Broadleaf Carpathian bell
Mountain types of bells are very popular. Broadleaf Carpathian is one of them. The plant is valued for its short stature, compactness of the bush. This makes it possible to grow the plant on alpine hills and rocky soils.
There is a varietal variety of the species - White Star, White Alba, Blue Celestina, Isabel and many others. The positive characteristics include the fact that the plant gives abundant self-seeding. In addition, it easily reproduces vegetatively.
Bushes grow rapidly, forming dense thickets. Flowering is possible already in the first year of sowing
Usually, the Carpathian bell pleases with flowers from May to September, which is important for the decorative design of a flower garden
The fragility of the plant is one of its disadvantages. After two to three years, the bell dies, so regular planting renewal is required. Excessive fertilization also leads to the rapid aging of the bush and a decrease in its winter hardiness.
The use of the head in landscape design
Cephalaria are among the most unusual and powerful perennials. These are large vertical accents and soloists who can change the boring structure of any ensemble and bring animation to the vertical relief of any object.
Cephalaria in the garden looks great:
- as a soloist on lawns or against the background of meadows from ground cover;
- as a high accent in natural plantings and massifs;
- as an addition to showy shrubs in groups;
- as an accent on flower beds or in the background of mixborders;
- as a camouflage plant;
- in protective or concealing plantings along walls and fences;
- as an accent anywhere where interesting solutions are lacking.
When using cephalaria, it is worth considering the nature of the plant: despite the beauty of flowering, it still always looks like an untamed, wild giant, which seems to have been transferred from the natural environment, and not as a cultivated plant. Cephalaria are cultures for the landscape-style landscape design and country style with its unbridled decisions and choices of nostalgic plants.
Cephalaria in landscape design. wildstauden
Caps are also planted in special flower beds for birds - plantings that attract useful birds. You can plant them both as a melliferous culture, and as a plant that allows you to fill the garden or its separate zone with life, noise, buzz, they give a chance to watch your favorite insects and butterflies. They are considered special favorites of the peacock's eye (butterflies), which flock to the bushes in great numbers during the summer.
Cephalaria can also be regarded as an original cut crop, since the flowers of the plant stand for a very long time in the cut.
Selection of partners for cefalaria
The caps are large perennials that are commonly regarded as solids. But they can also be placed in mixed plantings. Cephalaria look great next to ornamental shrubs (from spirits to chubushniks) and even with ornamental woody ones (ornamental cherries, derens, conifers).
They can also be used in combination with herbaceous perennials with contrasting vertical or classic basket inflorescences and decorative deciduous crops. Cephalaria are especially good in the company of giant cereals, for example, miscanthus, as well as echinacea, rudbeckia, coreopsis, loosestrife, tarragon.
Peculiarities
Carpathian bell or campanula carpathica belongs to the category of perennial plants. This wonderful plant is a lush and sturdy bush, the height of which is usually 20-30 cm.The size of the plant is directly influenced by the condition of the soil, the correct care, the amount of sunlight received. One bell rarely exceeds the 5 cm mark. It has a characteristic funnel-shaped shape.
On each base of the plant in question, there is only 1 flower. The first blossoming flowers usually appear at the very beginning or in the middle of June. The flowering of the Carpathian bell is long lasting. At the end of this period, a small box with seeds is formed on the basis of the plant. It has the shape of a cylinder.
The Carpathian bell should be planted in sunnier places in the garden or plot. This plant is sun-loving. It is necessary to take into account the level of acidity of the soil. In growing, a flower can be demanding - this must be taken into account by every gardener who decides to plant it.
Caring for bells
It is advisable not to water the bushes very often so that there is no excess moisture. During the growing period, before flowering, you can fertilize the bells with nitrogen. It is useful to sprinkle the soil with wood ash, which will protect the plant from various diseases.
Mineral fertilizers are applied before the budding of the bushes. They shouldn't be too concentrated. Also, the soil near the stem must be loosened and weeded, because the bells do not really accept the dominance of weeds and the heavy, too compacted structure of the soil.
Dried flowers should also be carefully removed so as not to give them nutrients. Then the bell will bloom much longer. When the seed pods are dark brown in color, they are cut off.
Bells are propagated by seeds from the same bolls. The process takes place in the spring. The division of the bush is also one of the types of reproduction, carried out in the spring and in August.
Basal shoots in May are used for planting adult plants. Tall bells are distributed in an amount of 5 pieces per square meter, medium and small bells - 12 pieces.
Bells can be planted along garden paths, in a group with other garden and ornamental plants in flower beds and mixborders.
How to grow flowers at home?
Cultivation of the Carpathian bell can be carried out at home. Terry varieties have approximately the same planting and grooming requirements as home bells of an equal-leaved type. For them, you need to find a place sufficiently illuminated by the sun. The light should be diffused. Carpathian bells can only feel comfortable in light shade.
Plants at home must be watered regularly. The moisture content of the soil mixture must always be under control
It is equally important to take care of good drainage. Even if the earthy clod dries up for a short time, this can provoke the buds to dry out.
Excess moisture is also dangerous - in many cases it leads to rotting of the plant root system. Carpathian bells do not tolerate dry air well. Because of it, the leaf blades at the edges can dry out.
Perennial bells after flowering
What time and how to collect seeds
If you decide to collect seeds from bells, then you need to cut the pods after they turn brown, and do not wait until they open. Place the cut pods in a dry and ventilated place and wait for the seeds to ripen.
Preparation for wintering
Perennials, unlike one-year-olds and two-year-olds, must be prepared for wintering. In the last September or the first October days, it will be necessary to cut off all the shoots at the root. After that, you no longer need to care for annuals. Perennials and biennials, as a rule, can survive the winter without shelter, however, southern species must be sprinkled with spruce branches or dried leaves. Tall species should be sprinkled with dry peat or humus, while the layer should have a thickness of 15 to 20 centimeters.
Landing subtleties
It is important to follow all the rules for planting the plant in question in open ground. It should be borne in mind that the Carpathian bell is a fragile and vulnerable culture, which is very afraid of drafts.
It is necessary to correctly select the best place for a flower. In the same place, the bell will delight the gardener with its flowering for 5 years, provided that the soil layer is correctly selected and prepared.
According to the assurances of gardeners, for the described flower, a land rich in nutrients turns out to be a win-win site for planting. It should be loose and with sufficient drainage of fluids. The ground should be either neutral or slightly alkaline. Too acidic or highly alkaline soil mixtures can have a very bad effect on flower rhizomes.
Clay soil is also not suitable for planting - moisture stagnates in it, which ultimately leads to decay of the plant roots. The ideal solution would be a neat flower bed located on a small hill on the site. If the latter has a flat surface, it is worth picking up places with rocky ground. Previously, all the soil will need to be thoroughly dug up. It is better to do this in the spring season. Only after this is it allowed to plant the plant. If there is too heavy soil on the site, then its properties can be improved by combining it with sand of a small fraction, river is ideal.
When the first petals "hatch" on young bushes, all shoots must be carefully dived and placed, maintaining a gap of at least 10 cm from neighboring plantings. It is advisable to thoroughly loosen the ground beforehand, since the seeds of the said bell are very small in size. It is allowed to plant seeds in the autumn season, if in May it did not work out for some reason. In cold periods, the optimal time for planting a perennial bell is 2-3 weeks of October. In the case of the described planting, the first growth appears as soon as the snow melts and the ground warms up.
Description of the plant
Bell - (lat.Campánula) - plant of the Bellflower family. The name itself comes from a diminutive of the Italian campana - bell.
It is given because of its characteristic shape, reminiscent of an elongated bowl, really similar to a dome. In Russia, this name also stuck, as well as several "folk" ones: bell, chenille, chebotok.
The habitat of the perennial bell in nature is meadows, steppes, forest edges, even rocky areas. Basically, these are territories with a temperate climate: all of Eurasia, Russia, Ukraine and even some territories of North America.
In total, scientists have about 400 species of this plant (according to data for 2016 - 440), in central Russia - only 15, and throughout the country and including neighboring ones - about 150 species.
Bellflower refers to perennial, less often annual grasses, on the stem of solid alternate leaf plates. The rim is elongated, reminiscent of a glass, colors ranging from blue to lilac. There are also white and purple inflorescences.
Sometimes there is one flower on the stem, and, basically, these are inflorescences - panicles in the form of a brush. Seeds ripen in flowers in a kind of box, with gaps in the amount of 4 to 6 pieces.
In some species, the flower bowl is tubular, with five petals pointed upward, bells of large size are found. The leaves of some varieties are round at the base of the stem, and on the trunk they have lanceolate pointed leaves.
Blossoming at bells usually begins in the first half of May and lasts until mid-July, from two weeks to one and a half months. In some varieties, the active color begins in late summer and ends in September. There are varieties that delight with multi-colored "tassels" for up to 90 days.
This plant has been gaining popularity lately among gardeners who love wildflowers and the style of a flower bed under a meadow.Therefore, breeders even breed hybrids with double inflorescences.
Follow-up care
It is not difficult to take care of the broadleaf bell. This is an unpretentious plant with excellent survival rate.
Watering
Broad-leaved bells do not like excessive moisture, the soil should be moist, but not waterlogged. Watering should be balanced throughout the growing season
It is important to maintain a "golden mean" so that the soil is always moderately moist, then the plants will retain their decorative properties for a long time.
Top dressing
In the spring, when the plants grow, you need to feed them with nitrogen fertilizers (ammonium nitrate, urea). It is not bad to add wood ash to the soil at the rate of 400 g per 10 sq. m and organic matter (humus). Before budding, you need to feed the bells with the NPK mineral complex (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) at the rate of 10-15 g per 1 sq. m. Soil quality directly affects the amount of fertilizer. The surplus inhibits the plants, for bells it is better to slightly reduce the doses indicated on the packages of the fertilizers.
Weeding
The area must not be overgrown with a "green wall". In the spring and early summer, you will have to weed the campanula plantings several times. During weeding, it is necessary to promptly remove weeds, as well as excess overgrowth of bells sprouted from crumbling seeds, which in this case clogs the site.
