It's time to tidy up streptocarpus
I’m getting them ready for another season full of colourful flowers
One of my favourite summer flowering plants in the greenhouse are streptocarpus. I grow several colours and they provide plenty of flowers from late spring right through to early autumn. They also make good houseplants. I tend to take a plant into the house for a week or two, and then swap it with another from the greenhouse. This keeps the plant fresh and means we can have a flowering plant in the house all summer.
My plants are grown purely for decoration and I’m looking for healthy foliage and plenty of flowers. After flowering stops in autumn, the plants are watered less, and through the winter I keep them just moist and frost-free to keep them ticking over. The large leaves are also trimmed back to tidy up the plants, and if the foliage wilts in winter, I give them a small amount of water. This method works very well in a frostfree greenhouse or conservatory and the survival rate is usually very high.
As the days gradually get longer and the daytime temperatures increase, the plants will perk up and new signs of growth can be seen. When this happens naturally, it’s my signal to tidy them up and get them ready for another season. With all the
plants, I pick them over to remove any dead foliage and the remains of last year’s old flower stalks. Small plants are potted up into a slightly larger pot using a good quality multi-purpose compost. I don’t like to go above a 12.5cm (5in) pot, so those that are already in that size pot are knocked out and some of the old compost from around the roots is carefully teased off, before re-potting using
fresh compost. This encourages new roots and, with a little extra water and warmth, new foliage will soon start to grow.