Sometimes in the homes of our compatriots, you can find very unusual plants that naturally grow far beyond the borders of the country. Exoticism and uniqueness make florists plant out more and more outlandish specimens, but not just take care of all of them. In this article, we suggest you consider the possibility of growing a house of banking, but first we will get acquainted with the description of this wonderful flower.
Botanical description
Considered today, banking belongs to the Proteus family, in which, in addition to it, there are 170 more species of very interesting flowers. Among the main varieties of plants emit both trees (many grow to 20-30 m), and shrubs or subshrub, with stems hidden under the ground. 
Sheet plates are more often arranged alternately, although sometimes they can be whorled or assembled into false whorls of the most varied forms: ranging from heather-like to fairly large, but narrow, with numerous teeth. In the lower part, all leaves have felt pubescence.
Flowers - pairwise and sessile, usually collected in a round and thick cylindrical or oblong inflorescences. Sometimes there are spikes spherical shape, located at the tops or at the ends of short axillary shoots.
Familiarize yourself with the peculiarities of growing such unusual plants as arizema, rafflesia, callistemon, sinadenium, knofofiya, pachypodium, hymenocallis, drimiopsis.
Each flower pair has its own covering bract and two more small bracts on the sides. All the flowers are of the correct form, with four subpartic glands, a small sitting ovary and two ovules.
The fruit of the bank is represented by a thickened box with two seeds. In the process of its maturation, numerous bracts begin to woody together with the spikelet axis, forming as a result such a “lump”. 
It is possible to get a lot of nectar from the flowers of the plant, thanks to which insects constantly fly around them, and some animals (for example, bats or opossums) eat them.
Did you know? In European countries, the existence of bankers was discovered in 1770, after the expedition of James Cook returned from the Australian coast and brought with her several specimens of this amazing flower.
Spread
In the wild, the plant can be found along the Australian coast, ranging from Tasmania to more northern territories, although the farther from the ocean, the less likely to find it (specimens in the southern regions are always higher than plants from the north).
The only species that “lives” far from the specified range is tropical bankcia growing in New Guinea and on the territory of the Aru Islands. 
In addition, many species are widely distributed and are now grown in private gardens and greenhouses around the world, and if you want to plant a flower in a pot for indoor maintenance, then you should pay attention to the specially bred dwarf varieties.
Popular species
Thanks to the efforts of botanists today we managed to distinguish 76 types of banking, however, in our latitudes only a few are popular.
The most famous are the following varieties:
Plants such as bougainvillea, tree peony, witch hazel, garden hibiscus, mountain ash, yucca are also tree-like.
This variety is known to have made autumn flowering, when beautiful red and orange flowers appear on the plant, well distinguished against the background of green foliage. The height of the shrub easily reaches six meters, with a width of about three meters, although in an open area its "growth" is often no more than two meters.
Did you know? Locals use lignified fruit of the plant as a blank for creating souvenirs. They make excellent vases, lamps and even caskets, and often the product is simply covered with a layer of varnish.
Cooking Application
In our area, the bank is grown mainly for decorative purposes, because few people know about the possibility of using flowers in cooking. All of them are good honey plants, thanks to which indigenous Australians have been eating them since ancient times.
In places of natural distribution of the plant there are not many sources of natural sugars, so it is not surprising that they did not ignore the bank.
Care and Cultivation
In fact, care for indoor flower varieties is not as difficult as it may seem at first glance, and experienced growers should not have any difficulties at all. 
Knowing the information about the preferences of bankers in terms of growing conditions, care and reproduction, it remains only to buy planting material and move on to direct cultivation.
The necessary conditions
The temperature conditions and lighting requirements for growing bankers are very similar to the standard features of growing many home flowers. So, in summer time, the temperature should correspond to + 18 ... +25 ° С, and in winter it should not fall below + 6 ... + 10 ° С.
Illumination can be quite bright, because the plant is not afraid of even direct sunlight, responding to them with a bright color. A low level of humidity is also allowed, although there are no problems with this when growing in an apartment.
Soil and fertilizer
Banksia feels great on poor desert and even sandy soils, but when choosing a place you need to pay attention to the sufficient lighting of the site. 
There is no need for regular fertilizer, but during transplantation (should be done every year) it is better to put solid fertilizer in the soil.
The optimal composition of the substrate for the flower involves mixing turf, leaf, heather soil and sand (you can take a little less than the other components).
Important! Do not use rotted manure for dressing, as this can harm the root system of the flower.
Watering
The plant does not tolerate the overmoistening of the soil, so watering should be carried out no more than once in 7 days. If desired, periodic spraying of the leaves can be performed, but only to eliminate dust.
Banks reproduction
The described flower is pyrophyte, that is, under natural growing conditions, it successfully propagates through fires that result from the spontaneous combustion of dry plants during the hottest times (a dense seed box of plants is so well sealed that it “shoots” only when exposed to very high temperatures). 
Of course, when growing in an apartment, it would be unreasonable to recreate such conditions, because it is much easier to buy ready-made seed and plant it in a slightly moist soil, deepening at the same time by 1-1.5 cm.
As an alternative breeding method, the cutting method can be used, when, with the arrival of autumn, cuttings are cut from an adult plant, treated with coronary stimulating compounds (for example, Root Plant) and planted into the soil, extending into the substrate by several centimeters. Like seedlings, cuttings need shelter, for which a regular plastic bag can be used.
Important! Do not forget to periodically raise the shelter in order to get enough air to the bank.
Diseases and pests
Most often, the bankers are plagued by chlorosis and phytophthora, although sometimes the plant has a mold fungus that spreads through the root system. 
To prevent possible infection, fungicides should be added to the irrigation fluid, and if the flower is already struck, it would be wiser to get rid of it, especially if treatments with special fungicidal preparations did not bring the proper result. Pests plant is not terrible.
Such drugs as Signum, Prozaro, Azofos, Shirlan, Alto Super, Kuproksat, Allett, Bravo, Healer, Shavit are classified as fungicides.
As you can see, despite its exotic origin, banking feels good in our climatic conditions, and its cultivation is possible both in indoor conditions and in the garden, which does not require much effort.
