SPLASH OF COLOUR
Gardening columnist Theresa Forte talks up a Brazilian beauty you can start in March
March is the perfect time to start planning container gardens.
Browse through the seed catalogues (paper or online) and consider different plants and colour combinations to try, you may even want to start some annuals from seed this month.
When I’m looking for a specific colour for a planter, I invariably choose calibrachoa (or Million Bells). They come in such a wide range of colours and are easy to grow. The National Garden Bureau has named Calibrachoa the annual for 2018.
Let’s have a closer look:
Few types of plants have seen the rise to stardom that the calibrachoa has. From the first plants trickling into the U.S. market during the late 1980s, to the first of the Japanese breeding which arrived as Million Bells in the early 1990s, things have exploded.
Calibrachoa originally came from Brazil, and a few other locations in Latin America, just like their “big brother” the petunia. At one time, calibrachoa was actually a part of the genus petunia but was later validated as a separate genus. While many people refer to calibrachoa as “minipetunias” they are not really the same. Calibrachoa’s native territory is cliff edges and rocky scree; from this, they bring some drought tolerance and preference for well-drained soils.
Calibrachoa are tolerant of a wide variety of soils and environments, though it is still a plant better suited for containers than most garden soils. Calibrachoa has become one of the most popular annual flowers sold each year. The thing that really makes calibrachoa stand out on the garden centre shelf is the incredible colours that are available.
Every colour of the rainbow appears in small jewel-like flowers, but that is only the beginning. You can have a dark eye in every flower, or if you prefer a bright yellow eye, you can choose a bright yellow star pattern radiating from the centre of each bloom, striped blooms, or you can have single or double flowers. There is an amazing palette of colours available in every tone. Some colours will even change based on the temperature, deepening as it gets cooler, or fading as it gets warmer. The closer you look into each flower the more intricate the colours become.
Garden how-tos
If you want to try your hand at growing from seed, it can be fairly easy. There is one seed series that comes in several colours called Kabloom. Stokes Seed is offering pelleted Kabloom in yellow, deep blue, white and deep pink in their catalogue. (All other calibrachoas are grown from cuttings.) Sow the seed indoors eight weeks before the last frost, don’t cover the seed with soil, just press the seed lightly into the potting soil. The seed likes light to germinate so make sure to keep them where they get a full day’s sunlight. For the fastest germination keep soil temperature around 22.5 C. Seedlings will begin to sprout in about 10 to 14 days. It takes about eight to10 weeks to raise full-grown plants, so plan accordingly. Three plants will fill a 30-centimetre-wide planter.
Calibrachoa prefer full sun, offer them at least six hours of direct sun each day, more if possible. A welldrained soil, like most potting soils, is fine. Avoid heavy, cold, clay-based soils as they smother the roots. Other than that, a balanced acidic plant fertilizer applied regularly will give the plant energy to produce thousands of flowers all season long.
In general, calibrachoas are outstanding performers in containers, but as with all plants, avoid severe dry down and wilting. When a plant wilts, it shuts down all growth and repeated wilting causes the plant to become woody and less vigorous. Restarting the growth and flowering can take weeks and sometimes, depending on how much stress the plant receives, it may never fully recover.
I came home from summer holiday several years ago to find my container-grown calibrachoas were dried out beyond redemption. I gave the plants a severe haircut, a good feeding and long drink, and then moved them into the indirect light of the greenhouse. It took nearly a month for them to recover, but they did rally and bloomed well into the autumn. I would not recommend ever letting the plants dry out, but if they do, you might try cutting them back.
A drip irrigation system would be helpful if you can’t be home to water the containers.
Calibrachoas make such an amazing statement in your containers with their bright vivid colours, mix them with other flowers or let them shine all by themselves. They are easy to grow and very forgiving, if you provide the basic conditions they need. Brilliant colours, fascinating streaks and stripes, eye-catching stars, and patterns that resemble the strokes of a brush are available.
So, this year, the year of the calibrachoa, try calibrachoa in your hanging baskets and patio containers, have fun painting your patio with colour.