A variety of modern ornamental plants offer everyone the opportunity to decorate any vertical surface, be it a veranda, a gazebo or a balcony. Dolichos, which is also known as curly lilac, can also be used for this purpose. The main advantage of this plant is its bright appearance, therefore it is not surprising that it is often used for landscaping backyard territories.
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Description of dolichos
A photo of a plant will help very few people recognize it. Indeed, as a rule, only experienced gardeners know about him and his merits.
This plant is known to specialists by many other names. Therefore, hearing Dolichos, turkish beans, know that we are talking about a curly lilac. A man met her for a long time, because many centuries ago she began to be actively cultivated by him as a leguminous crop.
Today dolichos is cultivated in many places. This flower can be found in almost all major regions of the African and Asian continent. Due to the mild climate, it is grown in these places as a perennial plant. In Russia, which is distinguished by harsh conditions, curly lilacs have become widespread as an annual.
This is a fairly tall plant that reaches a height of 2-3 meters... The uniqueness of hyacinth beans is given by the fact that in the process of development, its stem wraps around the support counterclockwise.
Large leaves have an original shape, which grow heart-shaped, trifoliate. Because of their design, they are very similar to the leaves of beans or beans. The foliage has a rich color palette that can include a variety of hues, ranging from deep reddish purple to deep green.
During the growing season, dolichos produces small flowers, presented in the form of long inflorescences growing in the leaf axils. The original and pleasant appearance of inflorescences provides a variety of flowers, the number of which in one brush can be up to 40 pieces. Flowers attract not only with a pleasant aroma... In addition, they stand out in a variety of colors - pink, white, blue, purple, crimson. Flowers of curly lilacs, which have a two-tone color, look especially impressive.
The first flowers of the climbing lilac bloom in July and retain their decorative properties until the first frost.
However, the beauty of the dolichos is provided, along with the leaves and flowers, and its fruits. The original appearance provides a deep burgundy or purple hue, glossy shine and curved shape. The beans themselves contain light-colored seeds that look like a pea, decorated with a white scallop.
One of the features of the dolichos is that in the fall, at the top of the liana green foliage grows, at the same time, at the bottom of the stem, old leaves turn yellow. Therefore, at such moments, the plant looks especially attractive, since it is decorated with both colored beans and inflorescences.
Care features
In order for the curly lilac to please with abundant and lush flowering every season, it is recommended to plant it in an area well-lit by the sun. Under shading conditions, it will grow much more slowly, so it will be able to bloom much later than usual. And sometimes in unfavorable years, you can not wait for flowers at all.
Attempts to grow dolichos in acidic soils do not end with success. It is best to grow it on loose fertile soilshaving a neutral acidity reaction. However, in the absence of other options, climbing lilacs can be grown on ordinary garden soil, but in this case, you will have to regularly feed.
When growing dolichos, special attention should be paid to watering, which should be regular and abundant. Especially the need of vines for water increases in hot and dry ones - during these periods the plants are watered every day.
With a frequency of once every two weeks, fertilizing is carried out with complex mineral fertilizers. They begin to make them already from the moment of active growth and throughout the entire flowering period.
In order for the plants to retain their attractive appearance after many weeks, they you need a solid support... At the moment when the stems become tall enough, they must be tied to it and positioned in the required direction.
Rules for planting and growing from seeds
Growing a beautiful vine from seeds is an affordable task even for an amateur gardener. To do this, you just need to familiarize yourself with the rules of agricultural planting techniques and follow them.
How to sow dolichos seeds correctly?
A rare gardener will refuse the opportunity to admire the lush bloom of lilacs until the first frost. Therefore, in order to achieve this goal, many practice sowing seeds in March. However, even if this moment was missed, this is not a serious reason to postpone sowing for next year. Sowing can be carried out in April and early May, the main thing is to wait until the last night frosts have passed, after which dolichos can be sown.
Growing from seeds
Strong and healthy seedlings are the key to beautiful, lush plants. Therefore it is very important speed up the germination process.
- if we proceed from the experience of gardeners, then before sowing the seeds must be subjected to special treatment. Take a nail file or fine sandpaper and gently sand the seed surface. In the absence of the above devices, you can simply puncture with a needle;
- then the seeds treated in this way must be kept for a day in water at room temperature. Moreover, it is desirable that during the day it is constantly fresh;
- sowing dolichos seeds is recommended in small boxes or pots. A nutrient mixture containing a small amount of wood ash is used as a planting soil;
- during sowing, the seeds must be buried by 3 cm. After that, the containers are transferred to a warm room, where it is necessary to maintain the temperature at least 20 degrees Celsius. At this stage of growing seedlings, field seedlings should be quite rare - it is enough to spray them once a week.
Around May, the hyacinth bean seedlings become strong enough to start hardening. For this it is necessary take out to the veranda or balcony and leave for a while. Such procedures will benefit young plants as they begin to accustom themselves to their natural habitat. Quite often, already at this stage of growing, plants require small supports.
How to plant properly in the ground?
Getting strong and healthy seedlings does not guarantee that they will produce high-quality dense curly lilacs. It must also be correct find a moment for a transfer into open ground.
the best time for this is when the earth warms up well.The best survival rate of seedlings can be ensured if they are transplanted to an area dominated by nutritious soil, provided with sufficient lighting;- before transplanting, it is necessary to prepare small indentations, placing them at least 20 cm from each other;
- during transplanting dolichos seedlings, you need to be very careful, because due to the fragility of the root system, you can easily injure.
Dolichos: diseases and pests
Many gardeners who have been growing climbing lilacs for more than one year note that this plant is very resistant to many diseases and parasites... However, despite this, you still need to constantly monitor her.
- sometimes the leaves can be covered with small yellow specks. From this we can conclude that the plant does not receive enough potassium. Therefore, this external defect can be eliminated by applying fertilizers rich in the indicated element;
- in some periods of development, dolichos can be seriously damaged by caterpillars and aphids. However, modern drugs can quickly get rid of these parasites.
In general, curly lilacs demonstrate an attractive appearance throughout the growing season and does not require special care.
Conclusion
Curly lilacs can compete with many exotic plants. It can attract the attention of a gardener not only with its pronounced decorative properties, but also unpretentious care and cultivation... Although at first you will have to tinker with the seedlings, however, subject to the rules, this event will not cause much trouble to the grower. Caring for dolichos includes all the basic activities that are carried out with respect to most other ornamental plants grown in the garden.
