Ageratum – Ageratum houstonianum

Spread Floral Joy!

Elevate someone's day with a beautifully crafted flower bouquet fresh from our farms.

SHOP NOW
Ageratum – Ageratum houstonianum

Common Name: Flossflower, Ageratum

Botanical Name: Ageratum houstonianum, a-ge-RAY-tum hew-ston-ee-AH-tum

Decorative Life: 7-10 days.

Flower Color: , ,

Availability: ,

Harvest Instructions:

Plants perform better in the landscape if grown in mixes containing both a wetting agent and hydrogel. Plugs can be stored for up to six weeks in the dark at 45F but do much better if provided as little as 5 ft-c of light during storage. Deeper and larger volume growing containers can improve shelf life.

Storage Specifics:

Can be held at 34-38F.

Tidbits:
  • The Compositae or aster family is vast, with over 20,000 species, and is also one of the most developed families. It was named Compositae because the flowers are actually a “composite” of many individual flowers into one head. Hence, when children pull one “petal” off at a time, saying “she/he loves me, loves me not”, they are actually removing a complete flower, not just a petal.
  • Ageratum, Greek (a-, without, and geras, age) for not growing old probably in reference to the flowers retaining their color for a long time.
  • Named after William Houston, American physician who collected plants in the Antilles and Mexico, died in 1733.
  • Insects and diseases are often problems during production. Some favorite cultivars and their respective flower colors include ‘Hawaii Blue’ and Hawaii Royal (blue/violet). Full sunlight would be best.
Recent Research Findings:

Using ‘Blue Puffs’, Latimer and Oetting (1999) showed that low nitrogen fertilzation reduced aphid infestation levels while ebb and flow irrigation reduced mite populations compared to overhead watering.