lotus berthelotii

decoration with lotus berthelotii

One of the plants that can give a more exotic appearance to your garden is the Lotus Berthelotii. It is a perennial plant that belongs to the Fabaceae family and is native to the Canary Islands. It has a fairly broad creeping growth that serves to cover large areas of the garden. Thanks to its flowering, it can be frequently used as an ornamental plant both for the color of its flowers and for its leaves.

In this article we are going to tell you the characteristics and care that the Lotus Berthelotii.

Key features

This type of creeping plant but quite broad growth that it can reach between 20 and 25 centimeters in height. It has compound-type leaves and is made up of 3 or 5 needle-shaped leaflets. The leaves can be both bluish-green and silver-green. This color of the leaves makes them have a greater ornamental value. Most of the plants that are used for decoration have the main characteristic of having good color thanks to their flowers. Therefore, they are plants that can only be decorated at certain times of the year.

In this case, we can have our plant without its flowering, and still have a good decoration. The folioles that the leaves have are quite delegated with only 1 or 2 cm in length and are covered by a fine silver-colored hair that gives them their special color. However, when the flowering period arrives, the beauty of this plant increases enormously. It blooms from spring to late summer, and even early fall. The flowers grow grouped on the terminal stems. They have an orange, reddish or red color although there are also some crops with flowers that mix colors such as yellow and orange that are usually quite striking and very durable.

The flowers are shaped like a bird's beak and, therefore, when Lotus Berthelotii it is also known by the name of parrot beak. These flowers are not very large, measuring between 2 and 4 cm in length and only half or a centimeter in width. They are flowers pollinated by birds, so when we put it in our garden it will surely attract animal life.

Caring for the Lotus Berthelotii

Lotus berthelotii in extensive field

Being a creeping behavior plant It is suitable for use in rockeries, hanging pots and as a covering plant. It is considered one of the plants that serve to cover areas with great beauty. For example, it can be used to cover the empty parts that are left in the garden due to lack of grass growth. It can also be used as a combination of other plants that combine colors well to be able to make a good mix of colors in the garden.

We are going to analyze the care that the Lotus Berthelotii. First of all, is to know the location you should have. This species requires full sun to grow optimally and at a constant speed. It can also grow in semi-shade although it is not the most optimal. It does not resist the frosts that usually occur in winter, so if the temperatures are lower than two degrees, the ideal would be to protect them from the cold. On the other hand, it can tolerate marine environments with a more or less high degree of salinity and drought. It can go a long time without water and hold up well.

As for the soil, it requires a type of soil with siliceous sand that has light organic matter and is well drained. The reason it can withstand drought is because it doesn't need a lot of irrigation water. If when it rains or we water the water begins to accumulate on the ground it can cause serious damage to the development of the plant and that it cannot survive. For this reason, it is necessary that the soil has good drainage and does not allow the irrigation water from the rainfall to accumulate.

Maintenance of Lotus Berthelotii

Parrot beak flower colors

In order to stimulate its flowering and maintain a fairly compact bearing, we must pinch the plant regularly. At first it is recommended to have it in a pot so that it develops little by little. As soon as we see that the roots begin to appear under the pot the ideal is to transplant them to their final place in the garden.

Irrigation will have to be moderate and we will wait until the land is almost completely dry to water again. Let's not forget that this plant is very tolerable to drought so it does not need much water. We must fertilize this plant during the spring time to stimulate flowering and it must be done every fifteen days. In summer, using a mineral fertilizer for succulents is more than enough. We just have to increase the frequency of irrigation a little more to avoid that the heat and high temperatures can end up damaging the plant.

It is quite resistant to common pests and diseases that often exist in gardens. To avoid any contagion excess humidity and intense cold must be reduced. If the plant is continuously exposed to high levels of humidity or too low temperatures, it will be more prone to catching some type of pest or disease.

As for the propagation, we can multiply it by means of cuttings or by seeds. To do it through cuttings we must wait for spring or summer. If we want to do it for seeds it is in spring. We can also divide it by dividing the plant as long as they are from adult specimens. An interesting task to carry out for their maintenance is to cut them slightly when the end of winter arrives to favor flowering and give it a more compact appearance. We must not forget that it has a fairly wide growth and that it can disturb or spoil the design of our garden if we do not carry out some works to give it shape.

As you can see, the lotus berthelotii It is a very interesting plant to place in our garden and give it a more colorful touch. I hope that with this information you can learn more about this plant and its care.


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