Pentas - Egyptian Pentas - Star Flowers                                                                                                                  

Pentas are beautiful ornamental garden shrubs that grow up to 3 feet tall. They are also called Egyptian stars for the blooms five petaled shape. These blossoms grow in 3-inch clusters. The dark green foliage of penta plants is slightly fuzzy.
The flowers are generally pink, red, white, purple or lavender and mixed blooms such as pink with red centers and red with white centers. These nectar-rich flowers grow in clusters  over a long blooming season in vibrant colors and shades.
These plants grow fairly slow and are found as potted or bedding plants. Pentas like warm weather. They are low maintenance plants. Provided they get plenty of water, sunshine and heat, they produce beautiful, abundant blooms.

How to grow Penta plants:
Pentas are fairly easy to propagate.
They grow from seeds or soft wood cuttings.

From cuttings:
1) Select lateral soft wood stem with mature leaves and cut it with a sharp knife.
2) Make the cut about one inch above second leaf node from the growing tip.
3) Fill the pots with moist potting soil and make a hole in the soil with your finger.
4) Step the cutting in the hole and set it deep enough in the soil. Gently firm the soil around the cutting.

From seeds:
It is a quick way to make many of the little plants.
1) Seeds of Pentas can be sown directly in the damp soil of a sunny flower garden.
2) Pentas seeds require light to germinate,. So, don't cover them with soil.
3) You see seedlings in about two weeks. Once the seedlings are large, they can be transplanted to pots.