KALANCHOE part 2

Chrysanthemums are another example of short-day plants, and this is why nurserymen are able to offer them in flower, in pots, the whole year round. Kalanchoes are most useful plants because not only are the flowers bright shades of red, and there is also a bright yellow, but they are also very good house plants; in fact, they are undemanding plants and if you forget to water them no harm will be done as they will stand periods of drought.

The genus includes several species of flowering plants and also plants with decorative foliage, but it is the dwarf species Kalanchoe blossfeldiana, a compact plant with bright red flowers, growing to about 12 in (30 cm) in height, and the smaller variety Kalanchoe 'Vulcan', about 9 in (23 cm), with which we are concerned. The variety or cultivar 'Vulcan' is obtainable with bright red or bright yellow flowers. There are other cultivars similar to K. 'Vulcan'. The plants have thick fleshy green leaves which are often tinged with red round the edges. They have a long blooming period of some two to three months. This long flowering period, and the fact that they are such good house plants, makes them suitable for decorative bowls of mixed house plants.

KALANCHOE

Family Crassulaceae

This plant has become very popular in recent years, largely because it is possible to induce it to bloom for most of the year. Kalanchoes are short-day plants, which means that they will only flower when they have experienced a period of short days. Their natural time for blooming is from mid-winter to mid-spring, but, if their exposure to daylight is restricted to a maximum of ten hours daylight with fourteen hours darkness in each twenty-four hour period, in about two to three months they w i l l come into bloom. There is not much point in inducing kalanchoes to

flower during the summer months, but they are very useful for the autumn and early winter when flowering pot plants are scarce.

To induce flowering during this period, plants should be restricted to eight to ten hours daylight in each calendar day by covering the plants with black paper or any material which ensures that the plants are in complete darkness. Three months after this treatment begins the plants should commence blooming, so if you wish to have plants in bloom at the beginning of autumn you commence covering the plants in mid-summer.