Sanvitalia

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

Sanvitalia (Latin Sanvitalia) - a flowering plant representing the Astrov family, which is quite popular among gardeners. This plant got its name in honor of the famous Italian scientist, Mr. Sanvitali.

Description

Sanvitalia is a low-growing herbaceous perennial or annual, endowed with creeping strongly branched stems.

The opposite leaves of the sanvitalia can be either elongated or ovoid. And the inflorescences of this plant are baskets with black-purple tubular flowers and yellow, white or orange reed flowers. The average diameter of sanvitalia flowers is about two and a half centimeters, and this beauty usually blooms from July until October. Numerous inflorescences of the sanvitalia look very impressive! Some types form lush bushes, while others form thick ball-shaped pads, but in any case, all types of sanitation look great!

Sanvitalia's seeds are very, very small - one gram includes up to 1200 seeds! By the way, the genus of sanitation is very few - it has only seven species.

Where grows

Sanvitalia came to us from the southwestern regions of North America.

Usage

In floriculture, prostrate sanvitalia is mainly used - this spectacular plant is equally good both in itself and as part of a wide variety of compositions. Sanvitalia will be a wonderful decoration for rockeries, alpine slides, flower beds and borders, in addition, it will look great in floor or in simple hanging containers. And undersized varieties are perfect for landscaping gazebos and terraces, as well as for framing cozy garden paths. Sanvitalia is also widely used in landscape design - there it is assigned the role of a ground cover plant.

Sanvitalia goes well with many annuals - gatsania, zinnia, as well as salvia, brachycoma and many other plants. It will also look very cool next to sea alyssum, delightful silvery cineraria, purslane or blue ageratum. And if sanvitalia is grown in hanging baskets or containers, nemophila of contrasting shades, as well as nasturtium and petunia, will be the best neighbors for it.

Growing and caring

Sanvitalia is completely undemanding to soils (nevertheless, fertile loose soils with good drainage will be the most suitable for it), is quite resistant to wind and tolerates drought well. It is best to plant it in sunny open places, however, partially shaded corners are also quite suitable for this. And if sanvitalia is planned to be grown on heavy clay soils, it is recommended to add coarse sand to them in a ratio of 1: 3.

Moderate watering is required, while it is extremely important to try to avoid excessive waterlogging with subsequent stagnation of moisture - it is fraught with destructive decay of the roots. However, sanitation also needs to be protected from complete drying out of the soil.

As for dressings, if organic fertilizers were introduced into the soil in the process of planting sanitation, in the future it will be quite realistic to do without mineral dressings. If organic matter was not introduced into the soil, then approximately a couple of times a month the sanitation will need to be fed with good complex fertilizers.

Sanvitalia propagates mainly by seeds. High-quality seeds of this plant are capable of maintaining excellent germination for two years. As soon as the threat of frost passes, the seeds can immediately be planted in open ground, and after sixty to seventy days the beauty of sanvitalia will begin to bloom. If you plan to grow sanitation using the seedling method, you will need a semi-warm greenhouse - in this case, the seeds are sown in March or April. And when transplanting seedlings to a permanent place, it is important to maintain a distance of twenty to twenty-five centimeters between plants.