Eschsholzia planting and care outdoors in spring

The vast fields of this plant, stretching in the vastness of the once Wild West of the North American continent, can be seen even now. This is the birthplace of Eshsholzia, which represents the Makov family. It is so decorative and attractive, so unpretentious in cultivation that it has long become popular with flower growers and settled in their flower beds.

Quite low bushes of Escholzia branch strongly. With the beginning of summer, they are covered with delicate cupped flowers. The color of the flowers is so bright and varied that sometimes it becomes difficult to give preference to one species. The main stem of the plant and the lateral shoots extending from it are clearly visible. In the common people, escholzia is called wormwood because of the pattern of an openwork leaf, somewhat reminiscent of wormwood.

The white bloom covering the stem and leaves gives them a bluish tint. Simple single inflorescences resemble wild poppy flowers or butterfly wings. This genus of plants has immortalized the name of the Russian naturalist of German origin Johann Eschsholz. It is mainly used as a decorative element. Looks good, both on a meadow, Moorish lawn, and just in a flower bed.

Growing Echscholzia from seeds outdoors When to plant

Eschsholzia growing from seeds when to plant Photos of seedlings

They are used as spring sowing of Escholzia, and autumn, before winter.

Pluses of autumn sowing

Many growers prefer autumn sowing for two reasons. The first is that seeds planted before winter receive natural stratification with 100% germination. The weak are rejected by nature itself. The second reason is the early flowering of Escholzia, which begins to please the eye from May.

• Seeds are sown as usual: grooves are prepared, up to 5 cm deep, and, pressing slightly, seeds are sown there.
• Sprinkle on top with mulch from loose humus with a layer of 2 cm. This is done in order to exclude the hardening of the soil, which, when frozen, will prevent the germination of seedlings in early spring.
• In the fall, sowing is usually carried out in October-November., depending on the region, in dry weather with the onset of cold weather and night frosts. Planting seeds in warm autumn weather will cause germination of seeds and freezing of young shoots during the cold autumn-winter period.

Sowing escholzia in spring

Escholzia seeds in the spring must undergo some preparation for good germination. Therefore, experienced flower growers pour the seeds of Escholzia into a cotton bag and send them to the refrigerator shelf, preferably the lower one. They stay in this place for about a month until sowing.

In the spring, sowing of Escholzia begins in March - April.when the ground warms up. They make the same grooves as in the autumn sowing, and evenly plant seeds there, sprinkling with sand. Top mulch with peat. The first shoots are expected in 10-15 days.

Escholzia from seeds Growing seedlings at home

Plant intolerance to transplantation does not stop flower growers who are "starving" for garden work during the long winter. In late February and early March, they begin to grow Escholzia seedlings on the windowsillusing a special method. To do this, they use peat tablets so as not to damage the delicate root during transplantation.

• A peat tablet is placed in a container of water to soften it.
• As soon as the liquid is absorbed, 2-3 seeds (stratified in the refrigerator) are placed in the tablet with the help of a toothpick or a small torch, sprinkling with peat. Then the surface is slightly moistened.
• If the crops are covered with polyethylene, then with the help of the greenhouse effect, earlier germination of seeds can be achieved.
• When the first shoots emerge in a couple of weeks, the film is removed and the seedlings are placed in a cooler (about + 20 ° C), but well-lit place.
• Moderate watering is necessary only when the top layer of peat dries up.
• Half a month after the first shoots appear, they should be fed with the help of special mineral mixtures for seedlings (sold in the store).
• Seedlings are hardened 15 days before planting. When transplanted in open ground, it is placed there directly with the tablet so that the root system remains viable.

How to grow escholzia in a peat tablet, the video will tell:

Planting escholzia in open ground When to plant

Eschsholzia is frost-resistant, so spring frosts down to -5 ° C are not afraid of it. In mid - late April, you can start planting seedlings in open groundt. She only dislikes dense soil, poor with an acidic environment.

• With the help of wood ash, acidity can be reduced if 1 faceted glass of ash is added to 1 m2 of land. You can also use dolomite flour in the same proportion.
• To make the soil looser, humus is added to the garden soil.
• With a lack of light, escholzia may not bloom. Therefore, for planting, you need to choose the sunniest area and place the plant on it so that the escholzia bushes do not interfere with each other. After all, they are very spreading. The optimal planting scheme is 30x40 cm. A peat tablet with seedlings is placed in a prepared hole, sprinkled with earth, tamped and slightly moistened.

How to care for escholzia outdoors

Eschsholzia photo of flowers in a flower bed

Eschsholzia is so unpretentious that it only requires watering during the dry season and feeding before flowering. Watering plants is best done in the evening, before sunset. Pour water in a thin stream under the root so as not to affect the inflorescences. Mineral fertilizers, which are dominated by nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, are considered ideal for feeding a flower.

If you feed the plant with this fertilizer, you can increase the number of inflorescences and the flowering time of the escholtia. Feeding the flower with fresh organic fertilizers is contraindicated. When applied, the plant can be destroyed. Oxygen access to the plant roots can be provided by loosening the soil between the rows. By removing dried flowers with seed pods in time, it will be possible to observe a longer, in terms of duration, flowering of escholzia and to improve the appearance of a flower bed with a flower.

Diseases and pests

Eschsholzia in landscape design photo

The resistance of escholzia to diseases of a different nature is very much appreciated by flower growers. Basically, the plant is affected by root rot, which arises from an excess of moisture in the soil. With root rot, the flower visually appears to be withered. It leaves the same impression after watering. Flower growers have no choice but to dig a withered bush and carefully examine its root.

If a gray bloom with brown spots of rot is visible on it, then there is no doubt that it is root rot. Such bushes are removed from the flower bed so that the disease does not spread to healthy plants, watering is temporarily stopped and the soil is treated with fungicides such as Bordeaux mixture, Fundazol, Previkur, Rovralom, and copper sulfate. In the future, watering is minimized to avoid waterlogging of the soil.

Escholzia photo of flowers in a flower bed ideas

The problem of dry summers is the appearance of spider mites. A sign that a plant is affected by this disease is the appearance of a cobweb that envelops it like a shawl. And small spider dots run along the leaves, sucking all the juices from the plant. If you do not take measures, then soon a dry skeleton will remain of the flower. In this case, it is worth turning to the acaricides "Oberon", "Akarin", "Agravertin", "Nissoran" for help.
Escholzia and aphids do not bypass, especially its beet variety of green, black or brown color. Such modern insecticides as "Karate", "Iskra", "Fas", "Aktellik", aimed at combating pests, will help to cope with it.

The healing properties of escholzia

Escholzia photo on a flower bed Escholzia growing from seeds when to plant

Since the homeland of Escholzia is America, all of its medicinal properties have long been studied by the indigenous inhabitants of this continent - the Indians. With the help of escholzia, they relieved toothache, decoctions of petals, rid the Indians of lice. The pollen of the plant made women's skin firmer and fresher.

Modern traditional medicine uses Escholzia extract as an element of multicomponent medicines. First of all, the ability of escholzia to provide a calming and analgesic effect is appreciated. And all this is supported by another indicator, and this is the absolute safety of products containing escholzium. This quality allows them to be used even by children, if a drug is required with a mild sedative effect.

How to harvest Escholzia seeds

If you do not plan to change the planting site of the escholzia and leave everything as it was, then collecting the seeds is not at all worth it. The plant will take care of its offspring by itself. And self-seeding will help him with this. The only thing that needs to be done is to thin out the seedlings after they sprout.

If you have chosen another site for planting a crop, then the seeds should be collected. It is best to tie a small bag on the drying inflorescence, and when the box opens, the fully ripe seeds will not wake up, but will end up in the bag. The seeds collected from the bags will be ready to become planting material after a little drying on an ordinary piece of cloth. They are stored in the lower part of the refrigerator for no more than 3 years. After this period, seed germination decreases sharply.

Does the plant tolerate winter

Eschsholzia and lupine photo composition

Unfortunately, escholzia is so tender that it cannot survive the winter cold. She is an annual plant. With the onset of the autumn cold, escholzia dies. When this moment comes, the drooping tops are disposed of.

Types and varieties of escholzia with photos and descriptions

There are 12 species of the escholzia in the genus. But each of these species, thanks to breeders, also has different varieties and forms.

Eschscholzia californica or Californian poppy Eschscholzia californica

What does Escholzia Californian look like?

This is the most common and popular type of escholzia. She is not only imprinted on the emblem of the state of the same name, but also is its symbol.The shoots of this plant creeping along the ground do not exceed 45 cm in height. Flowers reach 8 cm in diameter. And whatever variety of this species is taken, it will be identical to any other in terms of unpretentiousness to growing conditions, but it will differ in the color of the flower and the shape of its petals.

• a very original new variety "Apricot chiffon" (lat. Apricot shiffon). Leaves with shoots are bluish-green in color. Ruffled petals with a slight wrinkle are collected in terry inflorescences of a mixture of pink orange, golden hue.
• the name of the variety "Golden Glory" (Latin Golden glory) speaks for itself. It is a bright yellow flower with simple inflorescences. Its middle is bright orange.
• "Karminkoenig". A shade of pomegranate is present in the color of the simple inflorescence of this variety. The middle is white.
• variety "Strawberry fields" (Latin Strawberry fields). Semi-double inflorescences, 6 - 9 petal, have a bright yellow core. The edges of the petals are red.
• grade "Mikado". Quite simple four-petal inflorescences have a rich shade of red. In the middle part, the shade of red is darker.
• variety "Orange king" (lat. Orange king) with double, semi-double or simple inflorescences of bright orange color.
• the alluring variety "Peach ice cream" (lat. Pearh sorbet) strikes with a lush, pink-cream shade, double inflorescence.
• Fruit crash is a varietal mix. Semi-double inflorescences have corrugated petals of a wide variety of colors: from pale pink to bright red and burgundy.
• for the variety "Apple Blossom" is characterized by either simple or double large inflorescences of a pale pink shade. The variety is hardy and light frosts are not a hindrance for him.

Soddy Eschscholzia Eschscholzia caespitosa

Soddy Escholzia Eschscholzia caespitosa

Soddy escholzia looks like a small herbaceous bush, up to 15 cm high. Its dissected leaves are covered with a barely noticeable white bloom. Bright yellow simple inflorescences are always four-petal.

Eschscholzia Lobby Eschscholzia lobbi

If in the near future someone has to start decorating an alpine slide, then you should take a closer look at such a view as Eschsholzia Lobby. This small plant, with a height of up to 17 cm, has an inflorescence diameter of about 3 cm. It is beautiful in its fawn (or yellow) color.

Escholzia in the garden photo of an alpine slide

Eschscholzia, also called the Californian poppy, is a member of the poppy family. This genus includes about 10 species. In the wild, this plant can be found in western North America. There is one old legend, in the 16th century. gold miners from Spain swam to the coast of America in the hope of finding gold mines. Not reaching 35 miles to the coast, they saw a golden glow and rushed to the coast of California, hoping that it glitters gold. But they were disappointed, because it was the golden fields of the escholzia. Since then, this plant has a new playful name given to it by the Spaniards, "Copa de Ora", which translates as "golden bowl". This flower was named after the Russian zoologist, botanist, naturalist and physician Johann Friedrich von Eschsholz, thanks to whom he ended up in Russia. Eschsholzia is incredibly beautiful and, moreover, is distinguished by its unpretentiousness, which is why every year more and more gardeners grow it. Her flowering is very lush and long, it begins in the first summer days, and ends almost at the beginning of winter. Despite the fact that the opened flower withers after only 3-4 days, it is immediately replaced by several buds and flowers.

Escholzia features

Escholzia is a herbaceous bushy perennial plant, the height of which can reach up to 0.4 m. It is cultivated as an annual flower. Taproot. There are a large number of thin stems.Openwork leaf plates are deeply dissected, they are painted in green-gray color and have long petioles. Single cupped flowers reach 8 centimeters in diameter. Flowers can be double or simple, while outwardly they are similar to poppies. Their color can be yellow, red, white, orange, and they are also painted in various shades of these colors. Such flowers have one feature, the fact is that on a cloudy, rainy, windy or cold day, as well as at night, they close. The fruit is a capsule, the size of which varies from 3 to 9 centimeters.

Growing escholzia from seeds

Sowing

Often, seeds are sown directly into open soil. Experienced gardeners recommend sowing escholzia before winter. The fact is that in the winter months the seeds will be able to undergo natural stratification, and in the spring powerful seedlings will appear, they will only need to be thinned out. It should also be taken into account that in plants sown in autumn, flowering begins earlier than in those whose sowing was carried out in spring. In the event that you decide to sow in the spring, in the fall the seeds must be placed on the lowest shelf of the refrigerator, where they will stay until April. Thus, they will be stratified and perfectly preserved.

For sowing, choose a well-lit area with sandy dry soil. Then it is necessary to make not very deep grooves in it, into which small seeds are sown, previously combined with sand. They should be shallowly embedded, and then the surface of the site is covered with a layer of peat, this will help to avoid the appearance of a crust on the surface of the soil, which will become a serious obstacle for delicate sprouts. If the sowing is done in the fall, then the site must be mulched with fallen leaves, while the layer must be thick enough.

Seedling

Experienced gardeners recommend resorting to growing escholzia through seedlings. With this method of growing this plant, it should be remembered that it has a rod-like long root system, which is extremely easy to injure during a dive, in this regard, it is recommended to use peat tablets for sowing. To do this, the tablets must be placed in a plastic container into which water is poured. After the tablets have swollen, the remaining liquid must be poured out of the container. Only 1 seed should be sown in 1 tablet, using a wet toothpick for this. From above, the seeds are sprinkled with a thin layer of soil for seedlings. The tablets only need to be slightly moistened from the spray bottle. Cover the container on top with transparent film or glass. The first seedlings can be seen after half a month, after which the shelter is removed, and the container itself is placed in a well-lit and cool (no more than 20 degrees) place. It is very simple to care for the seedlings at this time: they need to be watered in a timely manner and fed with liquid mineral fertilizer for seedlings half a month after the plants sprout. The hardening of seedlings should be started 20 days before transplanting into open soil, for this it is transferred once a day to a cool room, where it must stay for several hours. If the escholzia is hardened, then after landing in the garden, it will be able to calmly endure a decrease in air temperature to minus 5 degrees.

Planting escholzia in open ground

What time to plant

For planting escholzia, you should choose an area with sandy dry soil that is well-drained, which should be slightly acidic or neutral. In the event that the soil is acidic, then this can be corrected by digging it to the depth of the shovel bayonet and at the same time adding 2 tbsp. wood ash or 0.2 kg of dolomite flour per 1 m2. Seedlings should be planted after the threat of return frosts has completely passed, depending on the region, it is carried out from April to mid-May.

Landing features

To begin with, not very large planting pits should be prepared on the site, while the distance between them should be about 0.3 m, since the Escholzia bushes are quite spreading. The plant should be immersed in the hole along with a peat tablet, then it is covered with soil, which is well compacted. The planted plants need to be watered. The flowering of such an escholzia is observed already 30–40 days after its sowing on seedlings.

Care features

After the escholzia is planted in open soil, it will need to ensure systematic loosening of the soil surface, and it also needs to be fertilized on time. Watering should only be done when there is a prolonged dry period. If it rains systematically in the summer, then these flowers will not need watering. If you want escholzia to bloom for a very long time and magnificently, then before the beginning of the flowering period it should be fed with a complete mineral fertilizer, which must necessarily include phosphorus, potassium, nitrogen and trace elements, or you can use an ash infusion in a ratio of 1:10. Do not feed these flowers with fresh organic matter, as this can lead to their death. It should be remembered that escholzia reproduces well by self-seeding, if this is not included in your plans, then you just need to remove flowers that have begun to fade in a timely manner. When the bush has completely bloomed, you need to cut off all its old stems, and after a short period of time, young ones will appear in their place, which will begin to bloom in just 15–20 days.

Diseases and pests

Remember, so that you do not have any problems with growing this plant, you need to properly care for it, as well as provide suitable conditions for its growth. For example, if you violate the rules of agricultural technology and care, then leguminous aphids can settle on the bushes. To get rid of it, it is necessary to process the affected specimens by the Commander. If the summer period is very hot and dry, then spider mites can settle on Escholzia. To get rid of these pests, use the Actellik insecticide. If the plant is watered very abundantly, rot may appear on its roots and ground parts. In this case, it is necessary to drastically reduce watering and cut out all the affected areas. In the event that the flower is very rotten, then it will be necessary to dig up and destroy the entire bush. If the plant becomes infected with powdery mildew, then it must be treated with sulfur.

Escholzia properties

For a long time, the aerial parts of such a plant were used by the American Indians as an analgesic for toothaches, while the pollen collected from its flowers was an excellent cosmetic product. A decoction was made from the flowers of escholzia, which perfectly helped with head lice. Today, in the United States, preparations from such a plant are used in pediatrics as a sedative and analgesic agent, while in France it is grown on an industrial scale and used as a raw material for the pharmaceutical industry. These drugs have one tangible advantage - they do not have unwanted side effects, which is very rare for benzodiazepine drugs.

Escholzia after flowering

Seed collection

In the event that you decide to collect the seeds of Escholzia in order to sow them in autumn or spring, then you do not need to do this, since these flowers reproduce very well by self-sowing. All that needs to be done is to thin out the seedlings in the spring and wait for a lush flowering. Seeds are necessary if you are just starting to breed such a beautiful plant or decide to give them to someone. In order for the seeds not to spill out on the ground, bags made of gauze should be put on several withering flowers. Then you need to wait about 4 weeks, as the seeds should ripen well.Then the boxes are cut off and seeds are extracted from them on a newspaper leaf at home. They should be thoroughly dried and placed in a paper bag, which is placed on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, where the seeds will be stored until spring. If done correctly, the seeds will remain viable for three years.

Preparing for winter

Despite the fact that there are perennial species of escholzia, in the middle latitudes, these flowers are cultivated only as an annual or biennial. In this regard, in the autumn, it will be necessary to cut off the remains of plants and dig up the site. In spring, strong seedlings will definitely appear on the site. They should be thinned and fed, and after 4 weeks such plants will delight you again with their spectacular and lush flowering.

Types and varieties of escholzia with photos and names

Gardeners of middle latitudes cultivate, as a rule, only Aescholzia turfy, Californian, and quite rarely Aescholzia lobby.

Eschscholzia lobbi

The bush reaches a height of no more than 15 centimeters. The diameter of the pale yellow flowers is up to 20 mm.

Sod Eschscholzia (Eschscholzia caespitosa)

The height of this species also does not exceed 15 centimeters. The leaf rosette consists of thin leaf plates, three times dissected, on their surface there is a coating of wax, and they are painted in a greenish-gray color. Above the rosette there is a dense inflorescence of deep yellow cupped flowers with a diameter of about 30 mm. Flowering begins in June and ends before the onset of winter.

Californian Eschscholzia (Eschscholzia californica)

This species is outwardly similar to the wild poppy, and it is then called "Californian poppy". This creeping, branched herbaceous shrub is a perennial, its height does not exceed 0.4 m. It has a large number of thin greenish-gray ribbed shoots that are located on the stem. They are covered with light-gray, triple dissected leaf plates. The diameter of single cupped flowers is about 9 centimeters, they can be painted in white, orange, yellow, cream or carmine color. Flowering is very lush, it is observed from June until the onset of the first frost. The most popular varieties:

1. Strawberry fields... The flowers are colored at the edges in a deep red color, which changes to yellow in the middle.
2. Peach sorbet... Terry delicate flowers have a cream color.
3. Simple flowers are dark carmine in color.
4. Apple blossom... Sufficiently large double flowers have a color similar to apple blossom.
5. Chiffon... This is a mixture of seeds, which includes plants of various colors and sizes, they are recommended for decorating borders or lawns. The height of the bushes can vary from 0.35 to 0.4 m. Terry flowers have corrugated edges. They can be painted in deep pink, red, yellow or white, while several shades are combined in one flower. Flowering begins in May and ends with the onset of frost.
6. Ballerina Mix... This mixture consists of simple and terry varieties. The color of the flowers can be yellow, orange or pink. Their diameter is 5–8 centimeters. The height of the bushes varies from 0.25 to 0.4 m. There is a coating of wax on the surface of the three times dissected leaf plates.
7. Mikado... The height of the bush varies from 0.3 to 0.4 m. The diameter of simple flowers is 6-7 centimeters. Their color is deep yellow, with a large orange spot in the middle.

Many gardeners have been growing Escholzia in their garden plots for decades, since these bright flowers are unpretentious and multiply by natural self-seeding. For those who plant this crop for the first time, it is important to know the intricacies of the process of growing from seeds: how to carry out stratification, the timing when it is time to plant seedlings and in open ground, the rules for watering and fertilizing, and much more.In this article, we will take a closer look at the whole process of breeding these solar poppies, popularly called "wormwood".

When to plant escholzia to get flowers in May?

Escholzia (wormwood, Californian poppy) is one of the representatives of the poppy family. There are many and annuals in her family. The latter are more often grown in the garden. If you want to decorate a flower bed with these flowers for the first time, use one of three methods:

• sowing seeds in open ground in early spring;
• sowing seedlings at the end of winter and planting after night frosts;
• sowing in late autumn (October-November) - gives the earliest flowering.

To get seedlings faster, it is allowed to "wake up" them: place them in a container on a cloth and spray from a spray bottle so that they are always moist and do not dry out. Once the seeds are swollen (but not yet germinated), they are ready to plant.

Young wormwood plants tolerate low temperatures well, withstanding up to -5 ° C, therefore, sowing and planting seedlings in open ground are carried out as soon as the threat of recurrent frosts passes. With this cultivation, the first flowers appear in May and delight all summer.

After transplanting to a permanent place, young plants begin to bloom in an average of 30-40 days. During the budding period, the bush develops, old flowers fall, new ones appear, the stems begin to creep. In autumn, Escholzia throws out seeds, the mother plant dies off with the onset of frost. In early spring, new seedlings appear, which are easy enough to thin out. Thus, planting is needed only the first time, then the flowers reproduce by self-seeding.

Advice! Planting Echscholzia in open ground in the spring should be done when it is still cool, since with late sowing, seedlings that appear after 2-3 weeks can die at high daytime temperatures.

In order for the plants to develop well, sprout together and begin to bloom earlier, seeds should be stratified in one of the following ways:

• put the seeds in the refrigerator on the bottom shelf (or door) after the autumn harvest for the whole winter;
• in spring, soak the seeds in water for 12 hours and then put them in the refrigerator for several days.

When planted in autumn, the seeds will undergo natural stratification in the ground, so they do not need additional "hardening".

Rules for planting escholzia in open ground

Autumn sowing differs in that the seedlings should appear only the next year, after the snow cover disappears, since the soil is cold. If the late autumn turns out to be warm (which is likely in the southern regions of Russia), then the seedlings will inevitably die during winter frosts. To avoid this, the seeds should be planted before the soil freezes, but not before October. There is no need to water the furrows during autumn planting. You can start sowing in spring at the beginning of April.

Site selection

For flowers, it is important to choose the right place. It must be well lit, since the plant will not bloom in the shade and partial shade. In addition, water should not stagnate there after rain or watering. It is ideal to choose the part of the garden or flower bed where the snow melts first.

Poppies love light, fertile soils with a high content of sand, peat and compost. It is important that the soil is not acidified, therefore, before planting, it must be treated with dolomite flour, lime, or wood ash is added. Before sowing, the soil should be dug up, loosened, watered moderately.

Planting and thinning

It is advisable to sow dry seeds (especially in a cold rainy spring). Since the seed is very small, it is easier to sow if you first mix it with dry sand and pour it evenly into rows, 2-3 cm deep, spaced 30 cm apart. If the seed was purchased granular, it must be sown individually, using tweezers, leaving about 10 cm of gap.

It is recommended not to cover the grooves with seeds with soil, but to mulch with peat or rotted sawdust. After the emergence of all shoots, weak plants should be removed, leaving the strongest of them at a distance of 15-20 cm from each other.

It is preferable to sow the seeds immediately to a permanent place, since the escholzia has a fragile long root, damage to which leads to the death of the entire plant. But if you sow correctly at home and carefully plant the seedlings, then the plants will take root pretty quickly.

Top dressing

Eschsholzia is generally very responsive to the content of minerals, therefore, the first feeding with complex mineral fertilizers is carried out two weeks after germination and after the same period of time after planting seedlings.

Sowing seedlings

After preliminary stratification, the seeds are placed in peat tablets or pots. This method is preferable because it excludes picking. When transplanted into a large container, there is a high probability of death of almost all seedlings due to damage to the roots.

The process of sowing escholzia in peat tablets is simple and includes the following series of steps:

1. The tablets should be placed in a container about 8 cm high.
2. Water should be gradually poured there until the washers stop absorbing and swelling (excess liquid must be drained at the end of the process).
3. The easiest way to plant seeds is with a toothpick, one end of which is moistened with water. A seed easily sticks to it, which is embedded in the prepared soil. One tablet is intended for one sprout, but it is still better to plant two in order to leave in the future the strongest plant of the pair.
4. Further, the peat soil should be moistened from a spray bottle, preventing it from drying out.

In peat pots, after filling them with soil, it is also convenient to plant seeds using an ordinary wooden toothpick. It is important not to overexpose young plants in pots and move them to the garden in time so that the roots do not pass through its bottom - otherwise they can be easily damaged.

Watering and replanting

It is necessary to monitor the level of moisture and drainage in containers with seedlings: Escholzia does not like stagnant moisture. Water the seedlings sparingly, after the top layer has dried. The optimum temperature for seedlings is + 21-23˚ С. Before planting in open ground, the sprouts should be “hardened”: put containers in a cooler room (ventilate the room, take them out to the balcony or outside), gradually increasing the duration and lowering the temperature. If the first hardening procedure lasts only 20-30 minutes, then the final one should be 3-4 hours.

You should start moving the seedlings into the garden when the air temperature warms up to + 18-22˚ С. you need to water, carefully remove the young plants from the container and place them in the ground together with a peat pot (tablet), sprinkle with moist soil on top and mulch with peat, sawdust or rotted foliage.

Flower care rules

For the successful cultivation of escholzia, it is enough to place the flower bed in a sunny place and prevent water stagnation and excessive irrigation.

Flowers do not like the high nitrogen content in the soil, therefore, you should not pre-fertilize the soil with manure, and also apply mullein infusion under the plants, use chemical nitrogen fertilizers. It is best to feed the plantings with complex mineral fertilizers: two weeks after germination, after planting in the ground, and then every 3-4 weeks.

Watering adult flowers, like seedlings, is best done sparingly, after the soil dries out. Preferably in the morning, from a watering can and under the root.

If the summer was rainy and the drainage of the soil was insufficient, then diseases of the root system can be determined by the following signs:

• flowers wither, their cups sink down, irrigation does not help;
• if you dig up a flower and examine its roots, you will notice a gray bloom with brown spots - root rot.

In this case, it is necessary to dig up all the affected plants so that the rest do not become infected. Watering should be temporarily stopped (covered with a film from rain) and the soil should be treated with fungicides, such as Bordeaux mixture, Previkur, Fundazol, Rovralom, copper sulfate. In the future, watering should be minimized to avoid waterlogging of the soil. Echscholtia demonstrates excellent immunity to other "flower ailments", becoming ill very rarely.

If the summer, on the contrary, turned out to be dry, then the spider mite can spoil the appearance of the flower bed. It is easy to spot on the leaves and flowers that it envelops in cobwebs. If you do not take any measures, other plants will soon be infected, and only dry stalks will remain from the plantings of the escholzia, since insects suck nutritious juices from the plants, leading to their wilting.

In the fight against insects, including aphids, such drugs as "Oberon", "Agravertin", "Iskra", "Fas", "Aktellik", "Nissoran", "Akarin" will help.

In early autumn, at the beginning of the ripening of the bolls, you can collect seeds for planting in another place. To do this, it is enough to wrap several boxes with a light cloth and wait for the seeds to be ejected. After that, it remains to collect them for storage.

Eschsholzia blooms with a bright carpet, but it is easy to thin out so that it does not invade neighboring flower beds. It is enough to plant a Californian poppy once, and for many years enjoy the wonderful flowering from early spring to the beginning of autumn frosts.

This representative of the Poppy family is distinguished by its attractiveness and unpretentiousness. A colorful plant native to North America. Outwardly, it is a low "inhabitant" of the garden, which branches magnificently and adorns the site with its decorativeness all summer long. The leaves resemble wormwood with their delicacy. For which the people call him a wormwood. Many additional stems originate from the main stem. Their color is green, but due to the coating of white bloom, they appear bluish.

Content:

• Growing and care
  • Location and lighting
  • Soil and dressing
  • Watering the plant
  • Pruning and wintering
• Pests and diseases
• Planting and breeding
  • Sowing in autumn
  • Sowing in spring
  • Seedling
  • Self seeding
• Use in landscape design
• The most popular species and varieties

Growing and care

The plant is actively used in cosmetology and folk medicine, has no contraindications or side effects. In many European, and not only, countries, escholzia is grown on an industrial scale.

Location and lighting

Only a sunny spot can provide a lush and long-lasting bloom. The petals open exclusively under direct rays. If you move them into the shade, then they instantly close.

Soil and dressing

It is advisable to choose a composition that is as similar as possible to the natural environment. The heavy and poor, with a sour reaction are categorically unsuitable. This can be corrected by adding one of two components to the ground - dolomite flour or wood ash. It takes about 200 grams per square meter. Ideal dry sandy ground, lightweight, with excellent carrying capacity. The reaction is neutral or slightly acidic.

One of the main tasks is access to the oxygen roots. To increase the flow of fresh air, regular loosening is carried out.

You can increase the duration of flowering by regularly introducing a mixture of potassium, nitrogen and phosphorus in equal parts. This support induces more abundant growth of new stems. It is forbidden to contact organics. She is capable of leading to the death of a picturesque beauty. For autumn sowing, double superphosphate is introduced in the form of granules.

Watering the plant

Performed only during drought or heat waves. It is impossible for the drops to fall on the inflorescences. Pour liquid only at the root... At the same time, they use a settled, room temperature. It is better to do this in the evening, before sunset.

Pruning and wintering

Forming is not carried out. But to maintain an attractive appearance and prolong flowering, dried inflorescences and ripe seed pods are removed.

In cold climates it cannot survive the winter season, therefore used as an annual decoration personal plot.

Pests and diseases

Spider mite

The plant boasts resistance to many types of ailments and insects. But if the rules for care are not followed, its natural immunity decreases and escholzia becomes an easy prey for root rot. The main reason for its appearance is the constant dampness of the earth, frequent watering or heavy rainfall. The main symptoms are: loss of turgor, lethargy even after "drinking". It is necessary to remove it from the soil as soon as possible. All fragments on which gray plaque or brown spots are found are removed. The soil is generously watered with special chemicals - Bordeaux mixture, foundationol and others.

The appearance of a cobweb is a sign of an uninvited guest of a spider mite. It is very small in size and it is almost impossible to notice it right away. It makes itself felt when not only cobwebs appear on the green part of a representative of the flora, but also white spots. Acaricides are effective against it - Actellik, Akarin, etc.

In the fall, the aboveground part is cut off to the very ground, and in the spring, strong shoots will again appear from the ground. Maintenance requires thinning, additional nutrition and watering. But in regions with short and warm winters, you can try to preserve the garden planting by covering it with leaves or spruce branches.

Planting and breeding in the open field

Wormwood is able to withstand even temperatures as low as -4. For this reason, disembarkation begins in April. To keep spreading, gardeners use a 35 by 45 scheme: the first number is the distance between the bushes, and the second is the distance between the rows. Be sure to take care of the drainage. Fragments of stone or brick, pebbles, shards are suitable for its role. Discard the site if you notice the proximity of groundwater.

Do not choose a place in the lowland, as with the onset of a thaw, melt water accumulates there.... Before planting, the selected flower bed is dug deeply, removing stones and weed roots. You can add wood ash as fertilizer at this time.

Sowing in autumn

The favorable period is October, after the onset of persistent cold weather. This option is more similar to natural growing conditions. For three winter months, the planting material undergoes natural stratification. Due to this, the similarity is almost 100%.

Flowering in this case occurs early.

Already at the end of spring, it is replete with bright inflorescences. The seeds are lightly pressed into shallow (about 2 cm) furrows and mulched. This technique helps protect the soil from crusting and holds back the seeds. The site is immediately selected for a permanent one, a transplant is undesirable. If the winter is cold, then the beds are covered with a thick layer of dry leaves.

Sowing in spring

In this case, it is necessary to carry out additional manipulations with the planting material. It is wrapped in cloth and sent to the refrigerator for one month (on the bottom shelf). In mid-April, as soon as the soil warms up, you can start sowing.

Here you also need furrows into which the seeds are dropped. After a thin layer of sand, cover with mulch. After 2 weeks, the first shoots will break through.

Seedling

It is better not to tolerate the fragile root system, so gardeners use peat tablets as containers. This "container" is placed in a plastic cup and filled with water. As soon as the moisture is absorbed, you can pour out the excess. Using a match or a toothpick, the seed is placed in the peat. After that, it is enough to sprinkle with peat and irrigate with a spray bottle.

To create a greenhouse effect, you need film or glass. It is recommended to remove such a device daily for ventilation and spraying. Seedlings will appear in 10-12 days. The cap is immediately removed and transferred to a room with cool air (from +16 to +18). Watering is necessary in moderation, only after the top layer of the earth has dried.

After 15 days, fertilizing with mineral complexes for flowering plants is carried out... A week later, gradual hardening in the fresh air begins. As soon as the pastime reaches daylight hours, transplantation into open ground begins.

Self seeding

Germination capacity lasts from 2 to 3 years. In the spring, the owner of a suburban area only needs to thin out too dense crops.

Use in landscape design

Light decorativeness, delicacy and colorfulness allow specialists to use wormwood in many compositions. The most common places where you can find an exotic representative of the flora:

• monoclumba;
• flower row using several widows of plants with a single color;
• design of paths and borders;
• alpine slide;
• Moorish lawn.

The picturesqueness is preserved even after flowering, therefore it is suitable for rocky compositions.

Eschsholzia and Brachycoma

It goes well with cornflowers, pansies and numerous summer "soloists". It is important to select "neighbors" not only in appearance, but also in terms of agrarian requirements. Do not plant nearby plants that are very fond of frequent watering or acidic soil. There are many successful companions. The cultural forms of wormwood will harmoniously set off the variegated varieties. In the Moorish lawn, his “comrades” are flax, cloves, clover and other lawn grasses.

On an alpine slide, a successful party consists of:

• lobelia;
• Iberis;
• purslane.

For country style, escholzia is an indispensable element when decorating curbs, paths, and entrance areas. Various varieties and colors surrounded by grass and wildflowers look natural, organic.

The most popular species and varieties

Today there are more than 10 species. The most popular and decorative ones:

• soddy... Reaches 17-20 cm. The leaves have a characteristic waxy bloom;
• Lobba... Height 9-14 cm. Flowers are small (about 1.5 cm in diameter), lemon color;
• california... It has an external resemblance to poppy seeds. The shrub is high enough for a wormwood - from 35 to 40 cm. Large inflorescences (about 7 cm) bloom in early June and do not dry out until mid-August.