Levka in a pot. Planting and caring for left-handed flowers on the balcony

A plant such as gillyflower (Matthiola) is also called matthiola. It is related to the genus of herbaceous annual and perennial plants of the cruciferous or cabbage family. Under natural conditions, the greyhound can be found in Southern Europe, Africa and neighboring areas of Asia. There are 20–50 species in this genus. This plant is an ornamental plant with fragrant flowers. R. Brown gave the Latin name to this flower in honor of the Italian P. Mattioli, a doctor and botanist who lived in the 16th century. The name Levkoy comes from Italian, German or Latin. The fact is that these languages have similar source words. From Greek, “levkoy” is translated as “white violet.” In the 20th century, such a plant could be found in almost any park and garden, but in the 21st century, for some reason such a flower went out of fashion. If you are a fan of the park style, then this flower is what you need.

Features of gillyflower

Levkoy is a herbaceous plant or subshrub that can be perennial, biennial or annual. The height of erect branched shoots can vary from 0.2 to 0.8 meters; they are covered with felt pile or bare. Leaf blades of lanceolate or oblong shape can have a jagged or solid edge. The racemose or spike-shaped inflorescence consists of double or simple flowers, which can be colored pink, purple, white and dirty yellow. Flowering is observed in June-November. The fruit is a pod containing flat, narrow-winged seeds. The aroma emanating from gillyflower flowers cannot be confused with any other. Varieties with simple flowers are considered excellent honey plants, while double ones are a wonderful decoration for any garden. Anyone can grow such a flower, even those people who are far from gardening.

Types and varieties

According to the timing of the growing season, Levkoy is divided into:

Annual (summer)
Winter (perennial)
Autumn (hybrid)

Annual - characterized by the shortest growth phase. They are sown in early spring, bloom in summer, and seeds ripen by autumn.

Growing gillyflower from seeds

Sowing

Before you start sowing, you need to prepare the seeds. To do this, they are soaked in water for 24 hours, and then placed in moistened gauze and put on the refrigerator shelf for several days for stratification. Sowing seeds for seedlings is carried out in the last days of March or the first days of April in boxes or containers, which must first be filled with a moistened soil mixture, which includes turf soil and sand (3:1). Sowing should be done sparsely, and the seeds should be buried only half a centimeter. Then the container must be covered with film or glass and moved to a warm (20 to 22 degrees) and dark place. In some cases, the first seedlings can be seen in just 4–5 days, but they can appear in half a month.

Seedling

After the first seedlings appear, the shelter must be removed and the container moved to a well-lit place with diffused light, this will not allow the plants to stretch out. The required temperature for growing seedlings is from 10 to 12 degrees, so it is recommended to move the containers to an unheated veranda or a protected balcony. Two days after the first seedlings appear, they will need to be watered for the first time. After 10–12 days, seedlings should be planted in individual pots with holes for drainage. They should be filled with an earth mixture consisting of turf and leaf soil and sand, which must be taken in a ratio of 2:2:1. It should be taken into account that by this time the plants will not yet have a single true leaf blade. When planting seedlings, it is recommended to pour a small amount of hydrogel into the substrate, which will strengthen the plant’s root system. Late, as well as mid-flowering varieties, if desired, can be planted directly into open soil. The first fertilizing should be done when the plants begin to develop their second true leaf blade. For fertilizing, microfertilizers should be used; for this, 0.3 grams of boric acid and copper sulfate and 0.1 grams of manganese sulfate and zinc sulfate are taken per 1 liter of water. Seedlings of such a plant must be hardened off. To do this, first open the window on the balcony for a short time, while the procedure time is gradually increased. Finally, the flowers should be kept with the window completely open. You should start hardening off seedlings 1–1.5 weeks before planting in open soil.

Levkoi!!! Sowing seeds for seedlings, further care

Planting gillyflower in open ground

What time to plant

Planting of gillyflower seedlings should be done in the last days of May. To do this, you need to choose a cloudy day or plant in the evening, because the scorching rays of the sun can ruin newly planted seedlings. An area where plants belonging to the cruciferous family previously grew is not suitable for planting matthiola, otherwise the flowers may be destroyed by the cruciferous flea beetle. It should also be taken into account that the soil from such a site is also not suitable for filling containers for growing lefty seedlings, because there is a high probability that the plants will get sick with blackleg or clubroot.

When choosing a place for planting, you should take into account that such plants need a lot of sunlight and well-drained soil, since if liquid stagnates in the soil, this can greatly harm the leaves. The soil should be neutral or slightly alkaline, saturated with nutrients, and it is better if it is sod-loamy or sod-sandy loam. Fertilizers should be applied to the soil before planting only when it is excessively depleted.

How to plant

First you need to prepare the holes, and then fill them with water. Planting should be done directly into the earthen slurry, this will allow the plants to quickly adapt to new conditions. When the holes are filled with soil, it needs to be thoroughly compacted. The distance between low-growing and single-stem varieties should be about 15–20 centimeters, and between branched and tall varieties - from 25 to 30 centimeters.

Caring for gillyflower in the garden

The most important thing to remember when growing matthiola is that it reacts extremely negatively to both prolonged drought and too much watering. In this regard, watering should be moderate and necessarily systematic. Also, when caring for such a plant, it is necessary to weed it in time and systematically loosen the surface of the soil in the area, and this should be done every time after the plant is watered. When it comes to organic matter, only wood ash should be used for fertilizing, but it is preferable to use complex mineral fertilizer. So, in spring, complete mineral fertilizer should be added to the soil in the area where matthiola grows, and during flowering, phosphorus-potassium fertilizer is used for feeding. If you are planting perennial matthiola, remember that it should not be mulched the year it is planted.

Reproduction of gillyflower

You can grow matthiola from seeds, but if you want such plants to bloom on your site throughout the season, you need to sow them every 1.5–2 weeks. Terry matthiola is sterile, however, it was noticed that double flowers grow from those seeds that were collected from underdeveloped bushes with simple flowers, and they should have short pods pressed to the shoot with a blunt end. From seeds collected from such bushes, plants with both simple and double flowers can grow in a 1:1 ratio. When growing seedlings, you can try to select plants with double flowers, if necessary. To do this, the seedlings should be kept at an air temperature of 12 to 15 degrees. After this, they are moved for several days to a room where the air temperature is 6–8 degrees, at this stage you will be able to see the differences. For plants with double flowers, the cotyledon leaves will be larger and not as bright. If necessary, it will be possible to select bushes with double flowers, while removing the remaining shoots.

Diseases and pests

The cruciferous flea beetle can cause the greatest harm to such a plant. To get rid of a small number of insects, you should use an ash solution. The treatment of affected bushes with this product should be carried out once every 4-5 days, and it should be repeated 3 times. During processing, it is very important that the solution gets on both the front and back sides of the leaves. If there are a lot of fleas, to destroy them you will need to use insecticidal agents, for example: Decis, Aktara, Actellik, Bankol and Intavir.

Mattiola most often gets sick with blackleg. In an infected bush, the lower part of the shoot first turns brown, and after a while turns black. It is impossible to cure such specimens, but infection can be prevented; to do this, before planting seedlings, the soil should be treated with Hom. In this case, even if the soil was infected by a carrier of blackleg, the plants will still not get sick with this disease.

Terry coefficient

Levkoi have one interesting feature. In the description of the variety on the bag of seeds you can sometimes find such an indicator as terry coefficient . The thing is that seeds of one variety produce plants with simple and double flowers.

A simple flower fades in about 5 days and after that it sets seeds, from which both simple and double gillyflowers also grow. Double flowers are much more decorative and bloom for up to 3 weeks, but are sterile and do not produce seeds.

Read also: Secrets of growing monarda in the garden

The ratio of double and simple plants shows this coefficient. For example, if this indicator is 50, then there will be approximately equal numbers of double and single flowers, and if it is 90, almost all will be double. Already among the young seedlings, signs are visible by which double plants can be distinguished. They have larger leaves that are lighter in color.

Such plants are selected for cultivation in ornamental plantings or for cutting, depending on the variety. The rest of the seedlings are planted separately, creating unfavorable conditions. It is on the weakest and most deformed shoots that the most beautiful terry specimens grow.

In varieties with a high terry coefficient, few seeds are set due to the small number of simple flowers, so their price is usually much higher. But this more than justifies their magnificent appearance.

Levka after flowering

Collecting seeds

The seeds become ripe in September or October. Wait until the pods change their color to brown, and then completely pull out the bush along with the roots and put it in a well-ventilated room. Wait for it to dry completely. Dry pods need to be torn off and the seeds poured out of them.

Preparing for winter

If gillyflower is grown in a region with cold winters, then they are cultivated as annual plants. In this regard, in autumn, plants should be pulled out of the soil before they completely wither. Plant residues will need to be disposed of, and the area where the gillyflower grew will need to be dug up. If winters in the region are relatively mild, then after frosts begin, the bushes will need to be pruned to the level of the ground surface. If you wish, you can decorate your home with gillyflower in the winter; to do this, the bush must be dug up and transplanted into a flower pot.

Mattiola - planting and care

Matthiola is a modest herbaceous representative of the cruciferous family.

It is native to Southern Europe and also grows in the Mediterranean and surrounding regions.

Surprisingly, the ancient Greeks used this plant to decorate the halls during feasts.

Today flower growers know both annual and perennial matthiola; planting and caring for it in the open ground is not the easiest task, especially for beginners.

Nevertheless, the result will please you, because the inconspicuous plant has one remarkable advantage - a delicate fragrant aroma, reminiscent of the smell of violets.

Ornamental matthiola has a straight stem and rich green leaves. It will decorate the garden with small flowers of soft blue, snow-white, light yellow and purple tones. The racemose inflorescences are clearly inferior in beauty to the more striking inhabitants of the site.

However, in the evening you can go out onto the balcony or look out the open window to inhale the unique fragrant aroma. At sunset, the “night violet” smells especially strongly and gives the feeling of being on the Mediterranean coast. This is why flower growers love her.

The most common are two-horned matthiola and gray-haired (the second name is levkoy). Winter forms of biennial gillyflower are grown in greenhouses for cutting or as a potted crop. Summer and autumn forms are suitable for planting in open ground.

Read also: How to properly grow balsams in the garden