2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Often, looking at a picture of a talented painter, we are amazed at the accuracy, reality of the flowers and trees depicted, exclaiming with admiration: "Wow! Straight, as if alive!" And, looking at the riotous colors of the grasses in the field, we are delighted: "How great! As if in a picture!" The flower Gelikhrizum decided to play a trick on a person and combined two natures at once: the living nature of the plant and the inanimate dryness of the bright leaves of the wrappers. And now he slyly looks at people with his homogamous or heterogamous baskets of internal flowers, waiting for what a person who admires the beauty and such an unusual combination will compare them with
Guest from Australia
Many summer residents do not honor the so-called dried flowers. They attribute them to inanimate nature, forgetting that, like other flowers, bright, large inflorescences grow from a small grain, build up a green mass and show the world a long-lasting beauty.
The ancestor of dried flowers is a flower with the Latin name "Gelikhrizum". For his longevity, we call him "Immortelle". The flower acquired the dryness of its petals, adapting to life in the hot southern hemisphere of the Earth, including sultry Australia. Having moved to the northern latitudes, he managed to adapt here and grows well, delighting lovers with his flowers all year round.
Description of the plant
In summer cottages, urban flower beds, the Bracts Immortelle is more common. It belongs to the Astrov family.
A single erect rigid stem grows up to 120 centimeters and has lateral processes. It is surrounded by light green lanceolate leaves covered with a light white bloom.
The Immortelle flower consists of two zones. In the center is the basket, which can be homogamous (unisexual) or heterogamous (bisexual). The size of the basket, as a rule, does not exceed 7 millimeters. They can be located singly or in several pieces at the tops of the shoots, but more often they are corymbose or capitate inflorescences.
Around the basket there are dry or membranous leaves-wrappers, which make the flowers immortal. They are usually brightly colored, forming several layers, resembling European tile roofs. Like roofs, they can prolong the life of a plucked and dried flower for a long time. Nature gives the flowers of the Immortelle an abundance of shades: white, yellow, pink, red, lilac.
Light brown seeds ripen by the end of August. They are also long-livers and remain viable for 5-10 years.
Growing
Although Gelikhrizum is perennial, as an ornamental plant it is more often grown as an annual.
Seeds are sown in a greenhouse in early April or directly into open ground in early May. When transplanting from a greenhouse into the ground, so as not to damage the roots, they are planted together with a lump of earth. Since the bushes grow strongly, it is necessary to maintain a distance of at least 20 centimeters between the seedlings. The first time requires abundant watering, later watered in dry weather. The roots of the plant do not tolerate waterlogging.
Perennial species of Immortelle are propagated by cuttings in the summer, dividing the bush in the spring. For planting, a permanent place is chosen and the soil is prepared: they dig it up, apply organic fertilizer, arrange drainage.
As a southerner, the plant prefers sunny places with loose, well-drained soil. The immortelle loves fertile soil, therefore, monthly fertilizing with mineral and organic fertilizers is desirable.
Gelichrizum is resistant to pests and diseases.
Usage
The undersized bushes of the Immortelle are good for arranging borders, decorating alpine slides. Tall ones are suitable for a Moorish lawn. Flowers look good next to seaside cineraria (silvery-ash openwork bushes, widely used today in city flower beds).
But they are of the greatest value for dry bouquets, looking at which in the winter cold, a person recalls the summer, the dacha, and his soul becomes warm and joyful.
Immortelle essential oil
The oil has antibacterial properties and is used in the treatment of a widespread skin disease - acne (acne), quickly heals wounds on the body, promotes skin regeneration. Also used in the production of perfumes.
Some types of Immortelle are valuable medicinal plants.
