Kalistegia - Stubborn Beauty

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

From the field bindweed, for sure, many gardeners have had head and back pain more than once. He manages to wrap the bed so tightly that he has to puff a lot when weeding. But his cultural brother - Kalistegiya (new) - is an excellent "decorator" of the garden. Its charming and delicate flowers can beautifully braid any vertical surface, while remaining very not picky

Pink American

If someone is bored with the gramophone of morning glory and the vagaries of clematis, then you can try to diversify the collection of flowering climbing plants with a wonderful calistegia. Despite its tenderness and splendor, the plant, like its field cousin bindweed, is rather unpretentious, which greatly simplifies its care and attracts attention to it. The fluffy calistegia of the Flora Pleno variety is especially charming - its flowers resemble small, delicate roses.

Most often, in Russian areas, pink calistegia is found, although in addition to it there are 24 more species. The plant, according to various sources, was brought from North America or Western Europe. Although East Asia is sometimes considered its homeland. But most often she is called an American. The name of the flower is Greek and consists of two words: calyx (calix) and cover (stegon). And, really, her bracts completely cover the calyx.

Roots grabbing

If this beauty is not stopped in time, then she, like her field relative, is ready to occupy the areas nearby, absorbing other, less tenacious plants. Therefore, we must not forget about the procedure for pruning the roots of calistegia. And it is better to limit their movement with artificial fences (for example, buckets, basins or barrels without a bottom).

It is best to plant and transplant a new one in spring with the help of its "grabbing" rhizomes. They are usually rooted in greenhouses and then placed in a permanent place. Before this, the land is seasoned with mineral fertilizers, humus and ash. Then, having dug a trench (20 cm deep), lay out delenki (at a distance of 20 cm). The groin can also be propagated by stalks, but then before wintering it must be thoroughly covered with leaves or special material. If there is already a calistegia in the garden, then you should not worry about reproduction - it will cope well on its own. But the plant does not like transplantation.

Higher and higher

In the first year after planting, if the summer was not cold and rainy, the vine usually stretches up to 1.5 m and begins to bloom slowly. In the second year, it becomes even higher and blooms even more. And in 10 years - such an average lifespan of a vine - it may well reach a four-meter mark. Therefore, it is worth worrying about a reliable support in advance.

Each povoy flower usually blooms for 3-4 days and the duration of flowering depends on the weather: strange, but on cooler days the flowers are visible longer. However, if you want to quickly get flowers from the shares, then you should plant the beauty in the sun - then we expect the result at the end of June. In the shade, the calistegia will open only by the end of July. But the plant pleases with flowering right up to frost.

Economical watering

Caring for a povoy is not particularly tricky: in the spring you need a small mineral complex feeding, before and during flowering, it is good to water the plant with dissolved manure. Frequent watering is not necessary, especially if the calistegia is planted in a bucket without a bottom. Winter is not terrible for her, and insulation is not required. It is advisable to cut off the shoots that have died out after frost - by the spring (end of May) new ones will appear.

Drought will not frighten calistegia either. Among the harmful creatures, only slugs and snails can be distinguished, which is why it is better to grow a new one in the sun. In conditions of prolonged damp weather, powdery mildew is likely to attack. But there are also life-saving drugs for her.