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The homeland of exotic cleoma is South America. The annual plant produces elongated inflorescences, consisting of four petals and collected on a long stem in a large raceme. The flower is tall. The height of the stem reaches 1.5 m. What a cleoma looks like, growing from seeds, when to plant, we will now try to find out.
Flower characteristics
The ornamental plant Cleome spinosa of the caper family grows as a bush. Long stems form at the tops, where buds appear. By the end of the season, soft shoots grow stiff. The volumetric inflorescence is given by filaments and four petals. Throughout the season, after the dying off of the flower, new buds immediately appear. Small inflorescences are collected in a large brush with a diameter of up to 20 cm. With the appearance of new flowers, the tops of the stems are elongated.
In place of faded inflorescences, seed pods are formed. You don't even need to delete them. Dried flowers will not interfere with the formation of new buds on the shoots. The color of the corolla can be monochromatic or with two shades. Cotyledonous leaves and stems are covered with edging. When touched, a specific smell is released. Cleoma uses the stench to repel pests.
The pungent smell does not prevent bees from pollinating the flower. In the homeland of cleoma, bats are engaged in this. A feature of the flower is its resistance to sudden changes in humidity and temperature. Immunity allowed cleome to take root in the vastness of our homeland.
Variety of varieties
Considering the photo of a cleoma flower and the rules of cultivation, it is worth briefly dwelling on the varieties. Domestic gardeners grow only two species: Hassleriana and Spinosa. It is difficult for a layman to find differences in varieties. Gardeners have combined the flower into one species - prickly cleoma.
Now many new varieties have been bred. All flowers are obtained by crossing two types of glue. The result is bushes with beautiful inflorescences of white, pink, purple. The most popular variety is Cherry Queen. The stems of the bushes grow up to 60 cm in height. The flowers give off a pronounced aroma and grow up to 3 cm in diameter.
Growing features
Self-cultivation of cleoma from seeds at home occurs in two ways: by seedling and sowing seeds directly to the beds.
Soil preparation and landing sites
It does not matter if cleoma is grown by seedlings or sown directly on the garden bed, in any case, the soil and place are prepared for the flower. The plant loves a sunny area with non-swampy soil. It is better to choose a hill so that after the rain the water flows down and does not accumulate in puddles.
Before planting cleoma seedlings in the last days of April, the bed is dug onto a shovel bayonet. Weed roots are removed from the soil. Organic matter is used as fertilizer. Compost works best. In the absence of organic matter, replace with complex fertilizer at the rate of 2 tbsp. l. / 1 m2 beds. The size of the flower bed for glue is calculated taking into account the planting scheme.A minimum of 50 cm of space is left between each plant for the growth of bushes.
The seeds of the glue flower can be sown even in autumn. The garden bed is prepared in a similar way. Sowing is carried out in rows. Excess plants are removed in the spring, observing a favorable planting scheme for bushes.
The nuances of growing seedlings
In cold regions, everyone is used to growing seedlings. Flowers are no exception. All that remains is to figure out when to sow glue and how to do it. To get seedlings, you first need to collect seeds. When the cleoma inflorescences that have faded on the bushes turn into bolls, they are given time to dry. When crushing the pods, small brown-black grains are scattered. The seeds are collected in a bag and stored until spring.
In early March, it is time to sow cleoma seeds for seedlings, but first the grains are prepared. For better germination, seeds are soaked in a growth stimulator. The drug is bought in a store or resort to folk methods using the juice of aloe flower.
The soil mixture for cleoma is prepared from the calculation of two parts of compost and earth, plus one part of sand. Soil 15 cm thick is poured into a box, sprinkled with ash on top, grooves 1 cm deep are cut, where the seeds are immersed. From above, the grains are covered with loose humus. The box is covered with a transparent film, leaving warm until shoots appear. If the seeds have gone through the soaking process, they will sprout after 15 days.
When growing seedlings from cleoma seeds, it is required to provide the flower with maximum care at the initial stage. The procedure involves timely watering. It should be plentiful, but not frequent. Cleoma bushes love moist and loose soil without accumulating puddles. Several crystals of manganese are added to the irrigation water for disinfection.
Cleome seedlings provide good light. In the evening, they turn on artificial lighting. After the appearance of two adult leaves, the seedlings are dived, planting in separate containers. After 10 days, and then another two weeks later, nitrogen fertilizing is applied. When the cleoma has adapted and started to grow, artificial lighting of the seedlings is not required. Before planting on the garden bed, the plants are tempered by taking them outside or into a cool room.
Sowing seeds in the garden
Now let's look at how to grow glue from seeds without seedlings. Autumn is considered the optimal sowing time. The seeds will undergo a natural process of soaking and hardening before the onset of spring, and will give quick shoots in spring. Grooves with a depth of 1.5 cm are cut along the bed with fertilized soil. Cleoma grains are thrown in bulk. Sprinkle on top with earth and lay any organic insulation: grass, leaves, tops of garden crops. With the onset of spring, the shelter is removed, and after the emergence of seedlings, thinning is carried out.
Spring sowing of seeds is carried out at the end of frost. The procedure for preparing the beds, as well as further care, remain unchanged. Only the condition of the seeds differs. For sowing, use awakened grains that have passed the soaking stage. You can sow dry seeds, but then flowering will start late.
Flower care
Cleoma bushes do not require complex maintenance. It is enough to water, weed in a timely manner weeds, loosen the soil and it is advisable to make top dressing.
For gardeners who grow cleoma from seeds at home, it is worth familiarizing yourself with a number of rules:
- for planting cleoma, a sunny and wind-protected area is suitable;
- a heat-loving flower is planted with seedlings after the end of night frosts;
- maintain a distance of 50 cm between the bushes;
- fertilize the land in the garden before planting seedlings;
- cleoma roots when transplanted into open ground are moistened with Kornevin's solution;
- flowers are poured with a solution of humate, and on top they are sprayed with a drug for stress.
Cleoma bushes adorn the flower bed with lush inflorescences from mid-June until the onset of autumn cold weather. The flower is useful to grow in the garden.The odor emitted attracts pollinating insects.
Top dressing of bushes
Initially, after planting, the seedlings will have enough nutrients introduced during the preparation of the soil. If there is a weak development of the bushes, nitrogen-containing preparations are introduced. Before flowering, it is useful to feed the glue with a complex fertilizer for flowers. The composition of such preparations includes a minimum of nitrogen, and more phosphorus and potassium.
List of summer treatments
Throughout the growing season, the soil is loosened around the bushes and the grass is weeded. Mulch will help to get rid of weeds and retain moisture. Watering the flower is carried out only in hot dry weather. A lot of water is poured, but it should not remain a puddle, but be absorbed evenly into the soil around the trunk.
In the summer, the condition of the flower is occasionally looked after. If the bushes are lagging behind in growth, weakened, bloom poorly, the plantings are treated with a solution of the Zircon preparation. With an increase in plant height, the stems are tied to a support. The easiest option is to drive in wooden stakes or pieces of metal rod and tie the bush to them with a rope.
Flower care in winter
Cleoma is considered an annual plant. With the onset of cold weather in the fall, the bush dies off. Dry plants are removed from the garden, and new seeds can be sown in their place in winter. The garden bed must be covered with organic waste until spring so that the grains do not freeze.
Reasons for non-germination of seeds
The small percentage of germination of cleoma seeds is explained only by the poor quality of the grains or a violation of the technology of growing a flower. When independently harvesting seed, grains must be taken from developed bushes with large inflorescences. Cleoma seeds are given time to mature inside the pods. Unripe grain will not germinate in spring.
To increase the percentage of germination, flower seeds are soaked in Epin before sowing. Excellent results are shown by a sharp change in temperature. The boxes with crops are exposed to the sun during the day, and at night they are taken out onto the balcony or into an unheated room.
Dangerous diseases and pests
Cleoma has adapted to the environment so much that its scent does not deter only beneficial pollinating insects. All pests try to fly around this flower. Sometimes vegetable growers plant a couple of cleoma bushes around the garden beds. The emitted smell scares away pests, and the bees boldly do their useful job.
A flower can only get sick through the fault of a gardener or a rainy summer. Frequent watering, rains and closely spaced groundwater will lead to rotting of the root system of the bush.
The use of a flower in landscape decoration
A tall and long-flowering bush will become a decoration of a flower garden laid out along the border. Among other annuals, glue is planted in the background. Low-growing flowers are located in front. Bushes with bright inflorescences look like fireworks among a green meadow.
You can plant glue together with perennials. It is best combined with the white flowers of cosme, rose or lobelia. A tall flowering plant of the bleeding center is organically suitable.
The flower is great for decorating bouquets. The cut cleoma can stand in a vase of water for up to ten days. For bouquets, the flower is planted in the garden among vegetables so that cutting does not violate the aesthetics of the flower bed in a conspicuous place.
The video tells about the cultivation of cleoma:
You don't even need design skills to decorate a gummy yard. It is enough just to sow seeds along the hedge and during the whole warm season the yard will stand out on the street with a blooming meadow.
