Calathea crocata Tassmania Blooms - Eternal Flame

 Calathea Crocata

Its a bedtime plant today that I'm featuring on leavesnbloom.  Each night it looks like it is saying its prayers as it folds up its leaves  to let me know that its time for bed hence its common name here “The Prayer Plant”.  Its called Calathea crocata “ Tassmania” and it's grown in the UK as a houseplant but originates from the tropical jungles of Brazil.

It has the most touchy feely leaves which are puckered and ribbed. 


I must say that even without flowers the plant would look very ornate and grows into a lovely clump.  If you look at the leaves the top side ones are a very dark green while the underside ones are purple.

Care Instructions

I have to be honest and say that this plant can be quite demanding.  Lets face it – who really wants their house to feel like a jungle!

Light and Temperature

• It likes to be kept away from strong sunlight so is best suited to light shade in the summer months and brighter light during the wintertime. Strong sunlight spoils the vibrancy of its leaves and fades them. 

• It also likes to be kept warm with a minimum of 16C / 60F and hates draughts.

Humidity

• This plant can get homesick!  It likes to be reminded of its jungle home so requires to be misted everyday with lukewarm/room temperature (soft) water – never cold water!  If it doesn’t have enough humidity it will promptly protest by having brown tips on its leaves.  Just make sure you only mist the leaves not the flowers.

Watering

• It also likes to be evenly moist especially during the hot summer months.Check what type of compost your plant is growing in when you buy it.  Mine is growing in a cocofibre type compost (most of them here in the UK are imported from Holland in this type of compost).  If its grown in this medium then you need to keep the plant standing in 2cms of water while in growth.  It will say on the back of the label if it needs to be kept like this.

Feeding Requirements

• It isn’t a heavy feeder and only requires half strength plant food. Once the clocks spring forward an hour in March I start to feed this plant once a month and once the clock falls back an hour in the autumn I will only feed the plant once every 2 months. 
 

Flowering period

As for its flowers – they are quite spectacular and many call the plant the Eternal Flame due to the shape of its blooms perched on top of the tall thick stems.

Its still in flower for me and the flowers should last about 2 - 3  months.

How to bring the plant back into flower again

Below is the email I received from the growers in Holland detailing how to bring the plant back into flower again.

Goodmorning,

When the Tassmania stops flowering please let it grow in the living room.

If you see new shoots and  they are big enough ( 15 cm) then place it in a darker place like your bedroom  for 10 weeks. Only water it  a little when it really needs it. In this 10 weeks it will make new  flowers.

After the 10 weeks you  can put it in the living room again and give it enough water. It will take about 8  weeks before you see the new flowers coming.

Best  regards,

Rob

kwekerijtass

Have you started to stipple yet?  If you haven't a clue what I'm talking about then you can't leave today without discovering a new and innovative way to protect your images online!  

In the future it will change the way you see images online!

Be one of the first in your circle of friends to find out about this new interactive discovery tool!  

 Click here to discover how to keep your images safe online and make them interactive - it's free too! 

This blog post has been recognised by google as being unique and written by the author Rosie @ Leavesnbloom under google's Authorship Markup Scheme.  If you link to this blog post please provide appropriate credit with a link back to this page.  Please do not copy any of the information on this blog post into your own website/blog but lead your readers here to view the original source.  

Interested in houseplants? You might enjoy another few articles I’ve written called:

• How NOT to kill a Poinsettia
• Why you'll need a PLASTIC BAG! to get Bromeliads to Flower

Rosie is a passionate wildlife gardener, perthshire photographer and writer.  She enjoys soaking up nature in her own garden and is easily distracted from doing the weeding by anything that buzzes, creeps, crawls or flutters. Connect with her on Google Plus  and Facebook. © 2009- 2013 Leavesnbloom ~ All Rights Reserved.

Enjoyed this post? Get more just like it by subscribing to my RSS feed and by email.  

Feel free to share it with others using the handy buttons below.