- The Japanese miracle flower goes limp in frost
- This is how you guide the Japanese miracle flower through the winter
Its name suggests that the Japanese miracle flower comes from Asia and has a certain degree of frost hardiness. In fact, the scented and flowering plant came to Europe from sunny South America. You can find out here how a Mirabilis jalapa can still overwinter.
The Japanese magic flower does not tolerate prolonged frost
The Japanese miracle flower goes limp in frost
When the days get shorter, the Japanese miracle flower ends this year's appearance on the garden stage. With falling temperatures, it becomes too uncomfortable for her in the Central European climate. Therefore, she pulls in her shoots and leaves to create a reserve from the remaining nutrients in the tuber. If the thermometer fluctuates between 5 and 10 degrees Celsius at night, the exotic plant cannot survive in the open air in the long term.
This is how you guide the Japanese miracle flower through the winter
Yellowing leaves and steadily declining abundance of flowers signal in autumn that the Japanese magic flower is preparing for dormancy. Therefore, stop giving fertilizer from September. At the same time you gradually reduce watering. Before the first frost, put the Mirabilis jalapa in to overwinter it like this:
- Use a digging fork to lift the tubers out of the ground
- Cut off the drawn-in shoots and all roots
- Tap off any soil that is stuck
Choose a dark room with temperatures between 5 and 10 degrees Celsius for winter quarters. Ideally, store the tubers on a wooden shelf or wire rack without the skins touching. Alternatively, store the tubers in a box of dry sand, peat moss, straw or sawdust. Only after the ice saints do you plant the tubers in their usual place.
Do not let tubers dry out
If the tubers of a Japanese miracle flower overwinter in a room with high humidity, winter care is limited to repeated turning. If, on the other hand, the air in the winter quarters is dry, spray the tubers with a fine mist of soft water every 2 to 3 weeks so that they do not dry out completely.
tips
If there is a lack of suitable premises for winter quarters, harvest the pea-sized seeds of your Japanese magic flower. Sowing is very easy on the bright, warm window sill, so that you can plant vital young plants in the garden in May.