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Purple hearts look beautiful when grouped together, in hanging pots or as miniature hedges
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PURPLE HEART or Setcreasea purpurea is a trailer with lance shaped leaves about 10 cm long and 2 cm wide. The leaves and stems are a rich violet purple. The flowers are small, three-petaled; pink in colour and, in summer, are found at the axils of leaves.
Setcreasea looks attractive when grouped together in hanging baskets or pots. To get a rich leaf colour, the plant should be exposed to two hours of direct sunlight every day. It grows well in warm rooms and verandas. Watering should be moderate throughout the year. Being a fast growing plant it needs re-potting in larger pots, every six months. It loses its beauty with age. Therefore it can be discarded after planting 8 cm long cuttings in new pots.
Place the pots in bright filtered light for 2-3 weeks, water them just enough to make the soil moist. Water regularly in summer.
Flowering stems should be cut off every year when flowering ceases.
Apply standard liquid fertilizer every month to all well-rooted plants while they are actively growing. Setcreasea does very well as a short border or miniature hedge. This plant creeps more slowly than other creepers but grows much bigger in size.
CHITRA RADHAKRISHNAN
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