With blue in the garden there are always some miracles. Its constantly small. It is much easier to achieve an abundance of bright greenery, diluting it with burgundy roses, scarlet asters. White lilies of the valley, red and yellow tulips - with their help it is so easy to create a colorful flowerbed. But if you decide to add blue to it, then problems arise. Delphiniums, bells, phloxes and asters - it seems like a rich choice, and as a result you get different shades, but all are a little different than you wanted. And almost the only plant that color is bright, piercing blue stars, is gentian seven-parted.
general description
These are amazing flowers that love cold and tall. Apparently that's why they got such a wonderful color. Like sky in the mountains, like a river through clear ice, blue glasses that cannot be overlooked. If you went to the mountains, you probably saw them. Gentian sevenfold grows in the vicinity of Lake Baikal. Against the background of snow-white glaciers, these amazing flowers raise their heads.
Do not try to dig them out and drop them in the garden. Wild plants are not adapted for life in well-moistened and nutritious soil. Therefore, it is better to buy seeds of adapted plants. Seven-parted gentian today is successfully grown by breeders, so there will be no problems with the acquisition of seeds or seedlings.
Botanical characteristics
In fact, the plant belongs to a fairly extensive family with a similar name - gentian. Seven-parted gentian is just one of the varieties. The name itself suggests that some parts have a pronounced, bitter taste. This is due to the presence of glycosides in the composition.
On the territory of Russia there are many species. Gentians come in a variety of heights, from miniature ones that don't exceed 10 cm to very tall ones that reach the height of an adult. The choice of plant is determined by the characteristics of your site, the size of the flower bed and the height of other flowers.
Unpretentious guest in your garden
Such is the gentian seven-parted. This low plant is about 30 cm tall. It is completely covered with narrow leaves. Flowers of a dark blue, deep hue form a large, capitate inflorescence. Flowering continues from mid-June until the onset of frost. The plant is widely used as an ornamental.
Growing this amazing plant would be a great option for a garden that has a rockery or rock garden. Gentian seven-section lagodekhskaya is a real diamond of the garden, inaccessible and mysterious, rare and beautiful. Many believe that in our gardens this plant does not overwinter. Nothing like that, you just need to know how to care for it.
Some gardeners abandon the idea of planting gentian. They believe that planting and caring for these plants is incredibly complex. Just because they supposedly do not grow, you need to literally live in the garden. We hasten to assure you that there are substantially less worries with them than with roses, dahlias or gladioli. But they are in almost every garden. The gentian seven-section lagodekhsky is very beautiful and unpretentious. She loves partial shade and fertile land, so she will decorate any front garden.
Breeding
The easiest way to plant them in the garden. Make a small bed and in the fall lay the seeds on the surface, slightly sprinkling them with earth. Later they will be covered with snow, and they will winter well. You can use an alternative option. Seeds are sown in a cup of wet sand and put on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. In January-February, the temperature is increased to +10, maintaining this regime for two weeks. After that, they again clean the lower shelf of the refrigerator. By early April, they will be ready for sowing in the ground.
Miniature species can be propagated by cuttings of young outlets. But the seven-part gentian is better not to share. Injury to the root neck can lead to the death of the plant. A very convenient way is to cut the vegetative shoots that need to be broken with the heel. The planting of gentian sevenfold is performed in the spring.
Seed germination
This is the easiest option to grow gentian in your garden. Photos can be found in the online store, and then order the selected bag. Keep in mind that the seeds are very small, open carefully. They need to be stratified for 3 months at a temperature of +7 degrees. Freshly harvested seeds are sown. They are mixed with sand and scattered on the surface, slightly pressing to the soil. Larger ones can be lightly sprinkled with earth. But most often this is not required.
Garden cultivation
If you show a little patience, then the gentian sevenfold will grow on your site soon. The photo of this plant captivates at first sight, prompting the gardener to find and plant its seeds. This plant is suitable for cultivation in the garden, but at the same time it is difficult to give general recommendations. In any case, you need to choose a place that is not too open for him, Light penumbra would be preferable.
The soil must be selected close to the composition on which the species you choose lives in nature. For example, a seven-part variety grows on stones, so it needs to create similar conditions in the garden. For this, an embankment is made from fertile soil, and after that it is strengthened with stones. Between them and flowers are planted. But these plants do not tolerate transplantation, so it is advisable to select a place for them immediately.
Necessary lighting
It is very important that they have enough light, otherwise you will never get such bright corollas as in the photo. The gentian feels great in partial shade, but the lack of light is bad for her. Being devoid of sunlight, the stems are stretched, this affects the decorativeness and quality of flowering. Like all varieties that bloom in mid-summer, they should not be planted in places that are open to the midday sun. A good option would be to choose a place near ponds or catchment areas.
Despite the fact that they are usually considered as a culture for rock gardens, classical southern locations are not at all preferable for them. In the bright sun, delicate corollas burn out. In addition, the soil here will dry out very quickly. Therefore, in rockeries it is best to use them in Western displays. Then the plants will delight you with exquisite flowers.
Preparing a place for landing
It is very important to abandon the use of places with heavy, swampy soil, lowlands. On average, all gentians prefer light, nutritious, well-permeable soil. Therefore, a landing pit or slide should be created with a good drainage layer.
A seven-section variety requires rocky soil. To do this, a mixture of clay, a small amount of peat, humus leaf and large gravel is made. If you want to create a decorative composition, then the top layer is laid out from large stones and fastened together by a cement composition. Then you get a long-term flowerbed.
Landing and care
The gentian is seven-sectional very moody in terms of planting. If you injure the root system, then you will not be destined to see its flowers. They land in late April or September. In this case, single and growing plants in the group are planted in individual wells. Thicken planting is not recommended, the maximum density is about 20 cm per square meter. The minimum distance between plants is two diameters of the outlet.
Before directly planting bushes, thoroughly prepare the soil. To do this, it is recommended to dig it twice. In places with insufficient water permeability and friability, lay drainage of large stones and gravel. The diameter of the planting fossa should be three times larger than the plant itself. At the same time, seedlings must not be buried in the ground. They should remain at the same level with the line of garden soil.
Gentian is planted using fertilizers and substances that the plant needs for growth and development. To do this, bone and horn flour is added to each well during planting. For this variety, it is recommended to mulch the soil with coarse sand. But for the remaining forms it is best to use peat, which will provide nutrition and good water permeability.
Wintering
This is the moment that causes the most questions among gardeners. In fact, this plant does not require complex care. Gentian is a hardy culture that survives beautifully in the mountains under extreme conditions. Therefore, in the middle zone of Russia, as well as in Siberia, it winters without any shelter. exceptions may be high rock gardens, on which snow does not linger. Without natural shelter, flowers can freeze and go bad in spring.
In this case, care must be taken to retain snow on the artificial slide. To do this, you need to build a kind of mesh, which is laid out with spruce branches. It will hold snow well and your plants will be safe.
We achieve good flowering
Everyone wants their garden to look like in a picture or photo. Gentian, the care of which is not too complicated, is quite suitable for the role of both central and framing the composition of the plant. It depends on your preference. With the right selection of growing conditions, all efforts of the grower are reduced to banal support irrigation. This provides light but necessary soil moisture during the dry season. This is mainly important during the period of flowering and planting buds.
For gentian, stagnation of moisture is unacceptable. Therefore, with excessive rainfall, it is better to take additional measures for loosening the soil. It is important to speed up its drying.
Pruning and feeding
For any garden plants, these are topical issues. But gentian is that rare option when you can refuse them without prejudice to flowering and growth. To maintain normal soil nutrition, it is sufficient to renew peat mulch with the addition of bone meal and limestone in early spring. It should also be noted that the need for mineral and organic fertilizers increases depending on how much the gentian blooms. Planting and care (the photo shows how beautiful she is during this period) involve the use of fresh, nutritious soil.
But constant flowering provokes its gradual exhaustion. And the brighter and more magnificent corollas, the more nutrients they require. Abundantly blooming gentians on completely impoverished soils with irregular texture can be fed with a weakened dose of mineral fertilizers. Active top dressing does not lead to improved growth, but to the death of plants.
Diseases and Pests
This plant surprisingly harmoniously enters into any flower bed and, unlike tender, greenhouse seedlings, it is very rarely affected by pests and diseases. This usually occurs with waterlogging of the soil and violation of the growing conditions. Therefore, you can not be afraid that your alpine hill at one point bald and become unattractive.
An exception may be snails and slugs. These creatures are omnivorous, and if they have chosen your flower garden, they will eat everything that comes in their way. You can collect them manually or using special traps. The chemicals against them also work well, but most often there is no need to use heavy artillery.
Fungal infection is another danger, the possibility of which cannot be ruled out. If signs of damage are detected, the plant must be completely removed, or transplanted as yet healthy specimens in more suitable conditions for them. Fungal lesions are always closely related to moisture levels. But today there are a number of systemic drugs that will serve as reliable protection even in the rainy season.
Varieties
Seven-parted gentian is a common name that unites a lot of variations. In addition, close species easily interbreed with each other. Therefore, under this name you can find plants of different shades of blue and blue, as well as original, two-tone varieties.
- The gentian is seven-sectional lagodekh - dark blue with white. A very interesting view that will become a real decoration of your garden. But if you are expecting a piercing blue of flowers, then you have not guessed a little. This variety has a deep, dark shade with a white center. All in all a very interesting variety. It can live even on dry soil and in excessively hot suns. Actual for gardeners who do not want to rack their brains and pick up a place for each plant. The plant patiently tolerates a large content of limestone in the soil, as well as low temperatures. Gentian seven-section var lagodekhiana grows quite large. Flowers are collected in capitate inflorescences. They adorn erect stems covered with lanceolate, sessile leaves. Flowering begins in June and lasts quite a long time. Gentian seven-section var lagodekhiana is one of the few species that can bloom to the very frosts. To do this, she needs partial shade and sufficient humidity.
- Gentian seven-parted Christie. This is a plant with a rising stem and short lateral shoots. The flowers are dark blue, in dense inflorescences. Flowering begins in mid-summer. It grows well in partial shade on moisture-intensive, clay soils. The easiest way to grow it in your area is to sow the seeds before winter. They will be stratified and together in the next year.
This list does not end there. The genus includes more than 300 species. About 90 of them grow in Russia. They are widespread in the Caucasus and in Western Siberia. In the meadows and fields you can find gentian pulmonary and cruciform. In the mountains of Western Europe, you can find stemless and spring varieties. In the alpine zone has its own beauty, it is called the gentian chill. All these are perennial plants that delight with corollas of a bright blue color. In the arid and desert regions of the Caucasus and Central Asia, the Olivier variety is found. Among them there are species that are famous for their medicinal properties, therefore it cannot be said that this plant is exclusively decorative.
Gentian in garden design
These unusual plants will bring beauty and originality to your garden. They fill it with deep shades of blue and make it extraordinary. Gentian blooms in July, therefore, for normal growth and development, it requires increased humidity. A low variety is good in borders. Their bright blue color is in perfect harmony with white, pink, yellow flowers. They are indispensable in rockeries and on the lower tiers of the alpine hill. Peerless, blue funnel-shaped flowers look harmoniously next to saxifrages and cereals.
Application in traditional medicine
For the first time, decoctions and infusions of this plant were used in ancient Rome. They were used as a treatment for stomach diseases, as well as plague. In the Middle Ages, gentian was prescribed by doctors with diarrhea and tuberculosis, as an anthelmintic. It was especially popular in the Carpathians; here, with its help, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and liver were treated. And today, doctors confirm that the glycosides contained in it contribute to the stimulation of appetite. The people used gentian as a general strengthening, antitussive agent.
Instead of a conclusion
Gentian is not the most common garden flower. Therefore, if you want to surprise your guests, then try to drop him on your flower beds. Delicate blue bells will be the best decoration from mid-summer to the very frosts. They are not suitable for cutting, but they look very good surrounded by buttercups, marigolds, various cereals. The main thing is that large plants do not completely cover them.
Spectacular compositions are those in which the gentian is planted in small lakes against the background of other, low plants. Any flowerbed in its frame will be ideal. Even after the flowering time ends, the dense rosette-buns still look very beautiful.