Cleome, the spider plant, how to plant and care for it

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Large pink, white or purple flowers, fragrant, top stems that reach up to five feet, above palmate green leaves that are ornamental in their own right. The spider plant (Cleome spinosa) makes a tall backdrop to a bed: give it rich, well-drained soil in full sun, sheltered from wind, and it blooms all summer.

Cleome blooms over all of summer. Also called spider plant, it belongs to the same family as the caper bush.

Sowing and planting cleome

Cleome is grown in temperate climates as an annual, because it cannot withstand temperatures below 17°F (-8°C).

• Soak the seeds in water for 24 hours before sowing to trigger sprouting (10 to 15 days).

You’ll have to sow your cleome seeds every year, either directly in the ground from April onwards, or a bit earlier under cover followed by transplanting to the flower bed in May.

• Transplanting to the ground is in April in warmer areas, and during May in cooler climates.
• Space plants 16 to 24 inches (40 to 60 cm) apart, creating flower beds with at least ten young plants.
• Cleome is ideal as a backdrop to flower beds, since it grows so tall.
• Pinch the sprouts when planting to increase branching out.

You can sow in a tray as early as March and April which will let you transfer the strongest seedlings to a nursery pot before the final transplanting, when the climate is most suited to the plant’s growth.

• Cleome requires soil that is rich and well-drained.
• It likes being in warm spots under the sun.
• It doesn’t appreciate places that are too windy and would make its stems collapse.

Planting cleome in pots

Cleome, when planted in pots, is more vulnerable to the dryness of the soil, and must be watered more often but in moderate amounts.

You can also stake the longest stems if they tend to collapse.

Four ways to start cleome, and when

Cleome has to be sown afresh every year, and the sowing date decides how early the plants flower and how sturdy they are when they reach the border. Here are the options described above, side by side.

Whichever method you choose, pinch the sprouts at planting time and set the plants 16 to 24 inches (40 to 60 cm) apart.

Caring for cleome

Cleome handles drought quite well and doesn’t fear diseases which makes it an easy plant to care for.

Once well settled in, you’ll only have to water in case of prolonged dry spell or heat wave.

Staking the stems might be necessary if they start bending over.

Lastly, remove wilted flowers regularly in order to stir the plant into bearing more flowers.

• Wear gloves when handling cleome, as the stems carry small spines.
• Push stakes in while the plants are still short, so the stems grow up through the support instead of being tied back after they have already leaned.
• Pull out unwanted cleome seedlings while they are small, as the self-sown ones come up thickly.

Which cleome to choose

Cleomes differ mainly in flower colour and in how tall they grow, which decides whether they go at the back of a border or in a pot on the terrace. The varieties below are the ones most often found on seed racks and among bedding plants.

All there is to know about cleome

Cleome is native to South America and Africa depending on the variety. Over 120 species are included in the genus, the most common of which is Cleome spinosa, the spider flower.

One usually appreciates cleomes for the large pink, white or purple fragrant flowers, and the palmate green-colored leaves that are also very ornamental.

This not-so-hardy plant is very easily grown and even reseeds itself from one year to the next.

• If you want self-sown seedlings next year, leave some faded flowers on the plant to set seed, because thorough deadheading removes the developing seed heads before they can ripen and scatter.
• Self-sown seedlings come up where they please, so hoe off the ones you do not want while they are still small.
• Proven Winners’ Senorita Rosalita and Senorita Blanca cleome hybrids are marketed as essentially seedless, setting little or no viable seed, so they are very unlikely to self-sow in a border.