Such a unique plant as hellebore is extremely rare in nature. It has many advantages, among which are resistance to frost and drought, early and long periods of flowering, a long life cycle, and most importantly, planting and caring for hellebore are not particularly time-consuming. Flowers complement this set of excellent qualities of its extraordinary beauty.
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Christmas rose - a flower with a long story
The name of the perennial already, to some extent, describes its properties. Low temperatures are not terrible for hellebore or winter hut, which is a cold-resistant evergreen representative of the ranunculaceae family. In the scientific community, as a rule, the Latin name of the flower is Helléborus, or its Russian transliteration is hellebore.
Hellebore is truly a legendary flower, known under the name of Christmas rose. Legend has it: when Christ was born, the poor shepherd could not pick up the appropriate gift to little Jesus and shed a bitter tear from which a flower of marvelous beauty was born, which became an amazing offering for winter time.
Planting a plant
Given that hellebore has a long life cycle and negatively relates to transplants, the selection of a place for planting a crop should be carried out in accordance with agricultural requirements.
The best option for planting a winter hut will be soils enriched with humus, under the crowns of trees, where a large amount of foliage naturally falls.And, although the culture is considered shade-loving, it still requires a small amount of sunlight. Thus, the area under the trees with an unbroken crown is an excellent choice for planting a winter hut.
As indicated, when carrying out planting, it is important to take into account the nuances of agricultural technology:
- The depth of the landing pit should not exceed 30 cm. Since the size of the root system of the winter hut is negligible, then the circumference of the hole should be similar in size.
- With frequent stagnation of water in the area, the creation is a mandatory step. Fine gravel should be placed at the bottom and sprinkled with sand. Such a simple improvement will protect the plant from being warmed up in the winter and the development of rot in the spring, when there is flooding of the territory with melt water.
- The soil should be slightly alkaline or neutral, but not acidic. An excellent option is the soil with a good layer of humus covered with turf, giving friability.
- Planting of seedlings should be done in such a way that the root neck maintains its natural level.
- Observance of moderate watering will allow you to properly moisten the soil, while preventing its overconsolidation to the formation of a crust after drying.
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Outdoor Care
The main requirements for care are: regular watering, mulching the soil in the beds and timely top dressing. Growing hellebore in the garden for decorating flower beds is preferred just because of its undemanding special care.
Fertilizer application
To obtain a lush flowering plant, it is necessary to organize the timely application of fertilizers:
- On frozen ground, it is worth feeding the perennial using bone meal and double superphosphate.
- With the onset of stable warm weather, it is necessary to feed the culture with an extra-root method, using trace elements that stimulate the growth of the bush.
Watering
In climatic zones with snowy winters, the need for additional watering of hellebore practically does not arise, since the necessary amount of moisture for the plant is provided by melt water. In regions with arid climates, watering can be done at most twice in mid-summer. But in the absence of additional moisture, the winter hut will still not disappear: hard leaves act as a barrier to too much moisture evaporation.
Protection against diseases and pests
The most common hellebore pests include aphids, snails, slugs and rodents. From time to time on the plant, the feeding of the hop hopper caterpillar is observed. To effectively control the entire list of pests, it is necessary to organize treatment with systemic insecticides in accordance with the recommendations of specialists. And also the leaves of the plant can be affected by various spots caused by the fungus. The greatest intensity of the development of the disease is observed in wet and warm weather. Disease control methods include timely pruning of affected leaves and chemical treatment of the plant.
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Plant propagation methods
In winter, hellebore bushes delight the eyes of gardeners with evergreen greens, and its inherent frost resistance allows the plant to be grown exclusively in open ground.
It is worth noting that wintering breeding is carried out in two ways:
- Seed propagation - for growing hellebore, you should purchase fresh planting material. When buying it, you should take into account the timing of the collection of seeds: after six months, they lose germination. Before sowing planting material of hellebore flowers to a maximum depth of 2 cm, it is necessary to prepare the container by filling it with loosened and moistened earth. After the first leaves appear in the seedlings, they are transplanted into a darkened place. Plants are transferred to the area of their constant growth after a three-year interval, during which they grow stronger.The transplant should be carried out in early autumn. With this method of reproduction, the winter hibernation blooms for 3-4 years for the first time.
- Division of the adult bush - since hellebore is considered a culture with poor transplant tolerance and prolonged growth, it is extremely rare to use a vegetative propagation method. For the purpose of division, bushes of at least three years of age are selected. The seating procedure is performed at the end of flowering. The perennial bush is planted in loose, moist soil with a drainage system while maintaining a distance between plants of 40 cm.
Species and varieties
In the wild, you can find several varieties of hellebore with a variety of varieties. And also in the garden there is no need to spend significant physical and material resources for growing a marvelous flower, which was loved not only by its external charm, but also by its unpretentiousness.
Black hellebore
The greatest attractiveness inherent in this particular species was the reason for its popularity growth. In height, it can reach 30 cm. During flowering, he gives gardeners snow-white flowers reaching for the sun and having a diameter of 15 cm. During the winter season, black hellebore spends under the snow. When growing, you must adhere to some rules: due to the toxicity of some varieties, when gardening, gloves should be used, and cut foliage is strictly forbidden to use as pet food. Black hellebore is one of the most frost-resistant species. Popular varieties include Prexox, Potters Will and Louis Cobbet.
Moroznik East
The maximum height of the bush of this species is 35 cm, and the diameter of lilac or white-green flowers is 6 cm. The saturation of the shades can be different. To obtain a lush flowering bush in good condition, it is not necessary to fulfill any special requirements. In general, planting and care for this type of hellebore are similar, as for other varieties. It is only necessary to take into account its poor resistance to damage by fungal diseases. Immediately after the snow melts, this culture will give the first flowers. Popular varieties: Rock and Roll, White Swan.
Caucasian hellebore
In height, this species reaches a maximum of 40 cm. The peduncle has 1-3 yellow-green or white-green interspersed with a brown flower with a maximum diameter of 8 cm. This variety blooms in late winter - early spring. Leaves and stems have excellent tolerance to even very low temperature drops. Caucasian frostbird belongs to the list of the most poisonous species, and for this reason it is very rarely seen in household plots and flower beds.
Growing hellebore in garden compositions
In the landscape design of a personal plot, hellebore is used to decorate alpine hills located in shadow zones. The early flowering period of the culture allows you to decorate the composition even before the completion of the descent of the entire snow cover. The wintering ability to grow makes it possible to use it in combination with other types of plants when thickened flower beds are formed.
And also hellebore can be used in plantings in rabatki and mixboders. But if children can be on the site, then this plant can not be planted: all parts of the perennial are very poisonous.
So, every gardener wants to have plants that will delight him with their flowering all year round, and at the same time will not be too demanding to care for. Such a flower exists. Moroznik has extraordinary beauty and the ability to bloom even in winter, and due to its resistance to frost and pests, planting and care will not cause a person much trouble.
