Can you imagine walking through your garden and finding a wonderful flowerbed in a corner or along the paths? Well, stop dreaming: achieving that will not be difficult with the pentas lanceolate.
Although it is considered an annual growing plant, which means that its beauty can only be enjoyed for a few months, its multiplication by seeds is very, very simple. Discover it.
Origin and characteristics
Image – Wikimedia Commons / Forest & Kim Starr
Our protagonist is a native plant of much of Africa and Arabia whose scientific name is pentas lanceolate. It is popularly known as pentas or Egyptian star, and it is an annual cultivated herb that has green, simple leaves, with quite visible nerves, of a dark green color. Its flowers are grouped in spike-shaped inflorescences in spring, and are pink, red, lilac or white..
Although its life expectancy is rather short in temperate climates, its easy maintenance and planting, as well as its high ornamental value, make it a very interesting species as it attracts butterflies.
How do you take care of yourself?
Do you want to have a copy of Pentas? Provide the following care :
- Location: it can be both in full sun and in semi-shade.
- Earth:
- Pot: universal growing medium, mixed or not with 30% perlite.
- Garden: grows in all types of soils, but prefers those that have good drainage.
- Irrigation: water abundantly in summer; the rest of the year wait for the soil to dry out a bit.
- Subscriber: in spring and summer with a universal fertilizer or guano, following the instructions.
- Pruning: in winter remove dry, diseased or weak leaves.
- Pests: sensitive to whitefly attack, but being a rather small plant you can remove them with a brush soaked in pharmacy alcohol.
- Multiplication: by seeds in winter / spring.
- Rusticity: it does not resist cold or frost.
What did you think of pentas lanceolate?
