Medinilla ‘Lalique Plant Care Guide

What a spectacular sight to behold, the Medinilla Lalique just as beautiful as the Medinilla magnifica. Do you agree?

As lovely as both these tropical plants are caring for them, it is the same and presents your home or garden with tropical beauty. The truth is that both these rare plants look similar with some slight differences.

What is The Medinilla Alata Lalique?

The Medinilla goes by many names, as some gardeners call it rose grape, and showy Medinilla to the pink lantern plant. The Lalique has lavender-blue flower bracts with white blooms with burgundy calyxes and flower stems looking like a chandelier.

The broadleaf evergreen once flowering displays red berries with a deep magenta tint. You can find these plants carrying blossoms in the winter or summer grown in a greenhouse. You see the tropical plant growing in the Celebes Sea area dividing the Philippines from Indonesia.

Some botanists also say that the Lalique is the former Medinilla crassata, but regardless of the origin, this remains a stunning plant that will bring you joy.

Medinilla Plant Care

No matter what Medinilla plants you have, taking care of them is the same. Here you can find a short introduction to care for your tropical plant.

Species: Medinilla alata

Common Name: Medinilla, rose grape, showy Medinilla, Philippine orchid, pink lantern plant

Plant Type: Broadleaf evergreen

Native to: South Asia

Blooms: Lavender blue bracts with white flowers

Maximum Size: Two to four feet tall

Watering Requirements: Allow soil to dry between watering

Light Requirements: Part shade

Preferred Humidity: 50% and higher

Preferred Temperature: Temperature above 60°F

Soil or Potting Medium: Well-draining loamy soil

Fertilizer: Liquid compost

Propagation Method: Seed and root cuttings

Vulnerability: Mealybugs and spider mites

Toxicity: Non-toxic

It is excellent to know that your tropical shrub is grown as an indoor plant and is non-toxic. So the kitty can go exploring without concerns.

You can grow your white to pink flowers in the home, on the patio, greenhouse, or outside in the garden.

_{Best Potting Mix}

When it comes to your chandelier tree growing in the wild, it can grow as an epiphytic orchid even if it does not belong to the same family.

Unlike your orchid, it can grow on a host plant, but it does not absorb moisture and nutrients from the atmosphere but has succulent green leaves that hold water.

Thus providing it with the proper ground to grow is essential and preferably needs to be well-drained soil.

Another notable thing is growing your Medinilla plants as outdoor plants in containers. They also do well. Still, it is essential to use free-draining soil to prevent leaf drop and root rot.

A fantastic soil you can use is an orchid potting mix with some peat moss mixed in to make it slightly acidic.

_{Ideal Lighting}

It loves the morning to late afternoon sun in warmer months when grown as an outdoor plant. But take care the huge leaves can get sunburned fast and providing them with indirect light is best.

Growing indoors helps to provide your flowering plant in a bright room with direct sunlight in the morning with shade in the afternoon.

_Watering

When you keep your chandelier tree indoors, it is best to keep it away from drafts entering through windows and doors. A draft will increase water loss and lead to drooping clusters and leaf drops.

The best is to leave the ground dry before you water your plant to help prevent root diseases. You can water your tropical cutie less in the winter months and more during the growing season.

_{Temperature & Humidity} 

One thing your exotic plant loves is high humidity with warm temperatures. Okay, we are not saying they thrive in triple-digit warmth but providing an ideal temperature of 60°F and above helps.

When temperatures drop below this, the leaves turn yellow, with leaves dropping. Still, growing as an outdoor plant is possible in dry conditions.

Temperatures above 60°F can help stimulate bud formation during its dormancy in winter. But take care if the temperatures drop as your trees are not frost-hardy.

Further, similar to the Medinilla magnifica your Lalique thrives in humid conditions with enough air circulation, and some misting with enough light helps.

Or you can place a humidity tray underneath your plant.

_{Fertilizer Provision}

Your plant is not a heavy feeder, as excessive nitrogen causes lush foliage without blossoms. So, you can feed your exotic plant a liquid compost or a high-phosphorous fertilizer monthly in the growing season.

_{Propagating Medinilla}

Okay, if you have a stocky specimen of your Medinilla, you can root some cuttings to increase your plant collection.

Using the cuttings is easier when placed in damp sphagnum moss. The recommended cutting should have at least two leaves but remove the other leaves.

You can place the tips in a rooting hormone to encourage rooting. Or you can do this using the seed after it flowers and bears fruit clusters. Out of one fruit, you can harvest over 2000 seeds.

Even better, if you have ripe fruit, the seeds are ready to germinate. First, you can crush the berries to remove the seed from the gel. Then, clean the seed with water daily to remove the tannins.

Plant your seed in the sterile potting mix on the surface and cover it with some moist sphagnum moss. Keep the seedlings moist until they germinate, taking up to a month.

_{USDA Growth Zone}

Your flower can grow in a humid environment outside the southernmost parts of the United States.

While it can tolerate mild temperature drops, some gardeners reported their foliage recovers after a freezing temperature.

But it will be better to overwinter your greenery inside when you live in zones ten or eleven.

_{Potting and Pruning}

When your Medinilla grows in a pot, the potting medium deteriorates. If the ground remains moist more than a day after you water them, you need to re-pot it with some fresh dirt.

You can also keep them in a manageable size indoors with a prune down the branches after blooming. Doing this also allows for new growth.

Medinilla Varieties

_{Rose Grape}

This is an excellent choice for beginner gardeners as it thrives in the cool evening climates grown outside.

_Crimson

The flowering is gorgeous, grown in a pot with glossy red blooms.

_Coral

The succulent is a smaller variety that grows up to 12 inches tall.

_{Pink Lanter Plant}

The pink displayed in the flowering season is ideal on the patio or garden. The vegetation grows dark blueberries.

Medinilla ‘Lalique Plant Diseases & Pests

As with most houseplants, your Lalique can have some concerns you need to keep an eye on:

• Yellow leaves can be from too little sunlight or underwatering, and the ground is not rich in nutrients. Yet, you can report them and provide them with some fertilizer to fix the problem.
• Petals dropping before the flowering season can result from too dry ground. Another concern is that it is not getting enough light or the humidity is too low.
• If the leaves and stems look limp, you need to water your foliage as it can also result from low humidity.
• Brown to black leaf tips can result from overwatering, or when outdoors, the frost nipped it a bit. Also, check the humidity and mist the leaves daily.
• Pests that can cause concerns are mealybugs and removed with isopropyl alcohol, while spider mites can removed with a wash.