- water and spray the flower once a day during a hot period of time, and in winter no more than twice a week;
- feed the plant with a special fertilizer for bromeliads and gently wipe the leaves from drops of top dressing;
- water only with settled water into the leaf outlet of the flower. It is better to remove excess water immediately in order to prevent decay of the root system.
Transplantation and reproduction of gusmania
You can buy gusmania at a flower shop, order it online, or grow it yourself. The plant is transplanted immediately after purchase or for reproduction.
The flower propagates with the help of:
- children that form at the root outlet of the adult process;
- division of an adult bush;
- seeds.
The transplanting process itself is not difficult - you need to choose a suitable pot, fill the bottom with expanded clay, add pieces of coal and place an aerated soil-substrate on top. Make a small indentation in the ground and carefully place a shoot or a separated part of an adult bush there, without deepening the basal neck. Then lightly press down the earth at the base of the appendix and pour over with settled water.
Advice
To give the interior originality, you can plant a mix of gusmanias of different varieties in one flowerpot, combining them in height and color of flowers.
Important!
- A root system should be formed in a young shoot, then it will quickly take root in a new flowerpot, and will begin to grow intensively.
- It is better to choose flowerpots for planting a flower that are not tall and elongated.
- Guzmania prefers moderate watering and spraying. Having transplanted it into a pot, you need to install a watering bowl next to it - a humidifier.
