Scaevola aemula
Fan Flower
Common names: Blue Fan Flower
At a glance
- Light
- Full sun
- Pot size
- from 3 l
- Lifespan
- Annual
- Flowering
- May–Oct
- Hardiness
- Cold damage below 2 °C
- Water need
- Medium
Photo: Nemracc · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
This description was machine-translated.
Description
The fan flower, botanically Scaevola aemula, comes from Australia and belongs to the Goodeniaceae family. Its flowers are distinctive: the five petals grow on one side only and form a small fan, as if the bloom had been cut in half down the middle. Most are blue-violet, while some cultivars bloom white or pink. The plant grows creeping to trailing, with shoots reaching 30 to 50 cm in length that turn upward at the tips. New flowers appear continuously from May to October. The fan flower tolerates sun and warmth well and fills hanging baskets, boxes, and tubs on balconies and terraces. It looks attractive, for example, next to Goldmarie or petunia. It does not tolerate frost, so in this region it is usually grown as an annual.
Care instructions
Place the fan flower in a sunny spot, as it blooms most abundantly in full sun, though light partial shade is also possible. Plant it in permeable soil after the Ice Saints in mid-May, from calendar week 20. Water regularly and evenly. The soil should stay moist but never waterlogged, and may dry slightly on the surface between waterings. Use rainwater if possible. Fertilize about every two weeks. Remove spent flowers occasionally to keep the plant looking attractive. If the shoots become long and bare in summer, cut them back by about a third, and the plant will regrow densely. It tolerates heat well, but only with sufficient water. If the shoots begin to droop, water immediately.
The care notes were machine-translated from German.
Garden year
FloweringMay–Oct
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
well-drained, humus-rich, sandy
The fairy fan-flower likes loose, humus-rich and free-draining soil, for example balcony potting compost with a handful of sand. The pH should be slightly acidic to neutral. In the long run it does not like water containing lime; rainwater is better. Waterlogging quickly leads to root rot, so pots and boxes need drainage holes and a layer of expanded clay or crocks above them.
Feeding
Medium feeder
Months
Jun–Aug
The fairy fan-flower blooms for a long time and so needs regular feeding, but not excessively. When planting, work a little mature compost into the soil. From June, add liquid fertiliser for flowering plants to the water about every two weeks. If you want to overwinter the plant, stop feeding at the end of August so that the shoots ripen before winter.
Overwintering
Botanically the fairy fan-flower is perennial, but in Central Europe it is purely a summer bloomer that does not tolerate frost. If you want to keep it, bring it indoors before the first frost, cut the shoots back by about a third and place it in a bright spot at 5 to 10 °C. Water sparingly, but do not let the root ball dry out, and do not feed. After the Ice Saints in mid-May it can go back outside. Alternatively, take cuttings in late summer, which need less space.
Propagation
Methods
- Cuttings
You propagate fairy fan-flowers by tip cuttings. In late summer from August or in spring, cut off 5 to 8 cm long shoot tips without flowers, remove the lower leaves and insert them in lean, moist seed compost. Under a clear cover they root in about three weeks at around 18 to 20 °C, in a bright place but not in blazing sun. Air them briefly every day so that nothing goes mouldy. Seed is hardly available; most plants are cutting varieties and are sold as young plants in spring.
For your garden
Grow Fan Flower yourself
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