Incredible Ixoras!

Ixoras are showy beautiful plants that do very well in the UAE. The most common variety here is the large-leaved type with bright red flowers. Sometimes you see them on the roadside with pale green leaves but still, they bloom. These are the Ixora Chinensis or Chinese Ixora. They have vibrant flowers flanked by beautiful green leaves. They come in a variety of colours though most often seen in red and even have a fragrant version. Ixora Chinensis (Chinese Ixora) is a bushy, rounded shrub with elliptic, ovate, or obovate, semi-lustrous, mid-to-deep green leaves, about 6 cm long. They produce dense, flattened corymb-like cymes, 5-10cm across, of red, orange, pink, or occasionally white flowers, 3.5cm long, mainly in summer. But here in the Gulf, they will flower almost the whole year-round.

However, they often suffer from some nutritional deficiencies that reduce their flowering and make their leaves dull. Ixoras generally prefer acidic soil and therefore will not perform well in alkaline soil. To counter that please add coffee grounds to the soil. People have suggested adding vinegar but I have not tried that yet. Home-made compost is also good as it is more acidic in nature. But the biggest issue that Ixoras have is the iron deficiency that makes their leaves pale and their flowers dull. To sort that, remember to give it iron and urea combined -1 ml iron to 0.5 mg urea in 1 litre of water. Do it in October for three applications 10 days apart so day 1/10/20. Then do it once again if needed in February. Most of the time you won’t need to do much more than this except for regular fertilizer which you apply for the rest of your plants. But keep an eye on them. This formula can only be used until early May. Also please make sure your prune your Ixoras regularly at least once every season. No pruning between mid-May to late-September. Also, please give them shade between 12-4 in the months of June to September and they will not suffer at all. Hope this is helpful as people have specifically asked for Ixora care. Have fun!