PERENNIALS > DIASCIA
IN THIS GUIDE
DIASCIA GUIDES
variety
Diascia or ’ Twinspur ’ is a pretty small wild flower from South Africa with very likable feature that other , well known , small flowering plants would retrieve hard to match .
Diascias are half - fearless annual or semi - evergreens , ordinarily of a spreading type , that bear oodles of flyspeck extremely typical flowers .
Each peak has two prominent spurs adhere out from the tooshie and as blue-blooded little charmers , diascias are suitable for numerous garden purposes .
This small works is of the no - attention , sow - and - raise case .
It needs no particular soil or maintenance and is remarkably blighter - tolerant and disease - free .
Almost all its variety mold a neat , even flatness , but are not invasive , and can be used for many dissimilar garden purposes .
It is for such convincing reasons that diascia ’s popularity is on a sharp rise in the UK .
Overview
PreferredFull Sun or Partial Shade
ExposureSheltered
Height0.1 – 1 M
Spread0.1 – 0.5 M
Bloom TimeSummer / Autumn
PreferredMost fat grunge
MoistureMoist but well - enfeeble
pHAny
Diascia is a appendage of the family Scrophulariaceae.1Diascia fetcaniensis . ( 2019 , August 9 ) . Cambridge Botanic Garden . Retrieved March 15 , 2023 , fromhttps://www.botanic.cam.ac.uk/the-garden/plant-list/diascia-fetcaniensis/
This botanic kin include genus whose bloom are bilaterally symmetrical , like fag , rather than radially symmetrical or asymmetric .
These plants are of three kinds of habit : gym mat - forming , bushy , and upright .
The trailing , lusterlessness - forming type are the most common and these are the types that in general come to mind when one talks about diascia .
These acquire to only 15 - 25 centimetre in top , but with twice the spread .
In dividing line , the bushy and upright forms reach heights of 0.5 - 1 m.
Diascias are herbaceous plants that are annual or semi - evergreen perennials depending on your location in the United Kingdom .
Whatever the wont or the sizing , the bilaterally - symmetrical flowers are typically only about 2 cm wide and they are cup - form or bell - shaped .
The foliage are little and ovate , though the specter of green varies somewhat between the varieties , drift from a shiny mid - green to a rich dark green .
The flowers are white , and in various tone of pinkish and orange , especially coral and apricot shade , through to near red .
Planting
The mat - forming types of diascias will make very attractive groundcover or butt works , whilst the upright and bushy character will make pleasing and blue companion flora for taller works , and their flower ’ typically cushy and pastel shades will set off plants with brightly coloured bloom .
All types of diascias will make neat pick for borders because of their soothingly colorful floriferousness .
Any of the varieties that are on the small side are very well suited forrock gardensbecause of their diminutiveness and colour , and also because of their spread drug abuse .
Finally , it is as container flora that diascias are see a incisive ascension in popularity .
With a cascade or cloud of a profuseness of tiny peak in indulgent shades look delicious streaming off a hanging basket or patio jackpot , it ’s soft to see why .
Ongoing Care
The effective type of soil for diascia is jolly fecund , light grunge ameliorate with constituent material .
A complimentary - draining loam amended withorganic compostis apotheosis .
The stain should keep wet but not stay waterlogged – it must drain well .
The best to attain this would be to incorporate plentitude of organic matter such as compost in the planting kettle of fish and to mulch with more compost .
In most areas of the United Kingdom , diascias will do best in full Dominicus , but if you ’re in a milder area and you run into a sweltering summertime , twinspur will be in a bit of a bother and will for certain stop bloom .
All varieties can be grown from seed and propagated from deal cuttings while vertical varieties can also be propagated by division .
However , the easiest and most vulgar path for growing diascias is to obtain them as potted plants , which are wide available in legion varieties .
If your preferable variety is not intrepid enough to survive winter outdoors , the advantage to growing it in a container is that you could simply winter this small industrial plant indoors in a sunny and warm spot , allow it is a recurrent variety and not annual .
To propagate from cutting off , take a softwood stem cut of about 8 cm .
Keep a pair of unseasoned leaves and get rid of the rest .
clip the stem to just below a node .
Dampen the bottom of the cutting and drop in take root hormone , or in honey followed by Ceylon cinnamon .
stick in the cutting 2.5 centimetre intopotting compostand then water sufficiently to keep the compost damp .
Seeds may be start indoors before springtime and this is the option alternative if you intend to grow potted plants .
They may also be sow in right away outdoors after there is no threat of frost and temperatures persist above 10 ° carbon .
Seeds should be sown onto seed - seed compost , very lightly covered with vermiculite or compost and kept in a wakeful place between 15 - 20 ° carbon out of direct sunshine .
Sow seeds for flatness - forming varieties 20 - 30 curium apart , otherwise sparse seedlings after they egress .
Soil should be kept consistently moist and the semen should sprout in about a two weeks .
Diascias should be watered on a regular basis but in moderation .
Keep the ground consistently moist but allow the top few centimetres to dry out out every few days before watering again .
Diascias perform better when they are fed .
Either a regular balanced fertiliser applied once a calendar month throughout the season or a slow - firing balanced fertiliser applied in spring will beseem these plants very well .
Be wary of applying fertiliser at the recommended military capability for diascias ; it will not hurt if the dilution is about 20 % greater than what is advocate .
Pruning
No matter which kinds of diascias you arise , pinching the leaders of growing plants will lead in bushy increase .
Doing so may especially profit some of the newer good varieties .
When plant are beginning to look leggy or otherwise when blooming sharpen off in the andiron days of summer , skip back the plants by about a 30 - 50 % of their current ontogeny .
Doing so will trigger fresh ontogenesis and regenerate blooming , particularly when you move into the close of summertime and the weather starts to cool down down .
If you are favourable enough to live in a region where you’re able to grow diascias as outdoor perennials , you may carve up the plants when they look hemmed - in or congested 2 - 3 years after they were planted .
Such division is best done in early spring .
One of the major plusses of these plant is that they are not susceptible to any perturbing pests or diseases .
All you need to watch out for are snail and poke which love to chew up diascia leaf .
“ If this is an payoff , organic solutions such as a matt of sheep wool on the ground surface or copper tape around the rim of containers can help to keep troublesome molluscs at bay , ” says Master Horticulturist Roy Nicol .
