Soapstone moon dust (Latin Saponaria) is a herbaceous flowering plant from the Clove family. Saponaria is the second name of the plant. From Latin "sapo" is translated as soap.
The root of the plant was used as a substitute for soap, because when shaken in water, saponin is released, which forms a foam. Grows in Eurasia on rocky slopes.
It counts nine species of this plant... Sometimes it grows wild, often grown as an ornamental species.
Saponaria grows rapidly, reaching a height of one meter. Photo confirmation of this. Shade-loving perennial. It can grow up to 8 years without transplanting. It has highly branched pubescent stems. Leaves - elongated with a pointed tip, slightly narrowed towards the base. Blooms from June to September.
Content
- General information
- Types and varieties
- Saponaria planting and care in the open field
- Watering the soap box
- Soil for saponaria
- Soap transplant
- Fertilizer for saponaria
- Flowering saponaria
- Pruning soapwort
- Preparing saponaria for winter
- Saponaria growing from seeds
- Reproduction of saponaria by dividing the bush
- Soapy reproduction by cuttings
- Diseases and pests
- Mylnyanka medicinal properties
- Conclusion
General information
In the wild, the flower grows throughout Eurasia. The people call the culture "soap", in view of the fact that its botanical name, translated from Latin, means "soap". This feature is due to the fact that the root of the plant has foaming properties and is used in soap making, thanks to its saponins.
In addition, the plant has medicinal properties, therefore, having grown a culture on your site, you can not only use it as an effective means of traditional medicine, but also as a spectacular garden decoration, which will delight you with its lush flowering for a long time.
Description of medicinal soapwort
Medicinal soap is a herbaceous flower that belongs to the genus Carnation. It has a strong root system that is fixed in the ground by long, spreading coral roots.
Stems are bare and straight. Leaves are placed on them, tapering towards the base. They have opposite short cuttings, inflorescences in the form of panicles.
They are of a soft pink or milky color. A box filled with grains ripens as a fruit.
Flower properties
The root is used in popular medicine and in everyday life. Currently, there are nine varieties of this plant. The rhizome has healing properties. As a rule, it is used for the preparation of medicinal drugs. Scarlet soap root has in its structure vitamins D, C, B and A, saponazid, triterpene saponins. It happens that the ground part of the soapwort is also used. The green part of the plant contains ascorbic acid, saponarin glycoside and saponaroside.
The individual components provide excellent lather. Because of this, the roots of the plant are called soapy. They are often used for washing woolen products, bathing animals. This flower has a choleretic, diuretic and diaphoretic effect. It is used for constipation as a laxative.
Types and varieties
Mylnyanka Medicinal - in the wild, the plant grows in Europe, Asia, the Caucasus, the Mediterranean and Siberia. It reaches a height of up to 900 centimeters. The leaf plates are long, dark green, oval-lanceolate or elliptical with a sharp end. They are separated by three veins. Inflorescences are white or pink. They are located on short stalks and have a pleasant aroma.
Soapy Basilikolistnaya - in the wild, the culture grows in the Alps and is an abundantly flowering perennial with creeping shoots that form a soft pillow, up to 15 centimeters high. The leaf plates have a matte green tint and an oval-linear shape. Umbellate inflorescences, consisting of small, pleasantly smelling pinkish-red inflorescences.
Soapyanka Inspiration - the plant has a pillow-like shape, which is formed due to shoots creeping along the ground. In height, the culture can reach up to 30 centimeters. Flowering time is in the middle of summer. The leaf plates are dark green, elliptical in shape with a sharp end. Inflorescences are pleasantly smelling, white or pinkish, gathered in umbrellas.
Saponaria Camilla - the plant belongs to undersized varieties and reaches a height of up to 15 centimeters. The leaf plates are long, dark green, elliptical, slightly pubescent. Umbellate inflorescences, consisting of small flowers of pink color.
Common Soapy
In the wild, the culture grows in Siberia, the Caucasus, Europe and Asia. The bush reaches a height of 900 centimeters and has dark green, elliptical leaf plates with a pointed end. Inflorescences are fragrant, consisting of pink or white flowers.
Soapy Moon Dust - in its natural habitat grows in the Alps. The plant is a profusely flowering perennial with creeping stems with dark green, narrow elliptical leaves. The culture reaches a height of up to 20 centimeters. Umbellate inflorescences, consisting of dark pink small flowers with a pleasant aroma.
Olivana's Soapy - this kind of garden hybrid culture, was obtained as a result of crossing the dwarf and soddy varieties of soapwort. The plant has the form of a dense pillow with dark green foliage, reaching a width of up to 20 centimeters and a height of up to 5 centimeters. Flowering time is in the middle of summer. Inflorescences are umbellate, pleasantly smelling pinkish.
Soapyanka Bressingham - herbaceous ground cover perennial reaches a height of 40 centimeters and grows in the form of dense cushions with dense gray-green foliage. Inflorescences are dark pink with a pleasant, sweet aroma. Blooms throughout the summer.
Soapyanka Rosea Plena - is a profusely flowering varietal variety with light pink double inflorescences. The plant reaches a height of 50 centimeters. The leaf plates are dark green, elliptical with a pointed end. The inflorescences are highly decorative and have a pleasant aroma. Their uniqueness lies not only in the double petals, but also in the variety of shades that range from white to pinkish-crimson.
Soapyanka Ground Cover
In the wild, the plant grows in the Pyrenees. The bush reaches a height of up to 15 centimeters. The leaf plates are glossy, dark green lanceolate-linear. Inflorescences are light pink, with a pleasant sweetish aroma. The flowering time of the culture falls in the middle of summer.
Soapyanka Pink Lawn - is a lush blooming, ornamental herbaceous perennial. During growth, forms dense pillows, reaching up to 20 centimeters, with long creeping shoots. The leaf plates of the plant are narrow, green, oval-linear in shape. Inflorescences are umbellate, pinkish-red.
Soapyanka Pumila - the culture reaches a height of 40 centimeters and has narrow, dark green elliptical leaf plates with a pointed end. The inflorescences have an unusual shape and a purple-burgundy hue. The flowering time of the culture lasts all summer.
Mylnyanka Perennial - reaches a height of up to 100 centimeters and has dark green, oblong-oval leaf plates with a pointed end. Inflorescences are umbrella-shaped, white-pink with a pleasant aroma. Flowering time is in the middle of summer. After the culture has flowered, seed bolls with dark, small seeds are formed.
Description of the plant
Lunar dust soap is an amazing plant that at one time brought inspiration to many artists and poets. It is almost impossible to find something similar in nature. Among this species there are both annual and perennial plants, it depends solely on the conditions in which the saponaria grows.
The soapwort is a typical example of a plant in the clove family. The herbaceous culture is small in size. The height of the shrub is no more than 40-50 cm. Small flowers of pink shades gather on long stems. Each bud is no more than 3 cm in diameter. The leaves are almost invisible behind the dense inflorescence. They are small in size and covered with protective down.
The main feature of saponaria is its unique properties. If you rub the root or stem in your hands, you can feel how the soapwort secretes a special juice that lathers well and creates foam.
In nature, saponaria is found in temperate latitudes in the south-west of Europe, so it takes root in a cool climate without any particular difficulties. Still, the soapwort grows most densely on rocky areas, so do not be surprised if you see it on the mountain slopes.
Most often, the soapwort produces buds at the beginning or in the middle of summer. If you cut off the shoots that have faded in time, then you can wait for the second wave of flowering. Moon dust saponaria reproduce in only two ways: by seeds and cuttings. Which one suits the best, the florist must decide individually.
Saponaria planting and care in the open field
In the wild, the culture grows in poor rocky soil, so this factor should be taken into account when planting a plant in the garden. The flower bed should be well lit or shaded. If you plant a soapwort in the shade, the inflorescences will be pale and inconspicuous, and the culture itself will begin to wither and stop growing.
The soil for planting should be calcareous and well-drained. This eliminates stagnation of moisture in the soil, which negatively affects the root system. The soil on the bed should be loose with a low content of nitrogenous compounds and a large amount of calcium. After planting young plants, the bed should be mulched with fine gravel.
Saponaria can be planted in open ground in the form of seeds or using grown seedlings. Seeds are sown on the garden bed before winter in late autumn or early spring. But this method of growing a crop has low reliability, so most gardeners use the seedling method.
It is necessary to sow seeds for seedlings in mid-March in small planting containers with loose, nutritious soil. From above, the sown seeds are covered with a thin layer of sand, moistened, covered with a film and moved to a warm and lighted place.
Every day, the seedlings need to be ventilated and systematically moistened. It is possible to plant grown plants in open ground only when the threat of frost disappears and the ground warms up well. Usually disembarkation is carried out in mid-May. When planting, a distance of 30 centimeters should be observed between the bushes. After the procedure, young plants need to be watered.
Gypsophila or Kachim is also a member of the Clove family.It is grown when planting and nursing in the open field without any problems, if you follow the rules of agricultural technology. All the necessary recommendations can be found in this article.
How to plant
Planting and caring for soapwort is not complicated by its whims, the plant is quite unpretentious. Loves sunny areas, but it grows remarkably in partial shade. If the winter is snowless, the saponaria may freeze out, but then it will germinate again from the fallen seeds.
The only serious threat is stagnation of moisture in heavy soil, then the roots will begin to rot. Therefore, it is important to provide the plant with a loose, calcareous and poorly fertile soil (liming can be carried out beforehand).
Basilicola leafwort reproduces:
- Seeds. They are sown in open ground in May, as well as in October. Flowering can only be expected next year. If the climate is more severe or you don't want to risk waiting for shoots, you can start seedlings in March. Fortified specimens are planted with a lump of earth in a selected area with a distance of about 30 centimeters.
- Cuttings from the top. You can separate them for reproduction throughout the spring and summer, but it is advisable to choose the time before flowering. The lower leaves are removed from the cuttings and planted in a pot of wet sand.
- By division. They choose the strongest overgrown bushes, they can be planted at any time before the onset of autumn. Before that, a little bone meal is added to the landing hole.
So that the undersized soapwort does not "drown" in the weeds, it is better to cover the soil with crushed stone, gravel, sandstone mulch, but not with bark or peat.
If you do not cut the soapwort after flowering, leaving only 5 centimeters above the soil, tiny capsules with seeds will appear at the ends of the stems. They can be collected and used for sowing, and in dry weather they scatter and the plant reproduces on its own.
Caring for the basil-leaved soapwort
It tolerates the scorching sun and droughts, but when there is no life-giving rain for too long, it is better to water the plant. To make the saponaria thicker and bloom better, it is fed with a fertilizer containing calcium.
If self-seeding is undesirable, the wilted flowers are cut off along with the stem, by about a third. The plantings will look more neat, branching will intensify, and the next wave of flowering will surpass the previous one in abundance.
Soapy woman in landscape design
It is not hard to guess that this groundcover is simply created for the alpine slides. Saponaria grows excellently in crevices, covers decorative rocks and boulders, even climbs rocky walls. But its application is not limited to this.
About 20 years ago, gardeners appreciated the beauty of the basil-leaved soapworm in groups, began to fix sunny slopes with it, mask stones, effectively decorate borders and ridges.
A thick flowering carpet looks very elegant and unusual, so it is not difficult to find the use of a soap dish in landscape design. She may well do without neighbors, but sometimes bells, sage, sunflower, saxifrage, yaskolka, edelweiss or iberis, all kinds of alpine plants are planted nearby.
Soaplane Moon dust also has a second name - saponaria. Still, it is customary among the people to call it the soapbox.
It is difficult to imagine a garden without flowers. Nowadays, there are many cultures that are actively used in decorating flower beds and all kinds of lawns. One of these plants is the Moon Dust saponaria. In childhood, everyone calls this plant a soapy one, since the root system, when interacting with water, begins to foam and has a special, rather specific aroma. It is not surprising that this plant is widely used in the production of hygiene products (soap, shampoo, balm, etc.).Today it is required to talk about the features of planting and caring for the species of Moon dust saponaria.
Watering the soap box
The plant needs moderate watering. The gardener should remember that severe waterlogging of the soil will lead to decay of the root system and the death of the soapwort.
The optimal conditions for moistening the soil will be the introduction of moisture to the garden twice a week. Also, after each watering, the land in the area with the plant must be loosened and weeds must be broken through.
Beneficial features
According to many healers and medical reference books, it is in the rhizome that there is a storehouse of the most useful vitamins and other substances. In particular:
- Vitamin B, D
- Large amount of ascorbic acid
- A little echinacea
But even such a large number of useful elements will not affect the human body in any way, if you brew or consume a lot of rhizomes in dishes.
But, not observing the proportion, then you will have: upset stools for a long time, insomnia, poisoning and a further increase in intoxication.
During collection, people often confuse soapworms with other plants, so we advise you to always focus on the photo of the soapbox to prevent poisoning.
- Improvement of the general condition in case of rheumatic pains.
- With prolonged constipation, the soapstone will adjust the chair.
- During a cold, it has an expectorant effect.
In official medicine, doctors use various ointments that contain soapwort extract, they help accelerate the process of tissue regeneration and have an anti-inflammatory effect.
Soap transplant
If the saponaria is grown as a perennial, it needs a rejuvenating transplant. In one place, the plant can grow up to eight years.
To order the garden bed and rejuvenate the plantings, the bushes should be carefully dug up, divided into parts and planted on a new, prepared bed in advance. The transplant is carried out early or mid-May. The adaptation time of a plant to a new place takes about a month.
Use in landscape design
In our time, the soapwort of the Moon Dust variety is, unfortunately, not so often used. It is necessary to plant it in open spaces, so it is easy to guess that the plant takes root best on alpine slides.
Saponaria, in addition to all of the above, grows well in rocky crevices, where there is a lack of fertile soil. Therefore, if there are decorative boulders or rocks in the garden, you can take a unique chance to decorate them with flowers. It looks really unusual and very aesthetically pleasing. Most people will doubt the naturalness of these flowers, but this is the highlight of the soapstone.
The decorative use of saponaria does not end there. Due to its unique properties of lush flowering in rocky areas, 20 years ago, soapwort began to be widely used for decorating borders.
Still, there are disadvantages of this plant. Releasing inflorescences for several seasons in one place, the plant leaves behind many seeds, which gradually begin to germinate. After a few years, behind the entire density of the plant, stony boulders will be practically invisible. In order to prevent the overgrowth process, gardeners recommend removing flower stalks in time. This should be done around mid-September, immediately after the saponaria seeds appear.
Other alpine plants can also be planted near the soapbox: bell, edelweiss, or sage. But only the soapworms of Moon dust ideally dilute the too bright atmosphere.
Saponaria is a fairly profitable plant that does not require special attention from its owners. Nevertheless, some unpleasant moments (self-seeding) eliminate the desire to plant a plant on the site.To prevent this problem, you need to devote only half an hour to the soapwort in the fall to cut off the peduncles. We hope these simple tips will help you decorate your garden with the help of this plant.
Flowering saponaria
The flowering time of the culture falls on summer. Inflorescences can be in the shape of an umbrella, loose brushes in the case of double flowers, and also have single small flowers on short stalks. Everything will depend on the variety.
The color of the flowers of the saponaria varies from snow-white to bright crimson. The inflorescences have a pleasant, sweet aroma. After flowering, seed pods are formed with dark, small seeds used for propagation of the crop.
Pruning soapwort
Pruning is necessary for the plant to add decorative effect and prevent self-seeding. Decorative pruning is carried out after flowering. For this, about 1/3 of the shoots are removed, thus, it is possible to give the bushes a presentable appearance.
To prevent self-seeding, after flowering, you need to remove the seed pods.
Preparing saponaria for winter
The frost resistance of a plant depends on its variety. Some crops tolerate severe frosts well, while others do not.
If the region where the saponaria grows are cold and snowless winters, then it is best to cover the plant with dry leaves or spruce branches. Thus, the root system will be reliably protected from freezing.
Saponaria growing from seeds
The seeds can be sown directly in the open field or used for growing seedlings. Seed material is planted on seedlings in March, and in open ground they can be sown either in October before winter, or in early May.
To germinate seeds for the seedling method, you need to take a small container with loose nutrient soil and drainage holes, then sow seeds into it, moisten the soil, cover with foil and remove to a warm and lighted place. In order for the seedlings to germinate faster, they need to be ventilated and systematically moistened daily.
After the first shoots appear, the shelter must be removed, and when the fourth leaf plate appears, the seedlings should be dived, and planted in open ground in May.
Planting recommendations
Planting a saponaria is a simple process. It is not complicated by the multiple whims of the plant, which is why some gardeners call soapwort an ideal crop for a very lazy owner.
As already mentioned, the plant is completely unpretentious. When choosing a site, you should pay attention to the presence of the sun. Best of all, soapwort takes root in places with good lighting, where the maximum amount of direct rays falls on the plant. Nevertheless, experts say that it lives well in partial shade. The only thing that awaits such a plant is a not too bright color.
If the winter is snowless and very cold, the soapwort can freeze out in open soil. But this does not prevent her from continuing to bloom actively next year. Due to the fallen seeds, the plant will reappear in the same place.
Saponaria can withstand drought, but will never survive stagnant moisture. After a few days in such conditions, the roots begin to rot, and over time, the entire shoot disappears altogether. That is why it is very important to make high-quality drainage in the soil. Plus, the soil around the plant should be thoroughly loosened. This will allow air to penetrate to the roots that need it.
As already noted, the soapwort reproduces by seeds, cuttings and division of the root system. In the first case, it is recommended to sow seeds in early May or in October, when the air temperature is still positive outside. In both variants, flowering should be expected only for the next season, so do not be surprised if, after planting a plant in May, you will not see flowers in summer.If the climatic conditions in your latitudes are more severe, you need to start sowing seeds in March. It is customary to plant already strengthened specimens in open soil along with a clod of earth. So they will quickly take root and begin to bloom.
Cuttings are usually separated during flowering, but experts recommend doing this in advance, namely, in early spring. The lower leaves are removed from each cutting, then it is planted in a pot with moist sandy soil.
The bush is divided at any time of the year before the onset of the first cold weather. Usually, already strengthened bushes are taken as a material for dividing, which, even if a certain part is lost, will be able to function with dignity in the next season.
Soapy reproduction by cuttings
In addition to the above methods, cuttings can be used. To do this, you need to choose the strongest and thickest stems and cut off their tops before flowering.
From the cuttings obtained, the lower leaf plates must be removed and rooted in a container with wet sand. After the seedlings have their own root system, they can be planted in open ground.
Caring for soapworms in the garden
It is quite simple to grow soapwort in the open field, for this you need to water it in a timely manner, weed it, feed and cut it, and also prepare it for wintering. To significantly reduce the amount of weeds on the site, it is recommended to cover its surface with small expanded clay, crushed stone or pebbles, in addition, this will make your flower garden more effective. In order for the flowering to be as long as possible, experts advise that the inflorescences that have begun to fade are systematically cut off from the bushes, this measure will also help to avoid self-seeding. In the autumn, shortly before the cold weather begins, the stems should be shortened by a third of their length, while the Lemperji and medicinal soap bushes should be cut to the very root. This culture is quite frost-hardy, but in the case of a winter with little snow, it will not be superfluous to cover the area with spruce branches. If the bushes do freeze, then in spring they can quickly recover due to self-seeding.
It is not recommended to grow such a flower on the same site for more than eight years, the fact is that during this time it grows strongly and it needs rejuvenation, for this the bush is divided. To do this, in the spring, the bush must be removed from the soil and divided into several parts. Delenki should be immediately planted in a new area.
How to water and feed
The bushes need to provide moderate watering, while remember that the stagnation of liquid in the root system is very harmful to the plant. In order to improve the drainage capacity of the soil, experts advise that before planting the plant, add expanded clay or sand for digging. If in the summer there are prolonged rains, then there is a high probability of rot on the roots of the soapwort. In order to avoid this, the area should be protected with a film that is stretched over pre-installed metal arcs.
Twice during the season, the bushes must be fed with phosphorus-potassium fertilizer. This is done immediately after the snow cover disappears and shortly before the beginning of flowering. Nitrogen-containing fertilizers should not be used, as they can harm such a crop. If it grows in nutritious soil, then you can do without feeding at all.
Diseases and pests
Such a herbaceous plant is highly resistant to harmful insects. However, sometimes a garden scoop settles on it, which damages the seed pods of such flowers, and on the surface of their stems, it arranges egg-laying. If there are few pests, then you can get rid of them by manually picking and destroying them, but if there are a lot of caterpillars, then you cannot do without spraying the plants with an insecticide solution.
Such a flower is rarely affected by root rot and leaf spot.If the first symptoms of the disease are noticed, you need to cut out all the affected parts of the bush as soon as possible. Severely affected plants must be dug up and destroyed, while the healthy bushes remaining on the site are sprayed with a solution of a fungicidal preparation.
Diseases and pests
A perennial herb is rarely affected by diseases and pests. In some cases, the crop can be attacked by garden moths and their caterpillars. The butterflies feed on ripe seeds, laying their eggs on the stem of the plant.
After the caterpillars hatch from their eggs, they begin to gnaw at the base of the branches, which subsequently leads to the death of the soapwort. It is possible to destroy these pests by treating the crop with the Zolon insecticide according to the instructions on the package.
Overmoistening of the soil in the garden with the plant can lead to diseases of fungal etiology. When root rot or leaf spot occurs, which manifests itself in the appearance of black or brown spots on the stems and leaf plates, the affected areas should be removed, and the rest of the plant should be treated with a 1% solution of Bordeaux liquid.
If the plant is severely damaged, it must be removed in order to avoid contamination of the entire planting.
Features of soapwort
The rhizome plant soapwort has erect shoots that can be ascending or open, their surface is bare and pubescent. In height, the stems reach from 0.7 to 0.8 m. Opposite whole leaf plates can have a broad-lanceolate, spatulate, oval or linear-lanceolate shape. Foliage can be sessile or taper at the base, have a blunt or pointed tip. Loose corymbose-paniculate inflorescences consist of five-petal flowers of purple, white or pink color. The fruit is a multi-seeded box of elongated shape, inside of which small blunt-tuberous seeds of almost black color ripen.
Mylnyanka medicinal properties
Since the roots of saponaria are rich in triterpene saponins, which provide the plant with soapy properties, it is used in cosmetology for the preparation of healing soap. However, the benefits of the plant do not end there.
A decoction from the roots is used in folk medicine for eczema, psoriasis, dermatitis and liver diseases. It is actively used for hair loss in order to strengthen them. The broth is taken orally as an expectorant for dry cough and bronchitis. There is also a soapstone in the collection for blood purification.
To prepare it, you need to take two tbsp. tablespoons of dry crushed roots and pour them with half a liter of hot water, then boil the mixture for 5 minutes. You can take the product immediately after cooling down at the dose indicated by the doctor.
When treating this plant, it should be borne in mind that it belongs to the category of poisonous, therefore the dose of the drug prepared on its basis should be calculated carefully. Based on this feature, a specialist should prescribe medicines from saponaria.
Varieties of soapwort
The name of the soapwort was attached to the flower due to the fact that its root, when rubbed with water, forms a foam. It can be used for hygienic purposes as it removes impurities from the body very effectively. Saponaria (lat. Saponaria) is called a soap dish due to the fact that from Latin the word "Sapo" means nothing more than "soap".
The soapwort is distributed mainly in Eurasia. First of all, this applies to the warm Mediterranean, the climate of which is characterized by high average monthly temperatures and little rainfall. Moreover, the flower can also be found in the Caucasus, in western Siberia and some regions of Asia Minor.
Currently, there are the following types of soapwort:
- Basilicola soapwort. The Latin name of this plant is Saponaria ocymoides.This type of decorative flower is the most common. This plant grows with shoots that spread along the ground. In this case, pillows are formed, the height of which reaches 20 centimeters. The flowers of this soapwort are small. Despite this, they are distinguished by their brightness and smell. Saponaria bloom for three months in summer. The variety called "Moon Dust" refers specifically to the basil-leaved soapwort. It is unpretentious to the surrounding conditions, as a result of which its cultivation is quite simple. The Vdohnovenie variety is also distinguished by similar cultivation characteristics. Its reproduction takes place by means of seeds.
- Soddy soapwort. The Latin name for this flower is Saponaria caespitosa. It grows in small bushes that spread along the ground. This type of perennial is characterized by more demanding care. That is why in Russia, among flower growers, soddy soapwort is not in demand. This plant does not bloom all summer, but mainly in July.
There are also such types of soapwort as yellow saponaria, Lemperji saponaria, Olivan saponaria, etc. All of them are less popular due to the complexity of their planting and cultivation.
