Eschholzia flowers, which are often called Californian poppies, belong to the Poppy family. This genus unites about 10 species. Under natural conditions, the plant grows in the western regions of North America.
There is an old legend, which says that in the XVI century, Spanish gold miners sailed to the shores of America in search of gold deposits. At a distance of 35 miles from the coast, they noticed a bright golden glow and sent their ships to it, in the hope that they managed to find rich deposits of precious metal. One can imagine what their disappointment was like when they discovered the golden fields of escholzia. Since then, this plant has received another name that the Spaniards gave it - Copa de Ora, which can be translated into Russian as the "golden bowl".
Plant name history
In 1795, a Scottish surgeon and botanist Archibald Mentsiez brought flowers to escholzia to Europe. However, the seeds that he managed to collect did not germinate, and until 1816 the plant remained unexplored. It was not until the fall of 1816 that the Russian expedition led by Lieutenant Kotzebu visited the bay of San Francisco, where two naturalists who participated in the expedition, naturalist Johann Eshscholz and botanist and poet Adelbert Chamizzo, collected and brought to Europe seeds of Eshisholtsia flowers. It is easy to guess what exactly in honor of the naturalist the plant was named.
Thanks to Friedrich Eshscholtz, this beautiful and unpretentious plant appeared in Russia.
Eschscholzia: description
This is a herbaceous perennial bushy plant up to 40 cm high. It is grown as an annual. The root root with numerous branches. There are many thin stems. Deeply cut openwork leaf plates are located on long petioles. They are painted in a bluish-green color.
Single flowers are cupped in diameter up to 8 centimeters. Eschholzia terry is especially beautiful. Outwardly, it also resembles a poppy. Flowers can have different colors - red, white, yellow, orange, as well as a variety of shades of these colors. On a cloudy, rainy, cold or very windy day, as well as at night, they close.
Beneficial features
For a long time, the Indians used the aerial parts of the plant to anesthetize with toothache, and pollen collected from flowers was a cosmetic product. Eschscholtia flowers were used to prepare a decoction that was effective in pediculosis. Today, in America, escholzia drugs are used in pediatrics as an anesthetic and sedative, while in France it is grown on an industrial scale and used in the pharmaceutical industry. Such drugs have one significant advantage - the absence of side effects.
Varieties and types of eschscholzia
Today, mid-latitude gardeners grow predominantly Californian eschscholthia, soddy, and much less commonly, Lobb escholzia. With some types and varieties of eschscholzia we will introduce you in more detail.
Kinds:
Eshsoltsia Lobba. A low plant with a height of not more than 15 centimeters. The diameter of the pale yellow flowers does not exceed 20 mm. The flower petals are quite unusual - in orange speck.
Eshsholtsiya sod. Another short bush (no more than 15 cm). The leaf rosette consists of thin, dissected plates of greenish-bluish color. On their surface you can see a thin wax coating. They are painted green with a bluish tint. Directly above the outlet is a dense inflorescence, which consists of flowers in the shape of a bowl with a diameter of about 30 mm in a deep yellow color. The plant begins to bloom in mid-June and continues to delight the eye until late autumn.
Eshsholtsiya California. This species looks very much like wild poppy, which is why it is often called the "California poppy". This is a branched creeping herbaceous perennial shrub no more than 40 cm high. It has many thin and ribbed greenish-gray shoots that extend from the stem. They are covered with light blue, triple dissected leaves. Single cupped flowers with a diameter of almost 9 centimeters can have different colors - orange, white, cream, yellow, carmine. Flowering is always very magnificent, occurs from June until the first frost.
The most popular varieties of eschscholzia:
Strawberry Fields. The edges of the petals of the flowers of this variety are painted in a bright red color, which towards the center changes to rich yellow.
Peach Sorbet. Very delicate cream-colored terry flowers. The plant has a very active flowering.
Apple blossom. Quite large, densely-terry flowers that look like an apple blossom.
Chiffon. This is an unusual mixture of seeds, which includes species of different sizes and colors. This eschscholzia in the flowerbed looks especially attractive. In addition, this variety is used to decorate lawns and borders. The height of the bushes varies from 35 to 40 cm. Terry flowers differ in corrugated edges. They are usually colored red, hot pink, white or yellow. One flower combines several shades. The plant blooms in May and pleases with a beautiful view until frost.
Ballerina Mix. This is a mixture of terry and simple varieties. The color of the flowers is orange, yellow or pink. Diameter of flowers reaches 8 centimeters. The height of the bushes ranges from 25 to 40 cm. Three times dissected leaves are covered with a coating of wax.
Mikado Low bushes (up to 30 cm). The diameter of simple flowers is about 7 centimeters. They are painted bright yellow, with an orange spot in the center.
Growing eschscholtsia
Planting and care of eschscholzia are procedures that will not cause problems even for beginner gardeners. This is a light and heat-loving plant, which quite easily tolerates prolonged drought and the first autumn frosts. Gardeners appreciate these flowers for their long flowering, which lasts until late autumn. Moreover, the bushes look great not only in the flowerbed - eschscholzia in the pot will be a wonderful decoration of the veranda or arbor. After flowering, small boxes appear on the plant, which in shape resemble pods - these are fruits.
Eshsholtzia is not demanding on soils - it grows well and develops in almost any soil, including even sandy ones. It is important that the soil is well-drained and loose. What this plant does not tolerate is acidic, seasoned with fresh manure or too moist soils. In this case, the risk is high that the plant will die.
Planting Methods
Gardeners are aware of two, in their opinion, equally effective methods of sowing seeds - spring and autumn. When planted in spring, flowering occurs only in the middle of summer. Californian poppy seeds planted in the winter and received conditions that are as close to natural as possible, bloom a few weeks earlier than spring.
Planting seeds in autumn
Each gardener decides when to plant eschscholtia grown from seeds. Most gardeners consider the first half of October to be the best time. Since the seeds of this plant are very small and from the slightest gust of wind scatter in all directions, they should be pressed a little when planting in the ground. From above they must be sprinkled with a thin layer of earth and covered with mulch. This is necessary in order to maintain soil moisture, and on its surface does not appear a crust, which will inevitably slow down the germination of seedlings.
Seeds sown in the fall, germinate in early spring, but provided that high-quality planting material has been used and the rules for caring for the plant have been followed during the entire period of cultivation of eschscholia from seeds. When to plant seeds in spring? In steady warm weather, when night frosts pass. Prior to this, planting material is recommended to be stored in the lowest compartment of the refrigerator.
What should be done after planting eschscholtsia? Care for it during this period is reduced to thinning out the first seedlings, which appear after about two weeks. The first procedure is carried out when the sprouts grow to fifteen centimeters. Remove all weak plants, leaving strong and strong shoots. The distance between plants should be about 20 cm.
Sowing technique
In principle, care for escholia begins already with the sowing of seeds that maintain germination capacity for a maximum of three years. For sowing, choose a lit area with dry sandy soil. Shallow grooves should be made in it, in which seeds are sown, mixed for convenience with sand. Planting material has been deepened, and then the surface of the site is covered with a thin layer of earth or peat.
During autumn sowing, it is advisable to mulch the area with fallen leaves, and the layer should be quite thick.
Growing seedlings
Many gardeners believe that with the seedling method of planting eschscholzia, caring for it is much easier. Choosing this method, it is necessary to take into account that the plant has a long, rod-shaped root system, which can be easily injured by picking. That is why it is advisable to use peat tablets for sowing.
When to plant eschscholzia for seedlings? Usually this work is carried out in late February or early March. In this case, the tablets are placed in a plastic container into which water is poured. When the tablets swell, remove excess moisture from the container. Only one seed should be sown in each tablet. It’s convenient to use a wet toothpick. Sprinkle the seeds on top with a thin layer of soil for seedlings. The tablets should be slightly moistened from a spray bottle.
Cover the container with plastic wrap or a sheet of glass. You will see the first shoots after fifteen days. After that, the shelter can be removed, and the container placed in a cool (not higher than +20 ° C), well-lit place. During this period, seedlings are easy to care for: they should be regularly watered and fertilized after 15 days with mineral liquid fertilizer for seedlings.
Seedlings must undergo a mandatory hardening procedure. It is carried out 20 days before the planting of seedlings in the ground. To do this, the container with seedlings is transferred once a day to a cooler room, where it should be several hours. Hardened seedlings when transplanted into open ground can easily tolerate a drop in air temperature to -5 ° C.
Landing
The time of planting eschscholtsia in open ground depends on the growing region and climatic conditions. As a rule, in the middle lane this can be done at the end of April. But you should focus on weather conditions: seedlings are planted only when the threat of return spring frosts passes.
Landing Features
First, on the site, it is necessary to prepare small landing pits at a distance of at least 30 cm, since the bushes of Eshsholtsiya are quite sprawling and fluffy. Seedlings are immersed in a well along with the peat tablet in which it grew. Then it is covered with soil, which must be well compacted. Then the plants are well watered.
Eshsholtsia, planted in seedlings, begins to bloom a month after sowing seeds for seedlings.
How to care for a plant?
Landing and caring for eschscholzia are simple, but have some features. After the seedlings are planted in open ground, it is necessary to loosen the soil regularly, as well as to make timely feeding.
Watering is carried out only during a long dry period. If the summer is rainy, then the plant does not need additional moisture. In order for eschscholitzia to bloom continuously and actively, it is necessary to feed it with a mineral fertilizer containing potassium, phosphorus, trace elements, nitrogen before flowering. Fresh organics should be excluded, since it can cause the death of the plant.
You need to know that eschscholzia reproduces remarkably by self-sowing, but if you do not want this, then just remove the fading flowers in time. When the bush blooms completely, cut off all the old stems, and after a while new, young shoots will appear in their place, which will bloom in 15 days.
Care for escholia after flowering. How to collect seeds?
Owners of eschscholtia usually do not collect seeds, since these flowers reproduce themselves spontaneously. It is enough to thin out the seedlings in the spring and wait for flowering. Seeds are needed only if you are going to breed such a beautiful plant in your area or want to give them to someone. So that they do not spill out onto the ground, put gauze bags on a few fading flowers.
Then you should wait about four weeks, since the seeds should ripen completely. After this, it is necessary to cut the boxes - at home, over the sheet of paper, seed is extracted from them.
Seeds must be well dried and poured into a paper bag and put it in the refrigerator, on the lower shelf. In such conditions, they are stored until spring. If you strictly follow the collection and storage rules, the material will retain viability for three years.
Preparing the plant for winter
We have already said that in nature there are perennial eschscholts, but in the middle latitudes these flowers are most often cultivated as annuals or biennials. That is why in autumn you should cut off the remains of plants and carefully dig the site. In spring, strong seedlings will surely emerge on it. They need to be thinned out, fertilized - and after four weeks the bushes will please you with their lush flowering.
Today we told you about a wonderful plant - eschscholzia. Planting and caring for it are procedures that will not cause much trouble even for beginner gardeners. Therefore, if you want to grow unpretentious bushes on your site, which will delight you with flowering from the beginning of summer to frost, we recommend that you pay attention to escholzia.