The magnificent candle is very popular because of its long flowering period. Planted under the right requirements, it will flower well into frost. It is also very easy to care for.
The magnificent primrose (Gaura lindheimerii) is an ornamental perennial bloomer for your own garden, which belongs to the evening primrose family. In a sunny spot, this plant not only thrives in your own hobby garden, but also in a pot or bucket on the terrace.
In 2007, a variety of magnificent candle was even given a special honor. The Elfenbusserl magnificent candle was delighted to receive the award for "Bavarian Balcony Plant of the Year", which impressively underlines the popularity of this plant.
Detailed Description of the Magnificent Candle
The home of the magnificent candle is mainly on the border between the United States of America and Mexico. Not only there, but also in this country, the herbaceous plant can reach heights of around 50 to 150 centimeters. The stems of the magnificent candle have an upright growth, a slight bend, as well as a weak branching and are usually characterized by fine hairs. The leaves of the magnificent candle, which can show a blue-green color, reach lengths of a good eight centimeters, while the flowers are only two to three centimeters in size. They are all single flowers that shimmer in the following colours:
- White
- Pink
- Lilac
- Purple
- Carmine
During the course of the day, the magnificent candle flowers often change color. In the morning they tend to be white, while in the evening they often turn a bright pink. Flowering begins in spring and ends with the first frost in late autumn. While the magnificent candle is found in its homeland, especially in numerous prairies and in open pine forests, it is just as widespread in Central Europe, as this plant is an ornamental plant that can overwinter and is quite robust. In addition, the ornamental plant is offered in a wide variety of varieties, such as the following:
- Corrie's Gold
- Madonna
- Lime Light
- Siskiyou Pink
- Pink Butterfly
- Whirling Butterflies
- Shakti
The botanical name of the plant is Gaura lindheimerii. Each variety can also captivate with a different flower color. However, the individual flowers, which can be found on the 30 to 60 centimeter long panicles, usually only bloom for a single day. During the entire flowering period, however, the magnificent candle keeps developing new flowers in order to be able to enchant you with its magnificent beauty for as long as possible.
Requirements for the optimal location
As already mentioned, the magnificent candle prefers a sunny spot. In addition, the soil around the plant should be as poor as possible in nutrients and not too rich in humus. A very permeable soil is also extremely important to protect the magnificent candle from waterlogging, which is harmful to it. On the other hand, if the prairie candle, as the magnificent candle is also called, were planted in very heavy soil with lots of nutrients and a high water content, you could be almost certain that the beautiful ornamental plant would die very quickly. A maximally moderate nutrient content and excellent drainage are so important for precisely this reason.
Even if the herbaceous plant prefers a location in full sun, it should definitely be sheltered from the wind. After all, the stems of the magnificent candle are so thin that they could easily break off in strong winds. Drought and even extreme heat do not bother the plant. After all, she feels quite at home in a prairie environment. In addition, the ornamental plant blooms more and more luxuriantly the more it is exposed to the blazing sun.
Planting the prairie candle with other plants
In your own hobby garden, the magnificent candle can be wonderfully combined with a large variety of other plants. The plant also cuts a very good figure in a rose bed. In the flower bed, the prairie candle can also be planted next to the following ornamental plants:
- Blue Ray Oats
- Pennisetum
- Leadroot
- Feather Grass
- verbena
- Heron Feather Grass
- Dost
- Savory
- Hairy Grass
- Larkspur
- asters
- sage
- Sedum hen
- Yarrow
- Gransbill
When planting, it is important to consider the different growth heights of these plants. In doing so, it is importantthat the plants that can show the highest growth are always assigned one of the back places in the bed.
Plant Glorious Candle
The magnificent candle in your own garden has no place until the ice saints are over. After all, the apple blossom grass, another name by which the magnificent candle is also known, does not tolerate frost. When planting, a planting distance of around 40 to a good 60 centimeters between the individual plants must be maintained. If a carpet of flowers is desired that is as dense as possible, the magnificent candle plants are best planted in a group consisting of three to eight such ornamental plants.
The planting hole should be twice the size in terms of both depth and width as compared to the root ball of the young primrose plants. A drainage layer is also essential. This should be created before the magnificent candle is placed in its planting hole in a sunny, wind-protected location. Then fill the remaining hole with garden soil and press it down lightly. Even if the ornamental plant only needs very little water, it should definitely be watered so that the magnificent candle can grow well.
Watering the magnificent candle correctly
As already mentioned, the splendor candle does not need too much water. Therefore, the plant should be watered regularly, but only in small quantities, so that no harmful waterlogging can occur in the first place. Even during longer periods of heat, the top layer of soil provides information about when the prairie candle should be watered again.
This is only the case when this layer has almost completely dried out. Only as a container plant should the magnificent candle be watered more frequently in summer. However, you should make sure that you immediately dump out the water that collects in the plant saucer after watering. After all, too much water is much more damaging to the ornamental plant than too much drought.
How should the magnificent candle be fertilized?
Since the prairie candle gets along very well with a rather nutrient-poor soil, it is usually not necessary to fertilize the ornamental plant in your own garden. If the plant still needs a few additional nutrients, which is noticeable in its appearance, compost is completely sufficient as a fertilizer. A different rule applies to potted plants.
In this case, the magnificent candle should be regularly treated with a small amount of liquid fertilizerbe supplied to the specialist trade. A monthly application of fertilizer is completely sufficient, as over-fertilization of the plant must be avoided in any case. However, the magnificent candle should not be fertilized from August until next spring.
Pruning the Magnificent Candle
The magnificent candle should only be cut back when it has completely faded. This is usually the case in autumn. The pruning can be done until late autumn, whereby the plant should be shortened to a height of only eight to ten centimeters above the ground. This step encourages the plant to form so-called overwintering buds. Thanks to these buds, the magnificent candle can sprout again very well next spring.
Wintering Candle
Before the ornamental plant overwinters, the correct pruning should be carried out first. Even if the plant can overwinter outdoors, this is not possible without the active help of hobby gardeners. To do this, the plant must be covered with a layer of brushwood or leaves. Potted plants, on the other hand, should be overwintered indoors. They should also be pruned first.
Even if the magnificent candle has been correctly covered with twigs or leaves, this does not automatically mean that the plant will definitely survive until the next spring. Especially in very extreme winters or in extremely unfavorable site conditions, the magnificent candle can freeze to death in the cold season. So for those who prefer to be on the safe side for precisely this reason, the plants should be dug up to overwinter in a pot indoors.
A cool basement or a cool stairwell are ideal for this. Temperatures of five to seven degrees Celsius are ideal to make it much easier for the magnificent candle to hibernate. During the winter, the plant must be watered - but only very rarely and very little. In order not to risk waterlogging, the soil in the magnificent candle pot should always be almost dry.
If the prairie candle can only be overwintered in a very warm, bright place, then this is quite possible. In this type of winter quarters, however, the plant will tend to develop so-called "horny shoots". These are very thin and quite weak shoots that do not even begin to have flowers. In the spring, the horny shoots have to be cut off before the magnificent candle is transplanted back into the garden.
» Tip: Before planting out again in the garden, the magnificent candle should first be planted in ashould be set up in a sun-protected place in order to be able to get used to the light of the sun again after their rather dark winter quarters.
How to multiply the Magnificent Candle?
The magnificent candle can not only be propagated by sowing, but also with the help of cuttings.
Propagation by cuttings
When propagating by means of cuttings, hobby gardeners should proceed as follows:
- In the spring, separate shoots that are five to ten centimeters long from the mother plant of the primrose
- Put the cuttings in pots or cold frames
- Use a permeable plant substrate
- Put foil bags over the planting pots
- Put the pots in a sunny place - for example on the windowsill, in a greenhouse or in your conservatory at home
- Aerate the magnificent candle from time to time
- Plant the well-developed cuttings in a sunny place (in the garden, in a bucket or pot) as soon as there is no more night frost
Propagation by seed
Even when propagating by sowing, the magnificent candle seeds should only be sown in your own garden after the ice saints. By the way, it is a self-seeding plant. If you want to sow the magnificent candle seeds in a pot, do so in autumn. Potting soil in small pots or bowls should be used for this. A thin layer of seed, just covered with a little potting soil, is quite sufficient. The seeds should also not be watered too much. Just spraying them lightly with a little water is enough.
So that the soil cannot dry out and an ideal climate is provided for the germination of the magnificent candle seeds, the bowls or pots should also be covered with foil, which ensures the so-called greenhouse effect when growing the magnificent candle from seeds . Here, too, the pots should be placed in the sunniest possible places mentioned above, so that the seeds can germinate as well as possible under the blazing sun.
As soon as the individual seedlings have reached a size of three to four centimetres, they can be planted in their own pot. Sufficient ventilation of the foils is also extremely important with this propagation method to prevent gray mold from forming.
Possible pests and diseases on the magnificent candle
If the magnificent candle has been positioned in an ideal location for the ornamental plant, it is not particularly susceptible to the variouspests and diseases. On the other hand, if the site conditions are not ideal, the situation is quite different. This is the case, for example, if the prairie candle was planted under shrubs or trees in a very dark location that also tends to waterlogging. After all, shady garden soil doesn't dry as quickly as sunny soil.
So it's quite possible that the roots of the magnificent candle just rot off. In such an unsuitable location, an infestation with aphids is unfortunately quite common on this ornamental plant. In areas that are too humid, snails can also become a nuisance, while this is rarely a problem in dry hobby gardens. If there is an aphid infestation on the magnificent candle, the following countermeasures are available:
- Plant kitchen herbs right next to the magnificent candle - especially sage, lavender, savory, thyme or borage
- Alternatively place herb pots of the types mentioned right next to the prairie candle
- Place lacewings or ladybugs as natural pest control in your own garden or attract these beneficial insects in a targeted manner (e.g. set up an insect hotel or small piles of brushwood and wood)
- Use nettle tea or tea from horsetail to fight the lice (either pour or spray the candle with it)
If snails attack your own candlestick plants, it makes sense to collect them. However, this is very expensive, although it is an extremely effective method of fighting snails. The easiest time to collect the snails is in the early morning hours. Hedgehogs have also proven themselves in the fight against snails in your own garden. In addition, coffee grounds, which are spread around the magnificent candle as a thick layer, are a good idea. Snails don't like that at all. The same applies to the so-called slug pellets, although all hobby gardeners should make sure that they choose a biodegradable version of this pest control agent.