Hare cabbage and stone rose - this is the name of this unusual plant. Its varieties can be grown in open ground and at home on the window. Care for youngsters is surprisingly simple. For this reason, experienced flower growers recommend cultivating this unusual plant for beginners in this field.
Sempervivum (flowers): types and varieties
Although young and called a flower, in fact it is an evergreen grass with lush villi, fleshy. It forms small sockets, which make up to fifteen leaflets.
Young growth - flowers exceeding a height of 25 cm. Looking at the photo below, name the flower, similar to young growth. In our opinion, the plant is very similar to a rose bud or a rare variety of ornamental cabbage. The plant blooms only once, in the summer. This usually occurs in the third year of life, but flowering lasts 2.5 months. The rest of the time, the flower pleases with its unusual and very beautiful leaves: rounded or oblong, long and pointed.
Depending on the variety, the leaves can be painted in brown, green, pink, red and even silver. Some species at different times of the year change their color. A rich color palette appealed to modern landscape designers, and they successfully use this culture to decorate the territories of country houses and summer cottages.
Today, more than fifty varieties of juveniles are known. Under natural conditions, the plant is found in the highlands of southern Europe, the Caucasus, and Southeast Asia. We present you the most popular of them.
Roofing
One of the most famous varieties. The leaves are painted green with a spectacular red border.
Cobwebby
It has tiny rosettes with a diameter of about three centimeters. This flower has got its name thanks to the white villi on the leaves. From a distance they resemble a cobweb.
Marble
Leaves are painted red-green. And their tips are pale pink.
Wulfen
To some, this variety seems too simple. However, many gardeners love it for the beautiful delicate green color of five-centimeter sockets.
Gamma
A very spectacular plant, bred by breeders not so long ago. It features spectacular dark brown leaves.
Landing
Young - flowers, the description of which can be found in our material, have an original appearance. Many people think that if a plant looks so unusual, then planting and caring for it is incredibly difficult. And this is a common misconception. Experienced flower growers note the unusual unpretentiousness of this plant.
To grow flowers young in the open ground it is necessary:
- open sunny place;
- infertile, sandy, well-permeable soil.
If these requirements are met, after planting the plant, you can forget about leaving. Young growths take root much worse on clay heavy soils, cannot tolerate excess moisture and excess fertilizer. Youngsters are flowers with an underdeveloped root system, so you should not make large indentations when planting. Between large outlets leave a distance of about 15 cm, between small ones - 5 cm.
After planting, the plants are watered. If you decide to grow young in the apartment, then drainage must be put on the bottom of the pot. Sawdust or sand can be added to the soil. The main requirement for successful rearing of young growth in an apartment is a well-lit place (usually a window sill).
Plant care
Plant care is reduced to the release of weeds and rosettes that have outlived their age, as well as loosening of the soil. Young flowers practically do not need watering. Like most succulents, they accumulate moisture in the leaves. Every five years, youngsters need a transplant. You can easily determine that the plant needs this procedure: sockets will become much smaller.
Dampness is contraindicated for plants - the lower leaves rot from it. It is necessary to ensure that the water in the open ground in the spring does not stagnate. Nazima was not covered with young: the plant tolerates low temperatures well.
Top dressing
Permanent fertilizer, especially organic matter, harms the plant. It loses its decorativeness, even leaves can change color. Fertilizing is useful for youngsters in the period of active growth. To do this, use complex fertilizer for succulents.
In the spring, during planting, you can add nitrogen fertilizers to the soil, for example, ammonium nitrate (7-8 g per 1 sq. M). It stimulates plant growth.
Breeding
If you are fond of growing young growth and decide to increase the number of plants on the site, you can use two methods of reproduction:
- use child sockets;
- sow the seeds.
They are sown, we can say, superficially, not deeper than 1 mm. Sowing time is February or March. Germinate seeds at a temperature of + 20 ° C. Shoots appear very quickly - on the fifth day. Seedlings should be protected from direct sunlight. Youngsters are planted in a permanent place in mid-summer.
A faster, and therefore more popular method of reproduction is with child sockets. They are separated from the mother plants in the spring, although you can do this in the summer. Large sockets can immediately be planted in open ground in a permanent place. Shallow before planting on ridges.
Sempervivum: combination with other plants
Young in a flower bed with other colors (the photo you can see in this article) looks very impressive. A variety of varieties allows you to use it in landscape design. It goes well with other ground cover plants: saxifrage, stonecrop and others. With their help create magnificent colorful carpets. A combination of different types of youngsters looks spectacular on one site.
Very good compositions with flowers (phlox, for example). But making out a flower bed, you must remember one rule. Youngsters cannot stand the neighborhood with lushly flowering plants that create a shadow undesirable for a stone rose. It looks better on the alpine hill. Often they are decorated with rockeries (decorative slides built of stones).
You can plant this perennial along garden paths. The variety of species of this plant, simple maintenance of it allows even beginner summer residents to experiment with design on their site.
Signs and superstitions
Shrouded in signs and superstitions, the flower was younger. Some people considered it a flower of Jupiter and were sure that he was able to protect the house from lightning. In the Middle Ages, just for this purpose, youngsters were planted on the roofs of houses.
The ancient Greeks were sure that by consuming flowers it was younger for food, a person protects himself from the action of any poisons - thanks to the unusual properties of the flower, the body was supposedly filled with energy and strength. Famous healers of antiquity sacredly believed that the flower’s rosette was able to protect from the bite of a poisonous scorpion and increase resistance to many diseases.
Many people, adhering to ancient signs, still believe that this plant is unsuitable for growing in the house, because it causes various negative associations. In fact, it all depends on how a person relates to all this, whether it is a bad sign for him or not. Negative signs associated with the flower younger in the apartment are untenable, because this unusual plant is even included in wedding bouquets, and in the organization of such an event, you see, any trifle matters.
Therefore, do not be afraid of the negative influence of a stone rose. This flower deserves attention, and every year it gains more and more admirers of its unusual beauty.
Young flower: healing properties
Some varieties of youngsters are used only as ornamental plants, while others have medicinal properties. For the preparation of medications based on the young, only the leaves of plants that are rich in trace elements can be used.
Traditional healers actively use this plant for medicinal purposes with:
- migraines
- treatment of long non-healing wounds;
- elevated temperature;
- gynecological problems;
- diathesis;
- hemorrhoids;
- heart failure.
It is used to correct some skin defects: eczema and psoriasis, freckles and warts. Based on the plants are prepared:
- decoctions;
- alcohol tinctures;
- pastes and ointments.
In the absence of individual contraindications, juveniles are consumed fresh. Only leaves that taste like broccoli are consumed raw.
Recipes: a decoction for treating the stomach
A spoon (tablespoon) of chopped leaves of youngster is poured into a thermos and pour 500 ml of boiling water. The broth is infused for two hours. Use it half an hour before meals three times a day.
Infusion
Twenty leaves of medium size pour 250 ml of boiling water. Let the composition brew for about two hours in a thermos. Then it is filtered and taken on a spoon (canteen) three times a day with gastrointestinal ulcers.
Alcohol tincture
Rinse twenty leaves well with running water and place in a glass dish. Pour them with 300 ml of alcohol or vodka. Put the jar in a cool, dark place for ten days. Tincture is used 30 drops twice a day for gynecological inflammatory diseases.
Contraindications
- Allergic reactions.
- Hypersensitivity to the components of the plant.
Overdosing can cause serious poisoning.