Growers Guide for Spiderwort – Tradescantia

Commemorating John Tradescant (died 1637), gardener to Charles I (Commelinaceae). A genus of 60 species of hardy perennial and greenhouse vegetation from North America and tropical South America. The hardy varieties are generally known as spiderwort, flower of a day,

Moses-in-the-bulrushes, or devil-in-the pulpit. In keeping with some botanists the
backyard vegetation grown below the identify Tradescantia virginiana belonging to a hybrid group often called Tradescantia x andersoniana.

Species Grown Immediately

• Tradescantia albiflora, wandering Jew, trailing, fast-growing greenhouse or home plant with shiny • stems, swollen on the nodes, leaves slender, pointed, South America; a number of variegated types are identified with cream and yellow-striped leaves, inexperienced and white, or with faint pink markings.
• Tradescantia blossfeldiana„ creeping or trailing greenhouse or home plant, darkish inexperienced leathery leaves, purple and whitely-hairy beneath, Argentine.
• Tradescantia fluminensis, wandering Jew, trailing greenhouse or home plant, typically confused with T. albiflora, leaves slender-pointed, inexperienced, purplish-red beneath; a number of variegated types, South America. Tradescantia virginiana (or Tradescantia x andersoniana) spiderwort, and so forth., hardy perennial, 14-2 toes, flowers violet-blue from June to September, jap United States; vars. alba, a white kind; coerulea, brilliant blue; ‘Iris Prichard‘, white, shaded violet on the centre; ‘J. C. Weguelin’, massive azure-blue; ‘Osprey’, massive, white,’ with feathery blue stamens; rosea, pink, rubra, darkish ruby-red.

The place to plant and the best way to propagate

The tender species and varieties require a minimal winter temperature of 55°F (13°C), and needs to be potted in March or April, in atypical potting soil. Keep away from a wealthy compost which can trigger the leaves to show inexperienced and lose their variegations. Hardy varieties might be grown in atypical backyard soil in solar or partial shade. Carry and divide in autumn or spring each three or 4 years. Propagation of tender species is by cuttings taken from April to August and insert-d in pots of sandy soil in a heat propagating body; they may root in 4 to 6 weeks. Hardy varieties could also be elevated by division within the spring.

Methods to Develop Tradescantia