The thunder of Venus, with the scientific name Cuphea hyssopifolia and also commonly called cufea or false Mexican heather, f alsa heather or false Erica , is a shrub plant highly appreciated for its simple care, its small but beautiful flowers and even its medicinal properties. In fact, even the Thunder of Venus bonsai is grown.
If you want to learn more about this small and grateful plant to beautify your garden, join us in this GreenEcology article on caring for the thunder of Venus plant.
Characteristics of the thunder plant of Venus
The cufea is a small shrub , which normally does not exceed 60 cm in height and a width of around 1 m. Its stems, with small leaves of between 1 and 2 cm, have a great branching capacity, giving rise to a plant with a high density of foliage. The small flowers are pink, lavender and white .
It is a plant that is very easy to grow, undemanding and very suitable for beginners or amateurs without much time. However, if you want to keep your Venus thunder in the best possible condition, it is better to know in detail what its needs are.
Location and light for the thunder of Venus
Is it better to put Venus thunder in the sun or in the shade? This plant does best outdoors, but at the same time it does not tolerate high intensity direct light well. Therefore, the ideal is to place it where it receives sun only during a few hours in the morning , covered from the most intense hours of noon and afternoon. However, if you live in an area with a mild climate and little intense sun, you can place it in full sun without problems.
You can also place it in a very illuminated area, with filtered or indirect light. If you see that its leaves, normally of an intense green color, begin to yellow or whiten, it is that your cufea is receiving too much light.
Weather for thunder of venus
The cufea needs warm climates , easily supporting temperatures above 20 ºC as long as its lighting conditions are adequate. What the plant will not tolerate are frosts or very low temperatures: below 5 ºC your thunder from Venus will be at severe risk of its aerial part dying, although it is possible that it will regrow when the temperatures rise again.
Irrigation for the cufea
It requires a good amount of humidity , especially in hot climates. If you have your plants in pots, during the spring and summer months, apply frequent waterings approximately every two days, reducing it to every 3 or 4 in the cold months. Outdoors, apply a deeper watering once a week, or twice in very hot seasons, waiting for the soil to dry out slightly before watering again.
Make an abundant watering that soaks deep, but always avoiding that the soil becomes waterlogged, which could cause numerous diseases or rot to the plant.
Earth or substrate for the thunder of Venus
Outdoors, try to find an area where the soil offers the best possible drainage , or make a hole of about 50 x 50 cm and prepare a suitable substrate yourself. In either case, you can enrich the soil with some compost or worm castings, which will improve drainage and provide the plant with a large amount of nutrients. If drainage is still insufficient, incorporate river sand or gravel into the soil and mix well.
In a pot, the universal mixture of peat , earthworm humus and coconut fiber in equal parts will be more than effective with this plant, providing it with a light substrate that is very rich in nutrients. You can add vermiculite and perlite to make it even better.
Compost and pruning for the thunder of Venus
The fertilizer will only need to be applied during the warm months , in which it will be enough to renew the supply of organic matter in the form of a superficial layer of worm humus or compost every 15 days approximately.
Pruning is not necessary , although if the plant grows too much for what we are interested in, we can prune it without problems as long as we use previously sterilized tools.
My thunder of Venus is drying up, what do I do?
If you see the dry stem and leaves on the thunder of Venus plant , it may be due to a too long drought and you have it in a pot, you can try to revive it by submerging the container in water for about 20 minutes and then letting the excess moisture drain.
If this is not the case, it is probably because your cufea is receiving too much sun or needs nutrients , in which case you should fertilize it or move it to a more suitable place for it, with less direct sun.
Medicinal properties of the thunder plant of Venus
Among the medicinal properties of the thunder of Venus is its ability to calm the symptoms of fever and cough when its flowers are used as a tonic, since it has antipyretic, antitussive and balsamic properties for the respiratory system.
It is often a plant also used for headaches , kidney pains, heavy digestions and even as a healing of minor wounds, since other properties of this plant are analgesic, digestive and healing.
