2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Meadowsweet (lat. Filipendula) Is a perennial plant of the Rosaceae family. Another name is Labaznik. Under natural conditions, meadowsweet grows in the temperate climatic zone of the Northern Hemisphere. Currently, there are about 13 species. The small number of species is compensated by the decorative variety.
Characteristics of culture
Meadowsweet is a herbaceous rhizomatous plant with an erect stem up to 3 m high. The leaves are pinnate or pinnatipartite. Flowers are numerous, small, collected in dense pyramidal, corymbose and paniculate inflorescences of yellowish-white, pink or red color. The calyx is five or six-lobed; there are also terry forms. The perianth is double.
The fruit is a multi-nut, it does not tie in terry varieties and hybrids. The meadowsweet root is thickened, branching horizontally and forming buds, from which flowering shoots are formed. Meadowsweet blooms in the first half of summer, that is, June - early July. The flowering period of the culture is about 20-25 days.
Very often, meadowsweet is confused with spirea. Some time ago, both plants were included in the same genus. The updated botanical classification assigns some species to the Spirea genus: pink meadowsweet, Japanese meadowsweet, Bumalda meadowsweet, Van Gutta meadowsweet, willow meadowsweet, the plant form of which is a shrub.
Growing conditions
Meadowsweet is an unpretentious culture. It develops well in intensely lit areas, protected from strong and piercing winds. Soils for growing meadowsweet are preferred light, nutrient-rich, aerated, loamy with a neutral pH reaction. Acidic soils are not suitable for meadowsweet. Most types of culture are moisture-loving, but they cannot stand stagnation and excess moisture.
Reproduction and planting
The meadowsweet is propagated by seeds and by dividing the rhizome. Seed collection is carried out in the fall. Only ripe fruits that are easily separated from the receptacle are considered suitable for reproduction of culture. Seeds are sown in open ground immediately after harvest. If the sowing was postponed to the spring, the seeds are stored in a cool room, after which they are stratified and scarified with sandpaper. Before sowing, the soil is dug up and fertilized. The seeding depth is no more than 2 cm.
When plants multiply by dividing the rhizomes, planting material is collected from the meadowsweet roots dug out in autumn. Each cut should be about 5-7 cm. The cut should be planted immediately to a permanent place or stored in wet sand or sawdust in a cool room until spring.
Care
Caring for meadowsweet consists in timely watering, freeing the soil near the stem zone from weeds, feeding and fighting pests and diseases. Abundant watering is carried out in the summer, especially during a prolonged drought; in the fall, watering is reduced. Do not overmoisten the soil. Top dressing is carried out twice a season: the first - with nitrophobic and organic fertilizers in early spring, the second - with liquid complex fertilizers after flowering. For the winter, plants do not need shelter, with an exception: young specimens.
Application
Tavolga is a flowering and highly decorative plant, widely used in landscape design, which largely depends on the type and variety of the plant. Lush inflorescences and delicate foliage are an excellent decoration for various plant compositions. Meadowsweet is used in single and specimen plantings, especially for Kamchatka meadowsweet and red meadowsweet. Undersized and medium-sized forms will give a special decorative effect to mixborders. Moisture-loving species, for example, meadowsweet, purple meadowsweet and Korean meadowsweet, are suitable for landscaping swampy areas, shores of reservoirs and lowlands.
In addition to its expressive aroma and catchy appearance, meadowsweet is famous for its medicinal properties. For several hundred years, the plant has been used in folk medicine, it is said that in the Middle Ages, the infusion of meadowsweet was used in the treatment of plague. Today meadowsweet is used in the treatment of coughs, colds, infertility, herpes, psoriasis, hepatitis, edema, tachycardia, diabetes and other diseases. Scientists argue that salicylates are present in the meadowsweet, which in their action are similar to the usual aspirin. The plant is also used in cooking and brewing, in addition, with its aroma, meadowsweet drives away mosquitoes, horseflies and flies.
