Clove Shabo with large double flowers differs from other garden varieties in a pleasant aroma. Even foliage is decorative - in many varieties it has a bluish-silver tint. Without knowing the characteristics of this perennial plant, it is difficult to grow healthy seedlings, and flowering can not wait at all.

Plant description

Shabo cloves can often be found in well-lit flower beds in the front gardens. Breeders bred many varieties with different colors and sizes of the corolla.

Popular decorative varieties indicating the color of the flower:

  • "Girofle" - lilac blue;
  • "Jeanne Dionysus" - snow-white;
  • "Foyer Koenig" - brick red;
  • "La Fransse" - pale pink;
  • "Nero" - dark red, does not fade in the sun;
  • "Champagne" - yellow;
  • Légien D’Oner — Dark Purple;
  • "Marie Shabo" - apricot;
  • "Aurora" - salmon pink;
  • "Ruby" - dark carmine;
  • “Benigna” - light purple-blue with a dark edging;
  • "Mont Blanc" - snow-white, fragrant.

Series gardeners also enjoy the love of gardeners - “Giant Terry”, “Disco”, “Picoti”, “Watercolor”, “Lyon” and “Night Series” with various colors of flowers.

Growing Shabo cloves from seeds when planted

Many varieties of Shabo are slow in development; the flowering of most varieties can be seen only six months after seed germination.

To obtain seedlings, clove seeds are planted in containers with earth in January or February.

Sowing seeds can be in universal loose soil mixed with sand in the same proportion. Tanks for landing should be with drainage holes at the bottom.You will also need lamps to illuminate the seedlings.

Some new hybrid forms, for example, F1 Dwarf mixture bloom 3 months after sowing, they can be planted in the first decade of March.

Shoots appear very quickly, already on the 4th day after sowing. To grow healthy seedlings, you need to follow certain requirements for air temperature, lighting, top dressing and watering.

How to care for seedlings

Seedlings of cloves require standard care, which includes picking, watering, pinching, re-lighting and fertilizing fertilizers.

But still growing from the seeds of cloves Shabo has its own characteristics:

  • Crops are kept in a cool room at an air temperature of about 12 ° C (so that the seedlings do not stretch);
  • seedlings are additionally highlighted, daylight hours should be 12 - 14 hours;
  • dive into individual small tanks 20-30 days after sowing;
  • about 1 month after the first pick, spend the second, in larger pots;
  • water regularly; the earth should not dry out;
  • they are fed with complex mineral fertilizers, the organic plant does not like.

When 4 true leaves are formed in the seedlings, pinch the top carefully so that the side shoots begin to grow. In May, Shabo is transplanted into the open ground.

Healthy seedlings in open ground begin to bloom in July.

Planting seedlings of cloves Shabo in the open ground

Carnation Shabo is a heat-loving and photophilous plant, it is important for her to choose a well-lit area protected from the wind. If there is not enough light, sparse flowering will not live up to expectations.

Before planting a clove on a flower bed, it is important to properly prepare a place for it. The flower does not like heavy soil, grows well only on loose, fertile soil, mixed with lime. It does not tolerate moisture stagnation.

In open ground, seedlings are planted in May.

  1. The distance between the plants is about 30 cm.
  2. Cloves prefer loamy, moist soils.
  3. Under the seedlings, you can not make organic matter in the spring, complex mineral fertilizers are used for top dressing.
  4. At the bottom of the holes you can put drainage - a layer of pebbles or broken brick.
  5. From containers, seedlings are transferred to prepared, watered holes by transshipment.
  6. After planting, the ground around the flowers can be mulched.

Care of flowers on a site

Standard care measures - watering, weed removal, fertilizing with mineral fertilizers.

Withered flowers are cut, in their place new buds are constantly blossoming. Flowering continues from mid-July to the coldest. Interestingly, in the subtropics, carnation blooms all winter, with a short break for rains.

In a temperate climate, the plant needs shelter during the cold. It can freeze in severe frosts, so it is most often grown as an annual.

Carnation Shabo: wintering in the garden, shelter for the winter

When the first frosts are expected, clove bushes are prepared for winter. If they are properly covered, they will safely survive the adverse conditions and set off in the spring.

Before shelter, cut off all the peduncles, shorten the stems of the plant by 1/3 of the length. If there are signs of fungal diseases, they are treated with fungicides. As a shelter using spruce branches. A nonwoven covering material can be pulled over it.

In cold regions, you can sprinkle shoots with dry soil taken from the other end of the garden. The height of the earthen shelter should be at least 20 cm. A layer of spruce branches is laid on top of the ground and the covering material is pulled, crushing it along the edges with bricks.

Flower propagation methods

Cloves propagated by seeds, most often through seedlings. Seeds ripen in 45-60 days from the beginning of flowering; they can be harvested only in areas with dry and warm autumn. Hybrid varieties may not retain the characteristics of mother plants when grown from seeds harvested on their own.

You can grow clove flowers from cuttings or by dividing the bush. If you transplant a plant from a flowerbed into a container for the winter and bring it into the room, the cuttings can be cut in February. They must be at least 5 cm long.

The procedure for rooting cuttings:

  • remove the lower leaves;
  • treated with "Kornevin" or "Heteroauxin" according to the instructions;
  • planted in containers with loose and fertile soil, placing drainage at the bottom;
  • moisturize the soil and cover the cuttings with glass jars;
  • daily airing, renewing hydration as necessary;
  • after about a month, when the cuttings take root, the shelter is removed.

When warm weather is established, the cuttings are transplanted into the garden. Flowers on cloves grown from cuttings should appear earlier than on seedlings from seeds.

Growing difficulties

Carnation loves the sun, it needs an abundance of light for good flowering. But from direct sunlight, some flowers fade, losing the richness of its natural color. This is especially true for varieties with a pink color.

Excess moisture causes fungal diseases, petal cups may crack, rot petals and ovaries.

Heavy soil slows the growth of cloves. If the landing site is poorly selected, you can never wait for the flowers or they will be few in number.

Cloves love moisture; the hotter and drier, the faster the flowers wither. Watering should be regular and plentiful.

Diseases and pests - how to treat

Cloves are rarely ill with proper care. Due to the increased humidity during rains, it is overcome by fungal infections. Sick plants are removed from the site and burned, the rest is treated with copper-containing fungicides.

Insect pests - ticks, aphids and thrips - cause significant damage to the flower garden with cloves. They suck out plant juice, which makes the plants deformed, lagging behind in growth. If there are few insects, folk methods will help - treatment with tar soap, infusion of onion husks or tobacco. With severe damage, systemic insecticides are used, watering the plants under the root.

Shabo clove at home

In indoor conditions, growing Shabo cloves is quite difficult, it grows better in the garden, where there is plenty of sun and fresh air. Especially valuable varieties can be dug in the fall with an earthen lump, transplanted into a flower pot and kept in room conditions until spring. Peduncles and unblown buds are desirable to cut and shorten the shoots to 1/3 of the length.

All winter, cloves are in a cool room at an air temperature of 10 - 12 ° C.

In a warm, well-lit place, it is rearranged in mid-February, they begin to water and feed more often. In May, transplanted to a flower bed, cutting off old dried shoots.

A kind of old carnation, bred in France by a pharmacist who loved flowers, will continue to be popular with gardeners and breeders for a long time. They will not be bored to create new varieties that are more resistant to diseases, with beautiful flowers and a wonderful aroma.