Many gardeners with undisguised admiration belong to the heliotrope. This flower is a real decoration of any garden, and its pleasant vanilla aroma calms and pacifies. A shrub with harsh leaves and blue or purple small flowers gathered into shields is the heliotrope. Growing from the seeds of this plant does not cause much trouble, although it makes gardeners work hard.
The
heliotrope flower blooms in June and pleases the eye until the very frosts. Although this shrub is considered a perennial plant, but in our country it is cultivated as an annual. He comes from South America, so the thermophilic flower does not withstand our frosts and disappears during the winter. The heliotrope is remarkable for the fact that it always turns its small numerous flowers towards the sun, as if in search of light and heat, which it so lacks in our area.
The plant is grown in two ways: seeds and cuttings. The first method is more time-consuming, but necessary for reproduction, and the second can be used if there is an adult heliotrope. Growing from seeds involves the preparation of a substrate and the presence of a room with a temperature of about 20 ° C. In seedlings, you need to pour a mixture of garden soil, peat and sand. The seeds are very small, so it is recommended to pour them on a folded leaf in half and sow.
The soil must be decontaminated, so before planting seeds it must be steamed or shed with boiling water. To make plants appear faster, the box is installed in a warm place and covered with glass to create greenhouse conditions that
likes heliotrope. Growing from seeds, although not considered an easy way, but seedlings turn out to be healthy, and flowers - large. Shoots appear after 21-30 days. In March and April, there is still not so much sunlight, therefore, so that the plants do not stretch out,
fluorescent lamps need additional illumination
.It is possible to transplant seedlings into separate pots or cups when the first true leaf appears, which the heliotrope can soon boast of. Growing from seeds allows you to get a large number of seedlings in a short time, so it is important that there is free space for its placement. You need to pinch the flower when it reaches a height of 10 cm.
Growing the heliotrope by seeds is problematic annually, so you can resort to cuttings. To do this, in the fall, before the onset of frost, dig the most healthy adult plants and transplant them into a pot. If you provide them with light and warmth, then the flowers will bloom in
machine conditions. In January-February, you can begin to cuttings, pruning new shoots and planting them in
peat tablets. Seedlings are planted in open land in late May or early June, when the danger of frosts is over.
Bright, unforgettable, beautiful and fragrant - all this is a heliotrope. This flower will become a real decoration of any garden. The plant is known for its pleasant vanilla aroma that attracts many people, but whether it will smell depends primarily on the seed manufacturer. Some breeders focus on unpretentiousness to growing conditions, and only then on the presence of smell. But still, most heliotropes have a wonderful aroma and delight with their flowering all summer.