The lovely and colorful Achimenes, profiting from the current wave of popularity of the Saintpaulias, sister genus of the valuable and interesting Gesneriaceae, is fast taking a warm and roomy place in the hearts of the American flower lover and plant hobbyist.
In this, it is already outstripping the efforts of the trade to keep up with it, and for some years past, the demand has been far greater than the supply.
Technically, the Achimenes are hairy herbs, growing about a foot to 15” inches tall, sometimes slightly more in a few varieties.
There is infinite variety in the coloring and shape of the flowers. Still, most of the varieties have blooms more or less reminiscent of medium-size petunias or pansies, with long tubes and borne in profusion during spring, summer, and early fall.
Ideal Growing Conditions
Achimenes is the summer plant par excellence for porch boxes, pots, urns, and hanging baskets in fairly shady locations.
They can stand some degree of sun, direct on the leaves, in the early morning and late afternoon, but must have shade or well-diffused sunlight during the whole part of the day.
In the lower South, where Achimenes are probably best known of any part of the country, they are often grown under large oak trees, where they are protected from strong sunlight, beating rains, and high winds.
Relation To Other Desirable Plants
The Achimenes are, of course, related to those other desirable and worthwhile members of the Gesneria family, such as the Gloxinias, Naegelias, Isolomas, Gesneriads, Tydeus, and a few more.
The family is among the most intriguing and rewarding for the pot plant fan. The name Achimenes is from two Greek words meaning to suffer from cold and warmth they must have.
Temperature Requirements
In early spring, the writer noted plants “scorched” slightly by sudden cold snaps in Florida when the thermometer went below 40° degrees Fahrenheit.
They do not need freezing weather or frost. Any temperature below 45° degrees Fahrenheit is dangerous to the foliage. So it is a safe rule to grow them inside until warm and sunny weather is assured wherever their culture is attempted.
In colder climates, growing them under glass entirely may even be necessary, or in an enclosed porch where adequate shade is provided.
In Florida, they do reasonably well under 50 percent shade of a lath house, but they may be seriously injured by beating rains in the earlier stages.
Propagation Methods
Achimenes are propagated vegetatively by various means, mainly by the tubercles, or catkin-like tubers on the roots, which form in late summer and fall.
When the plant dies down in late autumn, these tubercles should be dried off and stored over winter in a cool, dry place where the temperature does not go below 50° degrees Fahrenheit, preferably.
They may be stored in the dirt they grew, undisturbed, or may be sifted out and placed in cigar boxes with an inch of fine, dry sand above and below them.
In the late winter or spring, the tubers are started again in fresh soil, about 5 or 6 to a 5- or 7-inch pot with the smaller growing varieties, although two or three plants are about all a 6-inch pot can stand off the more vigorous types.
The tubercles should be planted about an inch or slightly less deep in the soil, which should be a good natural leaf-mold type loam with enough sand for good drainage and a little well-rotted manure added. An inch of coarse fiber or broken crocks in the bottom of the pot will help the drainage.
Planting and Care
Watering should be sparing until the plants grow well; their progress will depend on warmth and care in watering more than anything else.
They can stand considerable neglect in watering but will not make as handsome specimen plants if allowed to dry out time and again from careless treatment.
Plants can also be raised from stem and leaf cuttings, as is well known in the Gesneriads.
Grown in this manner early in the season, the new plants will make tubercles of their own in the fall and increase stock.
The tubercles themselves may even be cut up with a safety razor blade into slices like liverwurst, say three or four slices to the tubercle if it is of normal size.
These will all grow into good plants under favorable conditions. The larger the pieces, the stronger the plants. A single strong tubercle of an Achimenes variety could be made to produce 25 or even 50 plants by fall.
The tubercles vary from half an inch or so long and a quarter inch thick, in the case of some varieties, to long, worm-like affairs in such varieties as Grandiflora.
Popular Achimenes Varieties
Only a few American firms have listed Achimenes in the recent past. Back in the 19th century, many more varieties were available than today and were much more popular.
They are highly deserving of a decided boom in America, being natives of the American tropics and more colorful and varied than Saintpaulia by far, and of easier culture.
Like the Saintpaulia, they must not be watered when the sun is shining, or the foliage will be damaged. The writer has always found that watering late in the afternoon is best.
Nurseries in India and Holland offer a large variety of Achimenes at present, and a few growers in this country are working up good stocks.
Among the popular and worthwhile at this time are:
- Mexicana
- Little Beauty
- Purity
- Pulchella
- Grandiflora
- Vivid
- Nessida
- Vebusta, a lovely semi-double
- Purple King, also known as Royal Purple
- Pink Beauty
- Longiflora major (Magnificum)
- Dainty Queen
- Mauve Queen
Best Known Varieties of Achimenes
Royal Purple (Purple King) and a medium-sized blue named Galatea are probably the best-known and easiest varieties in the United States.
They are found in old-time southern gardens, naturalized in the ground in corners under shrubs, azaleas, and oak trees, although this culture is not recommended and is uncertain of survival.
Pots of these two kinds, which come into full bloom in June and July, are showy, spectacular things and will frequently attract passers-by to inquire what kind of plant they are.
- Purity is a lovely pure white, also known as Marguerite.
- Pulchella is a small scarlet.
- Dainty Queen is a lovely white with a slight lavender eye.
- Longiflora major (Magnificum) is the biggest blue; at its largest maybe 3” inches in diameter, but not as free-flowering as some.
One plant grown from a single tubercle will sometimes grow to be more than enough for a 6-inch pot and produce 50 to 100 flowers over several weeks.
There is scarcely a choice pot plant subject for the shady porch or sheltered nook of a protected garden that will repay the grower with more sheer beauty and abundance of bloom.
They are easier to grow than Gloxinias and tuberous-rooted begonias and have the added advantage of increasing readily yearly.
Homemade Hanging Baskets
The writer has found them happiest when grown in homemade hanging baskets of various shapes and sizes, fashioned of hardware cloth, one-quarter inch mesh lined with a layer of sphagnum moss, and then filled to the brim with the leaf mold potting mixture.
The drainage in these is perfect, and the plants spread out on all sides with an effective display and appeal that is most captivating.
44659 by Wyndham Hayward