The home flower calathea is attractive for its decorative leaves. She immediately attracts attention, and the variety of varieties allows you to choose an instance for every taste. In nature, its habitat is the river coast. In the conditions of an apartment, it is difficult to please her preferences; it requires special care.
Each variety of this exotic plant has its own personality and is attractive and beautiful in its own way:
In nature, the calathea flower grows in tropical forests
- Wonderful. Its leaves are long and narrow, reaching 30 cm in length. They are wavy along the edge. The pattern on the upper side of the sheet is an alternation of long and short oval spots of dark green color on a light background. The underside of the leaf is purple, without a pattern;
- Veitch. Quite a large plant, reaching almost a meter in height. Leaves 30 cm long are oval in shape. Their obverse is decorated with a yellow pattern on a dark green background. The lower part has a reddish tint;
- Decorated. Leaves grow up to 20 cm in length. They have an oval shape, are painted with a yellow-green strip on top, pink or silver waves are located along the edges of the leaf plate. The bottom is magenta;
- Mosaic Network. The leaf plate of this variety is as if laid out from a mosaic. The white surface is covered with dark green stripes that form small rectangles.
These are just a few of the plant species. The bulk of Calathea varieties are native to Brazil and Colombia. There they grow in tropical rainforests.
Calathea requires attention to itself, and without proper care it can die. Several main principles of growing this flower should be adhered to:
- avoid temperature extremes. The plant is also afraid of drafts. The air temperature should not fall below 16 ° C;
- do not keep it in a dark place – it will stop growing and the leaves will lose their beauty. The sun’s rays are also harmful and can cause burns. Choose a location with diffused light;
- The most important condition is humidity. It should be at least 90% for the flower to be comfortable. To do this in an apartment is very problematic and unhealthy. Therefore, you need to try to moisturize the environment around the plant. This requires regular spraying, preferably not of the flower itself, but of the space next to it.
There is one more technique: we put pebbles in the pallet and pour water so that the bottom of the pot does not touch it. We replenish if necessary.