Montbretia thrive in their natural habitat in the grasslands and sunny mountain slopes of South Africa. This means that the cultivars are only hardy to a limited extent. When planting, you can do a lot to ensure that Montbretia survive the winter well in our latitudes and do not have to be dug up and planted anew every year.

To protect the Montbretia from frost, they should be planted as deep as possible

The Montbretie - not fully hardy

The Montbretie survives single-digit minus degrees, as long as it receives sufficient winter protection, usually unscathed. Over the years, the small tubers pull themselves back into the deeper soil layers, where the frost can no longer reach the stolons.

The optimal planting depth

To improve winter hardiness, a fairly deep planting of at least ten and a maximum of twenty centimeters is advisable. As a result, the Montbretia sprout a little later, but are not reached by severe frosts.

The site

Always plant hardy Montbretia in a sheltered, full sun and warm location. A bed in front of a house wall is ideal. The wall stores the heat of the day and radiates it again during the night. This climate suits the Montbretia very well and they bloom very profusely under these conditions. Even in winter, the climate near the house is milder and the ground usually does not freeze as deeply as in other garden locations.

The ideal ground conditions

Montbretia prefer well-drained and nutrient-rich soils. The hardy varieties are also very susceptible to root rot. Therefore loosen the substrate with sand and put a thin drainage layer of sand or gravel in the planting hole.

Transplant and multiply hardy Montbretia

If the hardy Montbretia are in an unsuitable location, they only bloom sparsely and it is advisable to move them to another location. Unfortunately, the Montbretia often do not bloom in the year of planting, but reward the change of location in the following garden year with an even richer bloom.

Hardy Montbretia form numerous daughter tubers with which you can easily propagate the plants. The ideal time for this measure is early spring, when the heat-loving flowering plant has not yet fully awakened from hibernation.

When do hardy Montbretia bloom

The heyday of the winter-hardy cultivated forms, like that of the only limited winter-hardy species, falls between June and October.

tips

Montbretia tubers are a special treat for voles. To keep the voracious rodents away, you can place the stolons in special plant baskets.

Category:

Vegetable garden