Cardiocrinum - giant lilies. They are very unusual bulbous perennials. They have a tall stem and large leaves of a heart-shaped shape. During flowering, slightly drooping white flowers form, sometimes with a greenish tint, in appearance they are very similar to lilies.
Giant lilies (cardiocrinum) fully justify their name. In height, these plants can reach 3 meters. They bloom in the second half of summer. Flowering continues for a fairly long period of time. Despite the fact that cardiocrinum is a winter-hardy flower, it still needs additional shelter from frost.
If you decide to plant cardiocrinum (giant lilies, photos of which are shown) in your garden, you will not regret it. It is important to know some features of caring for him.
These plants prefer light partial shade, the place should be protected from drafts and wind. The soil is not particularly demanding, but light loamy soil is more suitable for such flowers. They respond well to the addition of humus or compost.
If you decide to plant several flowers such as cardiocrinum, the distance between them should be at least 1 meter. After the growing season, their roots die off, forming several daughter bulbs, which will bloom the next year.
Cardiocrinum (giant lilies) is a flower, of course, winter-hardy, but it may not withstand severe frosts. Therefore, you should definitely take care of sheltering an unusual plant for the winter. For these purposes, use fallen dry leaves or peat. You can float a spruce branch or special covering material.
How does a plant such as cardiocrinum propagate?
Giant lilies are propagated by daughter bulbs or seeds. In the first method, after the plant fades, small bulbs are dug and planted in prepared wells. Another important point: planting of the material should be carried out in a special way. It is slightly dug into the soil so that the upper part of the bulbs sticks out of the ground.
Using the second method is impractical, since it is very difficult to grow young plants from seeds, and they will bloom only after a few years. True, this period can be shortened if the seeds are stratified in a special way, but still this process is quite laborious. The method of propagation by seeds is good in that it allows you to get a lot of new flowers.
Cardiocrinum (giant lilies) looks very good when decorating high borders and alleys. This plant is used by many landscape designers to create original compositions.
And yet, before you start updating your site with giant lilies, remember that such tall species will look best, growing separately, since the height of such flowers makes the rest of the large plants simply dwarfs. That is why it is better to plant cardiocrinum as a live fence, for example along paths or fences.