2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Kupava (lat. Trollius) - shade-tolerant moisture-loving perennial from the Buttercup family. Other names are swimsuit, fry, lights.
Description
Kupava is an incredibly spectacular perennial, equipped with a fairly powerful root system and very beautiful palmate-separated leaves. And the height of this plant is usually in the range from twenty centimeters to one meter.
Large kupava flowers can be either single or collected in luxurious inflorescences. Only one thing is invariable - almost always these flowers are painted either yellow or orange (however, sometimes plants with white flowers are also found). You can admire the flowering of the kupava from the end of May until July.
In total, the Kupava genus includes about three dozen species.
Where grows
Kupava grows mainly in Siberia, Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus.
Usage
In ornamental floriculture, mainly European kupava (its flowers are painted in very pleasant golden-yellow shades), Asian kupava (with magnificent orange-red flowers), as well as hybrid or cultural kupava are grown. Such varieties as dwarf kupava, Chinese kupava and Altai kupava are quite common. And, of course, do not forget about such a beauty as Ledebour's kupava - this tall plant boasts amazingly beautiful golden-orange flowers! As for the white-flowered varieties, the paper cup is invariably the leader here. And among collectors, such two types as the highest kupava and the Dzungarian kupava are very popular.
One-type kupava groups are often freely placed in open areas (for example, in the middle of tree plantations) - this approach allows you to create the maximum feeling of naturalness. Kupava will look very impressive in combination with various ground cover plants or with a scattering of stones, as well as in flower beds created in the style of a "natural garden", in mixed flower beds and in mixborders. Without a doubt, there is always a place in the garden for these wonderful yellow or orange flowers!
All types of kupava are excellent honey plants, in addition, they are very readily eaten by livestock. And once upon a time, kupava was also considered as a dyeing plant - in the nineteenth century, the flowers of Asian kupava were actively used to obtain yellow dye for textiles.
Growing and caring
Kupava should be planted in damp and slightly shaded (but by no means completely devoid of the sun!) Areas, on soils well fertilized with humus. This plant requires standard care, however, among other things, the kupava will be very grateful for mulching, as well as for periodically adding fertile soil to the bases of its bushes.
The most drought-resistant species are the Altai Kupava and the Dzungarian Kupava - for them, well-drained soils that are not prone to stagnation of water are most preferable.
Kupava can grow in the same place for up to ten years, and after this time, it is recommended to divide her bushes and plant them in new places. By the way, this beauty transfers transplants extremely unimportantly - after them, it usually blooms only in the second year.
Kupava propagation is carried out both by seeds and by green cuttings or by dividing bushes. The division of rhizomes is usually carried out at the end of August in the fifth year of cultivation, and the root collars of plants are deepened by about two centimeters when planting. For propagation by cuttings, either green young shoots or summer rosettes of leaves equipped with parts of underground shoots are selected. And the seeds are planted either immediately after they are harvested in July, or, as an option, before winter. It is noteworthy that seedlings will develop much better without picking! They are usually transplanted to permanent places in August, and they bloom only in the second year. Depending on the variety, young plants are planted with a distance of thirty to sixty centimeters.
