Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

Tibouchina shrouded in purple majesty

The "Princess Flower'' wears its stunning hue like a royal mantle; it has its prerogatives, but it never becomes a royal pain.

By Yvonne Swanson, Special to the Times
Published October 20, 2007

One of this season's most fashionable colors, purple, is showing up in everything from clothing and makeup to housewares and paint. You can add the rich hue to your garden as well with a tried-and-true tropical plant that produces majestic purple flowers never out of style.

Commonly called "Princess Flower," tibouchina shrubs and trees are currently in spectacular bloom throughout the Tampa Bay area. Their bold deep-purple blossoms steal the show from other plants in the yard, earning tibouchina another common moniker, "Purple glorybush."

A Brazilian beauty, tibouchina is especially well-suited to the Florida garden. It was named a "Plant of the Year" in 2005 by the Florida Nursery, Growers and Landscape Association in Orlando, which annually awards plants noted for their beauty and durability.

It's easy to see why "Princess Flower" draws so much praise. It's simple to grow in full sun, is evergreen, attracts few pests or disease and, best of all, flowers spectacularly from late spring through fall. Her highness' only drawback is the tendency to grow a bit rampant, but with regular training and pruning - especially when the plant is young - the purple princess can be shaped into a lovely hedge, border plant or tree.

The color purple has long been associated with royalty. From biblical times, only rulers and the wealthy could afford costly purple dyes. Roman senators wore togas trimmed in purple to indicate their high rank. The expression "born to the purple" means born to a noble or aristocratic family.

It's that same dramatic royal purple that sets tibouchina apart. Other tropicals that produce flowers in the blue family, including blue ginger and blue plumbago, simply can't compete with the intensity of tibouchina in full bloom. Granted, these other plants are pretty in a sunny garden, but on the color meter they'll never be a crown jewel like "Princess Flower."

There are several varieties of tibouchina, including compacta, granulosa, urvilleana and grandifolia. Because they have different growth habits, be careful to identify the variety before you purchase a tibouchina at a garden center or from a catalog or Internet source.

The most popular and commonly grown variety is the hybrid compacta: It is ideal as a shrub because it grows only 4 to 5 feet tall, according to Mike Kastenholz, co-owner of Boynton Botanicals, a wholesale grower in Boynton Beach. Another popular choice, Tibouchina granulosa,is the easiest variety to traininto a tree. It can grow from 10 to 20 feet tall and up to 20 feet wide, with dark green, velvety leaves and purple blossoms 2 inches across.

Even larger blooms - up to 5 inches wide - in the deepest shade of purple are produced by Tibouchina urvilleana, Kastenholz says. At a mature height and width of 15 feet, urvilleana grows a bit smaller than granulosa. Like other varieties of tibouchina, it can be trimmed to any size and still flower profusely through most of the year.

The most unusual of all, the 6-foot-tall Tibouchina grandifolia has extremely large leaves, but its small flowers are less than 2 inches around. Unlike other varieties, it can be grown in partial shade, and it flowers primarily in summer.

You don't need to provide royal treatment to keep tibouchina thriving. Just provide well-drained soil on the acidic side, keep it moist but not overwatered, and place your plant where it can receive daily at least five hours of full sun, preferably in the morning and early afternoon (except grandifolia, which needs part shade). A break from the hot afternoon sun, especially in summer, keeps the princess happiest. Kastenholz suggests sheltering your plant from northwest winds, which can damage tibouchina during cold weather.

You can boost blooming by fertilizing after each bloom cycle with a balanced, time-release fertilizer. Regularly pinch new growth on its vinelike stems to encourage dense branching and your majestic tibouchina will reward you and your neighbors with an eye-popping purple explosion of color.

Yvonne Swanson is a freelance writer in St. Petersburg and a master gardener for Pinellas County.

- - - 

Princess Flower

Scientific name: Tibouchina. The name comes from an adaptation of the native Guiana term for the plants.

Also known as: Purple glorybush, princess flower, pleroma, lasiandra

Native to: Rainforests of South America, especially Brazil, the West Indies and Mexico.

What it likes: Full sun for best color and maximum flowering. Will tolerate shade but will not thrive. Prefers acidic soil or slightly alkaline. Low salt tolerance. Will withstand light frost.

Beware: Prone to nematodes, aphids, spider mites early on, but once established is mostly pest-resistant. Don't overwater, which may lead to mushroom root rot. Prone to wind damage.

Good to know: Tibouchina may be difficult to start and for a season or two may show little will to live. Once established, however, it thrives with little care.

Sources: www.mgonline.com, University of Florida, www.greenbeam.com, www.floridagardener.com

[Last modified October 18, 2007, 18:24:22]