Most blooming flowers look beautiful in the garden shop of the store, but if you live in a hot climate, after you buy them and take them home, they soon stop blooming and die.
Are you looking to find flowers that keep blooming and don't need much care? I found the perfect hot weather plants.
They are Crown of Thorns and if your Nursery does not carry them, ask them to get them.
They are actually a type of Cactus and they do have very sharp thorns, but the flowers are beautiful and need no care.
They love the sun and the heat and rarely need to be watered.
They can be replanted in a large planter or in the ground.
There are many different varieties and their blossoms range in size from 1/4 of an inch to 2 inches.
Rainbow of Colors.
colors come in white, yellow, yellow with pink borders, yellow and red speckled, orange, pink, deep pink with green edges, purple, pale peach, red with yellow pearl like centers and ruby red globes.
Some of the blossoms grow in a globe and others have blossoms on top of blossoms.
The leaves are a rich dark green and vary, depending on the variety from 1 inch to 5 inches in length.
These flowers bloom all year and are a joy to look at.
They will grow to 3 feet tall, if not trimmed.
Propagation.
when trimming them, cut them with a sharp knife and immediately rinse both the stem and the cuttings with water to remove all of the white liquid, which is poisonous.
Let the cuttings dry out overnight.
Prepare a pot with potting soil mixed with a little perlite and some sphagnum moss and wet it.
Dip the bottom of the cuttings into rooting powder, make a hole in the soil, so that the rooting powder stays on the cuttings, and press the soil onto the cutting.
Water it slightly for about 2 weeks.
Some of the blossoms and leaves may fall off, but you should, within a week, see new flowers growing.
Once they have rooted, which is indicated by new blossoms, they will need no more attention.
Handling the Plants.
Since these plants have very sharp thorns, garden gloves are not very helpful in protecting your hands.
I find the best way to handle them when planting cuttings is with very thick pot holders or a thick wash cloth.
They are well worth the trouble to plant and they will give you wonderful flowers all year long and you will be the envy of the neighborhood.
The cuttings, after being rooted, make great presents, since not many people are familiar with them and they don't demand a lot of care.