Popular varieties of Arends' saxifrage
This rhizome plant, which can grow up to 70 cm high, is characterized by:
- creeping stems;
- branched root system;
- pronounced basal rosette;
- fleshy and leathery leaves.
Arends' saxifrage at home
The described plant has several subspecies, which differ mainly only in the color palette. All can boast of resistance to cold and unpretentious care. Among the most popular varieties are:
- Flamingo. According to the name, it has a pale pink color of the buds;
- White carpet (Whithe Carpet). Above the dark green shoots, small inflorescences with snow-white bells bloom. The maximum diameter is 1 cm;
- Saxifrage Purple Carpet (Pink Carpet, Purple Carpet). Probably the most beautiful and noble of the above. The purple saxifrage has an aristocratic burgundy color with a yellow core;
- Floral Carpet is a very popular and beautiful plant, which is distinguished by delicate white-pink shades.
Purple Carpet
Saxifrage A flower carpet covers the earth with graceful petals. Therefore, it is not surprising that all subspecies are very often used for exterior design, especially landscapes.
For your information! On the Internet you can find another name - Anders' saxifrage, but this is a mistake. In the botanical encyclopedia, the plant appears as Arends' saxifrage and has no other names.
2 Popular varieties
On the basis of the species, about 10 hybrid varieties were obtained by selection, differing in:
- height: medium-sized (40-60 cm) and tall (from 70 cm and above);
- flower structure: simple and double;
- color of the petals.
Several are popular with flower lovers.
Variety Albatross with branchy shoots of medium (up to 75 cm) height and double flowers of a white-pink hue, forming loose, delicate inflorescences.
Clarkia Purple, characterized by high strong shoots and large (3.5-4 cm) double buds, collected in a loose inflorescence of spikes and painted in rich carmine shades.
Plants of the "Salmon Queen" variety, with tall (90 cm) loose bushes, decorated during flowering with inflorescences of double pink-salmon flowers.
The slender, medium-sized variety "Brilliant" with large terry apical inflorescences of bright pink tones is very effective and therefore popular.
Plants of the Gloriosa variety are easily recognizable by simple corollas formed by scarlet petals with a light middle.
Clarkia Sakura is a tall (1-1.2 m) lush bush with double inflorescences of a delicate white-pink color. The variety was named for its similarity with Japanese cherry blossoms during the flowering period.
Bright, long and abundant flowering, unpretentiousness and ease of cultivation contributed to the popularity of clarkia in decorative floriculture and landscape design:
- The plant looks great in group plantings and mixed compositions, ideally combined with phlox, various types of roses and conifers.
- Suitable for growing in containers on balconies, loggias and verandas.
- Clarkia flowers are cut for a long time (1-2 weeks), so they are often used to make bouquets.
2.Description of the flower
Armeria are attractive flowering low-growing herbaceous plants. This genus includes about 90 species with spectacular flowering.
The root system is pivotal, shallow.
The leaves are linear, dark green or bluish green in color, reach a length of 10 cm, collected in a basal leaf rosette.Leaf blades are entire, sessile, rigid, slightly bent along the central vein.
During the flowering period, the bushes emit erect, leafless peduncles, on the tops of which there are rounded inflorescences with small bell-shaped flowers. The surface of the peduncles can be smooth and glossy, or it can have a short silvery pubescence.
The buds can be painted in white, pink or lilac shades, reaching a diameter of 5 mm. Varieties with blue flowers are rare.
Height. This attractive flowering perennial reaches a height of only 15 - 50 cm and develops rather slowly.
What to do after planting: caring for cellosi seedlings
Seedling care and proper cultivation techniques are the key to healthy, strong, viable seedlings. It is necessary to care for seedlings of cellosis according to the following rules:
- Immediately after planting and watering, cover the container with foil, glass or a lid to create optimal greenhouse conditions. In the future, do not forget to remove the shelter for 30 minutes every day to ventilate and remove condensation from the cover. When the seeds germinate, the cover, glass or film must be removed permanently.
- After the emergence of seedlings, you need to protect immature seedlings from direct sunlight for a week, but the plants should be normally illuminated! Subsequently, full lighting is needed for about 12-15 hours, it is recommended to supplement the illumination of plants with phytolamps in the morning, evening and afternoon in gloomy weather.
- Before seed germination, the temperature should be 22-25 degrees Celsius. After emergence, the temperature should be reduced to + 17-20 ° C.
- There should be good ventilation in the room where the seedlings grow, but there should be no cool drafts!
- Watering should be regular, but very moderate! The earth should not dry out or be flooded with water! The fact is that seedlings of celosia are prone to rotting of the root system, which can be caused by excess moisture. Therefore, water very sparingly. Watering is desirable in the early morning!
- Also, seedlings of celosia are also susceptible to Black Leg, which is a dangerous fungal disease. You cannot cure it, you can only save the rest of the healthy plants. Because of the black leg, the base of the stem of the seedling softens, rots, the seedlings die and die. Pathogens are activated due to low temperature, high humidity of the soil and air. Therefore, it is impossible to overmoisten the substrate when watering! And also you should maintain an optimal temperature regime. If you notice signs of a disease, you need to immediately remove the affected seedling and sprinkle the area with wood ash. And you also need to adjust the care regimen. Subsequently, after each watering, you can sprinkle the surface of the earth with dry sand. Watering the seedlings with a solution of a biological fungicide, for example, Fitosporin, Gamair, will also not hurt.
- Celosia seedlings respond favorably to feeding. The first time you can feed it 10 days after the pick (or if you grow seedlings without picking, then 10 after the appearance of 2 real leaves). The second feeding is done 7-10 days before planting seedlings in open ground. You should use a complex fertilizer for seedlings, for example, Aquarin, Fertika Lux, Krepysh, Zdraven Aqua. Alternatively, you can use Nitroammofoska (1 tablespoon per 10 liters of water).
Reproduction and planting
Saxifrage planting and care of which is available to a grower of any skill level, multiplies according to certain rules.
The usual vegetative method may not work. The saxifrage plant propagates through cuttings, seeds, layering and dividing rosettes. All of these methods are practiced either in early spring or in November. In this case, the seeds will germinate in the spring. The other methods should be planted in the fall, with the expectation that the flowers have time to release roots before frost and snow.
Germinating seeds
Most often, saxifrage for planting and care in the open field, as well as for indoor conditions, is sown indoors. In spring, sprouts can be planted in the garden.
At home, the seeds are stratified by mixing them with sand and placing the container in the refrigerator for a period of two to three weeks. The soil is compacted a little, covered with the contents of the seed container and watered.
Sowing indoors is more convenient and effective
When planting in an open garden, the next step will be soil preparation. It should only be done when it warms up enough. For the future flower bed, a layer of soil suitable for saxifrage is applied from 20 to 30 cm in thickness. The planted seedlings should be pre-watered once again, and the soil is loosened at the planting points, where recesses for the seedlings are also made with an interval of 20 cm between them. After planting, these places are compacted a little, their first watering is performed about a week later.
When sowing directly into the garden, the seed should be disinfected in potassium permanganate highly diluted with water for a couple of days. Other fungicides will work as well. The disinfected seeds are dried, sand is added to them, then the special soil already applied to ordinary soil is furrowed 1.5 cm. The seeds are planted, covered and watered.
Note! This is not the most efficient method. If nothing has sprouted within a month after spring sowing, you can plant or sow other plants
Rooting cuttings
The time for selection of cuttings is late July. They should be between 7 and 15 cm long.
The shoot is cut below the knot in flowers from two years old using a sharp blade. Its lower leaves are removed, while the cut is immersed in a diluted phytohormone for several seconds.
Division of bushes
This is the most common method. The parts of the plant that appeared in the spring branching, in July, together with their roots, are separated from the main bush with a sharp blade. Sections are treated with wood ash, rosette with fungicides, then young saxifrage is planted in suitable soil. There should be at least 20 cm of free area around it. Planting in the garden should be carried out no earlier than spring. The first flowers can be expected next season.
Layers
Picture 11 Layers serve to spread the cover of the shrub
Note! The second most popular breeding method is layering - this is the simplest method.
Under new young shoots that have grown farther away, in July, small depressions are made in the ground, watered, after which a sprout is fixed there with a light handful of soil.
It should be watered according to a standard schedule with no overabundance in the event of rainfall in horticultural conditions. The roots are released in autumn, but the flower does not separate until spring. The cut is treated with wood ash, then the saxifrage from the cut is transplanted to its new place.
What conditions does a flower need for normal growth and flowering?
For the landing of Nemesia, sunny sites are chosen. An interesting feature of the flower is the rotation of the flower heads following the movement of the sun.
The soil for the plant needs loose and fertile soil. Rotted manure or compost (except for fresh organic matter!) Is added to sandy soils, sand is added to clay soil. Before planting seedlings, the site is dug deeply, since the roots of Nemesia go deep into the soil.
The main thing in caring for a plant is regular and abundant watering. In hot weather, daily soil moisture may be required. Mulching the ground with peat or hay dust, tree bark will help to reduce the amount of watering.
A flower garden with soil without mulch must be loosened weekly.
Lush flowering is impossible without fertilizing with fertilizers every 2 weeks. To do this, use mineral mixtures for flowers, with a predominance of phosphorus, potassium and trace elements. Suitable formulations are produced by firms: Kemira, Ava, Raduga, Fertika.
Immediately after planting seedlings in the garden, pinch the tips of the shoots of nemesia. This will wake up the lateral buds on the twigs and make the plant more lush.
If, during flowering, faded buds are removed in time, more new flowers will form on the bush.
Use in landscape design
Experts identify several mistakes that gardeners often make when growing saxifrage:
- Grown in direct sunlight.
- Seedlings for seedlings are not stratified.
- The depth of planting seeds in the ground is more than 2 cm.
- Application of mineral fertilizers during flowering.
The saxifrage looks flawless on the alpine slides.
Arends' saxifrage is very often used in landscape design for several reasons:
- unpretentiousness;
- the ability to grow where most plants die;
- beautiful ensemble with other plants.
Seedlings are used to decorate rock gardens. It looks harmoniously with artificial embankments, therefore it is used as an element of eco-design. The juicy green tone of the leaf plates in the ensemble with contrasting inflorescences fills the territory of the empty garden favorably.
For your information! Saxifrage Purpurmantel is another graceful variety for exterior solutions. Looks advantageous not only in the garden, but also as a decoration for balconies and terraces.