Lisianthus in the Tropics

One of my readers finally gave me the name of the 'Paper Rose' that I bought a few years back,  Lisianthus (Eustoma grandiflorum), thank you Tramadol, and I can now research it and find out more about it.

The first thing I found is that it's from the warm regions in the Americas and so is definitely suited to our tropical climate here in Malaysia and South-east Asia. Secondly it is an biennial, so it will die off, but it can give you a couple of years, or seasons, of flowers.

Apparently it's drought resistant, but likes regular watering with good drainage. It likes the sun a lot, but a very wind-sheltered sunny spot might be too hot. To promote flowering you can cut the long stems which are great show flowers and can last 2-3 weeks in a vase.

So, if you are out in Sungai Buloh and you find these flowers, you can rest assured that you can grow them in a sunny spot in your home. I'll put some links below to sites I looked up if you want to know more. However, I mention the main care needs above, and will mention one more word of caution - that they don't like their roots disturbed too much. So either keep them in the pot they came in, or put them into a bigger pot without trying to separate or loosen them.

Have fun with them. They are such beautiful flowers.

http://www.theflowerexpert.com
www.bhg.com 
http://www.dontveter.com

Japanese Paper Roses

When we went to Sungei Buloh to get plants a few weeks back, both my daughters wanted to get roses. I wasn't so keen as they are very difficult in a tropical country, but they wheedled me into it, so we came home with three traditional roses and two hybrid plants which the vendor called a Japanese Paper Rose.

The paper rose has a beautiful flower which looks just like a rose, but the plant is quite different. The traditional rose is quite bushy and has woody stems. They most often come up from one stem and branch off from that. The paper rose, on the other hand, looks more like an annual. All its stems come straight up out of the soil and don't branch off. The stems aren't woody either. They are herbaceous and thornless. In that regard, I think they won't last longer than a year.

As you can see, the leaves come out straight from the main stem itself without any small one of its own. It looks more like a sweetpea leaf.

We've tried to find out information on the internet about them, but haven't succeeded yet. Frances did find out a lot of information about traditional roses of course, sadly none of it about growing them in a tropical country. All the same, there was a lot of practical information that could be applied to them wherever they are.

1. They like well-drained soil. They don't like sitting in water, but they want a lot of it passing through. Frances solved this by getting an IKEA metal kitchen shelf with holes in it and putting a container under it.

2. They like lots of sun, but no heat.

3. They also like circulating air, but no direct breeze on them.

4. They don't like sharing their pot or space.

5. They like rain on them or a spray from time to time.

6. Regular fertiliser

So fussy!

She has got them in her window which gets afternoon sun and she leaves her fan on low to circulate the air.

She says that they responded well at the beginning, but they seem to have paused in their growth. She says that the soil is very wet even with it being drained. I wonder if it needs to dry out a little before the next watering because of the local humidity. I looked up on http://scvrs.homestead.com/WaterAndRoses.html and it mentions that they like a lot of water, but less in high humidity. So, it might pay to give a little less. We'll see. It also mentions that it's good to add a mulch to the top, such as bark. I might have to look into that. The mulch inhibits evaporation, helps keep the plant roots cool and provides nutrients.

This shows how the two types of roses look quite different. The new hybrid is on the right. You can see the metal shelf that Frances uses too.