Not everyone appreciates the exotic beauty of flamingo flowers but these fascinating plants can be used to add a really exotic touch to Karachi gardens revelling as they do in high humidity and sultry temperatures.

Indigenous to south and tropical America, flamingo flowers, botanically called 'Anthuriums' are members of the Arum or Araceae family of plants and comprise over 900 species of climbers and evergreen perennials to which a diverse range of hybrids are being added on a regular basis.

An extremely popular cut flower, they can last as long as two months in water and are always in high demand by flower arrangers all over the world. Cultivating them is a large industry in Hawaii where, during the late 1980s when peak production levels were reached, these tropical islands exported approximately 30 million cut flowers on an annual basis.

Personally speaking, I first came into contact with them when undertaking my initial horticultural training at a reasonably large market garden in UK where they were sold as indoor plants. It took me quite a while to become accustomed to their unusual beauty and, at that time, exorbitantly high price tag. Selling them wasn't an easy job all those years ago but, since then, views have changed, interest has developed, avid collectors have appeared and the price, due to rising demand, has dropped.

Commonly known as flamingo flowers due to their appearance, Anthuriums are not, strictly speaking, flowers at all but spathes. However, the petal-like spathe, which can be teardrop shaped, shield shaped, a pointed oval, heart shaped or similar does resemble a flower. Yet, in reality, the masses of minute flowers themselves are on the spadex, the cylindrical protrusion rising from the base of the protective, ornamental spathe.

In the original wild species, which are mostly epiphytic by nature (growing on but not feeding off, other plants such as trees), both the spathe and the spadex are often the same colour, usually red, but selective hybridisation, much of it undertaken in Hawaii, Florida and Holland, has vastly extended the colour range to include oranges, purples, white, greens, pinks and peach plus bi-coloured, speckled, splashed and streaked variations. The size of the blooms has also been increased, quite dramatically in some cases with one Hawaiian hybrid, 'Anthurium obake' having spathes measuring an amazing 11 inches wide and nine or 10 inches long which is an awful lot of eye catching 'flower'.

Cultivating these tropical plants outdoors in Karachi is not a difficult prospect at all providing that correct care is taken in selecting a suitable location, followed by creating and maintaining proper soil conditions and paying meticulous attention to their humidity and water requirements which varies widely depending on current climatic conditions.

Flamingo flowers can be grown either directly in the ground or in clay pots. They are at their best in bright natural light but not, at any time, direct sunshine. Species which are grown for their attractive foliage can be cultivated in very shady locations but flowering ones will not produce blooms if light is insufficient. Ideally, in Karachi conditions, they will thrive best in partial shade provided by taller growing ferns, tree ferns, palms or medium sized trees which do not have a dense canopy of leaves. In such conditions direct sunlight is filtered yet bright light is still adequate.
Flamingo flowers, unless they are climbers of course, generally reach a height somewhere between one and three feet depending on the particular variety chosen. They will not tolerate the slightest degree of frost, nor will they survive cold winds so if growing them away from warm coastal regions, they will need suitable winter protection.
Anthuriums must have soil which drains easily as they do not enjoy excess water around their roots. A soil/compost of a combination of rich soil, peat moss (this is now easily available in Pakistan although, as it is imported, it can be costly), charcoal, tree bark, coconut husk, small rocks and sawdust is the best and should be mixed so that drainage is easily maintained. If cultivated in pots they tend to flower better if their roots are a little restricted so do not re-pot them into a larger size container until absolutely necessary.

Now the all-important watering instructions. The plants need regular watering yet over watering will result in root rot which is generally signified by a sudden yellowing of the leaves. To avoid this problem, and as long as drainage is correct, the soil should be allowed to slightly dry out on the surface prior to watering again. However, allowing the soil to fully dry out in between watering will badly affect flowering and ultimately kill the plant.

In periods of high humidity, the summer monsoon for instance, less water will be required but in periods of low humidity it is a good idea to gently spray the entire plant with warm water early in the evening when the sun is going down.

Feeding the plants is not really necessary as long as correct soil conditions are given but, if you consider it needed, then a very weak solution, well below the recommended level written on the container, of organic foliar feed may be sprayed on every six months or so.

Propagation is usually carried out by root division in late autumn or early spring although flamingo flowers can also be grown from seed... if you can find any!
Recommended varieties include

Anthurium andraeanum — Height 24 to 30 inches with brilliant red spathes and bright yellow spadex.
A. crystallinium — The crystal Anthurium with long, rather velvety dark green leaves veined in white and red tinged, green spathes. This generally grows to a height of about 24 inches and makes an excellent shade plant as the leaves outshine the flowers.

A. scherzeriannum 'Rothschildianum' — Approximately 12 inches tall with long lasting spathes of bright red spotted with white and a glowing yellow spadex.

A. veitchii — The Queen Anthurium which is three or more feet tall, has three feet long shiny, corrugated leaves and bears green, white or greenish-white spathes around a cream spadex.

Give flamingo flowers some thought, they are not at all difficult, I promise and, with lots of tender loving care, they can be had in bloom all the year round thus providing a perennial tropical talking point in your garden or home. n

Please continue to send your gardening queries to zahrahnasir@hotmail.com. Remember to include your location. Answers to selected questions will appear in a future issue of 'Images on Sunday'. This takes time. The writer will not respond directly by e-mail.