Koleria is a herbaceous perennial from the Gesneriev family. His homeland is the tropics of Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela. More than 60 species count in nature. It features an unusual palette, long flowering. Named after the 19th century botanist Michael Kohler. The second name is the Colombian beauty.
Description of color
Kohleria grows in the shade of trees in tropical rainforests, shrubs or shrubs, 60-80 cm high. The leaves are located on stems opposite one another. They are oval, elongated, serrated edges, pubescent, up to 18 cm long, 8 cm wide. Leaf colors are different: dark green, emerald with red veins. There are olive and light veins on them. Hybrid varieties have a silver, bronze color.
Unusual flowers (1-3 in the inflorescence) are asymmetric, resemble a bell, a tube up to 5 cm, a corolla narrowed near the pharynx and swollen at the other end. The pharynx is open, decorated with specks, dots or strokes; it has five lobes. Flowers can be one color, and pharynx - another speckled. It blooms in July and blooms before the end of November.
The root system consists of rhizomes or tubers covered with scales. Outwardly similar to a pine cone.
Varieties of colors
Types and varieties of decorative flower differ in shape, color of leaves:
| View | Leaves | Flowers and the period of their formation |
| Bogotskaya | Long up to 10 cm, dark emerald. | The tube is red-yellow, scarlet, inside with bright, orange, red stripes. Blossom in the summer, bloom until the fall. |
| Red (grandmother) | Dark green, covered with villi. | Large, red with beige dots. |
| Majestic | Top with a light edge. | Large, sunny with bright scarlet dots, inside the pharynx dark red stripes. |
| Fluffy | Oval, soft, dark. | Orange or scarlet. White, bright red dots blooms year-round. |
| Spikelet | Gray, elongated, with a pointed end, with a silver fluff. | An orange tube, inside yellow with scarlet dots. |
| Linden (gloxinella) | Narrow, elongated, up to 30 cm, pale pink underneath, green above, streaks silver, herringbone-shaped. | Purple on top, orange hues with brown dots. It blooms in mid-autumn. |
| Digitalis | Long, light green, with a red edging. | Bright pink, with lilac stripes. Inside, lettuce, with purple dots. It blooms in early autumn. |
| Pleasant | Wide, up to 10 cm, variegated with brown veins, strokes of silver color. | Outside, red-pink, inside bright with raspberry dots. It blooms all year round. |
| Tubular | Oval, pointed on top, red on the underside. | Saturated sunny, not expanded at the end. |
| Woolen | Large with a light brown streak. | Beige with brown and white inside, beige blotches. |
| Dwarf (undersized) | Fluffy, with bright stripes. | Bright, orange. |
| Hairy | Bronze hue. | Scarlet, purple specks, burgundy. |
| Varshevich | Dark green, pointed from above. | Lilac, pink tube and yellow-green petals with brown, purple dots. |
| Uneven | Green, bright. | Red on the outside, inside violet speckled. |
| Flashdance | Bright green. | Large, coral, yellow with pink petals and fringes of fuchsia. |
| Jester | Green with a bronze tint, with serrated edges. | Light with pink spots. |
| Karl Lindbergh | Pointed, edges with denticles. | Dark lavender, covered with white dots. |
| Queen Victoria | The colors of saturated grass. | Pink, the tube inside is light with red specks. |
| Red reader | Thick, dark green. | Dark red with a white neck. |
| Roundley | The dark ones. | Orange, white inside. |
| Persian rug | Green, with a red border. | Velvet, red and raspberry with an orange neck. |
Home Care
Koleria is unpretentious, blooms profusely, and a beginner grower is able to create comfortable conditions.
| Factor | Spring Summer | Autumn winter |
| Location / Lighting | Western, eastern window sills. Scattered, sunny, without drafts. | If necessary, additional light with a lamp. |
| Temperature | + 20 ... +25 ° С, without drops. If it is higher, then the roots cannot provide new shoots with the necessary substances for growth and development. | + 15 ... +17 ° С when the flower drops its leaves. If there is no pronounced resting period, take care as usual. |
| Humidity | 30% - 60%. Put a flower pot on a pallet with wet gravel, expanded clay. Use a humidifier. Do not spray. | |
| Watering | Moderate, carry out warm, softened, standing water every 5 days, along the edge of the pot. They make sure that the soil does not dry out. During the formation of buds, if necessary, watered more often, without touching the stems, leaves. | During rest - once a month. If the plant is not in hibernation - 3-4 times. |
| Top dressing | From April to September, once every 14 days with liquid fertilizer for flowering. | Not required. |
In open air, the color is taken out only in the summer. The flower is grown as an ampelous, but at will form a bush. Growing and lodging stems pinch. Shorten the top by one third with a height of 20-30 cm with a disinfected tool before the buds begin to form and cut off the tops.
This is necessary for awakening the kidneys, the formation of new buds on the side shoots.
In the autumn, wilted parts are removed, for winter hibernation they are rearranged in a cool room.
Transplant and soil
A flower is transplanted once a year, the best time is the end of March or the beginning of April by transshipment. Carefully rearrange the bush in another, wide and shallow pot. The earth is not shaken off.
The soil is taken nutritious, loose, with low acidity, mixing turf and leafy land, and also adding peat and sand (1: 2: 1: 1). Another option is sand with humus, turf and sheet land equally, add small pieces of charcoal. Beginning flower growers acquire a ready-made substrate for violets.
The pot is selected plastic, but preferably ceramic. It is more stable and retains moisture longer, select a container with drainage holes, put 2 cm pieces of brick, pebble, expanded clay on the bottom.
Breeding
Florists use the following methods of reproduction: cuttings, leaves, division of rhizomes, seeds.
Propagation of the house by cuttings is done simply: cut off the upper part of the shoot, put in a mixture of sand and sheet soil, taken equally. They are treated with a growth stimulator (Cornerost), and the container is heated from below. Moisturize the soil, add Phytosporin to water to prevent decay, cover with glass, or a cropped plastic bottle with the part where the cork is. Regularly ventilate. After rooting, two weeks later transplanted separately. Also rooted in a bowl of water.
In the same way, the plant comes with leaves. The torn sheet is placed in water 1-2 cm, adding a stimulant.
Propagated by seeds from mid-winter to the end. It is better to get them in a special store. They lay the seed in the prepared soil from peat and sand, watered, covered, do not fall asleep with the ground. Set the temperature + 20 ... +24 ° C. Air every day, as soon as the shoots are in 2-3 weeks. After the appearance of four normal sheets dive. 
Persian rug
New shoots, roots are formed from the rhizome. An adult plant is taken out of the ground, divided into several parts (usually three). Each should have two healthy shoots. Place the cut sprinkled with charcoal, allow to dry. Each planted in a glass with prepared soil. Deepen by 2-3 cm, cover, regularly watered with warm water.
Difficulties in growing color
If all the rules for growing are not respected, the colium may become less attractive.
| Manifestation | Cause | Remedial measures |
| Leaves turn yellow. Brown spots appear. | Too dry air. Sunburn. | Humidify the room, obscure from direct sunlight. |
| Does not bloom. | Lack of light, nutrition. The room is cold or too warm. | Increase or decrease the temperature, feed. |
| Leaves are stained. | When watering or spraying, water has entered. | Water is poured into the pan. |
| The flower withers or shoots are stretched. | Little light. | Cover up with phytolamps. |
| The roots are rotting. | Abundant watering. | Transplanted by removing the diseased parts. |
| The plant is covered with gray bloom. | Fungal disease. | Damaged shoots are cut, treated with fungicide. |
| Brown spots. | Too cold water for irrigation. | Water is heated a little. |
| Leaves are deformed, dry up. | Aphid. | Collected by hand, treated with soapy water. |
| Leaves in small, bright spots, curl, fall off. | Spider mite. | Damaged are removed, the soil is shed by Aktara. Humidify air more often. |
| Silver stains, black dots. Pollen crumbles. | Thrips. | Processed by Spark. |
| Sticky drops, brown insects. | Shield. | Clean, then sprayed with an insecticide (Inta-Vir, Confidor). |
| White plaque on the shoots. | Powdery Mildew | The ground part is cut off, the rhizome is treated with a fungicide (Fundazol, Topaz). |
| Dumps the buds. | Excess calcium in the soil. | Change the soil. |
