About
Achimenes 'Paul Arnold' is a soft, rhizomatous perennial characterized by clusters of 3-4 dark green leaves, which display a red-purple hue on their undersides. During the summer and autumn months, it produces flat purple flowers measuring up to 5 cm in diameter, each featuring white throats that blend yellow and purple tones. The plant enters dormancy in winter.
About the genus
Achimenes are perennial plants with rhizomes that store nutrients, producing long, trailing stems. These stems support simple leaves that appear either opposite or in whorls. During the summer and autumn months, the plants produce conspicuous, salver-shaped flowers that emerge from the axils of the leaves.
Growing conditions
- Sunlight
- Full sun, Partial shade
- Soil type
- Loam
- Soil pH
- Acid, Alkaline, Neutral
- Soil moisture
- Moist but well-drained
- Aspect
- East-facing, South-facing, West-facing
- Exposure
- Sheltered
- UK hardiness
- H1C
Plant details
- Plant type
- Houseplants, Conservatory Greenhouse
- Habit
- Bushy
- Foliage
- Deciduous
- Height
- 0.1-0.5 metres
- Spread
- 0.1-0.5 metres
- Time to full height
- 1 year
- Suggested uses
- Houseplants
Care notes
- Cultivation
- Grow under glass in either peat-free, multi-purpose compost or peat-free John Innes No 2 loam-based compost in bright filtered light. To bring rhizomes into growth in spring, temperatures of 16-18°C (61-64°F) are ideal. Water sparingly until summer when plants should be watered freely. Apply a balanced liquid fertiliser at quarter strength at each watering
- Pruning
- No pruning required
- Propagation
- Propagate by dividing rhizomes or taking stem cuttings in spring
- Pest resistance
- May be susceptible to aphids, glasshouse red spider mite and thrips
- Disease resistance
- Generally disease-free