Unfortunately, only a small number of our gardeners grow such a wonderful plant as levkoy on their plots. Planting and care for it should be carried out annually, so many people do not want to cultivate this flower, preferring perennials. Levkoy (matthiola), belonging to the Cruciferous family, is an annual. About fifty species of this plant are counted.
The most valuable for flower growers are modern varieties of terry left-handed groups. The charm of this flower lies not only in its long and abundant flowering, but also in the fact that it can be used as a cut crop. Levka flowers are single-stemmed and branched. Different varieties have different stem heights (30-100 cm). Fragrant, large flowers are collected in spike-shaped inflorescences of various densities. Levkoy, planting and caring for which is not particularly difficult, pleases its owners with an insane number of colors. They are white, pink, lilac, violet, blue, yellow, burgundy, red, etc. This plant is particularly cold-resistant, so it blooms right up to autumn frosts.
Levkoy (landing and care)
This flower is propagated by seeds. Levkoy, whose cultivation through seedlings gives an excellent result, many experienced flower growers prefer to sow seeds directly into the ground. For beginning gardeners, it is preferable that the seedling method. Seedlings are grown in peat pots with a nutrient substrate, so that when transplanting, they damage the root system less and the plant does not tolerate unnecessary stress, as left-handed people do not tolerate transplantation. The first shoots at a favorable temperature appear after a week. Plants of different varieties bloom in a fairly wide range of time (70-110 days), so to create a continuously flowering "carpet" you need to grow several different groups of left-handed. This flower is photophilous. Prefers sandy and loamy nutrient soils. They must be well moistened and drained. This plant is responsive to mineral nutrition.
Left-wing groups
Domestic flower growers distinguish the two most common groups of these flowers in our latitudes. Levkoys, the planting and care of which are independent of the variety, differ significantly in appearance. The group of single-stem plants (“Quedlinburg single-stem”) includes plants with a strong, thin stem 60-70 cm tall. These lefts have loose inflorescences that make up 1/3 of the plant. They include the following varieties: "azurblau", "brilliantroza", "rubitron". Other left-handed ("brilliant") have a height of 30-50 cm. They are distinguished by a strong thick stem and dense inflorescences that make up ½ of the plant. They include such varieties: "gelb", "vice", "pomegranate", "dunkelrosa", "carmesine". Branched varieties are divided into subgroups that take into account the structure of the plant and the shape of the inflorescence. In this group, short-branched (“Erfurt”), bouquet-shaped (“Victoria”), and pyramidal left-handed ones are distinguished. Branched varieties, as a rule, are shorter than single-stemmed. According to the peculiarities of the Levka vegetation, planting and care for which are almost the same for all groups, they are divided into winter, summer, autumn. Breeders bred more than 400 summer varieties.