Amazing … This is how the name of a very remarkable plant, mirabilis, is translated into Russian. The genus mirabilis has more than 50 species, distributed from the southern states of the United States to Chile. And only one kind of Himalayan mirabilis (wonderful himalaicus) is found in the Old World, from the Western Himalayas to Southwest China.
Mirabilis jalapa, or night beauty (Mirabilis jalapa). Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com FD Richards
In the rooms you can often see mirabilis jalapa (Mirabilis jalapa), or Night Beauty is a perennial herb up to 80 cm high with a root thick as a radish, the color of wet asphalt, covered with slightly peeling silvery scales. It is a sin not to show such a “miracle”, so the plant is planted so that the root tip is visible. And the mirabilis seems to be standing on stilts. Such plants are called pachical (pachys – thick, caulis – trunk).
In the open field, this species is cultivated as an annual – it does not tolerate our harsh winters.
And the flowers of mirabilis are strange. What we see are not petals at all, but a large, colored cup with a long tube. Have longiflorum mirabilis (mirabilis longiflora) this tube reaches 17 cm. The flowers smell very nice, but something tropical, alien. They unfold in the afternoon in order to fade in a few hours. But they are replaced by new ones, and so on – until early morning. It is not for nothing that mirabilis is called a night beauty. And she is pollinated by night butterflies – hawk moths. Blooms profusely from late May to November.
Mirabilis multiflora (Mirabilis multiflora). Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com Patrick Standish
Mirabilis care
Mirabilis is a light-loving and heat-loving plant, even in winter the temperature should not drop below 15 ° C. During the growing season from the end of May to November, the plants are watered 2-3 times a month, and if they are exhibited on a sunny balcony or dug in the garden for the summer, then much more often. During the season, they are fed with liquid fertilizer 2-3 times.
From the end of November, when annual shoots partially die off, and until mid-March, the night beauty is at rest. At this time, it is watered every 2 months. You can save the plant if, after removing the thin adventitious roots, place it in fibrous high-moor peat with sawdust and store it at a low temperature, like dahlias.
And in the spring, overwintered mirabilis is planted in a substrate consisting of 2 hours of clay-sod land, 1,5 hours of decomposed peat, 1 hour of coarse washed river sand, 0,5 hours of washed brick chips, 0,25 hours of dolomite flour …
Mirabilis longiflora. Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com Jerry Oldenettel
Himalayan Mirabilis (Mirabilis himalaicus), now Oxybaphus himalaicus
Landing mirabilis
Mirabilis is propagated by seeds, which in our conditions mature only in greenhouses. They remain viable for 3-5 years. The seeds are large, so they are sown 1-2 in small pots or bowls, so as not to dive later. They sprout in 10-15 days.
For sowing, a well-steamed substrate is taken, consisting of 1 hour of sod land, 1 hour of decomposed and neutralized peat and 1,5 hours of coarse river sand or fine gravel.
After 1-3 months, the grown seedlings are planted in a substrate for adult plants.
Propagated by mirabilis and cuttings. Semi-lignified cuttings are cut, the cut is dried for an hour, and dipped in stimulant powder. Root in a greenhouse at 20-22 ° C in a substrate consisting of 2 hours of neutralized high-moor peat and 1 hour of fine gravel for 10-18 days. Roots are formed faster with lower heating.
The rooted cuttings are planted in pots in a mixture for mature plants. During the growing season, the cutting forms a thick root, like a seedling.
In addition to mirabilis yalapa and its garden forms, they also grow mirabilis multifloral (mirabilis multiflora), Frabel’s mirabilis (wonderful froebelii) and long-flowered.
Author: L. Gorbunov
