Echinacea is a flower with spectacular appearance and miraculous healing properties . Surely you have heard in your life such a phrase: "Echinacea - from all the illnesses of a panacea". And indeed, this is so. And how brightly she can decorate a flower bed , becomes the last argument in favor of her landing on her home plot.
Echinacea - cultivation and care in the garden
The plant is so unpretentious in care and at the same time highly decorative, so that many flower growers, without hesitation, plant these flowers on their flower beds.
Echinacea is a perennial plant with multiple short roots. Its stems are simple, but have the ability to curl. And the abundance of beautiful, rough leaves makes them very attractive. At the top, the stem ends in a spherical flower basket.
Depending on the variety, the size and color of the flowers varies. Agrotechnics Echinacea simple. First of all, you need to choose a sunny place, because in the shade they grow poorly. But in winter it is perfectly tolerated by frosts, and in summer - by severe drought. To the soil the plant is absolutely undemanding, the only thing - in light soils it is unlikely to get accustomed. Sandy soils are more preferable for it.
After planting, echinacea needs a simple care: watering as necessary, autumn pruning stems and mulching for the winter. It does not even need to be fed. Only once, in the spring, you can make fertilizers to activate growth and during the budding period, it is a good idea to repeat this procedure.
Reproduction of Echinacea
There are 2 ways of multiplying Echinacea: by seeds and by dividing the bush. Seeds are planted first in a closed ground and await sprouting, which comes already after 14-30 days. For this procedure, boxes with earth are needed, into which seeds are sown and sprinkled with sand. Water should be carefully, so as not to wash away sand and seeds. It is impossible to allow the drying of the soil, but it is not necessary to fill too much. When the seedlings will appear, they can be transplanted into the open ground. Usually it is done in May.
Another way is to divide the bush, it is used in the spring. The bushes are divided and first placed in a solution with a root growth activator. Then they are planted in the soil, making sure that the root collars are at ground level.
Both of these methods are equally effective, so if you wish, you can apply any of them.
Varieties of Echinacea
There are many varieties of this beautiful plant:
- The most common sort of echinacea is "Purple" . It is famous for its large (up to 12 cm in diameter) and colorful flowers, in the center of which stands a dome of a brown core. At home, in North America and Mexico, this plant grows wild in stony hills, fields, forests and wastelands. Accordingly, care for the "Purple" echinacea can not be difficult.
- Echinacea "Strange" is the only one of its kind with a yellow color. Very unusual and bright, like the sun.
- Cranberry Cupcake - one of the most beautiful terry varieties with a rich purple hue.
- The King - very tall flowers, reaching 2.2 meters. Large reddish-pink
flowers are amazing with their beauty. - White Swan is a white sort of Echinacea, growing them is akin to chamomile breeding, but they are very similar to them.
- Indiaca - the height of the stems can reach 75 cm. They bloom all summer and decorate the flower bed with their unusual flowers. They are interested in the shape of leaves - in the form of tongues from a light pink to an orange-brown hue.
- Magnus - this variety is also quite tall, grows up to 90 cm in height and blossoms from the middle of summer to the end of September with unusual raspberry-pink flowers with a bright orange-brown convex center.