- Bring indoors before the frosts
- What does the ideal winter quarters look like?
- care during the winter
- Move to the open air
In our latitudes, the vanilla flower (heliotrope, solstice) is usually only cultivated once a year because it is not hardy. In its homeland, however, the flowering plant thrives perennial and it is definitely worth overwintering particularly beautiful specimens.
The beautiful vanilla flower needs to be warmed up before winter
Bring indoors before the frosts
As soon as the night temperatures fall below five degrees, it is time to bring the vanilla flower into the house. Check the plants beforehand for pest infestation, because spider mites or aphids can attack not only the solstice but also other plants in the winter quarters and cause massive damage.
Transpose bedding plants
Vanilla flowers thriving in the flower bed are carefully dug up. Make sure to dig up as much of the root ball as possible. The heliotrope is then planted in commercially available potting soil and watered.
What does the ideal winter quarters look like?
Put the pots in a:
- bright
- cool
- frost free
Place. It is important that the temperatures do not fall below five degrees here either. For example, an unheated stairwell or a bright basement room is ideal.
care during the winter
Water the plant very sparingly, it is not fertilized at all. During the hibernation, the solstice sheds part of its leaves and some shoots dry up. This is not bad. If you remove all dead plant parts in the spring, the vanilla flower will willingly sprout again.
Move to the open air
Only when no more night frosts are to be expected can the vanilla flower be allowed to move outside again. After the winter months, carefully acclimate the plants to the changed conditions and initially place the pots in a shady, sheltered place. Only after about two weeks is it transplanted to its final, sunny location.
tips
In harsh locations with cool summers and very frosty winters, heliotrope should preferably be cultivated as a pot plant. You can put the vanilla flower directly into the bed with the planter in the summer months. This saves you having to repot twice a year.