Have you heard about bloodleaf? No? Well, its unique colour will certainly get you

Bloodleaf – if you want to make your flower beds more interesting you should ask for this plant in garden centres and plant this unusual red beauty. It also grows very quickly and will be happy even with minimal care. The only thing is watering. You have to follow watering requirements.

This plant belongs to the amaranth family and comes from Mexico. It is very popular in Western Europe and the USA, but it is rather unknown in Central Europe. It needs plenty of sun. Shade just will not do. Shade will make it lose its beautiful colour. In our part of the world you will mainly encounter Iresine herbstii and Iresine lindenii.

Irezin does not like the shade, it will be more grateful for the sun

Sometimes you may hear that Iresina is a plant suitable for shade. Well, the truth is that it can survive in a shade, but its beautiful colour will fade away – the entire plant is intensely red, not only the leaves.
Iresine is great when planted with other contrasting plants, for example with white flowers of impatiens , begonias, water hyssops, lobelias or verbenas. It is usually used to create an edge on a flower bed or divide it into individual zones.

Unfortunately, prices of seedlingsof this plant are rather high. This plant is best propagated by cuttings, which is more time-consuming and it also need more space than other plants grown from seeds. Further, seeds of this plant do not germinate easily so if you get them do not think that you will multiply them easily.

Bloodleaf are rather rare

Bloodleaf with green-white leaves and darker red stems was bred in Western Europe. It is mainly used to create flower carpets in large areas. The combination of light leaves and dark red stems is very attractive. Unfortunately, this special variety of bloodleaf plant is rarely seen. If you see this variety, consider yourself lucky and get it. If you follow watering rules your bloodleaf will be happy and will grow until the first frosts hit.

Photo: Pixabay