2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Alcea (lat. Alcea) - flowering shade-tolerant perennial, biennial or annual from the Malvovye family. Other names are stock-rose, mallow or mallow.
Description
Alcey is a herbaceous plant, the height of which ranges from thirty centimeters to two and a half meters. Its branched roots boast a very impressive length, and its petiole leaves are very attractive, round-heart-shaped. Leaves can be either incised and pubescent, or have five to seven lobes.
The flowers of the alcea are quite large (sometimes their diameter reaches twelve centimeters), and their color can be arbitrarily varied: red, purple, yellow, pink, white, etc. You can admire the flowering of this amazing plant from June to until September.
The name of this plant is derived from the Greek althein, which means “to heal” in Russian. This is due to the fact that once upon a time, the leaves of one of the varieties of alcea were widely used in medicine.
In total, the genus Alcea has about sixty species.
Where grows
Alceus grows mainly in Europe, Asia and the Mediterranean. And the flora of Russia and neighboring countries has about thirty-six species of alcea!
Usage
Alcey is quite actively used in ornamental gardening - in this regard, such varieties as pink altsa and wrinkled alcei are especially in demand in this regard. Alcei is one of the most popular garden plants in our latitudes! And since it is a very tall plant, most often it is planted in the background of all kinds of mixed flower beds or mixborders. Altsi will look no worse than being planted as a single-species group right in the middle of a lawn or near trees, at the same time slightly covering their trunks. And in villages, alcei are often planted outside the plots, thus ennobling wickets and fences.
As for partner plants, the best partners for alcea will be such rather tall annuals or perennials such as phlox, rudbeckia, kosmeya and sunflower.
Growing and caring
Alcey is not only incredibly beautiful, but also extremely unpretentious, which makes it a favorite plant even for novice gardeners. It boasts impressive drought tolerance, is completely undemanding to soil fertility and is very shade tolerant! At the same time, alceum will grow best in open sunny areas, and garden soils will be the most preferable for its best development. The only thing this handsome man cannot stand is moisture stagnation. This means that moisture should be moderate!
If altsi grows on fertile soils, then it does not feel the slightest need for any additional fertilizing, and it will not hurt to feed plants growing on poor soils once a month with full mineral fertilizers (only a weakly concentrated solution!).
Despite the very impressive height of the alcea, garters are almost never required for him, the exception, perhaps, are only specimens growing in open windy places.
As soon as all plants have faded, it is recommended to cut them to a height of thirty centimeters. But transplants of adult plants are extremely unimportant.
Alcea propagation is carried out by sowing it in the ground or in greenhouses in May or June. And the seedlings are transferred to permanent places only in August or September, while alts bloom, as a rule, only in the second year.
