About
Bomarea salsilla is a deciduous climbing plant that twines and grows from underground tubers. It features elongated, lanceolate leaves that are mid-green and can reach lengths of up to 13 cm (5 in). During the summer months, it produces branched flower stems that bear clusters of bell-shaped flowers, which are typically crimson or purple-red and measure around 1.5 cm in length.
About the genus
Bomarea consists of tuberous, deciduous climbing perennials characterized by simple, lanceolate leaves. The flowers appear in terminal umbels or racemes, featuring tubular or narrowly bell-shaped forms.
Growing conditions
- Sunlight
- Full sun
- Soil type
- Chalk, Clay, Loam, Sand
- Soil pH
- Acid, Alkaline, Neutral
- Soil moisture
- Moist but well-drained
- Aspect
- East-facing, South-facing, West-facing
- Exposure
- Sheltered
- UK hardiness
- H3
Plant details
- Plant type
- Climber Wall Shrub
- Habit
- Climbing
- Foliage
- Deciduous
- Height
- 1.5-2.5 metres
- Spread
- 1-1.5 metres
- Time to full height
- 2-5 years
- Suggested uses
- City and courtyard gardens, Sub-tropical
- Native to
- Chile
Care notes
- Cultivation
- Under glass, grow in peat-free, loam-based potting compost, with added sharp sand, in full light with shade from hot sun. Provide support. When in growth, water freely and apply a balanced liquid fertiliser monthly; keep just moist in winter. Outdoors, grow in fertile, moist but well-drained soil in full sun.
- Pruning
- Cut back dead and flowered stems to ground level in winter.
- Propagation
- Sow seed at 13-16°C (55-61°C) in spring. Divide established plants in late winter or early spring as growth begins.
- Pest resistance
- May be susceptible to glasshouse red spider mite, glasshouse whitefly and aphids under glass.
- Disease resistance
- Generally disease-free