2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Umbilical cord (Latin Omphalodes) - shade-tolerant winter-hardy perennial from the Borage family. The second name is omphalodes.
Description
The umbilical plant is a flowering, low-growing perennial, the height of which varies from ten to twenty centimeters. The lanceolate leaves of the umbilicus are located on rather long petioles, which in turn form spectacular basal rosettes.
Bright blue umbilical flowers form luxurious corymbose inflorescences. And due to the numerous "antennae" appearing at the end of flowering, real thickets of this plant are very quickly formed! By the way, it is thanks to such an active vegetative growth that this handsome man is often called a "creeping forget-me-not"!
In total, the genus of the navel has about twenty-five species.
Where grows
The navel is a plant native to the forests of Southern Europe and the Caucasus. Currently, this handsome man is quite widespread in the Northern Hemisphere - especially often the umbilical cord can be seen in East Asia and in the Mediterranean.
Usage
In ornamental horticulture, the navel is used as one of the most spectacular ground cover plants. At the same time, two varieties of the umbilical cord are especially widespread in culture - the spring navel and the Cappadocian navel. By the way, it has been known in culture since the seventeenth century!
These plants are endowed with the ability to form permanently green, closed and very even carpets up to twenty centimeters high, and such decorativeness is not lost until the onset of frost! In addition, the navel is an excellent backdrop for a great variety of tall or medium-sized plants, characterized by beautiful forms of shrubs or bright unusual foliage.
You can safely plant the umbilical cord on terraces or on the slopes - the hanging antennae of this plant, along with rosettes of young leaves, look very cool against the background of any walls!
Growing and caring
The navel will grow best under the canopy of all kinds of deciduous trees - the plant needs ample amount of shade. And the soil for its cultivation should be loose, rich and not subject to stagnant moisture. In this case, it is better that they are slightly alkaline or normal. However, this plant is also quite capable of withstanding slightly acidic soils, however, experienced gardeners still recommend alkalinizing them at least a little, scattering either dolomite flour or chalk over the surface of the soil before planting and digging after that the site. As for the soils recently fertilized with manure, they are definitely not suitable for growing umbilicals - such soils contribute to very active plant growth to the detriment of flowering. By the way, for the winter, leaf litter is not removed from the plantings of this plant!
The navel is a very drought-resistant plant, accordingly, it will be advisable to water it only when the weather is particularly hot. And this plant is completely undemanding to fertilizing. If, nevertheless, you wanted to feed the beautiful plants, it will be quite enough to do this in the spring, mulching the plantings with a small amount of humus substrate. As for shelter for the winter, only the Cappadocian navel usually needs it.
Reproduction of the umbilical cord is carried out by dividing individual daughter rosettes. As a rule, this is done at the end of summer or at the very beginning of autumn, when the flower buds of the next year will already be laid on the plants. And in earlier periods, the umbilical cord is usually transplanted along with earthen clods.
