Chess hazel grouse planting and care in the open field in the fall

They belong to bulbous plants. They also include such a spring flower as chess hazel grouse or fritillaria... It looks like a bell, but its flowers are distinguished by an original checkerboard color.

Dark and light spots of a clear geometric pattern alternate. It reminded some botanist of a chessboard, and the plant got the epithet "chess".

In Russian, the name "hazel grouse" has stuck, which is also, apparently, associated with the pattern on the petals. This popular comparison with the well-known variegated bird testifies to the fact that earlier the plant was found in the wild and people knew it perfectly.

Now it can only be found where there are no dwellings.

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The appearance of the hazel grouse

This plant is quite tall - up to 35 cm. It is known as a garden flower from the second half of the 16th century.

Cultural forms came to us from European countries. This is the usual way.

A wild plant enters Europe, its cultivated species are hatched there and spread further. Suffice it to recall the history of the tulip.

The leaves of the plant are rather narrow, oblong, resembling a double-edged knife in shape.

The flowers are usually single, sometimes there are two, about 2.5 cm in diameter. In the second or third decade of May, the plant blooms. Flowering duration - 1.2 weeks.

Thanks to breeders, the number of hazel grouse species is now approaching 200. Many species have their own subspecies.

The flower is loved in Great Britain, where they know how to appreciate the dull beauty of nature. Calm shades of yellow and brown, red and orange blend so harmoniously with the delicate spring green, and the gray-blue sky seems to frame this pastel picture, painted by one of the most skilled artists - in spring.

You can admire the flower the way the Japanese admire sakura: first appreciate the finished, elegant beauty of the whole plant, and then carefully consider the details and find harmony in everything.

Optimal growing conditions

A slightly shaded place in the garden, reliably protected from the wind, is most suitable for a checkerboard hazel grouse.

Then the plant will delight the owners with large flower petals, which will retain the brightness of the colors for the entire flowering period. In sunny areas, they can fade.

The plant looks good in its group and in flower beds next to other bulbs, such as tulips.

For spring plants, a bulb is about the same as a hump for a camel. The reserve food is stored here, which helps to survive in winter and painlessly go through the growing season in early spring.

Grouse bulbs are irregular in shape, they are rather oblong than round, slightly flattened. The plant prepares for a long time, waiting for the most favorable moment, and then "shoots" shoots. By this time, the entire program for future growth and development has already been written in the bulb.

Its first stage occurs at the end of summer, when the formation of roots and the development of the stem of the future plant begins. Bulbous can be called underground inhabitants.They spend only a few months in the sun.

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Reproduction methods

There are two ways: seeds and bulbs. In the first case, you need to have at least 2 specimens of the same species in your garden.

For a seed box to form, pollination must occur.

Once the capsule is dry, the seeds can be removed and sown in fertile soil enriched with organic matter.

On a raised area, furrows 5-8 cm wide should be made and seeds should be placed 1 cm deep.

A distance of at least 6 cm is required between the grooves. Cover the sowing with mulch 2 cm in height.

The next summer, sprouts will hatch from the seeds. They should be given inorganic fertilizer twice a year.

When propagated by bulbs, hazel grouse will bloom much faster. First you need to dig in the plant. The shovel is inserted into the ground carefully, taking care not to damage the surface of the bulb.

The babies are separated from the mother's bulb and seated. The bulb can be broken apart to obtain more planting material. Dry the resulting parts so that the exposed areas are covered with a new cloth.

If there is no storage space, then it is better to start transplanting whole bulbs on the same day, although they can lie in a cool, ventilated place, covered with peat or wet sand for a while (2-3 days), but the longer you delay with the transplant, the drier become bulbs, losing moisture and some of the nutrients.

Planting a plant

So the plant has bloomed. It is necessary to cut off wilted flowers without touching the leaves, they provide nutrition to the bulb.

After a while, the foliage takes on a yellow tint. This is a sure sign that the grouse has accumulated enough nutrients and is ready for winter.

The bulb is resting and the perfect time to transplant it.

The transplant must be completed before roots begin to appear on the bulb.

This usually happens in the last decade of August, the first week of September.

Small bulbs are placed in the ground, deepening by 8-10 cm, and especially large ones by 20 cm-30 cm, but the latter refers more to the imperial hazel grouse (the usual hazel grouse bulb is 2-3 cm). The gap between the hazel grouses should be about 30 cm.

Some growers recommend that when planting, slightly tilt the bulb to the side to drain excess moisture, while others do not see the benefit of this method.

You can conduct an experiment yourself and then check who is right. Cover the planting with mulch: peat or other organic light material.

The planting material should be thoroughly dried, and immediately before planting it should also be warmed up for better vegetation. Experienced gardeners claim that heated bulbs produce more flowers.

The bulbs are stored at room temperature or slightly higher (up to 30 ° C), but in a well-ventilated area. In the spring, the plant should be fed with any suitable fertilizer such as Agricola.

Chess hazel grouse care

If the place for planting is chosen correctly, hazel grouse can grow for a long time without requiring a transplant (up to 4 years).

The bulbs are usually dug up when they want to expand the flower bed.

Since the flower is bred from the wild, it still retains the firmness of its ancestor: it is unpretentious and tolerates frost well.

It is a fairly hardy plant, although it looks fragile and delicate.

In the fall, the stem is cut off, leaving no more than 1 cm above the ground, then this place is mulched. You don't need to do anything else, the plant is ready for winter.

The choice of soil for planting

For bulbous plants, the correct choice of soil is very important. Here are the main points to look out for:

the soil for hazel grouse should be moderately moist, have good drainage characteristics, without stagnant water;

the acidity of the soil is weak, close to zero, a neutral soil mixture is well suited;

light, breathable soil is being prepared with a small content of organic fertilizers, they are able to retain the required amount of moisture;

feeding is carried out either with well-rotted compost, or with mineral fertilizers (2 times per season).

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Diseases to which the flower is susceptible

Grouse is a hardy plant that is resistant to disease. Especially if you do not deviate from the following rules:

When replanting hazel grouse to a new place, make sure that no other bulbous plants grow on it before it. This is done for correct crop rotation.

Do not plant damaged bulbs, and if there is no other way out, then cut off the rotten place to healthy pulp, and treat the wound with a fungicide.

Do not plant the plant in places where water can hold for a long time.

If you follow these simple rules, then the plant will grow strong and will be able to cope with viruses and fungi that cause mold on its own. It does not require the use of herbicides.

Compliance with basic agricultural techniques will give the plant the necessary strength for growth and flowering. With the accumulation of experience, agricultural technology can be adjusted and achieved abundant flowering of grouse every year.

Planting hazel grouses and care in the open field does not require special skills, so every gardener can independently cope with this task. It is enough only to know the features of these plants, as well as to provide the most favorable conditions for their growth.

Grouse and their varieties

Grouse, or in the people of paradise tree, resembles a palm plant. It is a perennial flower with a specific scent that scares away small animals such as mice, moles and shrews. Hazel grouses are considered a primrose in gardens, flowers of many varieties appear in early spring. The flowering period is on average 20 days. Planting hazel grouses in open ground is carried out in the fall, caring for flowers is similar to caring for lilies.

Perennial varieties:

Grouse is chess. This variety is the most popular among gardeners due to its bright color and unpretentiousness. Plant height reaches 30-35 cm, flowers are rich purple with a checkerboard pattern.

Grouse is imperial. Royal variety, which is considered the most prominent representative. The height of the plant will burn up to 1 m. The bright red-orange flowers are much larger in diameter than other representatives of this flower.

Grouse Russian. The presented variety is currently listed in the Red Book. Plant height no more than 40 cm, bright chocolate flowers. In its natural environment, Russian hazel grouse is found in mountainous areas or on the steppe plain.

Grouse Persian. It grows exclusively in warm regions. Plant height can reach 1.2 m. Up to 30 purple flowers can be located on the stem.

Planting flowers

Many gardeners are wondering when it is preferable to plant hazel grouses outdoors. It is believed that the most favorable time for planting flowers is the beginning of autumn. When choosing a place, it must be remembered that plants love sunlight; a partial shade place will be acceptable only for some species. The depth for each flower is individual, it should be 3 times the size of the bulb.

Planting hazel grouses in the open ground and caring for them in the Moscow region differs from caring for plants in the south of our country in terms of the depth of planting the bulbs and the amount of watering. This is due to the difference in climate, in the winter season in the Moscow region there can be severe frosts, and in the summer there can be a large amount of precipitation. Therefore, you should not rely on all the recommendations without taking into account the local climate conditions. It is permissible to use charcoal for drying the soil and as a fertilizer.

Planting hazel grouses in the open ground in spring is permissible only for late flowering plants. Landing takes place as follows:

Prepare a flower well that will not be too wet. Often, coarse sand is added to the hole, which helps to get rid of excess moisture.

The plant bulbs must be pre-dried.

The bulbs are carefully placed sideways in the prepared soil, even minor damage can lead to decay.

The hole is lightly sprinkled with sand.

Plant care

Planting hazel grouses in the open field does not imply special care. It is important to remember the following maintenance rules, which apply to many colors:

Plant bulbs should be moistened at least 2 times a month, since dry soil is detrimental to flowers.

After flowering, often this time falls on July, it is required to completely cut off the part of the plant that is on the surface of the earth.

Plant feeding is carried out twice a season.

In a winter with little snow, the plant must be additionally covered to prevent the bulbs from freezing. Spruce branches or reeds are perfect for this.

Fertilizers

Planting hazel grouses and caring for them in the open field during flowering periods require fertilizing. Flowering plants should be fed with dry complex fertilizer, combined with humus. It is enough to scatter the resulting mass around the perimeter of the site and only then pour water over it.

In the cold season, it is important to add minerals such as potassium and superphosphate to the usual fertilizer. Fertilization is carried out in the usual way.

Diseases

These plants require special moisture, with inappropriate care, bulb rot may begin. To eliminate this disease, you should carefully dig the plant out of the ground and treat the rotted bulbs with a weak solution of manganese. After this procedure, it is necessary to completely dry the plant and only then plant them again in the ground.

For the imperial hazel grouse in the open field, special care is needed. Often the plant does not bloom for a long time, the problem may lie in insufficient depth in the soil, which leads to freezing of the bulbs.

From planting to flowering - video

Growing hazel grouse (fritillaria) and caring for them does not present any particular difficulties for gardeners, when planting them in open ground, you just need to carefully choose a place: these flowers love the sun or a little shade, nutritious soil, not very abundant, but regular watering.

Grouse: varieties and varieties

Fritillaria - translated from Latin means "glass" or "glass", this name is associated with the shape of the flower - a large, bright, shaped like a glass or a bowl.

The hazel grouse got its popular name - "chessboard" due to the appearance of a "chessboard" perennial in color: its buds look like the cells of a chessboard with a uniform alternation of colors. This variegated variety gave the entire genus fritillaria the Russian name "hazel grouse", from the word "speckled".

Grouse "checkerboard" - one of the most unusual flowers that are easy to grow by yourself

The varieties of hazel grouses are very numerous, currently about 180 species are known, which mainly grow in European countries with a temperate climate, in western Asia and in the North American states. Reproduction of hazel grouses is carried out vegetatively and by seeds.

Varieties of hazel grouse differ in color of its flowers, in size, in flowering time, among them there are inconspicuous, tiny plants, and there are also gorgeous giant varieties, but the "chess" variety is very popular among amateur gardeners.

Fritillaria "chess" - refers to small-bulbous perennial plants. This variety of hazel grouse has two varieties - brown-burgundy and white-yellow cells. These varieties are short, growing only up to 15-20 cm in height, with small buds.
Fritillaria "chess"

Fritillaria imperial - has a bright color of flowers, reaches a height of 80 cm.
Fritillaria imperial

Fritillaria needle-petalled - grows well in sun and partial shade, prefers moist soil. Yellow flowers with bright red streaks appear in open field in May.
Fritillaria needle-petalled

Fritillaria Kamchatka - bright purple glasses of flowers delight gardeners from May to June, but the seeds do not have time to set during flowering.
Fritillaria Kamchatka

Fritillaria persian - a southern flower, but in the middle lane it tolerates the winter well if it is covered with dry leaves. Its delicate yellowish-green buds appear in mid-May, but not every year.
Fritillaria persian

Planting a plant

Like all perennials, sun-loving hazel grouses, planting and caring for which does not require any special effort, prefer fertile, well-drained soil.

Previously, compost or humus is introduced into the planting hole, in proportions - half a bucket of compost per 1 sq. m of plot, then drainage is laid, it can be sand or sifted humus, then a perennial bulb is placed.

When planting, be sure to spread the roots. If the variety is undersized, then the bulb is buried to a depth of 6-10 cm, if tall varieties are planted - to a depth of 30 cm.In groups, the distance between small bulbs is 10-15 cm, between large ones should be at least 30 cm.

Hazel grouse

Growing of some varieties outdoors can be done in slightly shaded areas, for example, hazel grouse grows well in sunny areas and in the shade. Grouse "chess" love that ash or lime was placed in the hole during planting.

Planting fritillaria is carried out at the very beginning of autumn, when roots appear at the bottom of the perennial bulbs, but it is not worth delaying, since the hazel grouses will not have time to bloom in May.

Plant care

The soil around this perennial plant should be covered with peat in order to avoid drying out in the heat, for example, in rockeries or rock gardens. Loosening the ground is not worth it, you can damage the roots located at the surface. After the flower has faded, if seeds are not needed, it must be removed so that the plant does not deplete.

Mulch the soil around the hazel grouse and ensure proper watering

As a rule, in winter, if there is little snow, the plantings of fritillaria are covered with spruce branches or reeds to avoid freezing of the bulbs. However, the varieties of "chess" hazel grouse are quite unpretentious, do not require special care, and they are not very afraid of frost. If you plant them in early September so that they take root well before frost, then you do not need to cover them in winter.

Attention! Delicate "chess" hazel grouse needs a lot of sun. When grown in partial shade, the flower feels bad, blooms little. The flowers will be small even if the crop is properly cared for.

Fertilization and feeding

In early spring, these perennial plants need feeding. Nitrogen-containing fertilizer is applied to the soil in a dry form, and during the period when flowers appear, hazel grouses need to be fed with mineral fertilizer - 1 tbsp. spoon per square meter. Wood ash or chicken droppings can be added in the same proportions.

Feed the crop annually before and during flowering

Reproduction of hazel grouse

Reproduction of fritillaria occurs vegetatively, annually planted bulbs are replaced with new ones, and a daughter one is formed. The number of children depends on the type of perennial.

Bulbs of the "chess" variety are dug up and divided not every year; it is enough to do this once every 6-7 years. During this growing period, they do not stop blooming, but the peduncles no longer become. Such large-bulbous varieties as imperial, Persian, pale-flowered varieties are dug every year. Grouse with small bulbs (fox-berry, Mikhailovsky) can not be dug for 3-4 years, while covering with black material to warm the bulbs.

The easiest way to breed hazel grouses is to plant bulbs

If desired, the reproduction of hazel grouses, including "chess" ones, is carried out and from seed... For seed pods to ripen, favorable weather is required, if there is a lot of rain in spring, then the seeds can rot. In a warm place, in the open ground or in a greenhouse, a separate bed is prepared with fertile soil mixed with humus from the foliage. Seeds are planted in grooves, to a depth of 1 cm, the distance between them is 10 cm.On top, the seeds should be sprinkled with a layer of peat up to 2 cm.Cultivation of the bulbs lasts until next year, then, after the leaves dry, they are dug up and stored in a ventilated room until autumn. The bulbs of these perennial plants need to be warmed up at a temperature of about 30 degrees for several weeks in a greenhouse.

Hazel grouse seeds

The flowering of fritillaria grown from seed begins at 4-5 years, and in large hazel grouses - only at 7-8 years. Watering is moderate, the soil should be moist, but not damp, then it is generally better to reduce watering to 2 times a month. You need to feed the seedlings in the twenties of April and at the beginning of June, after flowering, with complex fertilizers in dry form.

Advice! You should not buy already flowering perennials for planting, they are often sold. Such a hazel grouse, even if it does not die, is very difficult to grow until the next flowering. It is for the “chess” variety that the bulbs are not overdried - the dry ones are no longer viable.

Reproduction of hazel grouse by bulbs gives a good repeatability of varietal traits; with the seed method, this is not always possible to achieve.

Diseases and pests

Grouse are not afraid of pests due to the sharp unpleasant smell of the bulbs, they smell like fresh horse dung. This smell scares off mice, rats and moles. The pest of this perennial is the leaf beetle - a red beetle that eats flowering buds and leaves. It is collected and treated with insecticides. Slugs are also very harmful to hazel grouse, and wireworms can pierce bulbs.

Beetle beetle

The hazel grouse are resistant to diseases, they do not suffer from viral diseases, like tulips and crocuses. Bulbs can rot from cold and wet weather, but rotten places can be cut off and treated with ash, coal, alcohol or even brilliant green, and dried.

The use of fritillaria in landscape design

Grouse varieties "checkerboard" are often used in the landscape design of garden and backyard plots. An ideal place for this variety of hazel grouse due to its low growth on alpine slides and rockeries. In an ordinary flower bed, these delicate "birds" will simply get lost.

Grouse combined with tulips

Varieties of "checkerboard" hazel grouse can be used to decorate the lawn, planting them in separate islands, but it is impossible to mow such a lawn until the end of flowering, the hazel grouse will stop blooming. The neighbors of these checkered flowers used in landscaping gardens can, in principle, be other low perennial flowers that require less intensive watering, for example, phlox or primroses. A variety of photos of landscape compositions with the participation of chess flowers can be found in electronic and printed publications.

Other species, taller, such as Persian hazel grouse, fit well into the composition of the garden in group plantings with tulips, anemones, crested crestedlings - along the paths and in the flower beds. And the combination of imperial hazel grouse with undersized shrubs, conifers and climbing perennials is actively used in landscape design when creating mixborders and ridges.

Grouse in landscape design

In conclusion, we can say that speckled flowers have been pleasing to the eye in gardens for a very long time, nevertheless, for some gardeners these perennial bulbs do not bloom, but it is not the flowers that are to blame, but the owners of the garden, who do not take into account the simple features of growing this rather unpretentious plant.

Planting hazel grouse: video

Types of hazel grouses: photo

Grouse is a plant that resembles a miniature palm tree. Gardeners often call them trees of paradise. The homeland of this species is Western Europe and the Mediterranean, but this is not a hindrance to growing hazel grouse when planting and nursing in the open ground of our climatic zone.

General information

The plant propagates mainly with the help of bulbs. The plant's bulb is a pair of large expanded scales, which are updated every year. Bulbs do not have protective scales, therefore, you need to be careful with them when planting.

The shoots of the plant are covered with narrow oblong leaves, the arrangement of the leaves is irregular. Inflorescences the plant throws out 3-4 flowers on one shoots, but there are also single ones. In shape, the flower resembles a large bell. The color of the inflorescences, depending on the variety, is orange, lilac, scarlet or light.

Grouse is an ephemeroid flower on each of its leaf bases inside there is a nectary in the shape of a round, oval or triangular. After flowering, the fruits appear - this is a seed capsule, like a hexagon.

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Varieties and types of flower hazel grouse

Hazel grouse bred in 1572. It got this name because of its similarity to the color of the black grouse. The height of this species is about 35 cm. Inflorescences are arranged one by one, sometimes in pairs. The shade of this species is lilac with chocolate tones and staggered patterns. In care, the flower is not whimsical and has several varieties.

Hazel grouse or imperial... The homeland of this representative is Turkey. In Europe, the plant appeared in 1580 and has about 20 forms and varieties. Its personality is the sharp unpleasant aroma of the bulbs. The height of its shoots is about one meter. The leaves are scattered, the shape of the leaf is elongated and linear. The inflorescences drooping, resemble a bell in shape, their size is about 6 cm in diameter. The inflorescence has dark chocolate streaks or rich orange. There is a dark brown spot at the base of the inflorescence.

Russian hazel grouse belongs to the Liliaceae family. This species is endangered and listed in the Red Book. The height of this species is about 40 cm. The bulb is small, its diameter is about 1 cm, flattened in shape. The bulb is covered with several layers of scales. Shoots are smooth and fragile. They are bare from the base and almost to the middle of the stem, the rest is covered with leaves. The length of the leaves reaches 9 cm. The shape of the leaf is linearly oblong.

The inflorescences on the plant are large, one can have up to 4 pieces. The shade is dark chocolate with purple spots. In nature, the plant grows on the mountain slopes and plains of the steppe type. The plant prefers humus-nourishing soil. The plant blooms in mid-spring.

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Grouse planting and care in the open field

Agrotechnology and transplantation of hazel grouses is performed when the plant ends the growing season.

When to transplant imperial hazel grouse - the best time to transplant a plant is late summer or early autumn. When transplanting or after purchasing the bulbs, they must be planted immediately in the ground, since the bulbs do not have scales and they dry out quickly and lose their ability to grow.

If you are unable to plant the bulbs right away, it is best to place them in a container of damp peat and place them in a cool basement. But a later planting of a plant often leads to a lack of flowering the next year.

The bulbs are planted on prepared, dug soil with many nutrients. It is necessary to immerse the bulbs to a depth of about 20 cm. Sand or peat bog is poured on the bottom. After the onion is planted and its root system is straightened. The bulbs themselves are treated with a light manganese solution before planting, this is necessary for disinfection.

The soil for the hazel grouse does not matter what kind of land you have on the site, before planting the hazel grouse, you need to add coarse sand, peat soil and humus to it. Also, the plant is good for additives in the form of ash.

The soil is moistened without allowing the soil to dry out too much. After flowering, you need to water once every 30 days.

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Fertilizers for hazel grouse

The plant must be fed with dry complex fertilizers for flowering garden plants, mixing with humus, in the proportion of one spoonful of fertilizer with 12 liters of dry mullein. Then it is scattered over the site and then watered.

After flowering with the onset of cold weather, it is necessary to feed with fertilizer with the addition of potassium and superphosphate. Everything is mixed in equal proportions and scattered over the site and watered abundantly.

As a care, it is necessary to weed the weeds and loosen the soil carefully without touching the bulbs.

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Grouse pruning

It is necessary to trim the hazel grouse after flowering, removing faded buds and dried stems, leaving about 5 cm from the base.

With the onset of cold weather and after the shoots dry up, the hazel grouse bulbs are dug up and treated with potassium permanganate, disinfected and dried. After that, they are placed in boxes with sand or sawdust and stored until spring.

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Hazel grouse imperial breeding

The most proven and reliable way to reproduce is to separate the baby bulbs. To do this, an adult bush is dug up and the bulb babies are separated from it and planted according to the method described above.

Seed propagation of hazel grouses occurs in autumn. Seeds are planted in loose soil in the fall immediately after harvest, consisting of peat bog and sand and with a sufficient amount. Seeds are sown to a depth of about 6 cm. After sowing, the soil must be mulched with humus. Seedlings appear with the onset of the first warmth.

This method is not popular, for the reason that flowering occurs two years after sowing.

In hazel grouse, reproduction by scales does not use polarity and is a laborious process, therefore it is little used in practice among flower growers.

But still one species of hazel grouse can be propagated - this variety pleases with flowering petals with a black shade. Scales are removed from it, and planted together with the mother plant, and over time, a full-fledged hazel grouse bulb grows. The rise period is about two years.

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Diseases and pests

The flower is royal hazel grouse, if it does not bloom, then the reason may be the wrong planting depth and freezing of the bulbs, there may also be insufficiently fertilized soil.

Why did the hazel grouse turn yellow - after flowering, the lower leaves of the plant gradually begin to die off, gradually striving upward. This is the stage of natural leaf withering away and you shouldn't worry.

If improperly moistened, the bulbs may begin to rot, so the plant must be dug out, the bulbs infected with rot must be treated with a manganese solution and then dried at high temperature and the cuts must be sprinkled with fine charcoal. And then plant it in the ground.

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