Chistets Woolly: description and features of the variety, planting and care, growing from seeds

Chistets or - Stakhis Woolly, is a herbal plant of the Lamiaceae family. The bush grows in coniferous and mixed forests, forest-steppes. It is widely bred in private areas for further use for medical purposes. The people call the cleaner - hare, or sheep's ears. So the culture was known due to the whitish edge on the leaves. To successfully grow bushes, you need to familiarize yourself with all their features.

Description and features

The bush consists of leaves covered with dense pubescence along the entire back side.Sheep ears grow up to 100 cm high. Leaf blades are arranged oppositely, are solid or serrated. The flowers are part of false whorls, forming spike-shaped inflorescences. Their color is purple, yellow, lavender, pinkish or white.

The fruit is a triangular nut, ovoid or oblong. The representative of the flora is unpretentious, can withstand even hot, dry days. The optimum temperature for the plant is 20-25 degrees Celsius. Chistets are not afraid of cold, under a thick layer of snow, he safely endures the winter. The annual shrub is valued by beekeepers as a good honey plant.

Popular varieties

There are many varieties of chistets, nine of which are described below. Each species differs in size, color of flowers, foliage.

Big Ears

The variety is a low-growing plant with branchy shoots up to 25 cm high. The leaves are fleecy, soft, muted green in color.

Silver Carpet

A variety of chistets grows up to 15 cm in height. The bush resembles a solid silver-gray carpet. The plant does not form flowers.

Striped Phantom

The variety grows with whitish, longitudinal leaves. Flowers rich yellow. The bush grows up to 20 cm high.

Cotton Ball

Different by the presence of white, longitudinal stripes along the entire length of the leaves. This is one of the best varieties of variegated chistets.

Sheila Macqueen

Bushes are compact, reaching 15 cm high. The variety does not bloom, with a dense planting, it creates a ground cover effect. The leaves are covered with bluish pubescence.

Marvel

The plant reaches 50 cm in height. There are many small hairs on the foliage, the bush itself is thick.

Primrose Heron

The variety is famous for its non-standard leaf color. They are yellow in spring, but become silvery green over time. The flowers grow soft pinkish. The height of the bush is 20 cm on average.

Silky Fleece

Chistetsya shrubs grow up to 25 cm tall, the flowers on them are lilac. The leaves are densely pubescent, whitish-felt tone due to numerous villi.

Byzantine

Chistets Byzantine is distinguished by highly branched, erect stems. A bush grows up to 60 cm tall. It blooms with soft lavender, small inflorescences located in a bud.

Timing

You can prepare planting material from seeds in late February or early March, using a seedling earth mixture.

It is important that the soil warms up to 10 cm deep, the air temperature is above 0. The variety of the bush is frost-resistant, therefore, it is not necessary to wait for significant warming. Seedlings are shown after 1 month.

Seedlings are planted in a permanent place in mid-April and until early May. In the South, planting work can be postponed to autumn. It is important that the air temperature warms up not lower than +10 degrees.

Soil preparation

Sheep ears are unpretentious to the ground, adapt well to its different types. It is advisable to plant a chistets in light, loamy or rocky soil with a moderate degree of fertility. The alkaline reaction should be neutral. An excess of mineral components negatively affects the appearance. The plant loses its silver hue, becomes rich green. Before planting, loosen the ground with 2 spade bayonets. If necessary, reduce acidity, add additional lime or charcoal.

It is better to plant a chistets in a well-lit, draft-protected place without stagnant groundwater. The bush can grow in lighted areas, or in partial shade.

Planting a seedling for seedlings

For regions with severe winters, the method of planting a chistets for seedlings is suitable. Seeds are sown in boxes with moistened sandy-peat soil, sprinkled with soil a little. After 5-10 days, the first shoots are formed.

Dive

It is not necessary to dive the seedlings of the cleaner. Seedlings can be kept in the same container where the seeds hatched before planting in open soil. If desired, the procedure should be carried out after the appearance of the first pair of leaves. Seedlings are transplanted into new containers, hardened 2-3 days after the "relocation" on the street. Keep seedlings outdoors for up to 2 hours. With each passing day, the residence time increase.

Transplanting in open ground

Dig holes in the chosen place on the plot, 2 weeks before planting. Their diameter should be larger than the rhizome of the seedlings. Place the holes at a distance of 15 cm from each other so that the bushes feel free.

At the bottom of the holes, pour a layer of drainage, consisting of small pebbles, gravel.
Next, pour a layer of soil mixture of sand, humus and peat.
Remove seedlings in pots, water abundantly before this, transfer them into holes with an earthen clod.
Put a seedling on a mound, gently sprinkle with earth.

After disembarkation, water the young bushes abundantly.

Companion Plants

Chistets are rarely planted alone, usually the plant is part of the design of the garden. Bushes are widely placed on fences, in a flower bed, on a hill, or in a garden. Among the desired neighbors, silver wormwood, sugar lungwort, ageratum, sheep, geyher, sapling, cinquefoil, hosts and marigold are distinguished. You can plant pinkish roses nearby.

Care

Cleaner does not require special care. The plant is unpretentious, but it should be regularly watered, fertilized, weeded, cut, treated from harmful beetles or diseases. The leaves should not be irrigated, only the rhizome is moistened.

Irrigation

During dry periods, water the crop moderately, 2-3 times a month. Lack of water is fraught with falling leaves. Between each irrigation, the ground around the bushes should dry out. Water stagnation should not be allowed, it is dangerous by rotting the cleaner.

Loosening and weeding the weeder

Weeding and loosening the ground is necessary to get rid of weeds, to ensure its saturation with oxygen. Manipulation is carried out about 2 times a month, with the help of a chopper. Plow the earth with a depth of 5 cm.

Feeding

Fertilizer is applied 1 time per season, using quail manure. To enhance the growth of chistets, you can add ammonium nitrate with chicken manure. Top dressing should be done 1 time in 3 months, in non-concentrated dosages. The optimal ratio is 1:1 to 10 liters of water.

Pruning inflorescences

After the peduncles fade, they are disposed of. Cut them as far as possible. You should also remove the damaged lower leaves so that the plant forms a new, lush look.

Before wintering, shorten the shoots of the cleaner by 2/3.

Wintering

Chistets safely endures cold winters under a fur coat of snow. If the frost in the region is more than -30, they additionally cover the bushes with spruce branches and fallen leaves.

Harmful bugs and diseases

Cleaner is extremely rarely attacked by diseases and pests. With excessive watering, an attack of fungi is possible, which is fraught with decay. Remove severely affected specimens, treat the ground with a fungicide.

Propagation of chistets

The plant is bred by cuttings, dividing the bush and seeds. The most popular way is the first one. When the culture is propagated by seeds, the bushes are formed later.

Dividing bushes

After 2-3 years, the cleaner is subject to division. In spring, the bush should be dug up with a clod of soil, manually divided into a couple of parts, seated in separate holes at a distance of 20 cm from each other.

Cutting

Plant shoots with 3-4 leaves in a wet mixture of sand and peat. Water sparingly to prevent rot. When the first symptoms of growth are formed, you can sit separately.

Seeds

Chistetsya seeds germinate without problems, quickly, but this method is the longest. Pour a combination of peat and sand into a wide container, spread the seeds on top, sprinkle with a thin layer of sand, sprinkle with a spray bottle. You can not cover the containers, but irrigate the land every day. The temperature in the place should be within 25 degrees Celsius. Proper lighting required. If necessary, thin out dense seedlings. After the development of seedling material, they land on a permanent place in the garden.

Use

Cleaner is widely used for alternative medicine, for garden decoration. The amazing bush is safely grown, does not require painstaking care, but provides a lot of benefits.

Healing properties

Chistets has a hypotensive, analgesic, cardiotonic effect on the human body. The plant stimulates contractions of the uterine muscles, is widely used in labor. It also stops bleeding. To lower blood pressure or reduce tachycardia, they resort to a dry extract, decoction or tincture of chistets. Decoctions help with colic, stomach cramps, colds, tuberculosis.

Alcohol infusions are effective in case of disorders and pathology of the nervous system.

Lotions from the decoction of chistets are effective in case of eczema, mastopathy, scrofula. Medical fees are sometimes used for epilepsy, hysteria.

Garden decoration

Cleaner is widely used to decorate a summer cottage. Plants are placed on an alpine hill, in rockeries, flower beds. Culture looks harmonious on curbs, intersections of garden paths, near stones. In rockeries or alpine hills, gaps are filled with woolly chistets. It goes well with other colors of different colors. They are also used in floristry to create a base for winter bouquets.

Reviews

Reviews of gardeners about woolly chistets are given below. They will help make sure it is worth growing.

Natalya Krapivina, 69 years old, Rivne

Hello everyone! In the garden I have been growing a Primrose Heron cleaner for 4 years. Flowering always creates an energetic atmosphere in the garden. Care is simple, I water the bushes once a week. I recommend to everyone!

Rostislav Lapin, 54, Moscow

Hello! The opinion about the cleaner is positive, I have been cultivating the culture in the country for more than 10 years. I grow Byzantine and Silky Fleece varieties.

Lyubov Nesterova, 60, Kyiv

Hello everyone! A neighbor shared her seedlings, now this is one of my favorite plants in the garden. I grow without problems, care is standard.