2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Ammobium (Latin Ammobium) - flowering culture; a genus of perennial plants of the Asteraceae family. Australia is considered the homeland. To date, only three species are known. The name of the genus was formed from two Greek words: "ammos" - means sand, "bios" - to live, which translates as an inhabitant of the sand. Indeed, in nature, the plant is found in sandy areas. An attractive ornamental plant, actively used in horticulture.
Characteristics of culture
Ammobium is represented by perennial herbaceous plants up to 60 cm high with an erect, highly branched stem that forms sprawling bushes covered with grayish tomentose pubescence. Leaves are alternate, simple; lower (basal) leaves are elongated, oval, narrowed at the base; the upper (stem) leaves are small, whole, fused at the base with the wings that the stem is equipped with.
The flowers are tubular, small, five-part, bisexual, yellow, collected in a basket-shaped inflorescence, reaching a diameter of 1-1.5 cm and dressed in a rather large wrapper, consisting of dry light yellow, silvery-white or white scales. Fruits are elongated saucer-shaped achenes, endowed with filmy intergrown cusps and containing a huge amount of small seeds. Flowering is abundant, long-lasting, begins in June and ends with frosts.
Ammobium belongs to the group of dried flowers used to create summer and winter bouquets. Even in a dry state, ammobium flowers do not lose their shape, color and attractiveness. This feature is associated with the strawy and hard structure of the petals, due to which the shape is retained when dried. But this is not the only advantage of the culture in question, it is perfect for decorating mixborders and rocky corners.
Features of cultivation
Ammobium is a light-loving, heat-loving and drought-resistant plant. Prefers well-lit areas, protected from cold northerly winds, with moist, loose, permeable, rich, sandy soils, cleared of weeds. Will not tolerate cooperation with heavy clayey, compacted, clogged, waterlogged soils, as well as lowlands with stagnant sediments.
Ammobium is unpretentious in care, needs rare watering during a drought and at the initial stage of development, fertilizing with mineral fertilizers twice a season (the first feeding is carried out 7-10 days after planting seedlings in the ground using nitrogen fertilizers; the second after 14-15 days - complex mineral fertilizers). The culture does not need treatments against pests and diseases, since it is resistant to both.
Ammobium is propagated by seeds. In central Russia, gardeners use the seedling method. Seeds are sown in the third decade of March - the first decade of April in seedling boxes filled with a nutritious and disinfected substrate. Seedlings appear in 7-10 days. Diving into separate containers is carried out in the phase of 1-2 true leaves, that is, two weeks after pecking.
Ammobium seedlings are planted in open ground in the second or third decade of May, leaving a distance of 30-35 cm between the plants. A couple of weeks before planting, the seedlings are hardened, and immediately before it, they are well moistened. In the southern regions of Russia, sowing is carried out directly into the ground in the second decade of April, with the emergence of seedlings, thinning is carried out. Ammobium blooms 60-65 days after germination.
Harvesting inflorescences for creating bouquets and crafts
The inflorescences are harvested with the appearance of a yellow center on five inflorescences; it is not recommended to collect later, since the scales of the wrapper, located at the central inflorescences, bend down strongly, as a result, the flowers will lose their former attractiveness. The collection can be carried out a little earlier, then it will be possible to get white inflorescences. It is important to note that the cutting of inflorescences from the central peduncles allows you to get new ones. Ammobium inflorescences are dried in a dry dark room in small bunches, which are hung with baskets down.
Recommended:
Winged Ammobium
Winged ammobium (Latin Ammobium alatum) - flowering culture; a representative of the genus Ammobium of the Asteraceae family. A native of Australia, it also grows there in natural conditions. One of the plants included in the group of dried flowers is used not only in decorative gardening, but also in flower art (creating winter and summer bouquets and various crafts, including paintings).
