Cultivation of perennial chickweed

A chimney in a garden is one of the easiest ways to make it look fabulous. The plant lays down in a cloud of white flowers with silvery leaves. In the wild, chickweed can be seen in meadows, in mountainous and rocky places, where it also looks like a marvelous plant carpet. But in the garden it will be no less impressive.

Perennial yaskolka is a culture of the clove family. Karl Linnaeus was the first to describe it, he studied the plant in the 18th century, and gave the name to the cerastium. Of course, he did not open it, but studied and described it, because people knew the yaskolka before - it is impossible not to notice it.

Herbaceous plant is low, from 5 to 30 cm. It has straight, ascending stems that branch out at the base. The trunk of the plant may be bare, or it may be covered with pile. The leaves are silvery, pale green, their arrangement is opposite. The root system of the chrysalis is powerful, the roots are deep. The flower spreads very quickly, which is why, growing it in the open field, you will have to barrier the growth area (excess plants are simply removed).

The flowers are small, no more than 2 cm in diameter, white. They are five-petal, and each petal is divided by a deep cut in two, so it seems that there are actually 10 petals. Only in the small-flowered chrysalis, the petals are not separated. The fruits of the plant are cylindrical capsules, often concave, turning yellow when ripe, there are a lot of seeds in the capsules. They look like a kidney or a sphere, from the sides they are slightly compressed, in color - from orange to brown.

In the genus Yaskolka there are more than a hundred species, even more varieties. Here's a description of some of the more common ones.

• Felt. Found naturally in the south of the Apennines, in Sicily. In Russia and the countries of the former CIS, it grows as a cultivated plant, it can wildly cover meadows and ditches. It is often used as a litter, as well as a ground cover plant (for conifers). The carpet plant has thin and creeping shoots, growing vertically at a young age. The leaves on the stems are narrow-lanceolate, the leaves and shoots are pubescent (and therefore gray), there are many seeds in the fruit.

• Jaskolka Biberstein. In its natural habitat, it can be found only in the Crimea, where it grows in rocky crevices. It resembles a felt splinter, only the size of the leaves of this species is larger, and the flowering period is long and continuous. Not only flowers create a high decorative effect, but also leaves and stems. It grows wherever there is a lot of sun. The perennial is covered with soft pubescence. It is also distinguished by its resistance to drought. Unless from time to time it is necessary to remove dried inflorescences, the plant does not need other care. Its shoots are rooting, grow delicately upward, along their entire length they are covered with lanceolate leaves.

• Alpine. This perennial also creates snow-white rugs in the garden. Differs in creeping branched stems, ovoid leaves. Prefers sunny places and humus-gravel soil. Grows well on terraces and slopes.

• Field. Small white flowers of this species have a special charm, they cover the garden corners. Sometimes, however, this culture is perceived as a weed that attacks pastures and fields. Chickweed can compete for water with cultivated grains. If there is not much of it in the margins, you can delete it manually.

This flower will grow well in sunny areas. He needs light soil with good drainage, it does not have to be very nutritious. Moreover, fertile soil is even harmful to the plant (as well as excess moisture), because then the silvery of the leaves will be replaced by their greenery, the leaves themselves will become smaller, the bushes will lose their compactness, and the flowering will weaken.

That's why Chrysalis will grow best in poor and permeable soil with a lot of sand. Since the culture is characterized by strong expansion, chickweed is planted at intervals. It is important to thin out thickets of old shrubs in a timely manner, otherwise the decorativeness of this flower carpet will be lost.

With the seedling method, it is implied that it is necessary to sow seeds in a container on the windowsill (or in a greenhouse) in March. And if the nursery is on the street, then sowing measures will be in April. When the first true leaves appear in the seedlings, they should be dived.

For a month (at least a couple of weeks as a last resort), you need to blow up the site, and then add the necessary elements. Then the soil will lie down, and before planting it must be dug again and holes formed at intervals of 30 cm. Next, you need to plant seedlings, and you can plant it in different ways: it can be in the form of a rounded platform, it can be in the form of a stream (this is especially decorative). And obstacles should be made that will become barriers to the growth of bushes.

This culture is not capricious. That's just you will have to systematically weed out large weeds that threaten to drown out the snow-white small flowers. However, you can do this even once every two weeks - for those who visit the country from time to time, this will not cause problems.

It is imperative to eliminate peduncles - those that have already faded of their own. Better yet, do it at the time of withering. Why it is necessary: ​​by the end of the season, a flower carpet will be simply ugly without this procedure. In addition, if the chickweed grows next to other crops, it will fight for a place in the flowerbed. To prevent this from happening, the plant should be pruned on the sides - that is, to form such an equilateral floral carpet.

Once every 3 years (the limit is 5 years), the shrub bushes must be planted, this will help them rejuvenate. When picking, each bush should be divided into parts in order to increase the volume of the chive.

This plant is quite cold resistant. If you choose the landing site correctly, the chick will overwinter without a “blanket”. Some of the shoots will even remain with leaves, and in the spring it will be easy for the plant to revive. Only then the culture is covered with spruce branches, when the cold is really strong, long, and there will be no snow. An open chickweed can suffer: spruce branches or dry straw will do an excellent job of being a covering material.

If in the spring you want to see a full-fledged bush on the site right away, you can cover it with non-woven material, without looking at the weather conditions. It is removed as soon as the snow completely melts - the bush will be alive.In the spring, the place where the flower is planted must be cleaned of plant debris, all dry stalks must be removed. But if the area where the flower grows turns out to be flooded with melt water, the flowers will not be saved.

The flower is unpretentious, which means that you will not need to spend a lot of time on watering too. Enough once a week to "water" the plant. And there is no need to be afraid that water will fall not only on the roots - you can water everything from the shower / watering can.

There are gardeners who assure that the chickweed grows well and blooms even without top dressing. But this is from the series "how lucky." In fact, you can help the plant to make the flowering lush. Universal flower dressings will do. If there are indeed a lot of chickens, more is not needed, feeding is not needed - otherwise the culture will attack the entire area. But if you want a more lush flowering, it is better to do top dressing in the spring. And more than once it will not be required.

This culture hardly gets sick. And she is a little afraid of pests. Only in rare cases is the shrub affected by a fungal infection, and even then, if the garden is completely neglected, or it grows in conditions of excessive moisture.

You can propagate the flower by seed, dividing a bush or rooting cuttings. The seed method is considered to be the most common. Even at the beginning of spring, seeds are sown in containers for seedlings. They should be well distributed in the soil, after which they are watered moderately. The tray is sent to a bright room with daylight, an average temperature of + 20 ... 22 degrees. The first seedlings will appear on the tenth day. Seedlings about 5 cm are distributed in 2-3 pieces in small containers. At the end of May or a little later, the finished seedlings will go to the ground.

Dividing a bush is an easy way. The bush is divided into parts, after which each division, together with an earthen lump, is sent to a new place. This way - the second most popular, but grafting is used much less often. In March (it is also possible in August), the removed stems are strengthened in the open field, seriously watering them a day before processing.

And a little worth saying about the possible problems that may arise when growing chickweed:

• if it grows slowly, either the planting was in very poor soil, or (more often) the stems are not cut;
• increased growth - there was no rejuvenation (you need to divide the bush);
• overcame the fungus - a flower was planted in an excessively moist soil, there is stagnation of water;
• gets wet - variable climate, temperature jumps.

This plant has very great decorative possibilities. For decorating rocky gardens, it is difficult to find something more suitable and not capricious. It will look great on curbs too. And low varieties of yaskolka look amazing in rocky flower beds, as well as in the palette of alpine slides.

But in order for the plant to look really impressive, one should not spare the area for it. You need a few square meters for sure. Because there is little beauty in single bushes. It will look good next to small architectural elements of the garden. - light gazebos, pergolas. Yaskolka, like a snow-white carpet, will shape the approach to such a structure, which makes it (especially white) look even softer and more charming.

And also the plant perfectly imitates a stream, therefore it is in the drawn contour of the stream that it can be planted, and on the basis of this, interesting visual effects can be made. Silvery leaves and white flowers will give the impression of water shimmering in the sun.

Good luck in growing!