A bright and beautiful heliotrope plant can become a real decoration of a flower bed in a garden. This perennial shrub with beautiful decorative flowers, which can be seen in the photo, delights many gardeners. Since ancient times, its vanilla mild scent has been in demand, and the plant has been used for cosmetic purposes. To grow a heliotrope on your personal plot, to admire its flowering and smell, you will have to arm yourself with knowledge and make a little effort.
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Heliotrope flower - photo, description, varieties
In our climatic conditions in the garden culture, the flower is grown as an annual. At home, he can grow for several years.
The wrinkled dark green leaves of the plant are lowered, hold on short petioles and are ovoid. Collected in thick shields, dark blue or purple fragrant flowers (pictured) contain valuable essential oils. That is why heliotrope is popular in perfumery compositions.
The plant blooms for about a month and forms a fruit that breaks down into four parts when ripe. However, some newer hybrid varieties bloom profusely and for a long time. You can enjoy their flowering from mid-summer until the very frost. The height of the bush can reach 60 cm. Flowers in open areas constantly turn towards the sun.
Varieties and varieties with photos
Shrub heliotrope counts about 250 species... Of these, the most popular are:
Peruvian;- stalk-embracing;
- corymbose;
- kurasavsky;
- European.
You can see all the representatives of these species in the photo.
Peruvian heliotrope is the most common and used in our gardens. The plant reaches a height of 50 cm, has wrinkled leaves, and a flowering period from early summer to late autumn.
Of all the varieties available there are seven of the most popular:
- "White Lady" - the plant is characterized by white delicate flowers and pink buds.
- "Regal Dwarf" is a compact bush with large fragrant flowers.
- The Dwarf Marine is 35 cm tall and blooms with deep blue flowers (pictured).
- Black Beauty is a variety with purple flowers and vanilla aroma.
- "Mini Marine" is distinguished by violet-blue flowers and dark green leaves with a purple tint.
- "Princess Marina" is a compact bush 30 cm high, rich in color and weak aroma.
- "Baby Blue" is a new sort of heliotrope, the flowers of which are lilac-violet.
Features of planting and caring for heliotrope
Planting a shrub begins with choosing a suitable place for growing it. The plant loves sunny areas and rich in humus, fertile, permeable, loose soil. Heliotrope should be planted with the end of the last frost.
Plant care consists in timely, moderate watering. In dry summers, it is necessary to water the bushes quite often. After watering, weeds are removed and the soil is loosened.If, during planting, the soil underneath is mulched, then weeds will have to be removed and watered much less often.
Before the beginning of the flowering period, heliotrope is recommended to be fed every two weeks with special complex mineral fertilizers. This contributes to the rich flowering and splendor of the bush. Also, for the purpose of abundant flowering and good development, the plant can be pinched periodically.
Caring for heliotrope at home
For a houseplant, a photo of which can be seen in our gallery, well-lit places are chosen. It is preferable to place the flower on the windowsills of the south or southwest windows. With a lack of light, the heliotrope flowers will become small, the shoots will elongate, and the leaves will be lethargic and pale.
When growing a plant at home experienced florists recommend:
In summer, the air temperature in the room should be maintained within the range from + 22C to + 25C. In winter, the flower begins a dormant period, so it feels good at temperatures from +5 to + 8C.- During the period of active growth, heliotrope requires abundant watering. Care must be taken to keep the soil moist. In winter, watering gradually decreases, but does not stop at all. The earth lump should not dry out.
- On hot days and indoors with dry air, the plant should be sprayed. Water is used for this purpose settled.
- The heliotrope is planted in a soil special for flowering plants. You can prepare the soil yourself. To do this, you will need to mix in equal proportions turf and leafy soil, sand and clay.
- You need to feed a houseplant twice a month from spring to late autumn with organic or mineral fertilizers for ornamental shrubs.
There is a belief that growing heliotrope at home positively affects marital relations.
Reproduction and cultivation of heliotrope in the garden
The most popular varieties for growing on a garden plot are "Marine" and "Sea Breeze".
Heliotrope "Marine": photos and features of cultivation
This is a plant with well-branching bushes, growing up to 60 cm. Some hybrids of this variety can be only 25-30 cm high. During flowering, the bushes are covered with small blue-violet flowers (pictured), located on corymbose inflorescences.
When growing a variety with seeds, the beginning of March is considered the optimal sowing time. In about a month, the first shoots will appear, and the plant will begin to bloom by the end of June. To speed up the process, you can resort to the advice of practicing gardeners:
- The seeds are kept for 24 hours in a solution of silver "Prince of Silver" or zircon (5-6 drops per 200 ml of warm water).
- After that, the seeds are pulled out, dried a little and sown in the ground.
- It is recommended to use peat tablets instead of ordinary containers with an earthen mixture for growing seedlings of Marin heliotrope.
After using zircon, seedlings emerge already on the 8-10th day. The seedlings become more resistant to disease and cold.
When the second true leaf appears, that is, about two months after sowing, the seedlings dive into deeper containers. After a while, the mature plants are transplanted in separate pots or long boxes.
The "Marine" variety can be planted in open ground next to other flowers. Compared to other plant species, it does not need free space. After transplanting, tall bushes must be tied up. Otherwise, the plant will turn into a ground cover.
To prevent the plant from dying in winter, it is recommended to dig it up in September and move it indoors. A bush with a large clod of earth is transplanted into a deep pot with large holes at the bottom, since it is preferable to water the heliotrope of the "Marine" variety through a pallet. To preserve the flower, the air temperature in the room should be within 5-7C.
Heliotrope "Sea Breeze": photo, reproduction, cultivation
The variety grows to only 40-45 cm, but it has large inflorescences, the diameter of which can be up to 12 cm... The abundance and duration of the "Sea Breeze" bloom is impressive. The blue "cap" of the flower (pictured) is preserved from the beginning of summer until the very frost.
It is possible to sow heliotrope of this variety at the end of April, since it blooms at the end of the second month after sowing. Containers with planted seeds must be kept in a room with a temperature of at least + 20C. If the room is cool, then the seedlings should be heated from below. Seedlings will appear in about 18-20 days after sowing the seeds. It is recommended to water them with warm water.
When diving "Sea Breeze" seedlings deepened to a depth of 1.5-2 cm... The distance between them should be at least 30 cm. The soil for seedlings is fertilized with organic matter.
At the age of 3-4 weeks, the bushes should be pinched. This procedure should be carried out twice a month. To prevent the plant from stretching up, the upper parts of the lateral shoots are removed. With the complete removal of some side shoots, a small, neat bush with a lush crown is obtained.
Heliotrope variety "Sea Breeze" during active growth requires abundant watering. The plant loves moisture, however, it should not linger in the soil. Therefore, it is recommended to periodically loosen the ground near the bush. During flowering, twice a month, heliotrope is fertilized with complex liquid fertilizers. You cannot feed the plant more often.
A brightly flowering plant that is widely used in modern landscaping. The heliotrope bushes look spectacular against the background of a green lawn. They are popular as flower borders and when decorating flower beds... Potted crops are used to decorate terraces, balconies, winter gardens, loggias.
The heliotrope planted in the garden will look great both as single plants and in group planting. They go well with coleus, rudbeckia, begonias, coreopsis, petunias. Some of the design options for the site using this flowering plant can be seen in the photo.
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