- The planting time
- The site
- The substrate
- The planting distance
- The heyday
- The propagation
- Transplant in the fall
The vanilla flower is a small plant wonder, because it not only adorns the garden and balcony with its beautiful umbels of flowers, but also spreads an extremely pleasant scent. Planted properly, the beauty, also known as a heliotrope or solstice, is quite easy to care for.
The vanilla flower can be planted outside in May
The planting time
The vanilla flower is planted out in spring. It is important that the temperatures at night do not fall below five degrees, as the plant is very sensitive to frost. This is also the right time if you want a solstice cultivated in a pot to decorate the balcony during the summer.
The site
Heliotrope prefers a warm, sunny to partially shaded spot. When there is a lack of light, the flower, which aligns its leaves and blossoms according to the course of the sun, shows unsightly gail growth. The location should also be protected from rain and wind.
The substrate
The substrate should not be too nutritious. Well-drained garden soil, to which you add some sand, is ideal. Commercial potting soil is suitable for planting in balcony boxes (€109.00). Be sure to ensure good water drainage by filling a thin layer of expanded clay (€19.73) in the planter.
The planting distance
Heliotrope can reach a height of up to eighty centimeters in the garden. A planting distance of twenty centimeters should therefore not be undercut. Give the plants some support, as the stems can easily snap under the weight of the heavy umbels.
The heyday
Solstice blooms persistently from May to October. If you regularly break out faded flowers, the vanilla flower will continuously set new buds.
The propagation
You can get high-quality seeds that germinate reliably from specialist garden retailers. Cultivation should start as early as January so that the small plants can move into the garden in the same year. Heliotrope needs light to germinate, the germination time is about two weeks.
Transplant in the fall
Since the solstice is very sensitive to frost, it is usually cultivated as an annual in our latitudes. However, it is possible to overwinter heliotrope indoors. It is important that you dig up the plants in good time, as temperatures below five degrees are poorly tolerated.
tips
If you want to propagate a vanilla flower that has overwintered, you can do this very well with cuttings cut in the spring. Placed in a suitable substrate, they will root quite quickly and develop into magnificent plants over the course of the summer.