Speaking of shade-tolerant indoor flowering plants, it is important to mention the plants of the bitter amaranth family, among which my favorite is the lipstick flower, and there is a plant with the same maintenance method as it is called "Aeschynanthus speciosus", and the lipstick flower belongs to the genus of mangosteen, and the beautiful lipstick flower can produce charming golden yellow flowers, which is particularly attractive.
The beautiful lipstick flower is very suitable for raising on the east or south facing window sill, and it can also be cultivated into a weeping potted plant, as long as its branches are long, it will crawl down and hang low, its leaves are oval, the leaves are emerald green, and the leaves are quite shiny.
The most fascinating thing about the beautiful lipstick flower is its tubular flowers, the corolla tube is particularly long, no matter from which angle to view, its flowers are very attractive.
Beautiful lipstick is native to Southeast Asia, they like to be warm and humid environment all year round, and they originally grew in the semi-shade of the woodland, do not like exposure, like soft scattered light, in the process of maintenance, must avoid freezing, avoid air drying.
1, the appropriate temperature
Cultivate beautiful lipstick flowers should also pay attention to maintaining a suitable temperature, its best growth temperature is 19 to 24 degrees, to avoid the temperature is too low or too high. In the summer heat, it also does not like to flower.
The minimum temperature for maintaining beautiful lipstick should be kept above 8 degrees, and it should be moved indoors in time in winter to avoid frostbite.
2, more light
Beautiful lipstick in temperate areas (where there is frost) can only grow house plants, it is very suitable for growing hanging pot plants, growing into a position with 3 to 6 hours of sunshine every day, do not over-expose, do not let the strong light directly.
In the winter and spring when the weather is relatively cool, the light will not be very strong, this time you can accept more sunlight, you can make it flower better; In the summer heat, pay attention to shade at noon and in the afternoon.
In the indoor cultivation of beautiful lipstick flowers should pay attention to maintain humidity and good ventilation, do not raise in a confined space, if the environment is too hot and humid, it is not good to raise. If moisture often remains on the leaves, it is easy to cause leaf rot and breed pathogens.
3. Potting soil selection
The best soil for cultivating beautiful saffron is to choose acidic soil, you can add some peat soil, humus soil and perlite to the soil, such as peat soil + bark + perlite (5:3:2), to ensure that the soil is sufficient, loose and breathable, you can properly mix some bark, coarse coconut shell and so on.
4. Watering and humidity
When maintaining beautiful lipstick potted plants, we should also pay attention to reasonable watering, in the spring and summer growing season, we should pay attention to often replenish water, but the soil should not be continuously wet, before each watering, you can check the dryness and wetness of the potted soil, the soil surface is about 3 cm dry, and then watered thoroughly, and the water should be properly controlled when the winter is low.
If the cured ambient air is overly dry, you can open a humidifier next to it, or put a pot of water under the pot, use a stone to raise it, and do not directly contact the water at the bottom of the pot, so that the humidity can be continuously increased.
5. Trim
The maintenance of beautiful lipstick flowers should pay attention to regular pinching, which can promote it to grow new branches continuously, which is conducive to flowering more, if it is not pruned for a long time, its branches will grow very long, the flowering will be reduced, and the form of the plant will also be affected.
6. Propagation of cuttings
Above is the flower-leaf beautiful lipstick (aeschynanthus speciosus 'variegata')
Cultivating beautiful lipstick flowers is still relatively simple, if you want to breed in the later stage, you can choose strong branches for cuttings in spring and autumn, each section has 2 to 3 growth nodes, it is best to choose the top of the young branches. Each branch is about 9 cm long, removing the leaves at the bottom. Rooting powder can be applied to the bottom of the branches, or soaked in potassium permanganate solution for 5 to 10 minutes.
Prepare loose, breathable, and relatively clean materials, such as perlite and vermiculite, and cuttings with these materials can improve the chances of rooting and germination.
In the process of cuttings, maintain about 80% of the relative humidity, the pot soil is slightly moist, there are 2 to 3 hours of soft light every day, about ten days, you can take root, a month or so can be replanted.