Nemesia strumosa
Nemesia
Common names: Cape jewel, Pouch flower
At a glance
- Light
- Full sun
- Pot size
- from 3 l
- Lifespan
- Annual
- Flowering
- May–Oct
- Hardiness
- Cold damage below 0 °C
- Water need
- Medium
Photo: Canley · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source
This description was machine-translated.
Description
The Nemesia strumosa, German name Elfenspiegel, comes from South Africa and is grown here as an annual summer flower. It grows bushy and upright, reaching 20 to 40 cm in height depending on the variety, and bears loose clusters of many small, two-lipped flowers, about 2 cm across, at the shoot tips. Flower colors range from white, yellow and orange through red and pink to violet, and many varieties are bicolored. It blooms from May or June into October, though flowering slows during very hot weeks. In the garden it suits balcony boxes and pots, bed edges, and summer flower beds. It prefers sun and evenly moist soil. Frost ends its season, and overwintering is not worthwhile.
Care instructions
Place Nemesia strumosa in a sunny, sheltered spot, ideally under a canopy or in front of a house wall, as continuous rain and strong wind stress it. Plant it after the Eisheiligen in mid-May, from calendar week 20, in loose, slightly acidic soil. Water evenly, keeping the soil moist but never waterlogged, and never let it dry out completely. From June, fertilize about every two weeks, but not too heavily. Pinch out the shoot tips of young plants so they branch and become bushier. Regularly remove spent flowers. If flowering slows in July, cut all shoots back by about one third, and it often blooms again in September.
The care notes were machine-translated from German.
Garden year
SowingMar–May
FloweringMay–Oct
Germination
- Soil temperature
- from 10 °C, ideally 18 °C
- Days to sprout
- 7 to 14 days
- Light
- Sprouts in light or dark
- Sowing depth
- 0.5 cm
- How to start
- Start indoors, then plant out
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
well-drained, humus-rich, sandy
Nemesia grows best in loose, free-draining, humus-rich soil that stays evenly moist without becoming waterlogged. The pH should be slightly acidic to neutral; normal balcony potting compost or petunia compost suits it well. Very nutrient-rich, heavy soils do not suit it, so in heavy loam mix in plenty of sand. Waterlogging makes the roots rot.
Feeding
Medium feeder
Months
Jun–Aug
Nemesia needs only moderate feeding. Mix a little mature compost into the soil when planting. From June, in a box or pot, give liquid fertiliser for flowering plants about every two weeks, made up rather weak. In the bed, a thin layer of compost in early summer is enough. Too much fertiliser makes the shoots soft and reduces the abundance of flowers.
Overwintering
Nemesia is an annual and is destroyed by the first frost in autumn. Clear the plants away in October and compost them; overwintering is not worthwhile. Next spring, sow anew. You can save seed from your own harvest, but with mixed colours the colours of the offspring turn out in a colourful mix.
Propagation
Methods
- From seed
You propagate nemesia by seed. From March, sow it in trays of seed compost, press the fine seeds down only and cover them at most with a hair-thin layer. At about 15 °C and in a bright position they germinate after one to three weeks. Prick out the seedlings as soon as the first true leaves show, and plant them out after the Ice Saints in mid-May. You can also sow directly into the bed from mid-May, and then flowering begins correspondingly later. With mixed colours, seed you save yourself gives very varied colours.
For your garden
Grow Nemesia yourself
Gartenkern tells you when frost is coming, when to sow and when to harvest, for your location.
Free, no time limit
Notes from real gardens
What other gardeners have written down about this variety, anonymous and voluntary.
No notes shared yet. Will you be the first to write one down?