Lobularia is a flower with a bright color that is popular for decorating summer cottages and garden areas. Lobularia is planted in flower beds, along paths or beds, and also "lodged" in hanging pots, where it forms a fluffy, fragrant and dense ball. This plant belongs to undersized, soil-covering, therefore, it is used to create a background in large flower beds, as well as to decorate terraces, balconies, porch areas. Today we will talk about growing lobularia from seeds at home. Note that this is absolutely not a troublesome process, but you can be proud of an excellent result!
Lobularia: growing from seeds at home
Growing lobularia from seeds
If it is difficult to figure out how the cultivation of lobularia from seeds at home is difficult, it is worth watching the video, which is also available in this material. What are the diseases of indoor plants and how to deal with them.
Short description
This plant is a charming garden flower. It blooms simply, but it looks beautiful, and the bright buds also accompany an amazing aroma. So, by planting such flowers in your country house, you will definitely get a wonderful floral carpet.
This plant can be either annual or perennial. It reaches a height of 40 cm, the shoots of the flower are branched, and the leaves are fluffy. Each individual flower is small, but together they gather in beautiful inflorescences. The plant blooms from May until the very frost, but here, of course, it is important to provide proper care, which we will talk about further.
Lobularia. Growing from seeds at home: basic rules for taking care of a photo: 1. These plants are frost-resistant, but you still need to plant them in an open area, where a sufficient amount of sunlight enters. 2. Watering is carried out carefully so as not to allow stagnation of water. This situation can lead to root rot. In dry weather, water the flower a little, and if it is important outside, then you can completely refuse watering. 3. It is imperative to feed the planting with organic fertilizers.
Features of growing by seeds
Lobularia: growing from seeds at home, when and where to sow is not so important, but the time frame will be required. Seeds can be planted in the ground in the fall or in the spring. If an autumn planting is carried out, then it is imperative to cover the seeds.
As a simpler and easier option, you can grow the plant through seedlings. This means that to grow seedlings at home, then transplant them into a greenhouse or directly into open ground, just cover them with a film on top until good weather is finally established. Tips on how to stimulate the flowering of violets.
About soil care
This flower is not very demanding, which does not mean a lack of certain care. In particular, you need to wait until the plant has several real leaves and be sure to feed it. It's great if you can make feeding daily.
Advice! It is better to soak fertilizers in water in advance, and then water the seedlings with this water under the very root.
If the bushes have been trimmed, it is recommended to use nitrogen fertilizers for their quick recovery. It is imperative to cut tall plants so that the decorative effect of the bushes is preserved from year to year.Even in the flower beds, the ageratum flower looks beautiful.
This is the main important information on the lobularia flower: growing from seeds at home is quite easy. What should be remembered is constant organic fertilizers under the root, and also avoid overflow so that the flower does not start to rot.
Heading: Tips for gardeners and gardeners
Description of lobularia
Learn when to plant seeds for a beautiful lobularia. Here we will show you how growing from seed should be. But first, let's offer a description of this flower. Marine lobularia or seaside lawn is a herbaceous plant. It is able to form the most beautiful spreading or, on the contrary, compact, ideal in shape, dense and lush bushes.
Their height, as a rule, is no more than 30 centimeters.
And due to the very dense branching, the plant bush from the side seems voluminous and powerful. The leaves of the plant are small, lanceolate and pale green in color. They are very close to each other. The inflorescences of the lobularia cannot be called very spectacular. Still, they're pretty cute.
The flowers have the correct shape, and due to their color they seem very bright and catchy. have a delicate honey aroma.
After flowering, fruits begin to appear, resembling oval pods of brick or yellow in shape. The traditional color range of Lobularia is limited to lilac, white, or purple. But now, more and more varietal crops are used with new interesting colors.
When lobularia blooms
At the time of sowing lobularia for seedlings, its flowering begins to start in the last decade of May, early June. And the flowering completely ends around the end of October, at a time when the entire backyard begins to embrace the anticipation of cold weather and winter. This leads to a stop of flowering even of persistent, late varieties of perennial crops. The absence or pause in flowering, as a rule, depends on the peculiarities of the weather.
- If the summer turned out to be cold and very rainy, then the flowering of the plant will be tireless.
- But if the weather conditions turn out to be hot, then flowering may stop altogether by the end of July. But this pause will contribute to a second, very abundant wave of plant flowering.
- It is imperative to cut off the lobularia, so that the second wave of flowering can definitely come.
Alyssum, beetroot, lobularia - flower rugs with honey scent
author Krivenko Y., photo by author
Alyssums are amazingly beautiful low-growing plants with semi-woody shoots and small flowers with a honey scent, belonging to the cruciferous family. There are about 200 species alissuma
(Alyssum), or
beetroot
,
lobularia
, - annual and perennial plants that are common in nature in southern Siberia and southern Europe.
Abundantly flowering alissums are a wonderful decoration of any flower garden, window box, balcony. Their shoots with small oblong gray leaves branch well, tightly covering the soil. Simple four-petalled alyssum flowers, usually white and yellow, are collected in racemose inflorescences. Alyssum is a good honey plant; it attracts pollinating insects to the garden with a strong aroma of flowers.
Annual alyssums conquered gardeners with their long flowering, which begins in early spring and continues until late autumn. With proper care, alyssum flower clusters become larger and more numerous.
Botanical description
Lobularia maritima, or otherwise called alyssum marine, is one of the species of the genus Lobularia and belongs to the Cabbage family.
You can also hear the popular names: beetroot, lawn, stonemason - these are all one and the same plant, it has no lack of popularity.The origin is Mediterranean, but the species is widely naturalized in cooler climates.
Iberis, oriental sverbiga, rape, katran, arabis are biological relatives of Lobularia.
This plant is grown as annuals. Shoot height - up to 20 cm, strongly branching stems form fluffy bushes. Small flowers, up to 5 mm in diameter, are collected in beautiful fragrant clusters of inflorescences of a wide variety of colors: white, purple, pink, etc.
Flowering begins in late spring or early summer, but with prolonged heat, flowering may stop. But this is not the complete end of the process, after cutting off the inflorescences, closer to autumn, the second wave of flowering begins, which continues until autumn frosts.
Popular types of alissum in the garden
In floriculture, the following types of alyssum are most widely used: - lobularia
(Lobularia) - has annual and perennial species, among which the annual
alyssum sea
, or
lobularia marine
(Alyssum maritimum, Lobularia maritima); -
alissum rocky
(Alyssum saxatile, Aurinia saxatilis) is a perennial with yellow flowers.
Also in the gardens there are other perennial types of alyssum with yellow and white flowers, for example: alyssum Gmelin
(A. Gmelinii),
alyssum pyrenean
(Alyssum pyrenaicum, Ptilotrichum pyrenaicum),
creeping alyssum
(Alyssum repens, Alyssum transsilvanicum, Alyssum trichostachyum, Alyssum virescens).
Rock alyssum
Alyssum rocky is an attractive and bright perennial plant that forms dense and wide (up to 40 cm in diameter) hemispherical bushes with well-branching shoots, the height of which reaches 30 cm. Shoots of rocky alissum are covered with pubescent gray leaves.
A distinctive feature of the rocky alyssum is that the lush flowering of this species occurs in early spring and lasts more than a month. With good care and suitable weather, it will re-bloom in August and autumn. The flowering bush of alyssum rocky is completely shrouded in short clusters of yellow inflorescences.
Popular varieties
The first to enter the culture and gave life to new varieties of sea or seaside lobularia. A low plant (12–15 cm) has a creeping rhizome, when it grows, it forms a pillow, densely covering the soil. Collected in a brush, purple flowers exude a delicate sweetish aroma. Begins to bloom 1.5 months after germination, when grown through seedlings - already in May, withstands autumn frosts.
Royal carpet
Lobularia of this variety creates a truly royal carpet of flowers of all shades of white, lilac, raspberry, purple. Dwarf creeping plant 8–12 cm high, popular as a curb and ground cover mixture. Suitable for winter sowing of seeds. Continuous flowering from June to October, refreshing appearance, instant replacement of faded inflorescences with new ones, combination with many garden plants are the advantages of the variety.
The royal rug is good in the garden
Snow carpet
Lobularia of the Snow Carpet variety is no less charming. The boiling whiteness of fluffy inflorescences really resembles snow, creates a feeling of purity and airiness. Compact bushes 10-15 cm in height grow up to 40 cm in diameter. The culture is sensitive to thickening - when planting, an interval of at least 20 cm between plants should be maintained. White, constantly blooming balls look original in mobile containers, flowerpots, on raised flower beds.
Snow white blooming cloud
Eastern nights
In the very name of the variety - the anticipation of something unusual. Lobularia Oriental nights will not disappoint your expectations - juicy dark purple, purple flowers of the correct shape, with a recognizable honey scent are impressive. Low bushes (up to 15 cm) branch strongly, grow back intensively after pruning. Refreshes the alpine slide, decorates, shades any flower garden.
Pictured Eastern nights
Star pearl
The second name of the variety is the Purple Queen. Lobularia Star Pearl resembles Oriental nights. Miniature highly branching bushes are distinguished by the density of flowering, the intensity of the growth of new shoots and peduncles. Quickly fills the free space of the flower bed, creating volume. An unpretentious, cold-resistant culture can be grown through seedlings and under-winter sowing. The variety is prone to abundant self-seeding.
How to grow a lobularia and not confuse it with alissum
At the peak of flowering, closed plants look like a solid yellow carpet.
Cultural forms of rock alyssum are widespread in the gardens: - plenum (f. Plenum) - up to 30 cm high, blooms for a very long time with double golden-yellow flowers; - citrinum (f. Citrinum) - with lemon flowers; - compactum (f. Compactum) - has undersized bushes (up to 18 cm high) with small inflorescences; - prostrate (f. Procumbens) - forms bushes creeping on the ground up to 8 cm tall.
Many varieties of alisum rocky have been bred, including "Golden Wave". Seedlings bloom in the second year after planting. The plant is short, forms a dense carpet, has very fragrant yellow flowers. Alyssum rock variety "Dudley Neville" has double yellowish-brown flowers. And the variety "Variegata" is distinguished by variegated leaves.
With age, rock alyssum needs rejuvenating procedures, as its shoots are gradually bare.
In the photo: rock alyssum variety "Golden Wave"; lobularia of the variety series "Aphrodite"
Flowering lobularia
Despite the fact that the lobularia blooms, like many other annuals, almost from the very beginning of the warm season, it is customary to rank it among the autumn-flowering crops. The fact is that the wave of the first, and not the most abundant flowering, it passes quickly enough. The plant does not tolerate heat and drought well, therefore, by the end of July or by August, not a trace remains of its buds. But, if it is stimulated to re-budding, it will bloom again on the eve of autumn, and the moderately warm weather of this period will favor the lush and abundant flowering of the second wave. This time, the lobularia will open its buds relentlessly until late autumn, until the first frosty breath of winter comes to the garden.
The flowering of the basic varietal varieties of lobularia occurs approximately 40-50 days after their planting. New breeding varieties and hybrids usually bloom earlier in the open field.
Alyssum Marine
Sea alyssum has a strong honey aroma. In warm climates, this type of sh iroko is widespread in coastal regions and grows like a perennial, reaching a height of about 40 cm.
The bushes of the sea alyssum are lush, with creeping branches. It is undemanding to care for. Regular pruning of old shoots, however, encourages more lush and longer flowering. Hybrid forms of sea alyssum grow well on fertilized soils.
Many gardeners prefer to grow the very popular annual sea alyssum, or lobularia, in their gardens. This plant is quite attractive, forms lush, fragrant bushes. Many garden forms of lobularia are cultivated with different heights of bushes (including undersized and dwarf ones), and many varieties of lobularia have been bred - as with traditional white flowers ("Snow Queen", "Snow Carpet", "Snow Clothes", "Golf", "Vanilla Cloud", etc.), and with a bright floral palette ("Aphrodite", "Euphoria", "Kristalina", "Magic Circles", "Palette", "Little Muk", "Magic Colors", "Royal Carpet " and etc.). The color of flowers in numerous elegant varieties and mixtures of sea alyssum is varied: white, cream, lemon, golden, yellow, pink, salmon, red, raspberry, lilac, lilac, violet.
Ampelous alissum is very decorative, which is widely used for growing in hanging baskets and pots, and is used for vertical gardening of balconies and terraces.The most common variety of ampelous alissum is Esther Bonnet. The flowering plant looks like a lush white ball, strewn with many small flowers. To create such a spectacular composition, several plants are planted in one flowerpot.
The best varieties and hybrids of sea lobularia
Lobularia lucia lavender photo of flowers Cultivation and care
basic forms: compact (reaches a height of 15 cm, has snow-white flowers) variegated (leaves with a white border), prostrate (creeping shoots) and snow-white Bentham (about 40 cm tall);
"Salmon" - only 10 cm tall, lush bush, salmon flowers;
Lobularia lucia white cultivation and care photo
"New Apricot" - the variety has a unique light apricot color of flowers;
"Schneesturm" - reaches a height of 25 cm, white flowers;
Lobularia bicolor pink stream photo cultivation and care
"Carpet of Snow" is a snow-white variety with a very strong aroma up to 15 cm high;
"Paletta" - the color of flowers is varied: white, red, brown, raspberry, lilac, different shades of pink, the height of the bush is 10 cm.
"Wise Risen" - has large white flowers;
Lobularia snow princess photo Growing and care
Easter Bonnet Pink - small lilac flowers;
"Easter Deep Rose" - undersized variety, blooms incredibly profusely, deep pink flowers;
"Tiny Tim" - a small ground cover bush, only 8 cm high, shoots are soft, creeping, flowers are snow-white;
Lobularia lucia purple photo
"Violetkonigin" - up to 15 cm high, the bush is strongly branching, the flowers are purple;
"Schneeteppich" - densely branched, miniature in size, white flowers gather in short brushes;
"Rosie O'Day" - up to 10 cm, deep pink flowers;
Lobularia fragrant mix photo Planting and care
"Königsteppin" - purple-dark color of flowers;
Lobularia maritime Royal Carpet purple photo
"Tetra Schneetraiben" - the height of the bush is about 25 cm, the flowers are large, white.
Growing alissum in the garden
Alyssums are unpretentious, abundant flowering plants that thrive in open sunny areas. In the shade, they also feel good, but their flowering becomes more rarefied.
A sunny place for planting alyssum needs to be selected dry, well-drained. Alyssum is undemanding to the composition of the soil, but prefers a neutral substrate; acidic soils and wetlands are not suitable for growing.
Alyssum tolerates heat well, does not suffer from lack of watering. It is able to bloom well even during dry periods, but the duration and intensity of flowering decreases with a prolonged lack of moisture. Excessive watering has a detrimental effect on alyssums, however, young plants in the process of growth need moderately moist soil.
To grow alyssum, space is needed, since its young shoots quickly grow to the sides. Florists plant alissum bushes at a distance of up to 30 cm.Already a month after planting, under good growing conditions, the young plant covers a fairly large area.
If necessary, collect the seeds of alissum after they ripen. If seeds are not needed, and in order to avoid self-sowing, faded alissum inflorescences are immediately cut off so that the plant does not waste energy on the formation of unnecessary seeds.
Planting lobularia seeds: step by step instructions
You can buy seeds at any flower shop by choosing the color variation you like. Depending on the variety, lobularia flowers can be white, pink, crimson, light or dark lilac, purple, brownish.
To collect seeds from an adult bush for further planting, you should proceed as follows:
- Do not water the flowers for several days.
- Spread light-colored cloth or paper on the ground.
In the evening, collect the poured seeds, dry them for a day and pour them into a paper bag.
Table 1. Popular varieties of lobularia and their shades
| Variety | Description |
| "Vanilla cloud" | Lobularia blooming in white. Plant height reaches thirty centimeters. |
| "Salmon" | A plant with light salmon flowers, reaching a height of ten centimeters. |
| "Oriental Knight" | Purple-violet lobularia, which is about eight centimeters high. |
| "Palette" | Lobularia-multicolor, the inflorescences of which can have shades of white, pink, bright crimson, purple. Height - up to ten centimeters. |
| "Rosie O Day" | A pale pink lobularia with a compact size - six to eight centimeters in height. |
| Snow Crystals | Lobularia with large, snow-white flowers, growing to a height of six to eight centimeters. |
A combination of different varieties of lobularia in one flower bed
Seed preparation
Before planting, lobularia seeds are soaked for a day in any solution that stimulates growth (for example, in "Epin"). Having taken out the seeds after 24 hours, they need to be dried for another day by sprinkling them on thick paper and placing them away from sunlight.
Lobularia seeds
Preparation of the container and substrate
While the seeds are drying, you need to prepare containers or garden boxes for seedlings, where the young lobularia will grow. Any soil with a moderately acidic composition (soil for flowering plants) is suitable for planting. The substrate must be pre-moistened and thoroughly loosened.
When the seeds are ready for planting, shallow (about a centimeter-one and a half in depth) furrows should be made in the soil, at a distance of two to three centimeters from each other. It is convenient to empty the seeds from a folded sheet of paper. You do not need to pour in the seeds too often, just one or two for every centimeter.
Planting seeds of lobularia
Seed care
After the seeds have been placed in the ground, the furrows are covered with soil and the containers are covered with glass or thick film. Boxes with future seedlings are placed in a warm place, once a day the film or glass is raised to spray the crops with water from a spray bottle. The soil should always be slightly damp. The first shoots can be detected quite quickly - a maximum of a week later.
The first shoots of lobularia
When the first tiny leaves unfold, the film or glass is removed. Planting is carefully watered every two to three days. When the lobularia grows two or three true leaves, it is time for a pick.
Lobularia picking
In advance, you need to prepare separate cups (pots of peat are well suited), where the seedlings will be planted. Lobularia is not seated one by one, but two or three shoots together. It is necessary to guess the time of planting the seeds so that the picking period falls on the end of April, since in mid-May the lobularia can be planted on open soil. However, planting is carried out only when the night frosts completely stop.
Lobularia is ready for a dive
Features of the correct picking of plants
Planting lobularia in the soil
A flower bed or other place where a lobularia settles should be located in the sun. Planting sprouts in open soil is possible when the dived bushes stretch in length by five to eight centimeters (depending on the variety). The flowers must be transferred to the ground along with a lump of earth from the pot, carefully removing the plant. If the lobularia were dived into pots of peat, they plunge into the ground entirely, there is no need to get the rhizomes out of them.
Lobularia before planting in the ground
When planting lobularia bushes, you need to leave a distance of 15-20 centimeters between them, so that the plant can develop fully, without interfering with the "neighbors".
Sowing alyssum in open ground and for seedlings
Annual alissum propagates only by seeds, which are best sown immediately to a permanent place - in flower beds or garden vases.
The best time for sowing alyssum outdoors is late April or early May. If the nights are cold, then it is advisable to cover the seedlings with a non-woven covering material.After the alyssum seedlings get stronger, if necessary, they can be carefully transplanted.
Annual alissum marine and perennial alissum species are often grown through seedlings (seeds are sown in March), which allows for an earlier flowering of seedlings. Alyssum seeds are rarely and evenly distributed over the soil surface. You do not need to sprinkle the seeds with earth, since they need light to germinate. A container with crops of alissum is covered with glass or a bag, placed in a warm, bright place. When the first shoots appear, the glass must be removed.
Alyssum seedlings are quite small, care for them should be carried out carefully. A pick into separate cups is carried out in the phase of four true leaves.
In order for the alyssum bush to branch well, you need to pinch the seedling when it reaches a height of about 10 cm. Soon, annual alyssums are covered with inflorescences. Alyssum seedlings with intact roots tolerate planting well in open ground.
You can sow alyssum seeds directly into open ground in fall or early spring. Sowing alyssum seeds in winter allows you to get plants that bloom earlier than others. Moreover, their flowering will be more magnificent. Podzimny sowing of alyssum is carried out when stable cool weather is established in the fall. But if it suddenly gets warmer, then shoots of alyssum may appear, which in regions with severe winters need shelter.
Spring sowing of alissum seeds in the garden is carried out when the air temperature is set at least 15 degrees. Small shoots of alyssum for good development need care: weeding, watering in dry hot weather. Thinning of alyssum seedlings is carried out when they are sufficiently strong, leaving at least 15 cm between neighboring plants. Such plants bloom no earlier than July.
Landing
A bed intended for planting a lobularia must be dug up, weeds removed from it, if necessary, fertilized. It is important that the soil becomes loose and permeable, moisture-consuming.
Landing is usually carried out directly into the open ground. The soil in the bed is leveled, after which the seeds are planted. After the emergence of mass shoots, the bed is thinned out - it is necessary to leave the strongest shoots at a distance of 10-15 cm from each other. Thickening of the plantings is unacceptable, since in this case the lobularia can often hurt and bloom poorly.
Vegetative reproduction of perennial alissum
Gardeners successfully propagate perennial alissums not only by seeds, but also vegetatively - by dividing the bush and grafting.
Alyssum cuttings are carried out in the summer. Cut shoots are planted in light nutritious soil, watered.
The division of the perennial alissum bush is carried out in the spring, during the sowing period, in late April or early May. To do this, the old overgrown bushes are dug up and divided with a sharp knife so that each of them has enough shoots with roots. In a new place, the planted plant is looked after for the first time: it is shaded, watered, weeded.
Alyssum care
Perennial alissums are winter-hardy, they do not require any special care. The whole process is reduced to a haircut after flowering and pruning of bare old and unnecessarily long shoots. After wintering, all broken shoots and dried leaves are removed from the alissum bush. At the end of flowering, peduncles and weak branches must be removed from the bush, which stimulates re-flowering at the end of the season.
Top dressing of alissum (twice a season) with mineral complex fertilizers or organic matter has a good effect on the condition of the plant. The nourishment gives the alyssum the strength for new growth and abundant long-lasting flowering.
With high soil moisture, alissum is exposed to diseases: gray rot, powdery mildew, rust and spotting. Sick plants are destroyed. In adverse weather conditions, as a preventive measure, plants are sprayed with antifungal drugs.
Alyssums in landscape design
In landscape design, annual and perennial alissums are often combined, which complement each other wonderfully. They are good both in self-planting and in a variety of groups.
Garden designers widely use alissums when creating rock gardens, rockeries, all kinds of flower beds. Alyssums go well with other plants in any flower garden. I arrange alissum bushes in groups with Turkish carnations, dwarf irises and tulips, with marigolds, with phlox. To achieve a bright color contrast, yellow alissums are planted next to plants blooming with blue flowers, and white alyssums are especially good next to red flowers.
Alyssum looks wonderful along with a variety of decorative deciduous plants - the gray color of the alyssum leaves pleasantly contrasts with different shades of greenery and with purple leaves.
Yulia Krivenko
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Care rules
Lobularia loves sun and moisture. With further care, we focus on these features.
If the plant does not have enough water, it will stop blooming. And excessive moisture can lead to root rot. The soil under the flower must be periodically loosened, it must "breathe". Faded flowers should be removed.
In the middle of summer, you can cut the bushes, leaving a height of 5 cm. After a short period, they will quickly grow back, and the plant will again delight you with its flowering.
Lobularia requires regular feeding. However, if the soil is too fertilized, the plant will “fatten” and bloom poorly. The next year, Lobularia can already reproduce by self-seeding.
Lobularia goes well with other plants in the flower bed. With proper care, the flower grows into a lush carpet. The spherical bushes will give the site a special beauty.
Growing lobularia is within the power of every gardener. You just need to be attentive to any changes, and magnificent plants will delight you for a long time.
Lobularia - growing from seeds
The undersized shrub has racemose inflorescences of pink, blue or white, blooming from May to October. That is why lobularia flowers are so loved by gardeners. We will tell you how to grow a shrub from seeds.
Growing seedlings of lobularia from seeds
For the seedling method, small seeds of Lobularia are sown in a box or greenhouse in March. Seeds can be soaked in a growth promoter for better germination and dried. For planting, prepare fertile but loose soil (mix turf soil with peat or sand). The seeds should not be covered with earth, but placed in small grooves. The seed box is then covered with foil or glass and placed in a place with an air temperature of at least 12 degrees. Then every three days it is recommended to remove the airing film and spray the soil. The first shoots may appear on the tenth or twelfth day. As they grow, the seedlings should be thinned out, leaving a distance of 12-15 cm between the plants, and dive into separate pots, 3 pieces each. This is to prevent the flowers from stretching.
Lobularia seedlings can be planted as early as May, not earlier, only when frosts (including return ones) have already passed. On the site for planting, small holes are dug at a distance of 20 cm from each other. Seedlings are transplanted to a permanent well-lit place together with an earthen clod, which will help young seedlings to take root better. Then the flowers are watered, and the ground around the stem is trampled.
Growing lobularia from seeds in the open field
Lobularia is sown directly into open ground at the end of April or in May, depending on when night frosts stop appearing in your region. We recommend choosing a site that is well lit, since a sufficient amount of light is the key to stable flowering. The shrub grows well on loose, calcareous and neutral soils, the main thing is that the land is not waterlogged. The site for planting should be dug up, cleaned of weeds and rhizomes. Since the seeds of the lobularia are small, they are simply mixed with sand and scattered over the surface of the earth. The first watering is best done by spraying water over the area. If frost does appear, the area can be covered with a non-woven covering material (for example, lutrasil). After the shoots sprout, the lobularia needs to be thinned out at intervals of 15 cm. Flowering, which appears 45-50 days after planting, lasts until late autumn.
Latin name: Lobularia.
Family: cabbage (Brassicaceae).
Homeland: Mediterranean.
The form: annual and perennial herbaceous plants.
Description
Lobularia are annual or perennial plants from 8 to 40 centimeters in height, densely branching at the root. Leaves are alternate narrow-lanceolate pubescent. Small flowers, collected in racemose inflorescences, can be white or purple. The fruit is a small rounded pod with many small seeds.
The genus Lobularia has 5 species. In landscape design, garden forms and varieties of only one of them are common.
Lobularia sea, or Alyssum Marine (L. maritima) is an annual plant up to 30 cm high. Leaves are small, pubescent, narrow-lanceolate. Inflorescences are clusters of fragrant white or purple flowers. The flowering period is May-October. Differs in a variety of garden forms and varieties.
Growing conditions
Lobularia are undemanding to the composition of the soil, it is only important that the soil does not contain excess moisture.
Lobularia will be able to grow in almost any conditions
It is enough for this summer to choose good lighting. For all other characteristics, the place of growing lobularia is not demanding. Find the sunniest, open and warmest area for the beauty, avoid damp and cold places - and you will definitely enjoy the beauty of this summer's bloom.
Hardy and not capricious, Lobularia is also undemanding to the soil. If the soil is not waterlogged, there is no risk of water stagnation and waterlogging - the place is suitable for it. Neither acidity, nor nutritional value, nor the composition of the soil for lobularia is of particular importance.
Planting lobularia
This summer plant is planted in small individual pits. The soil before planting can be improved by increasing its looseness and water permeability, but usually simple digging is sufficient.
The optimal distance for planting is about 15-20 cm between plants (even for dwarf varieties). Lobularia is afraid of thickened plantings, blooms poorly with insufficient air circulation and in crowded conditions, becomes vulnerable to diseases. Therefore, never plant Lobularia too thickly.
Minimal care for a full-color beauty
Caring for lobularia actually comes down to pruning. No, even the most thorough care with systemic irrigation will prevent flowering from stopping in an unsuccessful and too hot year, and flowering will not suffer from a lack of moisture. Therefore, lobularia growing in open soil is not watered, except in extremely prolonged hot and dry months as a general supportive measure and the first weeks after planting seedlings in the soil.
For lobularia, you can forget about feeding. She is not demanding on the nutritional value of the soil, does not like excess fertilizers, and on ordinary garden soil is content with the supply of nutrients in the soil.
Lobularia maritime, or Maritime lawn (Lobularia maritima).
Lobularia is cut off only when the flowering wave stops at the plant. After the first stage of flowering is completed, it needs to be cut low.Lobularia will quickly begin to grow, restore lush bushes and, on the eve of autumn, will bloom again, even more abundantly. Many modern varieties do not require pruning and resume flowering on their own after air temperatures drop to comfortable ones. When buying seedlings or seeds, be sure to clarify this parameter, because, perhaps, even such minimal care of the lobularia will not be needed.
A little more difficult is the care of potted and container lobularia. These beauties will need regular watering and weekly feeding, timely shortening of thinned or knocked out shoots. But even in a potted form, Lobularia is not as capricious as other annuals.
Lobularia: planting, growing and care + photo
As for the exposure, plants feel best in open sunny areas.
Application
Due to its decorativeness and unpretentiousness, Lobularia is a plant in demand both by landscape designers and amateur gardeners. It is used for carpet gardening, planted in pots and containers, and is used as a curb plant in mixborders, flower beds and ridges. Lobularia are good both in independent plantings and in compositions, including in rock gardens.
The abundance of shades of lobularia allows you to choose flowers for the implementation of various design techniques - placing and smoothing accents, creating contrasts and smooth transitions, aesthetic decoration of unsightly areas of the yard, filling in the gaps between other plants, etc.
Lobularia is not only a beautiful and fragrant plant, but also a wonderful honey plant.
Care
Caring for lobularia is simple and not time consuming: just to maintain decorativeness, remove faded shoots and moderately water the plants during the summer drought. The rest of the time, you should refrain from moistening the soil under the flowers. Lobularia does not need preparation for winter. Garden varieties of plants respond well to fertilizing with mineral fertilizers. It is recommended to bring them along with one of the summer waterings.
Reproduction
Lobularia is propagated by seeds. In practice, both the seedling method and the cultivation of lobularia in the open field are equally successfully used.
In the first case, lobularia seeds are sown under a film or in a greenhouse. The air temperature in the place where the seedlings are kept should not fall below 12 ° C. As the seedlings emerge, the seedlings are thinned out, leaving intervals of 10 to 15 cm between the plants.Lobularia is planted in open ground in May, the plants, together with the basal earthy clod, are planted in permanent places, keeping a distance of 15-20 cm between them.
In the second case, plant seeds are sown directly to a permanent place. This can be done in October - November or April. When sowing in autumn, the planting site of the lobularia must be covered with non-woven material.
Diseases and pests
Lobularia can be affected by powdery mildew, brown rot and white rust. In order to prevent the spread of diseases, infected specimens must be removed from the flower garden and burned.
Of the pests, Lobularia most often attracts caterpillars, aphids and cicadas. Appropriate insecticides should be used to control them. If the plants are attacked by aphids, and the use of garden chemicals is undesirable, the flowers can be regularly sprayed with an environmentally friendly decoction of citrus peel until the pests completely disappear.
Popular varieties and shapes
Varieties of Lobularia sea:
Bentham Form Varieties:
- ‘Weiss Risen’ - bush height up to 35 cm, large white flowers;
- ‘Shneeshturm’ - bush height up to 25 cm, large white flowers.
New varieties of Lobularia marine:
- ‘Easter Deep Rose’ is a short bush with bright pink flowers;
- ‘Easter Bonnet Pink’ - small lilac-pink flowers;
- ‘New Apricot’ - white flowers with a barely noticeable apricot tinge;
- ‘Alpine Pink’ - pink flowers with a white center;
- ‘Paletta’ - bush height up to 10 cm, flowers of various shades;
- ‘Salmon’ - bush height up to 10 cm, salmon-pink flowers;
- ‘Tiny Tim’ - bush height up to 8 cm, white flowers.
Diseases and pests
Lobularia very rarely suffers from any diseases and is rarely attacked by harmful insects. Diseases can only occur due to improper fit. For example, a deep-planted seedling can be infected with powdery mildew. In this case, it must be removed, and the rest of the plants must be treated with a special solution of fungicides.
Of the pests, lobularia can be attacked by a cruciferous flea or slugs. Flea beetles can be dealt with by processing with special preparations. Slugs need to be fought by manual collection or special traps must be prepared.
