Tabernemontana - home care for the Indian tree of love

What is tabernemontana, is it very difficult to take care of it at home? I got a young bush on sale, it still continues to bloom. Maybe you can feed something to prolong the flowering? Already a very beautiful plant, I would like to admire it longer.

The leaves are like a gardenia, it blooms like an oleander, and it smells like a whole jasmine grove ... Meet Tabernemontana, which can be taken care of at home even by novice growers. All she needs is light, warmth and moisture. And in return, the bush will delight you with year-round flowering. Originally from the distant hot Africa, where the culture grows freely in the open field, Tabernemontana thrives indoors. Why not, because there she has all the conditions for development and flowering.

Plant features

The plant belongs to the kutrovy family, by the way, where the aforementioned oleander comes from. Tabernemontana is a beautiful evergreen shrub that also blooms. As a houseplant, it reaches an average height of 0.5 m and has numerous stems. With age, they become lignified and covered with light bark, which makes the plant even more like a garden bush.

The bush has beautiful leaves of bright green color and oblong shape. They have a dense texture and a pointed, bent down tip. To the touch, the leaves are like artificial, also covered with a glossy shine. Most varieties have one-color, but there are variegated species.

Not real and as if from a fairy tale look like numerous flowers with which the bush is strewn all year round. Flowering begins in spring and in comfortable conditions lasts until the next season. The flowers are usually white or creamy, small, about 6 cm in diameter, with a persistent sweet aroma. After they have faded, the fruits are formed in the form of pods.

The plant is also known as ervatamia. In India, it is called the "tree of love", "gardenia butterfly" or the East Indian oleander.

Tabernemontana - home care

In general, the bush is not picky about lighting, but let's not forget that it blooms for a long time. And for this he needs more light - at least 8 hours a day. Moreover, the lighting should be diffused, otherwise ugly brown burns will remain on the leathery leaves. In winter, the plant needs to be supplemented so that it continues to bloom.

It is advisable to immediately determine the place for the tree of love. It does not like permutation when it blooms, and can shed the buds.

The temperature regime should be within 25 ° C heat. Higher values ​​are already uncomfortable for the plant as they dry out the air. In this case, you will need to moisten it additionally. But in winter, tabernemontana can tolerate light coolness, but not lower than 15 ° C.

Caring for a decorative perennial consists of the following procedures:

1. Frequent watering. Do not allow the soil to dry out. But you should definitely wait for the soil to dry out before the next watering. It is better to pour water into the pan, as for orchids... The flower itself will take as much as it needs. In the case of overflow, the roots begin to rot, growth stops, and the buds fall off.
2. Regular feeding twice a month with fertilizers for flowering plants, except for winter.
3. Transplanting young bushes 1-2 times a year using the transshipment method. The culture has a fragile root system, although it develops at a rapid pace.

Tabernemontana does not need formative pruning - it branches well itself. But if necessary, you can pinch the top, shorten an extended or crooked branch. And one more important point: the bush will bloom all year round only if the house is warm and there is a lot of light. In the cool and with a short daylight hours, he goes to a forced rest.

How to care for a room tabernemontana