When you have a small garden, the ideal is to look for plants that do not grow too large, since otherwise the feeling that the land will give is that there are more things than there should be. And that, believe me, is going to force you to remove some in order to enjoy it. Therefore, one of the most interesting for temperate climates is the tree or little tree known as steel wood.
It grows to a maximum height of 6 meters, and its ornamental value is very high. Would you like to meet him?
Origin and characteristics
Our protagonist is a deciduous shrub or tree that grows to a height of 3 to 6 meters. Its scientific name is Bumelia lycioides, and is popularly known as steel wood. He is originally from the United States. Its trunk has brownish bark, and its twigs sometimes have axillary spines.
The leaves are alternate, oblong to oblanceolate, acute or acuminate, and are 5-10cm long. They are green and glabrous on the upper surface and paler green with a slight pubescence on the underside. The flowers are grouped in glabrous axillary fascicles, and the fruit is ovoid, blackish and measures about 12mm in diameter.
What are their cares?
If you want to have a copy, we recommend that you provide it with the following care:
- Location: outside, in full sun.
- Earth:
- Pot: universal growing substrate.
- Garden: fertile, light and sandy.
- Irrigation: it has to be watered 3-4 times a week in summer, and every 5-6 days the rest of the year.
- Subscriber: from the beginning of spring to the end of summer it must be paid with ecological fertilizers once a month. In case of having it in a pot, use liquid fertilizers following the indications specified on the container.
- Multiplication: by seeds in autumn, and by cuttings in late winter.
- Rusticity: withstands cold and frosts down to -12ºC, but lives better in warm-temperate climates.
What did you think of the steel wood?