Calistegia: planting and care in the open field, cultivation, propagation by cuttings

Calistegia for every gardener can be a real pride. With its help, you can implement many interesting solutions when creating a landscape design for a personal plot and enjoy the beautiful flowering of culture throughout the summer season. To do this, it is important to know how to plant a calistegia and get acquainted with all the nuances of caring for a plant.

Characteristics of the calistegia plant

Calistegia belongs to the genus of plants of the bindweed family. It is presented in the form of a herbaceous liana-like perennial with a branched creeping rhizome and curly stems reaching up to 4 m in length.The leaves are triangular in shape, pointed at the end, alternately held on the stems with long petioles.

Flowers solitary, white or pink, 2-9 cm long. Pleased with flowering from June or July until the very cold. After that, the fruit is formed in the form of a dry box, which consists of 4 flaps.

Landscape use

Calistegia is suitable for vertical landscaping of arches, gazebos, benches. It is in harmony with such climbing crops as clematis, kampsis. Liana can decorate the background of the flower beds by placing on the fence, wall. Good companions are undersized summer perennials: roses, conifers, petunias, marigolds. Climbing plants are able to decorate any unsightly buildings, fences, giving the site originality.

Useful properties

Representatives of the genus Calistegia are actively used by traditional healers from China for the manufacture of medicinal potions. In their opinion, the foliage and stems of the plant have useful properties, and tinctures and decoctions based on them help:

• normalize body temperature;
• get rid of prolonged constipation;
• quickly heal wounds on the skin;
• return quality and he althy sleep;
• quickly remove excess fluid from the body.

Calistegia refers to poisonous plants and is used only for decorative purposes, its ingestion is strictly contraindicated. It is not used in official medicine, as well as other industrial sectors.

Popular garden varieties

This culture has 25 varieties, some of which have long taken root in the plots, delighting gardeners with the beauty of their flowering.

Fluffy

Perennial plant reaches a height of up to 4 m. The stems are covered with elongated foliage, which has a leathery surface, painted in bright green.Attract the attention of flowers 4-9 cm in diameter, which can be simple and terry. Their petals are pink with a darkish base.

Calistegia blooms in late June, early July.

Flore Plena

Pink flowers, 9 cm in diameter, look great against the background of green leaves covered with fluff.

Flowering lasts from July to September.

Multiplex

An ornamental perennial shrub with a stem length of more than 3 m. This charming seductress has gained popularity due to its large double flowers of pink hue.

Blooming pleases from July until frost.

Fence

A beautiful perennial plant with branches growing up to 3m long. It is considered a pernicious weed due to its highly branched rhizome, which goes deeper into the ground by more than 1 meter.The calistegia species is popular due to its triangular leaves with a sharp top, single, simple flowers, painted in white, light pink.

Mesmerizes with the beauty of its flowering in early summer.

Ivy, or Japanese

The main feature of this perennial is its three-lobed leaves, thanks to which the variety is called ivy-leaved. Calistegia flowers are pale pink in color and up to 9 cm in diameter.

Hairy

Calystegia species is a hairy perennial that has a long cord-like rhizome and stems up to 80 cm long, which are covered with oblong, broadly lanceolate pointed leaves and simple pink flowers up to 5 cm in diameter.

Blooms in June-July.

Growth and flowering conditions

Calistegia is not a capricious plant that grows under any conditions. But for successful growth and flowering, it is recommended to take care of sufficient lighting, optimal temperature indicators and soil fertility.

Lighting

It is better to grow calistegia in lighted areas. The culture feels great in partial shade, but in open areas, flowering occurs 2-3 weeks earlier and is abundant.

Calistegia grows beautifully and blooms profusely in areas that are lit by the sun in the morning and shaded in the afternoon.

Temperature conditions

Favorable for development and flowering is considered a temperature ranging from 22 to 25 degrees.

If the temperature rises above 30, then the leaves of the plant may wither, so when planting it is important to choose the right place, providing the flowers not only with bright diffused lighting, but also with optimal temperature conditions.

Required soil composition

Calistegia is unpretentious to the composition of the soil. Peat, deciduous, loamy soil is suitable for it. The proximity of groundwater can be dangerous for the plant, so good drainage is required.

How to plant a crop in the open field

Before planting a plant in open ground, you need to prepare the chosen place for these purposes, preferably in the fall, by loosening and applying nutrients such as mineral fertilizers, compost, ash.

Timing

It is recommended to plant in open soil in the spring, in early May.

Technology

To correctly plant calistegia, you need to follow the following procedure:

1. Make shallow holes in the prepared area and moisten them.
2. Plant seedlings, keeping a distance of 5-30 cm between them.
3. Irrigate.
4. Take care of the fence, as the rhizome can grow strongly.
5. Establish a secure support around which the plant can curl freely.

Further care will contribute to the normal growth and development of calistegia, as well as abundant flowering.

Organize proper flower care

For the full development of calistegia and the proper formation of the shrub, you need to take care of it, and then, feeling the attention, it will respond with magnificent flowering and become a luxurious green decoration in the garden.

Water and fertilize

Liana requires regular, moderate watering. The plant is able to tolerate short-term drought.

Calistegia needs nutrients, so from May to September it needs to be fed 2 times a month, using mineral fertilizers, spending 1 tablespoon per 1m^{2 planting. Also, the culture responds well to organic matter and ash.}

Support

The plant needs support, which will serve as improvised materials such as wire, grating, poles. The main thing is that the diameter of the supports should be no more than 10 cm. Otherwise, the stems will hardly curl along this design. You can plant calistegia close to the gazebo or fence, which will serve as a reliable support for it.

Shaping and trimming

One of the important activities for the care of calistegia is shaping and pruning. To increase the decorative effect and stimulate the formation of new buds, faded flowers should be removed. In autumn, before the onset of frost, cut off the entire ground part of the plant.

Transfer

Calistegia can grow in one place for 10 years. It is recommended to transplant the plant in autumn, as in summer it develops intensively and may die during transplantation.

According to gardeners, the culture does not respond well to transplantation, so it is advisable not to disturb it once again.

Wintering

All types of culture, except for fluffy calistegia, successfully hibernate without additional shelter. In severe and snowless winters, it is recommended to cover this species with peat and fallen leaves before the onset of frost.

Pests and diseases: prevention and treatment

Constantly waterlogged soil provokes the development of various fungal diseases. In cool rainy weather, the crop may suffer from powdery mildew. In this case, you need to treat calistegia using fungicidal preparations. And in order to prevent, collect and destroy fallen leaves, weed weeds, air plants, water in the morning and disinfect garden tools.

Also, such weather conditions lead to the mass reproduction of pests such as slugs, snails, which feed on the foliage of the plant and gnaw out the buds. In the fight against them, you need to use insecticides.

Methods of reproduction

Calistegia reproduces only in a vegetative and generative way.

Seed breeding is inefficient because seeds of hybrid varieties do not inherit all the traits of the mother plant.

Root shoots

Calistegia during the growth period gives a large number of root shoots that can be carefully dug up and planted in the right place at a distance of 20 cm and a depth of up to 5 cm, having previously treated the rhizomes with fungicides, and the places of cuts with charcoal. Then water abundantly.

Dividing the rhizome

Reproduction by dividing the rhizome should be done in the spring. In March, remove the roots of the mother plant from the soil and divide. Segments, the size of which is 5-7 cm, are planted horizontally in peat pots filled with soil to a depth of 3-5 cm. It is important to process the sections before planting using crushed charcoal or ash.At the end of planting work, moisten the soil in pots. When the height of seedlings is 5 cm, they need to be pinched to increase bushiness. In May, plant seedlings in a flower bed, after hardening them.

Shanks

You can also propagate calistegia using cuttings. To do this, in the spring, cut the stems with the presence of several buds, remove all the leaves, leaving 2-3 top ones and send them to the solution with a root growth stimulator. Then root the cuttings at a temperature of 20-24 degrees, and then the appearance of roots can be expected in 5-7 weeks.

Growing problems

The main problem in the process of growing calistegia is that it tends to grow, forming young stems at a great distance from the mother plant. To prevent the uncontrolled spread of the flower, you need to build a barrier. To do this, plant the plant in a container that does not have a bottom, dug into the soil.You can also take sheets of slate, plastic and vertically deepen into the soil, deepening no less than 40 cm.

Another serious problem in the cultivation of calistegia is the invasion of snails and slugs, so you need to regularly inspect the plants and promptly treat the bushes with pesticides at the first sign.

Calistegia is a perennial liana that has conquered many gardeners with its unpretentious care and lush flowering. And its intensive growth can quickly realize any design ideas for landscaping the site.

Recommended