The Princess Flower, otherwise known as the Tibouchina Urvilleana or Lasiandra, Purple Glory Bush, Pleroma, Purple Glory Tree, is a rather well known shrub plant by gardening enthusiasts around the world.
Best known for its low maintenance and moderate growth, this shrub will likely liven up your house (or garden) with its chartreuse-colored leaves. But, only if you learn how to take proper care of it for it to thrive.
Fortunately, taking care of your Princess Flower is not too difficult – as long as you follow our guidelines in this Princess Flower Care Guide. Now let’s get started.
The basic care guidelines you need to remember for your Princess Flower are the following:
- Water: The Princess Flower prefers constant watering each week and more during the hot season.
- Light: Keep your Tibouchina Urvilleana in an environment where it can receive partial to full sun on a daily basis.
- Soil: Make sure to keep the Princess Flower in soil with moist but well-draining properties, so ideally, one that is made of sand, chalk, and loam.
And that’s practically it! If you keep these three factors in check, your Princess Flower will likely have all it needs for it to survive and even thrive.
Scientific / Botanical Aspects
In botanical terms, the Princess Flower belongs to the Melastomataceae family, the genus Tibouchina and the species Urvilleana, hence its scientific (or botanical) name Tibouchina Urvilleana (tib-o-KEE-na er-vil-LEE-a-na).
As with other Tibouchina’s, the Princess Flower is an evergreen plant, which means it will be present year round in your garden.
Growing Region
The Princess Flower is a plant native to Brazil.
As a rule of thumb, we recommend to always keep in mind your plants’ native region and environment, since these are the conditions that your Princess Flower is most accustomed to, thus where it can most favorably.
With this in mind, the Tibouchina Urvilleana will be most used to the heat zones in the 10 – 12 region, as the plant hardiness level falls between 8b, 8a, 9b, 9a, 10b, 10a, 11b, 11a and the ideal climate zone is between 16, 17, 21, 22, 23, 24, H1, H2.
Growth and Size
Growth
In terms of size and growth, the Princess Flower is a relatively moderate grower, which makes things somewhat easy for any plant enthusiast.
Size
But, how big does the Princess Flower actually get? What should you expect in terms of size? Let’s dive right in…
The Tibouchina Urvilleana can grow up to 10′ – 20′ (3m – 6m) in 10′ – 20′ (3m – 6m) and 6′ – 10′ (180cm – 3m) in 6′ – 10′ (180cm – 3m).
These dimensions make the Princess Flower a relatively large shrub compared to others, so it’s best to keep this fact in mind since it will affect where you want to keep yours at home.
This is why experts recommend keeping an area of approximately 96″ – 120″ (240cm – 300cm) free so the Princess Flower can spread to its best extent.
Watering
In terms of watering, the Princess Flower is a fairly simple plant to take care of. This is mostly because it has a straightforward watering schedule and somewhat regular watering needs.
Specifically, most experts agree that the Tibouchina Urvilleana prefers constant watering each week and more during the hot season.
Which is why it is considered a plant with relatively average needs in terms of water.
As a rule of thumb, you should remember to keep your Princess Flower in soil with moist but well-draining to well draining characteristics, as these will guarantee the right conditions for your plant to grow and thrive.
When you consider this, this is why you should aim to choose soil that has occasionally wet properties to keep the right moisture levels at all times.
In our experience, the famous ‘thumb’ or ‘finger’ test is what works best for the Princess Flower since with it, you will be able to give it the right amount of water, every time – regardless of the environment or placement where you do decide to keep it.
Soil Mix
As mentioned earlier, the Princess Flower prefers to have soil with occasionally wet properties at all times, reason why you need to make the soil mix out of sand, chalk, and loam.
This is why most experts agree that the Princess Flower requires soil with high organic matter, which will give you the right conditions it needs.
In addition to this, expert gardeners recommend having preferably alkaline, acid or neutral soil.
Light and Exposure
In terms of light & exposure, the Princess Flower requires partial to full sun in order for it to thrive under the right conditions.
Most experts agree that this shrub will do well as long as you keep it in full sun, and it will be able to grow properly.
Specifically, we recommend that you place your Tibouchina Urvilleana in full and direct sun (more than 6 hours of direct sunlight per day).
Season
Being an evergreen plant, the Princess Flower will be present year round in your garden. But, you can expect it to have its ‘prime-time’ during the spring (early, mid, late), the summer (early, mid, late), the fall, and during the winter.
Flowers
In particular, this shrub is well known for its long bloom season and showy flowers around the plant enthusiast community.
The Princess Flower produces some beautiful purple or lavender flowers around this time of year.
Foliage
The leaves from the Princess Flower have a beautiful chartreuse color during most of the year.
Attracts, Tolerance and Resistance
The Princess Flower is well known for its tolerance to wet soil, so don’t worry if any of these come along, your Tibouchina Urvilleana will be fine.
Garden
How should you then organize your garden to include your new Princess Flower? Here are some recommendations by expert gardeners.
Most Tibouchina Urvilleana owners agree that this shrub will look great in most cottage and tropical gardens of all types. Other owners consider that they complement well most gardens of city and courtyard, and in mediterranean garden styles.
In particular, the Princess Flower’s best location within your garden is in patio and containers, and in wall-side borders, others use it for landscaping in a windbreak, urban garden, privacy screen, poolside, hedge, container, border, or a woodland garden.
Companion Plants
Princess Flower’s do well with some other plants beside it. One good companion plant is the Lantana, which will pair up nicely with your leafy friend.
Others consider that a nice Hibiscus will work well too, so choose whichever you find works best for you!
Conclusion
So that’s it! These are the main plant care requirements that you need to keep in mind in order to have a healthy Princess Flower in your garden or home.
