2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Callistephus (Latin Callistephus) - a flowering plant from a fairly extensive family of Astrovye. Another name is annual aster. As for the name "callistephus", it is derived from two Greek words: from the word callinos, meaning "beautiful," and from the word stephos, which translates as "wreath." And the flowers of this plant in their structure really very much resemble a wreath!
Description
Callistephus is a herbaceous annual, the height of which ranges from twenty-five to ninety centimeters. This plant is endowed with a fibrous root system and erect, hard stems, which sometimes have a reddish tint and can be either simple or branched.
Callistephus leaves are arranged in the next order, with the upper leaves of this plant sessile, and the lower ones petiolate, oval-rhombic or broadly oval, as well as crenate or serrate and always unequally large-toothed at the edges.
Callistephus inflorescences have the form of baskets formed by tubular and ligulate flowers. The color of large flowers of callistefus varies widely - it can be blue, and purple, and pink, and red, and white. As a rule, the color of a given plant depends on its variety. Callistephus begins to bloom in July, and its flowering almost always continues until late autumn.
This genus, surprisingly, has only one single species - the Chinese callistephus, which is also called the annual aster. Unfortunately, in nature, it is currently under threat of extinction. But the varieties of this plant are about four thousand, while three hundred varieties are more than successfully used in floriculture!
Where grows
The homeland of this plant is China, but now it can be found almost throughout the entire territory of our planet.
Usage
Callistefus is one of the most popular annuals from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day. This handsome man can be safely planted in any flower beds, and right in the middle of lawns. Quite often, callistefus is planted along with spring plants such as poultry farms or tulips - when they fade, they will be replaced by a beautiful callistefus! And the best predecessors for this plant will be tagetes or calendula - in the callistefus planted after them, the risk of fungal diseases is significantly reduced.
Growing and caring
This light-loving plant is ideally recommended to be planted in open, sunny areas. However, in partial shade, callistephus will also grow very well. At the same time, it is desirable that the soils be light enough, not acidic, but fertile, enriched with a very impressive amount of organic matter. However, in no case should you feed callistefus with manure!
If dry weather sets in outside, callistephus will need to be watered from time to time - this handsome man does not like either drought or excess moisture. They feed it with mineral fertilizers: for the first time - about a couple of weeks after planting in open ground, and the second time - as soon as the plant enters the budding stage.
Callistephus is propagated mainly by seeds. It is perfectly acceptable to immediately sow them in permanent places - this is done either in the spring or with the onset of autumn. But if you wish, it is not forbidden to grow this plant by means of seedlings - in this case, young seedlings are moved into open ground approximately in mid-May. It is only important not to forget that every year the place for planting callistephus must be changed, and it will be possible to return it to its old place only after four to five years, not earlier.
For sowing in open ground, experts recommend using only the seeds obtained from the new crop, but if it is planned to grow seedlings first, then the seeds should not be more than two years old. At the same time, high-quality seeds do not need any pre-sowing preparation at all.
