Impressive flowers for indoors
Words: Phil Clayton, Features Editor of The Garden
There are numerous house plants with magnificent blooms. Some of my favourite include:
Epiphyllum
(orchid cactus)
Forest cacti with succulent leaf-like stems and in spring displays of flowers in different colours. The blooms are fairly short-lived but multitudes form, some may be night flowering or even scented. Epiphyllum is easy to grow and takes temperatures down to about 5°c (41°F) if they are kept fairly dry in winter. Grow them in a sunny spot and water and feed freely in the growing season. They can eventually become unwealdy but Epiphyllum are easy to replace by plants grown from cuttings.
Achmea fasciata
(urn plant)
A large bromeliad from Brazil, forming rosettes of serrated, grey-green leaves. From the centre develops a large flower head, composed of whorls of pink bracts from which open tubular violet-blue flowers. The flower head can last for more than a month. After flowering, the rosette will slowly die but offsets appear. Give it a bright position (but out of direct sun) and water into the centre of the rosette- allow it to get drier in winter and keep temperatures above 10°c (50°F).
Cattleya
These orchids with large showy flowers and large, rather succulent lance shaped leaves can make good houseplants given the right conditions. The blooms are produced in spring and come in a wide range of colours- they are long lasting and some may be scented. Give the plant plenty of light (out of direct sun in summer) and maintain high levels of humidity by standing plants on moist gravel and by regular misting. Water freely in summer but allow plants to drain well in a sink. In winter plants are best allowed to get drier – water only when the compost feels dry, but keep temperatures above 15°c (59°F).