Loosestrife: planting and care, 17 species and varieties with descriptions, breeding methods

Loosestrife is a persistent, hardy and noble plant. It grows rapidly, opens its buds, delighting with beautiful flowering. If you want to decorate your garden or summer cottage with loosestrife, you need to familiarize yourself with the intricacies of planting and caring for a perennial.

Description

Loosestrife is one of the herbaceous perennial plants of the Primrose family, which has 150 species. Some varieties of this culture are characterized by such common features as yellow flowers, connected in spike-shaped, corymbose inflorescences, powerful straight stems, simple, opposite leaves.But there are varieties that are significantly different.

Types and varieties

Cultivated species and their best varieties.

Regular

Loosestrife is characterized by straight pubescent shoots up to 1 m tall, whorled, oval-shaped leaves, collected in 3-4 pieces. Compound pyramidal inflorescences bloom in June, containing small yellow flowers.

Point

Perennial loosestrife with straight, slightly branched shoots up to 80 cm in height. The foliage is close to the shoots. The flowers are small stars, collected in bunches, characterized by a golden color.

Fascinates with the beauty of flowering from June to the last days of August. The best varieties of this variety are:

Verbeinik Alexander (lysimachia);
Golden Alexander.

Coin-shaped

Perennial loosestrife, forming thin stems, 30-40 cm long. The bushes are decorated with leaves of a round shape, light green in color, in the form of coins growing in pairs on small petioles that are opposite each other. The frequent flowers of loosestrife with five yellow petals that flaunt in the axils of foliage attract attention.

Aurea

Perennial loosestrife Aurea is considered an ornamental plant with a recumbent stem up to 30 cm long. The oval-shaped leaves are on short petioles. The variety is valued for single, axillary yellow flowers. Blooms in June for about 20 days.

Goldilocks

Decorative variety with unusual greenery with a golden sheen. The flowers of this variety have a rich yellow color.

Cletroid

Bushes of perennial loosestrife up to 1.2 m in height. The variety is interesting with oval lanceolate leaves 15 cm long, which are placed alternately on straight shoots, and snow-white inflorescences with drooping tops. Blooms in July - August.

Purple

Purple loosestrife has straight stems up to 50 cm in height and paired broad purple foliage. Loose inflorescences consist of small yellow flowers with a lemon tint.

Loosestrife flowers bloom in August and delight the eye until the first frost.

Black Purple

Perennial loosestrife, whose height varies from 45 to 90 cm, has spike-shaped inflorescences, consisting of flowers of burgundy, almost black color, and green lanceolate leaves with a silvery sheen. An interesting corrugation along the edge of the sheet plate makes this type popular.

Blooms from July to August. The most common variety of Beaujolais.

Ciliated

Ciliated loosestrife Firecracker has a straight powerful stem and large, oval brown leaves. Flowers in the form of yellow bells are collected in dense inflorescences that are located on the tops of the stem. Blooms in September.

Oakwood

Perennial loosestrife Dubravny has a non-branching stem that can rise 10-30 cm above the soil. Valued for large, wide leaves and yellow single flowers that bloom in May and bloom until July.

Ephemerum

Loosestrife up to 1 m in height, quickly forming dense thickets. The stem is straight, the foliage is elongated-lanceolate, having a silvery color. At the end of summer, five-petalled, white flowers with long stamens are formed, which are collected in spike-shaped inflorescences.

Brushcolor

This variety of loosestrife is fast growing, has straight, powerful stems up to 60 cm high, narrow, lanceolate leaves and fluffy inflorescences, consisting of yellow flowers with protruding stamens. This is the only variety that blooms in the last decade of May.

Crowded Flower

Effective loosestrife with stems up to 40 cm long, at the ends of which from May to September original flowers bloom in abundance in a yellow hue with reddish strokes at the base of the petals. The foliage is characterized by juiciness and rich green color.

Lily of the valley

This species of loosestrife is considered the most proliferating of all, because it has branching roots, painted in pink, similar to lilies of the valley. Which is why it got its name. Perennial with a straight strong stem, up to 50 cm in height and spike-shaped inflorescences, consisting of snow-white flowers, the length of which is 20 cm.

Blossoms in July for about 20 days. Known varieties include:

Lady Jane;
Geisha.

Alexander

The Alexander variety is characterized by unusual green foliage framed by a white border. The culture has a straight, slightly branched stem, the top of which is decorated with many star-bell-shaped yellow flowers. Flowering will delight at the end of June.

Creeping

This type of loosestrife is characterized by a tetrahedral creeping, slightly branched stem, which can grow up to 50 cm in length. Its bushes are decorated with round opposite leaves with short petioles. At the time of flowering, it shows off golden flowers similar to bells.

Whorled

Loosestrife bush from 30 cm to 1 m high with an elongated root. Differs in a straight stem, ovate-oblong leaves on long petioles, collected in a whorl. The leaf plate is softly pubescent on the underside. Regular flowers in whorled inflorescences, with pedicels noticeably lengthening at the time of fruiting.

Features

Due to its natural features loosestrife is able to grow on infertile soils. Even its unprepossessing appearance has an enviable popularity, and the secret is that it pleases with abundant, long flowering and practically does not require care.The lower flowers bloom first, then the upper ones open, bloom for about 30 days.

Outdoor cultivation

Growing a crop will not be difficult even for a beginner, since the plant takes root easily and quickly.

Choosing a seat

To breed loosestrife, you need to choose to stop in a shady place with moist, nutrient-rich soil.

Ground requirements

In the presence of infertile soil, before planting, equip it with a complex of mineral fertilizers. The main condition is a very moist damp soil with good drainage. Do not plant a crop on clay soils.

Preparation of seed material

To grow he althy loosestrife bushes, you must first prepare the planting material by carrying out stratification - hardening the seeds in the cold at temperatures of 8-10 degrees for 1-2 months.

Plant pattern

Planting loosestrife is carried out in the spring according to generally accepted rules and involves the following actions:

Take small boxes, fill them halfway with a mixture of peat and sand.
Sow seeds, leaving a gap between units of 2-3 cm.
Sprinkle 0.5-1 cm of soil mixture on top.
Close the containers with glass and send to a place where it is warm and light.
After 2 weeks shoots are formed, the shelter must be removed immediately.
Dive when 2-3 true leaves form.
A week after picking, start hardening seedlings by taking them out into fresh air for 2-3 hours.
Hardened seedlings can be planted in a flower bed. To do this, make holes, keeping a distance of 40-60 cm between them, then place them in holes and, sprinkled with soil substrate, lightly tamp.
Moisten and loosen the soil.

In autumn, you can plant a crop with cuttings or shoots. The ideal time to disembark is September.

Growth Limiters

The loosestrife forms a powerful root system that seeks to capture most of the territory. Therefore, in order to preserve the beauty of the flower garden, its growth will have to be regularly limited by removing excess shoots. You can also dig in the limiters, which can serve as slate, brick, stone, buried 20 cm.

When cultivating a crop, it is imperative to prevent the spread of roots across the plots.

Care

The loosestrife is unpretentious in care, as the culture independently grows and multiplies in an open-air flower bed. But in order for the perennial to sparkle with all sorts of colors, it is necessary to surround it with care and attention.

Irrigation

Perennial does not require abundant watering, because for a seat, preference should be given to areas fed by groundwater. Additionally, the soil should be moistened during the dry season.

Feeding

The loosestrife does not need top dressing, only in the presence of poor soil it is recommended to use special fertilizers. Make them in the period from May to June, no more than 1 time in 14 days.

Cutting

At the end of flowering in vertically growing specimens, faded inflorescences must be cut off. Dried leaves and injured parts of the flower are also subject to removal. And in autumn, cut off the stems completely, leaving 2-3 cm, and sprinkle with compost.

Transfer

For the full growth of loosestrife, it must be constantly replanted. Although it can grow in one place for 10 years, but 2 years after planting it will grow and form many children.Such a bush is recommended to be transplanted. The event is advised to take place in spring and autumn, when the leaves fall.

Mulching

In the spring, you can mulch around the bushes, this will retain moisture in the soil for a long time.

Wintering

The frost resistance of loosestrife allows you not to cover it for the winter. It easily endures wintering, which is why it does not require additional shelter.

Reproduction

Loosestrife is bred by dividing the bush, can also be propagated using cuttings using seeds.

Seeds

When breeding a crop with seeds, it is necessary to carry out this in late autumn by sowing in open ground - so the planting material will be subjected to natural stratification.

You can sow in February - March, using containers filled with a soil mixture consisting of sand, peat, garden soil.Send boxes with crops for 30 days in a cold room, then place on a windowsill, which is illuminated by the sun, and create a temperature of + 18-20 degrees. Then the seedlings need to dive, and in early June they should be planted in the garden.

Vegetative

Loosestrife can be bred by dividing the bush, growing side shoots. This procedure is best done in the spring. Another culture can be cuttings by using young shoots for this.

Diseases and pests

One of the positive aspects of this crop is its resistance to diseases and pests.

Weevil

Loafer can be attacked by weevils. The signal of their invasion will be the united foliage. Also, beetle larvae undermine the roots. The insect is activated at night, so it must be collected after the sun sets.

Aphid

Aphids can become a dangerous enemy for loosestrife. This is evidenced by the unhe althy appearance of the bushes. This insect needs to be fought with modern chemicals.

Caterpillar

Voracious, uninvited guests - caterpillars, which, with uncontrolled reproduction, can harm loosestrife bushes. They need to be de alt with using folk remedies or insecticides.

Use

Due to its mesmerizing appearance and undemanding nature, the culture is popular in landscape design. And the ability to treat many diseases makes the plant a medicine that should be in every home first aid kit.

Landscape design

Because of the unpretentiousness, frost resistance, unusual beauty and adaptability of loosestrife, gardeners often give preference to it when creating landscape design.It decorates buildings in the garden, gazebos, small fences. Serves as a living decoration of fountains, artificial reservoirs.

Traditional medicine

Loosestrife belongs to medicinal plants that are used in traditional medicine recipes, as well as for the preparation of cosmetics. To remove the maximum benefit, you need to take into account the existing contraindications.

Herbal infusion

To make an infusion, take 1 tsp. herbs and pour 250 ml of boiling water, set aside to infuse for 1 hour. Drink the drug 50 ml per day for anemia, stomach diseases, arthritis.

Vitamin tea

To get healing tea, you need 1 tbsp. l. loosestrife pour a glass of boiling water. Put to infuse when the product has cooled down, filter and drink 1 tbsp before meals. l. with liver diseases and gastrointestinal disorders.You can use the tea externally as a gargle and as an antiseptic for wounds.

Decoction

Healing decoction can be made from the aerial parts or roots. Pour boiling water over 20 g of crushed plant and keep in a water bath for 30 minutes, filter. Use 1/3 cup 2-3 times a day for colds and stomach and intestinal disorders.

Combination with other plants

Loosestrife looks great next to shade-loving perennials under the canopy of trees. Creates a wonderful tandem with a plant such as a fern. Looks impressive surrounded by phlox, sedge, dwarf irises.

Answers to questions

Gardeners often ask these questions:

How to cut loosestrife correctly? The plant needs to be pruned. The operation is carried out after flowering, removing dry branches, and for the winter, completely cutting the bush to the root.
Need to replant the crop? When growing, the degree of growth of the plant should be taken into account; young branches are recommended to be transplanted from the mother bush. If this is not done, the loosestrife will take over all the flower beds in the neighborhood and drown out the rest of the crops.
How to deal with caterpillars? They pose a threat to loosestrife and caterpillars. To combat them, you can resort to mechanical methods: remove the damaged parts of the plant, dig up the soil near the bushes, destroy the found nests with eggs and larvae. A folk remedy is also effective: treating the plant with an aqueous solution of liquid soap.

Cultivation of loosestrife will be a pleasure, because its advantages in undemanding care, beautiful appearance and quick adaptation to various weather conditions have conquered many gardeners. And the mass of useful properties is of great interest to healers of traditional medicine.

Reviews

Marina: “I planted a loosestrife in the garden near an artificial pond. His bushes look original and do not need special care. Bright flowers make me happy all summer long.”

Vladimir: “Only the lily-of-the-valley appearance of loosestrife caught my attention. His spectacular appearance won my heart. I do not consider other varieties for growing on my site. ”