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Just as large gems look better surrounded by small sparkling pebbles, tall flowers with bright inflorescences look more impressive surrounded by grassy greens with small leaves or buds. One of these satellite flowers is gypsophila - a herb for open ground. This unpretentious garden culture has several varieties and is successfully grown on almost all continents of the Earth. Gypsophila is used for framing ridges and borders, in the complex design of flower beds and flower beds, bouquets and flower arrangements complement its graceful twigs.
Photos and descriptions of gypsophila paniculata, the rules for planting and leaving it are given in this article. Here we will talk about the popular varieties of the plant, list its strengths and methods of reproduction.
Characteristics and types
Gypsophila is a herb from the Clove family. In nature, the flower grows mainly on the southern continents and in warm countries. But among one hundred and fifty plant species, there are several perennials that thrive in continental climates with frosty winters.
The plant has several more names, but the most popular of them are "Tumbleweed", "Kachim" and "Breath of the Child". To date, more than a hundred species of gypsophila and several dozen cultivars are known for growing in the garden.
Not all types of plants are popular with flower growers, the most famous are:
- gypsophila graceful, which is a spherical shrub about half a meter high with small inflorescences;
- swing creeping - ground cover plant up to 30 cm high with small but abundant flowers;
- panicle gypsophila - perennial species, growing up to 120 cm, with bushes in the form of a ball;
- gypsophila cephalic - a carpet of strongly intertwined stems and snow-white flowers, with a maximum height of 8-10 cm.
It is the paniculate variety that will be considered in more detail. This species has earned its popularity primarily due to its long life cycle - the flower does not need to be planted every year.
Description and varieties
Gypsophila paniculata has the following characteristics:
- a plant of a semi-shrub type, having a height of up to 100-120 cm;
- the bushes take on the shape of a ball (because of this, the flower is called tumbleweed);
- stems are erect, practically, leafless;
- shoots are covered with greenish bark;
- the root system is powerful, rod-like;
- leaves are whole, oval or lanceolate, very small;
- the color of the leaves is grayish-green, there is a small fluff;
- inflorescences are loose, paniculate;
- the flower is a bell-shaped calyx of five wide petals;
- you can see a vertical bright green stripe on the petals;
- there are ten stamens in the center of the flower;
- the structure of the flower can be either simple or double;
- the diameter of the inflorescences is, on average, 6 mm;
- the color of the flowers is predominantly white, there are varieties with pink inflorescences;
- the fruit of gypsophila is a single-nested achene in the shape of a ball, which, after ripening, opens and scatters seeds on its own;
- seed germination is maintained for two to three years;
- flowering of paniculate gypsophila begins at the end of July or in the first days of August, and lasts about one and a half months;
- the plant is very unpretentious, loves loose and well-drained soil, needs a lot of light, rarely gets sick and does not attract pests.
There are not so many varieties of gypsophila paniculata, the most famous of them are:
- Snowflake - a low shrub, growing up to 0.5 m, with snow-white double-type flowers;
- Flamingo with pale pink dense inflorescences and a bush height up to 120 cm;
- White Holiday - a compact plant, no more than 45 cm in height, shaped like a neat ball and blooming with white inflorescences;
- Pink Holiday the same compact, but different shade of flowers, suitable for planting in flowerpots and boxes.
To some, the variety of varieties of gypsophila may seem scarce, but this plant is intended to frame other, more spectacular flowers, so it should not overshadow its neighbors with bright colors and bizarre shapes.
Reproduction of tumbleweed
Growing gypsophila paniculata at home is an easy task, but it requires minimal skills of a florist. There are several ways to propagate this flower:
- Seeds.
- Seedlings.
- Cuttings.
- Vaccination.
But vegetative methods (grafting and grafting) are useful only to experienced flower growers engaged in breeding especially valuable varieties of this plant.
Seedlings of perennial varieties
Gypsophila paniculata is a perennial, therefore it most often reproduces through seedlings. You can grow seedlings of this flower at home, this is done in the same way as with garden crops or other flowers.
The best time to sow tumbleweed seeds is mid-March, because in order to get stronger, the seedlings will need at least one and a half to two months. For growing paniculate gypsophila, it is necessary to prepare spacious deep boxes or containers.
The seedling containers are filled with a suitable substrate: the soil should be loose, well-drained, nutritious, deoxidized. A homemade mixture of garden soil, peat, humus and sand, to which, if necessary, add dolomite flour or quicklime, is quite suitable.
The substrate is laid out in planting boxes and leveled - the layer should turn out to be quite thick. Now the soil needs to be moistened with a spray bottle. The seeds are laid out or scattered over the surface of the soil, and sprinkled on top with a half-centimeter layer of dry earth.
Now the container is covered with a transparent lid, film or glass and left in a warm, light place at room temperature. Gypsophila shoots should appear in 10-14 days.
How to care for seedlings
After the gypsophila seeds germinate and green sprouts appear on the surface of the soil, you must do the following:
- Thin the seedlings of flowers so that at least 15 cm remains between the shoots. This can be done in two ways: pull out unnecessary plants or dive all the shoots into individual containers.
- Remove the cover from the container and place it in a cooler place.
- Provide gypsophila seedlings with 13-14 hour daylight hours, using fluorescent or phytolamps for this.
- Moisten the seedlings regularly, but avoid stagnant water.
- Before planting in the ground, harden the paniculate gypsophila by taking boxes with seedlings to the balcony or opening a window.
Other breeding methods
Growing from seeds is not the only method of breeding tumbleweeds. Very valuable densely double varieties of paniculata gypsophila are recommended to be propagated vegetatively - this way the qualities of the mother plant are better preserved.
In early spring or in the first days of August, it is necessary to cut the tops of the gypsophila into cuttings. Cuttings should be rooted in loose soil with the addition of lime or chalk. It is necessary to bury the shoot 2 cm into the ground and leave it at room temperature and good lighting.
Tumbleweed cuttings are planted in a permanent place in the fall.
Landing in the ground
Planting and caring for gypsophila is not difficult, but here you need to take into account the long-term life cycle of the plant and approach the process thoroughly. You should choose a place suitable for the flower. This should be an area that is well lit by the sun, located on a flat area or on a small hill, and does not have groundwater close to the surface.
Seedlings are planted according to the 70x130 scheme, without burying the root collar of the plants underground. Gypsophila will begin to bloom after 12-13 pairs of leaves have grown, and the plant will reach its peak of beauty only by the age of three.
Tumbleweed care
Paniculata gypsophila is one of those plants that may not need to be cared for at all. However, if flowers are grown for cutting, play an important role in landscape design, the owner will be interested in the high decorativeness of the paniculate gypsophila and in the large size of its inflorescences.
You need to take care of gypsophila like this:
- water only during periods of severe drought, pouring water strictly at the root;
- two years after planting, thin out the bushes, leaving only every second of them (if this is not done, the inflorescences will be small and non-decorative);
- feed the bushes twice a season, using mineral fertilizers in the spring, and organic matter (humus, wood ash, etc.) before winter;
- for gypsophila, rot and nematodes are dangerous, therefore it is important to observe the watering regime, prevent waterlogging of the soil, treat the bushes with phosphamide and fungicidal preparations a couple of times a season;
- in the fall, after flowering, you can collect the seeds of the panicled tumbleweed, after drying them and placing them in paper boxes;
- at the end of autumn, the bushes are pruned, leaving 3-4 longer shoots at the root, and the flowers are covered with dry foliage, sawdust or spruce branches.
Paniculata gypsophila is a frost-resistant plant, it can freeze out only under the condition of a snowless, but cold winter or in an unstable climate with temperature extremes and high humidity.
Conclusion
Photos of bouquets and compositions with delicate gypsophila prove the importance of herbaceous plants - without them, the flower bed risks looking like a lurid shapeless spot. Semi-shrubs with snow-white or pink flowers look neat in the garden, thin twigs effectively complement the bouquets.
It is not difficult to grow tumbleweeds at home, because the plant is unpretentious and capable of multiplying in several ways.
