Plants, whose leaves are covered with beautiful pubescence, are always especially spectacular and striking. After all, leaves similar to velvet or corduroy create an amazing play of textures, as if flirting with textiles in the interior. Among decorative foliage plants with a beautiful edge, the “blue bird” – a magnificent ginura, stands out for its velvety and originality. It is a plant with a beautiful purple pubescence that effectively emphasizes the beauty of the velvety surface. Outlandish colors, unusual shapes and ease of growing ginura make it a favorite of recent years.
Ginura orange (Gynura aurantiaca ‘Purple Passion’). Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com Gwendolyn Stansbury
Getting to know the outlandish ginura
It is no coincidence that Ginura is called one of the most fashionable and interesting decorative leafy indoor crops. This plant is really impressive, offering to bring to the interior attractive all year round “textile” accents, subtle play of halftones and bold lines of leaves. Velvety, luxurious, unusual ginura is the perfect little accent, a plant with a twist.
Ginura (Gynura) – herbaceous shrubs and perennials with long, whip-like shoots and winter-green foliage. Ginura branches are tetrahedral, reaching 1 m in length. But at the same time, the height of the ginur will not exceed 30 cm and grows in breadth. The lower leaves are always large, up to 20 cm in length, and the upper ones are much smaller, embracing the shoots. Leaves with a beautiful jagged edge are most often obovate, but their shape can vary from species to cultivar. The foliage gives the whole plant a graphic and elegant look. The leaves of ginura, velvety to the touch, wonderfully combine the softness of the edge and the “prickly” lines. Carved, with teeth, peaks and “thorns”, they give the whole plant an unapproachable, somewhat harsh look. True, it is softened by the play of colors, which should be given special attention. The reverse side of the leaves is purple, the color seems to overflow and spreads to the upper side of the leaf plate.
In room culture, two types of ginur are grown:
- colorful perennial ginura orange (gynura aurantiaca), forming a lush mass of bright leaves, suitable for both pot and ampel culture;
- more suitable for ampel culture rare climbing ginura (gynura scandens), which looks great in pots thanks to its shorter branches, forms original and dense bushes. Her leaves are smaller, softer, ovoid.
This is an amazingly colorful plant, the popular nickname of which “blue bird” seems to argue with the specific name – orange ginura. Actually, you will not find any orange, yellow, or any other warm colors in the hydra. But at the same time, the plant, better known for its unpretentiousness, really does not get tired of surprising with a variety of color palette. The base green and magenta are combined on the plant in amazingly beautiful and soft transitions. Growing conditions affect the play of two shades and their saturation. And if in classic ginur the purple edges of the leaves and bright fuchsia petioles seem to gradually blur to dark green with a bluish tint, then in many ginur in room conditions, the color changes, becomes dark, less or more saturated. It is a pleasure to observe the plant. After all, the leaves after blooming are brighter, gradually acquire “gravity” and become more and more green.
But the flowering of ginura, though not the most catchy, is very attractive. The touching forms and tenderness of flowers, surprisingly quivering against the background of the leaves, seem charming. Inflorescences-baskets with a bright golden color bloom at the tops of the branches. But the unpleasant smell slightly “scares away” from the inflorescences of ginura, and flowering can lead to a violation of the usual bushiness and beauty of the crown. Therefore, many growers pluck flowers, preventing them from blooming. The bloom of ginura begins on the eve of autumn.
All ginur are poisonous plants. When working with them, you need to be careful, do not forget about protecting your hands. You cannot use ginura in the interior of children’s rooms.
Ginura care at home
Ginurs are certainly attractive plants. But they have a significant drawback: all “bluebirds” are prone to degeneration and after a few years they begin to lose their attractiveness, their beautiful purple color. In order to preserve the plant and further use it as a luxurious accent in the interior, it is necessary to constantly replace old bushes that have outlived their own with new, young specimens. But the need for reproduction is the only difficulty in growing ginura. This is a hardy, unpretentious plant that does not need to correct conditions at the dormant stage, which will pleasantly surprise even inexperienced flower growers.
Ginura lighting
“Blue Bird” is a light-loving culture, but not sun-loving. Ginura should be reliably protected from direct sunlight. But do not move it to partial shade, and even more so the shadow: bright, diffused lighting for this plant is very important. After all, the color of the leaves and the beauty of the purple edge depend on it. Ginura climbing is especially light-requiring, which in ampels will look beautiful only in well-lit locations.
When choosing a location for ginura, try to stay on the western and eastern windowsills or similar bright locations in the interior. In winter, the plant needs to be moved to brighter areas to compensate for the reduction in daylight hours and maintain the usual lighting level.
Temperature regime for ginura
For this plant, it is very easy to choose the appropriate temperature for the content. Ginura cannot stand the drop in air temperature below 15 degrees, even in winter, at the resting stage. But he is not afraid of the heat either. She will be comfortable in her usual room conditions, especially if the air temperature does not go beyond the range of 20-24 degrees Celsius.
Lowering the temperature in winter to 15 degrees (but not lower than 10 degrees) can extend the life of the ginura. But all the same, the bushes will have to be replaced with new ones, albeit not with a frequency of 2-3 years. But one extra season is not worth the hassle of complex care adjustments and plant relocation. Therefore, the strategy of lowering the temperature in winter is rarely used.
In order to achieve a high decorative effect of a plant, it needs to provide an influx of fresh air. What is not so easy to do, given Ginura’s dislike of drafts. This plant needs frequent ventilation of the premises with the protection of crops from active air currents.
Watering and air humidity
Watering ginura requires special care. Despite its firmness and endurance, this plant is very afraid of getting wet. And the ingress of moisture on the leaves and shoots can become a destructive factor, leading to serious problems with the health of the plant. Therefore, you need to water the ginura very carefully, along the edge of the pot or using alternative methods.
It is quite easy to select the procedure mode. Throughout the entire stage of active development, from March to the end of October, ginura needs a stable light moisture of the substrate. For a plant, it is better not to allow the earthen coma to completely dry out, as well as its waterlogging. Carry out the following procedure only after a few top centimeters of the substrate have dried out. Frequent and light watering is more suitable for ginura than intensive, but rare.
Reducing watering in winter is the only care measure that needs to be adjusted to comfortably pass through the stage of relative dormancy. For ginura, watering not only reduces, but also changes the moisture content of the substrate to very light moisture. Between the procedures from November to February, the soil in the pot is allowed to dry out in the middle layer.
Pay attention to water quality. For ginura, you can only use water at room temperature, soft and settled.
Fortunately, ginura is not at all demanding for air humidity. She does not tolerate wet leaves and does not like spraying. And she does not need other measures to increase air humidity, because dryness does not affect the attractiveness of the forest edge.
Top dressing for ginura
This plant needs a fairly moderate feeding. Like all ornamental foliage plants, ginura needs more nitrogen than potassium and phosphorus, but an excess of nitrogen in the soil can cause green leaves, excessive growth and impairment of the attractiveness of curtains. Ginura needs feeding from March to October. Fertilizers are best used from among the universal type mixtures, making them 2-3 times a month.
In winter, it is better not to feed ginura at all. The pause in fertilization is done for the period from November to the end of February.
Garter bushes and pruning ginura
Ginura, especially orange, if it grows not in ampelous, but in a potted form, needs to be tied up. If the shoots lie down and do not attach to the support as they grow, then the ginura will slow down its development and may stop altogether. The garter is a kind of “nudge” that makes the bushes look attractive all year round.
But not only tying should be taken care of. If the ginura is not formed, it will not create a thick and beautiful crown. Pinch the tops of the shoots periodically to stimulate branching and active side shoots formation.
Bluebird transplant
Ginura needs a fairly frequent transplant, but it is better to carry it out not according to a certain frequency, but according to the needs of the plant itself. If the earthen lump is completely filled with roots, feel free to change the container. If the substrate is sufficient for growth and development, then your ginura will not need a transplant. For this plant, only one transplantation time is suitable – early spring. Most often, ginura is transplanted once every 1 years, discarding old bushes and replacing them with new ones. When transplanting ginura, it is imperative to lay a wide layer of drainage on the bottom of the tanks, and leave the level of deepening the same.
Substrate: light, from a number of ready-made universal soil mixtures or a soil mixture from equal parts of humus, leafy and soddy soil with a small addition of sand.
Pests and diseases
Ginura orange, like ginura climbing, are quite persistent indoor crops. If you do not allow waterlogging and wetting of the leaves, then diseases “blue bird” are not afraid. But pests are much more common. Ginuras are annoyed by whiteflies, spider mites and felt mites. It is impossible to fight insects by washing; it is better to immediately use insecticides. But do not forget about the correction of care, which will act as a preventive measure.
Common problems in growing ginura:
- loss of purple color or blanching of leaves in poor lighting;
- stretching shoots in partial shade and shade;
- leaf fall when the substrate dries out and too rarely watering;
- crushing leaves with insufficient feeding and poor lighting.
Reproduction of ginura
To the great happiness of all gardeners, ginura is one of the easiest crops to reproduce. According to this parameter, only chlorophytum can compete with it.
The easiest and most productive way is to propagate ginur by cuttings. They can be cut from spring to mid-fall using any amount of apical cuttings. Rooting is not just a simple task, but an elementary one. After all, the shoots of ginura very quickly release roots in plain water. In fact, rooting takes only 1 week. Thus, without effort and any investment of time and energy, you can constantly get new plants. That is why ginura is so easy to replace at the first signs of bushes degeneration.
