The Cuphea hyssopifolia It is a very popular shrub plant in gardens and patios: not only is it relatively small, but it also supports pruning well, so it can be grown almost anywhere.
As if that were not enough, it produces flowers with great ornamental value. Read on to know everything about her.
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The Cuphea hyssopifolia It is an evergreen shrub native to Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras that goes by the common names of cufea, false heather, thunder of Venus, false Mexican heather, or false érica.
What is the thunder of Venus like?
We could say that the Venus thunder, or Cuphea, looks very similar to a fern. It branches so much that it is easy for it to increase its size very easily as long as the necessary conditions are given to do so.
Grows to a maximum height of 60cm tall by 90cm wideand it branches a lot. Small, 1 to 2cm long, dark green leaves sprout from each branch. The flowers are axillary, and once they are pollinated they produce the fruit, which is a capsule that contains several globose seeds.
When it blooms, which it usually does in spring and, if you take good care of it, during the summer, the plant is full of color contrasts, since the green of its leaves are “crowned” by those little flowers. The normal thing is that these are lavender in color, which is the most common, but as we have mentioned, they can also be in other shades.
Cuphea is a plant that is said to be very easy to care for, but the truth is that it has its “quirks”. One of them is that he likes humidity, a lot. And if you don’t give it to him, he endangers his health.
In fact, one trick many plant experts use with Venus thunder is visual. That is, they look at the plant to know if it needs more humidity or not. And it is one of the few plants that, when it lacks watering, the plant dries up immediately, appearing overnight looking completely dry and dead. If it is caught in time, the plant “revives” but if it spends a long time with this problem it is difficult to recover.
Therefore, despite the fact that many see it as a plant for beginners, you must be careful because it is demanding with respect to its needs.
What are their cares?
Caring for a Cuphea is not easy. But not difficult either. In fact, the most important thing and where you should influence the most is the temperature and irrigation. A lots of They think that it is not so necessary to water it as it is to maintain a constant humidity, And that may be the key to getting it to survive.
As a summary, we leave you here the most important of Cuphea care:
- Location: it must be outside, in full sun.
- Earth:
- Pot: universal growing substrate mixed with 30% perlite.
- Garden: grows in fertile, well-drained soils.
- Irrigation: 3-4 times a week in summer, and a little less the rest of the year.
- Subscriber: in spring and summer, with fertilizers such as guano or similar, following the instructions specified on the package.
- Pruning: at the end of winter remove the branches that are dry, diseased or broken.
- Multiplication: by seeds in spring.
- Rusticity: does not support frost. If the temperature drops below 0 degrees the leaves fall off. For this reason, it is important to protect it inside the house or in a greenhouse as soon as the weather begins to cool, otherwise it would suffer damage that could be serious.
How to reproduce Cuphea hyssopifolia?
Cuphea is one of the easiest plants to reproduce as it is through seeds. These are scattered around it to spread through the garden, if you have it planted. In the case of a pot, if the seeds fall into it, it is most likely that you will see little sprouts that come out of the ground and that little by little they will become a semi-shrub.
Another way to multiply is through stem cuttings. Now, these must be more than 8 cm and you will have to plant them in a substrate that is the same as the mother plant so that they survive and develop roots.
Uses
The most common is to prepare it as an infusion to relieve feverish states or even to calm a cough. In the case of flowers, these are used as tonics, because they are antiphetic, antitussive and balsamic, being very effective for respiratory ailments. It is also used as a wound healer, as well as for snake bites.
Other uses that you should know is that both the leaves and the flowers are capable of being used as insecticides. What’s more, Cuphea seeds are said to be very rich in fatty acids and many industrial oils use them, as well as as an antifoam agent, for soaps and detergents or even in health and beauty products.
Among its ornamental uses, it is possible to use it as a hedge, or in a pot. But, also, as bonsai:
Cuphea bonsai care
Believe it or not, it is common, especially between the months of March and July, to see how many bonsai shops put these specimens on sale. In those months the Cupheas are in the growing and flowering season, which makes them visually very attractive. But don’t be fooled, it is very easy to lose them.
In a bonsai, the needs of a Cuphea can be much higher. It will take the same care as a normal one, but due to the little space it has, and the plant being smaller, its needs will not diminish.
In fact, one of the main ones is to keep the suitable temperature and exact humidity. If any of this fails, the tree suffers greatly, appearing withered, dull and as if it had dried up.
Therefore, it is not a plant that is recommended for beginners, nor for places where it is too cold (or too hot) and low humidity. Keep in mind that these come from a tropical climate.
Thus, among the care that you must provide are:
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Lighting: It needs sunlight. Depending on how the plant is, it can tolerate a few hours of direct sunlight, but never in the hours when the sun’s rays are most incident (that is, either early in the morning, or late in the afternoon). Indirect light must be present the more the better.
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Irrigation: It is important to water before the soil dries completely. It is not advisable to have water stagnation, because it will rot the roots of the plant, but it cannot run out of water either. Thus, the best in these cases is to put the pot on a layer of stones and pour a base of water. In this way it will have natural humidity without the water affecting it.
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Subscriber: Cuphea is one of the plants that needs the most fertilizer, but also a good soil and check that it does not become caked. In fact, when that happens it stops draining, which prevents the water from reaching all the corners of the roots and it is not well nourished. So before fertilizing it, you have to check that the plant has adequate soil, not caked or poor. If so, you should have a transplant first.
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Location: Although it is recommended that, in Mediterranean areas, it be kept outside, you must take the climate into account. And it is that when temperatures exceed 30-40 degrees, although it is able to withstand them, what causes the plant to die is the lack of humidity. If you can provide that constant humidity that it needs, then there would be no problem having it outside.
Now do you dare to have a Cuphea at home?
