Pavonia multiflora, also called Brazilian
candle plant and Many Flowers, as it’s names suggest is an interesting Brazilian species that flowers profusely year-round.
It has tropical looking glossy long leaves, and fascinating flowers. The bracts are pale pink when the flower bud is just forming and grow darker and redder as the flower bud matures.
You don’t even have to wait for the flower to open, the color and interesting shape all comes from the bracts. The flower itself is deep purple and resembles a closed hibiscus flower. It makes sense since Pavonia multiflora is related to the Hibiscus family.
In nature Pavonia multiflora grows in part shade, in warm and humid environment, and grows up to 4-5 feet. Indoors this plant only grows to about 3 feet, and can be maintained smaller with pruning.
It likes it warm and humid, though it can tolerate both lower temperature and lower humidity. Very, very easy to grow in my experience!
The plant starts blooming when small and never stops. Though it doesn’t show very well on pictures, this plant is exquisitely elegant: thick light in color woody stem, long glossy deep green-laves that are spaced perfectly to reveal clusters of intricate flowers.
Requirements:
Watering needs:
Medium watering requirements. If the humidity is high enough, Pavonia multiflora can tolerate quite a bit of dryness at the roots. Occasional soaking seems helps. It’s not very needy at all, and when I think of, I’ve been watering it rather erratic, and it can tolerate quite a range, in fact I don’t think it made any difference how I watered it.
Light:
This plant can tolerate a range of light levels. From part shade to full sun. I do take it outside in the summer, and slowly move it from part-shade to full sun where it gets covered with even more flowers. It will grow at low light levels as well, but the leaves will be spaced out more, and it will not flower as profusely. Indoors, you can grow it on a south/east/west window, and even a north window, though you won’t get as many flowers from it. The picture on the right shows a plant grown on a somewhat smaller east facing window, and as you can see it looks great.
Humidity:
Pavonia multiflora likes high humidity and enjoys its leaves being sprayed. Make sure it gets plenty of spraying in the winter time, when the air is drier. Humidity tray can be helpful too, though this plant is not as fussy as other humidity loving plants. If the humidity is not high enough, the leaves slightly curl down at the edges, and become more rigid and brittle.
Soil Type and Fertilizer:
Again, this plant doesn’t really have fussy requirements. I grow mine (I have a few of them lol), in general potting mix with small amount of peat moss (it seems to me right to make the soil a bit acidic, since it’s a hibiscus relative), and quite a bit or per-lite for good drainage. General houseplant fertilizer will do. And as with all plants, I would always recommend fertilizing at at least half strength, more often during active growth, and significantly less if the plant is growing slower (such as winter time).
Propagation:
Pavonia multiflora can be propagated through cuttings, as well as seeds. Soft wood cuttings are fairly easy to root, and you can also do air-layering.
Other Care Tips and Personal Observations:
Pavonia multiflora is not as sensitive to pests as other plants, but it’s still somewhat susceptible to mealy bugs, spider mites and scale. If you miss out and have your plant heavily infested, you can always prune it down to an inch from the soil, clear out the top layer of the soil, maybe even re-pot and shake of the old soil, and spray it with the appropriate pesticide. The plant will re-sprout and resume blooming in a couple of months. It is such a fun plant to have, so easy to grow, and I have no idea why it’s not more popular as a house plant. It’s not an aggressive grower either and you can make arrangements or plant other smaller ground cover plants in the same pot.
After hard pruning:
Candle implies that it grows staight out. If you prune, will it slit into two stems ? Can you make into a bush?
I meant “straight UP”
Hi Bill,
Yes, it does grow straight up, but it also branches out. The branches tend to have an upright growth too. You can prune it as hard as you want, and it will still come back. It will branch off from where you’ve pruned it. This plant can be grown into a pretty dense bush if you do a good job pruning it. It flowers mostly from the tip of its upright branches, so pruning is almost essential in getting it to flower more. I’ve pruned one of mine pretty hard, and now it’s branching out. I will post a photo on this page, maybe tomorrow so you can see what that looks like.
The term “candle” refers to the shape of the bloom- like a candle flame. You are correct- this plant will branch out very nicely when pruned, and every branch will have clusters of flowers. Mine is about 2 and a 1/2 feet tall, and I keep it outside in part sun. I have had it only about 4 months, and so far it’s been super easy and pretty!
Some cam help me where cam i find this plant?
Hi Paulo,
I just spend sometime trying to find it for sale. It’s a pretty hard to find plant. So far I found only one place that has it for sale in Europe. I think it’s a dutch website… Here is the link:
https://www.palmaverde.nl/bloemen-pavonia-multiflora.html
Hope this helps!
Usf plant sale in tampa, florida is where I got mine.
Found mine at Sea side growers in San Juan Capistrano
Logees Greenhouses, Danielson, CT
You can buy this plant at Logees….they have a great website and paper catalog. The website is logees.com
You can find it at Logees Greenhouses in Connecticut. https://www.logees.com/rare.html
It is a wondeful place too see the greenhouses especially during wintertime!
I am from Brazil and i am stunding. Please send any information where to find this plant in Europe? My email psergiopaiva@hotmail.com. I do a study about their origin in the forest
Hi Paulo,
I am not sure where you can buy it in Europe. You can try some of the plant forums were they exchange cuttings, or a nursery. You can order it online from a European nursery as well. I can try and look for you too. I think there should be at least couple of online stores in the UK that sell it.
Hope that helps!
Vesi
I bought mine at ELDON TROPICALS.COM
They are located in ocala, Florida
Can you please comment on the fragrance of this plant, or any of the others you have in your everbloom list. I’m looking for highly fragrant plants. I live in zone 6a
Hi Terri,
This plant doesn’t have any fragrance. I will include more information on fragrance or maybe make a list with fragrant everblooming plants. I would suggest the Chinese perfume plant (Aglaia odorata), african gardenia (Mitriostigma axillare), some brunfelsia varieties are everblooming and fragrant, and some plumerias and jasmines are everblooming and fragrant as well.
Hope this helps!
Vesi
very helpful! thanks
There is no fragrance at all, sadly…..pretty bloom, though!
I bought mine from Perinos Nursery in New Orleans and have it planted in my garden. Temp went down to 40 F last night, didn’t seem to mind at all. Never saw it at that nursery again though, I just got lucky.
I purchased mine at perinos too. Do you have yours in full sun or shade?