Room Brodie - Luxurious Blue Accents In The Interior. Kinds. Home Care

2023 Author: Ava Durham | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 07:13

Among indoor crops, rich blue colors are very rare. Only beautiful pigs and bulbs that are grown in pots can boast of special shades of sky blue, jade, azure and ultramarine tones. The real blue queen of interiors is a quivering and graceful brodie. Even in our garden culture, it is considered a great rarity. And in the rooms of the brodie it turns into an exclusive decoration. There is nothing difficult in growing this plant - this is the usual process of forcing medium-sized bulbous plants.

Content:

• Luxurious shades of blue in brodiea flowers
• Types of indoor brodies
• Conditions for growing indoor brodies
• Home care for brodieia
• Diseases, pests and problems in growing
• Breeding brodie

Luxurious shades of blue in brodiea flowers

The amazing bulbous of the Brodiaea genus got their name in honor of the scientist who discovered it - the legendary botanist and true Scotsman D. Brodie. There is a lot of confusion associated with the name and classification of brodia. Previously, plants were included in the genera of other relatives, transferred from the tritel and dichelostemma to an independent genus and back. Therefore, many brodies, especially in catalogs that do not specialize in bulbous, can be found both with the Latin name Triteleia and with the marking Dichelostemma. When buying plants, you should be careful and check their characteristics - sizes, flowering features, flower colors.

Brodiei are small corms. Spherical, fibrous, medium-sized, their corm does not differ in impressive size, but forms a rather powerful rhizome. The corms produce straight, rough stems and simple, linear, thin, dark green, furrowed and fleshy leaves more typical of chives and onion sets. The height of shoots in indoor conditions rarely exceeds 25 cm (only in Californian brodie, they can rise above 30 cm).

Blooming brodie

Brodia's flowers seem strikingly graceful. The funnel-shaped perianths are incised up to half into slightly bent, elongated triangular lobes. In the throat, three stamens seem to be touching details, to which the anthers are attached with a base, emphasizing the beauty of the lines. Flowers are collected in inflorescences (from 3 to 13 pieces), sit on pedicels of different lengths, which only enhances the effect of weightlessness and elegance of the plant.

Brodies usually bloom in the summer, at the beginning of June-July, but in a room culture, the specific flowering times depend only on the conditions and desires of the owners: you can drive out brodies literally throughout the year, for any holiday or season (if, of course, it is possible to organize a change of the necessary temperatures and correct lighting).

Despite the fact that all brodies are rightly ranked as blue-colored plants, the shades of color in their flowers fluctuate depending on growing conditions, especially the characteristics of the substrate and lighting. The same bulbs in different rooms can produce rich ultramarine or lilac flowers, others will delight with cobalt notes, still others seem sky blue, and some may have azure or bluish-lilac shades.

Variations include mid-to-light tones in the blue spectrum, with a slight watercolor transition from dark tips to lighter jaws, which is common in plants, enhanced by a dark stroke or dash in the center of each clove.

Types of indoor brodies

Today, about three dozen plant species are distinguished in the Brodia genus. Not all brodies are very popular, but only those plants that can boast of a special decorative effect of flowering. All garden and indoor brodies are North American endemics.

Among the best species are:

Brodiaea minor is a compact, as if created for miniature decorative pots species with amazingly thin leaves and surprisingly graceful flowers with narrow petals and a delicate bluish-lilac color. The maximum height is limited to 10 cm, up to 9 flowers bloom on one stem.

More compact appearance, but with a massive flowers - brodieya squat (Brodiaea terrestris). The plant has almost no stem and the flowers seem to grow directly from the ground in complex bunches. The classic transition from periwinkle edges to light blue throat in this plant further emphasizes the size of the flowers.

Brodiaea californica is a very beautiful species with larger flowers up to 9 cm in diameter (usually 3-5 cm in rooms). The lilac-lavender color of the flowers seems very delicate.

Brodieya coronal or wreath (also known as large-flowered, Brodiaea coronaria) is a more compact species with typical shoots up to 20-30 cm high. The leaves resemble onion sets, thin, tubular with sharp tips. One bulb produces up to 11 flowers on different-sized pedicels. Funnel-shaped, with thin petals, amethyst-purple, they seem very graceful.

Brodiaea stellaris is a surprisingly delicate plant with almost oval petals, a whitish crown inside the throat and a violet-periwinkle color, gradually fading in the center. The leaves are narrow and very light. The plant seems to be strewn with a scattering of stars.

Brodiea has many decorative varieties. In the catalogs, hybrid and varietal forms with picturesque names are most often presented. They differ from ordinary plants only in shades of blue-lilac colors. It is better to choose varieties according to the color palette.

Conditions for growing indoor brodies

Brodiei are typical forcing crops. They are lovers of good lighting and mild temperatures. The sensitivity of the plant to insufficient light during the period of active growth somewhat complicates the process of forcing, but nevertheless, in terms of the selection of conditions, the brodiei are quite typical for bulbous stars that have moved into rooms.

Lighting and placement

Brodiei belong to the bulbous group, which cannot be grown without the correct bright lighting. These plants will put up only with a slight partial shade, but the light intensity should still not be lower than on the second row of the east or west windowsill.

Sunny places are less preferable than diffuse and soft lighting, since numerous brodia flowers are sensitive to hot midday rays. For a dormant period, brodieu is kept in the dark, brought to light, depending on the desired flowering time or when signs of growth appear.

When choosing a place for this forcing plant in the interior, you can stop only on window sills or on pieces of furniture located near a window with direct lighting. East and West window sills are great for Brodie.

If the plant is kicked out at atypical times, especially when planting for winter or spring flowering, it will be very difficult to achieve flowering from brodie without additional lighting. The plant is dependent on bright lighting and may not bud at all.

Temperature regime and ventilation

During the active growth phase, brodies put up with any room temperature indicators. It is easy to compensate for the heat for plants by increasing the air humidity, but even without such measures, flowering will be abundant. For the rest period for brody, both temperature and lighting are important. The plant, after the complete withering away of the aerial part, is kept in the rooms for another 2-3 weeks, and then transferred to the cool for a dormant period and preparation for future flowering.

Optimum for wintering brodiei is considered to be an air temperature of 12 to 14 degrees. Depending on the desired flowering time (with typical early summer - in January-February), the plants are brought to normal room temperatures.

Blooming brodies do not like sudden temperature fluctuations. It is advisable to protect plants from drafts. If desired, potted brodies can be used in the decor of a balcony or terrace.

Home care for brodieia

This bulbous cannot be called the easiest to care for. Because of their sensitivity to improper watering and a love of high humidity, brodies are somewhat more difficult to grow than tulips or crocuses. But with care and proper attention, these potted plants seem to be a precious decoration of windowsills and surprise with a scattering of luxurious flowers.

Watering and air humidity

Brodiei are sensitive to both drought and waterlogging, but they require not just regular, but stable watering of the soil. These procedures are carried out with such frequency that between waterings the top layer of soil in containers dries out during the entire phase of active growing season.

After flowering, with the onset of wilting, watering is reduced, stopping it after the leaves die off. Watering is also resumed slowly, starting to carry out light procedures after transferring the brodiea back to heat.

Brodieys in rooms are sensitive to humidity. Plants gratefully respond to increased rates, but cannot stand spraying the leaves (they must be protected from getting wet even during watering). Flowering plants are kept away from heating appliances and air conditioners. It is necessary to install humidifiers in the form of pallets with wet moss or pebbles if humidity levels fall below 45-50%.

Top dressing and composition of fertilizers

For brodie, top dressing is carried out only from the moment the first leaves appear until the end of flowering. Classic dressing with a frequency of 1 time in 2-3 weeks is preferred.

For this culture, fertilizers are chosen for bulbous or flowering plants. Room brodies cannot stand an excess of nitrogen.

Trimming and shaping

In these plants, all pruning procedures are reduced to the removal of wilting flowers. This pruning will extend the overall flowering time. Leaves are removed only after their complete wilting.

Transplant and substrate

One of the most unusual characteristics of Brodieia is her dislike for transplants. If typical indoor bulbs can be stored both outside the soil and in a dry substrate, annually replanting plants before flowering, then the brodieu is transplanted only when the family grows so much that it completely fills the container. Usually this plant is transplanted no more than once every 2-3 years.

For brodiea, a special soil mixture for bulbous is the best suited. Purchased substrates are preferable, but you can compose the soil yourself by combining humus, leafy and peat soil with sand in a ratio of 1: 1: 3: 1.

Extreme care must be taken when transplanting. If it is possible to transfer plants with minimal contact with bulbs and roots, the plant will adapt much faster. A high drainage must be laid at the bottom of the containers. For potted brodies, it is advisable to mulch the soil with stone chips.

Diseases, pests and problems in growing

Brodieys in rooms are extremely sensitive to rot. Thrips and spider mites are often found on them, but of the pests, root mites and nematodes are the most troublesome. In case of defeat, it is necessary to carry out an emergency transplant with the treatment of corms in a solution of insecticides (or fungicides for rot).

Breeding brodieya

These houseplants can be grown from seed, as the plants flower amazingly quickly - sometimes as early as the first year. Seeds are sown with a slight depth, in a light nutritious soil. Before emergence, containers are kept under glass at a temperature of 21 degrees. The dive is carried out carefully, transferring plants with an earthen clod in groups into small containers and only after at least a second full-fledged leaf appears.

The simplest method of breeding brodieya is the separation of daughter corms. The plant grows rapidly, forming dense families. Small bulbs can be transplanted and used as independent plants.