The Nierembergia plant provides a splash of color for breaking through from the grayest days as the new greenery comes to life.
Plus this petite bell-shaped flower can fit on a mouse’s lapel. They have USDA hardiness zones 7 – 10.
The Nierembergia plants, purple robe or cup flower plants have tiny delicate paper thin purple, blue, lavender or white flowers with five soft corners. The green foliage is equally delicate, like thin strips of paper, with an oval shape and smooth to the touch.
Known by several names: the cup flower, purple robe, royal robe or the white cup plants, they make a special presence known in a rock garden, where they play a leading role.
Nierembergia or purple robe makes a great flower option to fill in the space between:
- Slate stepping stones in the garden
- Along a flower bed border
- In a stand-alone planter or pot containers
- Hang baskets
Photos do the color justice but do not give the full picture of the purple robe’s miniature tea-cup size.
These tender perennials bloom beautifully in warm months and make a long winter slumber their hallmark before the perennial pops back up in the warmer period of the year. The Nierembergia flowers will grow from 4 inches up to 12 inches in height during bloom season.
How To Grow The Nierembergia Plant
Many gardeners like to give their plants a head start in the kitchen or anywhere they would like to set up an indoor growing area. Inside, the germination time of seeds is anywhere from 2 to 3 weeks at 70 degrees Fahrenheit 9 weeks before moving them outdoors.
When transplanting them outdoors or sowing them outdoors, make sure it is a couple weeks prior to the final frost of the season, or at either end of the cold season (winter in the Northern Hemisphere).
Be sure to space them 6 to 10 inches apart. Ensure the seeds are aptly covered to keep them sufficiently warm and protected. Moreover, the roots require moist soil and good drainage.
Recommended Reading: How To Prevent Or Minimize Transplant Shock
How To Care The Nierembergia Plant
The Nierembergia are fairly easy to please, as long as they receive only slight shade or full-strength and direct sunlight. They take well to a soil rich in nutrients with a manure layer atop to keep them warm and nourished.
Keeping the well-drained soil moist goes a long way to seeing these beautiful plants to germination and their flourishing.
Keep the plant and soil adequately watered and moist throughout the season and they will respond particularly well. They do need proper drainage so that they do not drown in the water.
Like many perennial plants, they need to be cut back dead foliage and deadhead excess stems every year right before the cold season starts. Consider making cuttings at this time of the year or after the cold season. Again, they do well indoors during the offseason.
The Nierembergia plants reward gardeners with a beautiful bumper crop of flowers that are soft and vivid at the same time as these flowering plants also bold and voluminous.
It is a definite treat well worth the effort from seed through early germination to full-on growth for the season. If choosing the right flower and foliage color is difficult to consider going for a few different varieties of these flowers for a bigger color statement in your botanic garden.
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