Ardisia Crispa (Coral-Berry)

Temperature:
55-65 F

Add color to your house at Christmas time with several pots of this compact shrub (formerly called Ardisia crenulata) with drooping coral-red flowers that become bright red berries.

Give plenty of light, but shade lightly from bright sun during summer. Grow at 65 F; after berries set about October first, temperature may be lowered to 55 F. Equal parts garden loam, peatmoss, and sand with a small amount of well-rotted manure added seems to be the best potting mixture.

Ardisias may be reproduced from seed, but cuttings produce best. Remove a strip of bark directly below the foliage, clear around the stem; wrap wet moss around the cut area, keep moist, and a good root system will develop in 6 to 8 weeks, at which time the new plant can be cut from the shrub and potted in the mixture mentioned above. Cuttings should be taken in late spring.