Badan

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Badan (lat. Bergenia) - an annual or perennial plant of the Saxifragaceae family. Other names are Bergenia or Mongolian tea. In nature, badan grows in Asia (from Afghanistan to Korea and China). Six species are found on the territory of Russia. The plant got its name in honor of the famous German botanist Karl August von Bergen.

Characteristics of culture

Badan is a herbaceous plant 6-60 cm high. Rhizomes are horizontal, rather thick. Leaves are large, leathery with shine, dark green, located on petioles, forming a voluminous basal rosette. Peduncles are long, when they appear, flowers bloom at the same time. The flowers are goblet-shaped, collected in dense paniculate inflorescences, depending on the variety, can be white, pink, red, purple or dark purple. The fruit is a capsule. Badan blooms for two months, there are remontant varieties that bloom several times per season. Early badans bloom in early April.

Growing conditions

Badan is a light-loving culture, but it grows easily in shaded areas. In partial shade it forms rather dense and long-term thickets. Soils for growing badan are preferable loose, well-drained, moderately moist, rich in organic matter with a neutral pH reaction. Saline and acidic soils are not suitable, just like lowlands with stagnant cold air.

Reproduction and planting

Berry is propagated by seeds and dividing the bush. The seed method is used extremely rarely, since seedlings develop slowly and require a lot of attention. Sowing is carried out in March in seedling boxes. The seeding depth is 0.5 cm. After sowing, the soil is watered, and the boxes are covered with foil and placed in a warm room. The first shoots appear in 3-4 weeks.

Seedlings are planted in open ground in early June. The site for badans is prepared in advance, the soil is dug up, fed with humus and mineral fertilizers, holes 5-6 cm deep are formed, on the bottom of which a little river sand is poured. Then a seedling is lowered into the hole, sprinkled with fertile soil and watered with watering cans. For wintering, young plants should leave with 2-3 overgrowth leaves. The flowering of bergenia with the seed method of reproduction occurs in 3-4 years.

Reproduction by dividing the bush does not present any particular difficulties. Growing up, berry trees form new roots that lie close to the soil surface, they are easy to dig up, while not damaging the root. In this way, they propagate in May-June. Each division should have 3-4 root buds and 2-3 leaves. Delenki are planted in open ground at a distance of 30-50 cm from each other. Such a procedure is carried out no more than once every 4-5 years.

Care

Badan care is pretty simple. The plant needs regular and moderate watering, without waterlogging. The culture responds well to feeding with complex mineral fertilizers. Fertilizers are applied twice during the entire growing season: in early spring and in autumn before the onset of stable frosts.

In the first year, immediately after planting, the soil around the plants is mulched with peat. The culture has a negative attitude towards transplants, in the same place the plant can grow for 8-10 years. Since badan is resistant to diseases and pests, it does not require preventive treatments, it is more important to follow all the rules of agricultural technology.

Application

Badan is widely used in landscape design of gardens and parks. The plant is used to decorate lawns, borders, group compositions and rabatka. Badan looks good in mixed compositions made in a landscape style, in combination with shrubs and undersized trees (junipers, derain, euonymus and rhododendrons). The culture harmoniously fits into rocky gardens - rockeries and rock gardens. Spring bulbous crops - crocuses and woodlands - can act as ideal partners for badans.

The plant is used in many other areas, for example, in folk medicine. From the leaves of badan prepare tonic teas with useful properties. Badan is rich in arbutin, so it is used to treat the bladder, as a water bath from the leaves of the plant perfectly copes with cystitis. It has an incense and anti-inflammatory effect, so it is included in cosmetics for the treatment of dandruff, seborrhea and acne.