If you want to diversify your balcony flower kingdom with something besides begonias and balsamines, planting a torenia is a great solution. The flower looks like bells and pansies at the same time. When growing this plant from seed, you can easily grow it at home or plant it in open ground. Let's talk about it in more detail.
- Description
- Types and varieties
- Landing
- Cultivation and care
- Lighting
- Watering
- Top dressing
- Bloom
- Pruning
- Breeding
- Diseases and pests
- Use in landscape design
Description
Torenia is an annual and perennial plant native to Southeast Asia. The bush has lush foliage egg-shaped and reaches 30 cm in height. Flowers have a peculiar shape and color: the variety of colors is caused by the presence of more than 50 kinds of torii of its kind. Flowering plants abundant and quite long. 
Types and varieties
The most common form of torenia is Fournier. Shrubs of this species are short, but branched, velvet flowers, in the form of tubules. Most often, the color of the flower is blue, with blue or bright yellow throat, but Fournier's palette of colors of the species varies from purple and lilac to blue and white.
Popular varieties of this type are White and Krupnotsvetkovaya, on the basis of which hybrid varieties with different size and color of the flower were bred.
Most popular hybrid varieties:
- Duchess;
- Samer Wave;
- Little Keys;
- Clown;
- Panda.
Landing
Seeds for seedlings should be planted in February-March. Suitable for all types of soiling, the soil is a well-drained mixture, choose, for example, loamy, with a slight addition of sand. After planting the seeds in the furrows, moisten the ground well and tighten the seedling container with cling film, glass or polyethylene. The optimum temperature for germination should be at least 20 ° C. 
Cultivation and care
Cultivation and further care of the torenia at home is in compliance with the irrigation schedule and fertilizing, providing the necessary lighting and preventive treatments.
Lighting
Planting seedlings will quickly grow, and natural light in early spring will not be enough. On short light days, arrange additional lighting for the young plant. 
For the artificial maintenance of daylight, a fluorescent lamp is suitable, or if you plan to continue to engage in home flower growing, you can purchase phytolamp. After planting in the ground, the plant prefers bright sunlight.
Watering
Try to keep the soil under the plant always wet. Watering should be frequent, but not abundant. It is necessary to intensify the moistening of the spraying during its flowering, as well as to introduce daily spraying of the leaves.
Top dressing
When growing torenia, reinforced top dressings are produced in a ten-day period after transplanting a flower from seedlings and during flowering.Also in the care should include mineral soluble fertilizer flower every two weeks. 
Bloom
During the flowering period, many buds are formed at the turn, after which it loses its decorative form. Therefore, remove the dry inflorescences - in their place still have time to form new buds.
Pruning
As such, trimming a bush does not hold a plant: for better branching, the stems are pinched after forming at least six sheets on them. 
Breeding
The plant propagates only by planting seeds in late February and early March. Sometimes they use the method of germination from the stem or leaf, but it is ineffective.
Diseases and pests
Like any indoor flower, it can be subject to leaf spotting and spider mites. If you notice signs of plant disease on the leaves of a bush, spray it with a solution containing copper. To avoid root rot, adjust the frequency of watering.
Use in landscape design
To decorate a balcony or a summer cottage, toreniye should be planted in tall vases or long containers of several pieces. Toning groups look much more spectacular. Also, the plant is well tolerated in any neighborhood: especially interesting in combination with petunias and tobacco. 
This compact plant will decorate a balcony of any size. After flowering, a lush green bush can make a good company of flowering balcony perennials.
