Nasturtium is grown in the middle and northern latitudes of the country, having moved to us from South America. Flower culture feels wonderful here and fully shows its decorative qualities. She fell in love with Russian flower growers for ease of care and large, bright flowers that peek out from under round leaves. That is why the "foreign beauty" has become an inhabitant of most garden plots.
Content:
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Biological characteristic: description
From South America, a bright flower came to Europe thanks to the Spanish conquistadors, who discovered it in the Mexican jungle and were amazed by an unusual plant. Scientist Nicholas Monard called it the blood flower or watercress of the Indians.
And nasturtium got its real name thanks to the botanist Carl Linnaeus, who found her a certain place in his classification of plants. He figuratively compared the rounded leaves with the shields of warriors, and imagined the flowers as the bloodied helmets of enemies, which in those days were hung on the columns of buildings.
Variegated nasturtiums
In Germany, the plant is known as capuchin because the calyx of the nasturtium peduncle resembles the hoods of capuchin monks. So the name reflects both the peaceful life of people and periods of war.
Nasturtium or capuchin belongs to the herbaceous perennial crops of the same family.a. Since it does not tolerate cold climates, it is grown as an annual crop in the middle lane. The plant is most often creeping: tender and flexible shoots branch, forming numerous lashes up to 3-5 m long.
Rounded leaves of different shades of green on long petioles form smooth or wavy edges. They have a lobed, thyroid or palmately divided shape. Veins of a lighter color extend from the center to the edges, which gives the leaf an additional decorative effect.
One of the climbing forms of nasturtium
They are framed by flowers, among which colors from yellow to red with transitional forms predominate. The flowers are large and reach 5 cm in diameter, located one at a time in the leaf axils. They are irregularly shaped with a spur, simple or terry.
In appearance, the flowers look like gramophones, the cups of which are formed by 5 petals, and in the center there are 5 stamens and a pistil, where the ovary is formed. The flowers have a sharp and somewhat peculiar scent that attracts insect pollinators and, in the wild, hummingbirds.
What do capuchin seeds look like?
The root system is taproot with a few and underdeveloped lateral roots, which are located close to the surface and go to a depth of no more than 10-12 cm. Nasturtium produces large seeds up to 5-7 mm in diameter, formed from 3 parts. They are round, concave in shape with a light yellow shell and jagged edges. Along the entire length they are separated by longitudinal grooves.
The most common 2 garden forms: bush and climbing.
- Bush characterized by an upright central shoot, from which shoots of the first order extend, located at an acute angle. The bush reaches 30 cm in height and is characterized by weak growth and close internodes, which gives the bush a compact shape.
- Climbing or creeping differs in that the main shoot is located on the ground and forms numerous lashes that extend from the main shoot at a right angle. Since the distances between the internodes are large, the plant is very sprawling and occupies a large area.
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A variety of shapes and colors of the "South American beauty"
Growing nasturtiums (lat. Tropaeolum) or capuchins became popular in the 50s of the last century. Her unpretentious bushes adorned parks, squares, squares, garden plots. Not one of6 acres” could not do without beautiful orange “gramophones”. But about 10 years passed, and nasturtium was replaced by no less beautiful landscape gardening plants. In European countries, it is generally undeservedly forgotten.
Over the past years, breeders have created up to 90 species: a whole range of colors, colors and shades. Bush, ampelous, curly, terry, climbing specimens are known. But in garden plots, no more than 10 of the most common species are usually grown.
Large or May nasturtium
May nasturtium: one of the varieties
- It belongs to the most famous. Both erect and creeping varieties have been bred. Upright is a rounded shrub up to 70 cm tall.
- The stems are fleshy and juicy, hollow inside. The leaves are located on long petioles and differ in different colors. On the underside, a grayish coating with a purple tint is formed.
- Flowers yellow to bright red, double or semi-double, fragrant.
- With proper agricultural technology, flowering begins in June and continues until the end of September.
- Easily propagated by self-seeding.
- This species is represented by dozens of varieties.
Tuberous
Tuberous nasturtium as a fence design option
- It is distinguished by thin, climbing stems up to 2 m. The leaf blade is wide with rounded edges, the color is gray-green, on which light veins are clearly visible.
- It has a classic flower shape and a classic orange-red color scheme.
Cultural or hybrid
Nasturtium small
Cultural or hybrid is considered the most numerous in terms of the number of varieties. Among them there are undersized forms up to 30 cm tall, climbing, reaching 1 m, creeping with a fleshy stem up to 3 m, dwarf, growing only up to 15 cm.
Among this group stand out:
- Azure, a distinctive feature of which are unusual blue flowers. They are used in separate plantings and in flower beds.
- Tricolor has a contrasting combination of colors, which makes it a unique creation of breeders. Unusually, it looks like a separate plant and in any composition.
- multi-leaved not suitable for flowerbeds or rabatok, but fits perfectly into the design of an alpine hill, as it has a variegated leaf blade and a small number of flowers.
Small is formed by thin stems that branch profusely. The leaves are held on delicate and long petioles, differ in small size and thyroid shape. Small flowers: in diameter, they reach only 3 cm. The color of the flowers is yellow with dark spots inside. Differs in long flowering until frost.
Thyroid
Shield nasturtium
- Thyroid is a creeping shrub with dark green, fragile shoots.
- It grows up to 4 m. Between the dark green leaves are burgundy flowers up to 6 cm in diameter, which creates a bright and unusual "floral ensemble".
Foreign or Canarian
Nasturtium canariensis
- This is a climbing form, beautifully wrapping around trellises and arbors, stretching up to 3.5 m.
- The leaves are medium-sized, five- or seven-parted. The flowers are yellow, corrugated, small. But due to their abundance, a motley composition is created with yellow splashes.
Many varieties are unusual and highly decorative, but so far few even experienced flower growers can share the experience of growing such nasturtiums. Although they are not capricious, but growing requires certain skills.
Of the bush forms, the most interesting are: white "Snow Maiden", raspberry "Ruby", dark red "Othello", dark purple "Black Prince". Among the flying birds, there is a high demand for light orange "Aurora", fiery red "Fire Rain", orange "Cardinal" and "Orange Ball", red "King Theodore".
Representative of a new generation of nasturtiums
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Landing
Nasturtiums are among the flower crops that can be grown from seeds. Although this plant is a perennial, it is cultivated as an annual. Planting is carried out directly with seeds in the ground or seedlings are used.
Nasturtium in landscape design
Sowing seeds in the ground is the easiest, but not always a reliable way. Sowing material is sown in the soil at the end of May, since return frosts are detrimental to tender shoots. The seeds are large and for them they dig small holes to a depth of 2 cm and lower 2-3 seeds per hole with an interval of 20-30 cm. which is soaked for 24 hours. So the shell soaks and the seeds grow faster.
The seedless method is convenient in that the plants take root well in a permanent place and get sick less, but they bloom a little later. For early flowering, seedlings are grown. At home, seeds are planted in late March - early April. A variety of containers are used for planting: containers, glasses with a removable bottom or peat tablets.
First, the seed and soil are prepared:
- Large and full-weight seeds are selected, defective and underdeveloped seeds are rejected.
- For disinfection for 15 minutes. placed in a pink solution of "potassium permanganate" (or Fitosporin solution) at t = 60C.
- Then wrapped in a damp cloth for a day to swell and soften the surface layer.
- They are planted in purchased land or prepared from sod land, sand and peat (1: 1: 1).
Landing is done in this way:
- seeds are placed in convenient containers filled with soil, in holes up to 2 cm deep. 2-3 pcs. in each
- the ground is compacted and sprayed with a spray gun so that the seeds do not deepen and the top layer remains wet
- at t \u003d + 20-22С, shoots appear on the 10-15th day
- then the temperature is lowered to +18C
- seedlings are placed in a bright place, as it quickly stretches
- plants do not dive due to a weak root system
Seedlings are hardened 2 weeks before placement in the ground.. At the same time, containers with young plants are taken out every day for several hours under the open sky, avoiding drafts and too bright light. So tender shoots adapt better to external conditions and the transplant will not injure them: the flower culture will quickly grow.
Nasturtium is planted together with pots, so as not to injure the root system, in the first decade of June at a distance of 20-40 cm from each other. In the event of an unexpected cold snap, young plants are “wrapped” with non-woven material. Flowering occurs 1-1.5 months after sowing and ends with the first autumn frosts.
Growing seedlings
In rare cases, nasturtium is propagated by cuttings.. Usually this method is convenient for obtaining new varieties or breeding terry forms. This technique allows you to save 100% specific qualities of flowers. Young cuttings are rooted in wet sand or water, and then planted immediately in the ground, bypassing the school.
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To grow nasturtium, you need to take care of its habitat
The plant prefers
- a lot of light, because in the shade her whips lengthen and the leaves lose their bright color;
- lack of strong winds (drafts);
- light, fertile and slightly acidic soil;
- mulching to retain moisture and avoid weeds;
- drainage, as the root system rots easily.
In some cases, to change the appearance of the flower garden, a capuchin transplant is required.. This is not an easy procedure: it requires careful treatment of the easily injured root system. The transplant is carried out with an earthen clod, and even with careful handling, the plant remains sluggish and sick for a long time. You need to be patient and carefully water the flower until it comes back to life.
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Basic rules of care
The appearance of the plant with proper agricultural technology
Growing nasturtium is not difficult, but some rules should not be neglected.
During cultivation, the following methods are used:
- Feeding application: in the first stages of growth, nitrophoska is used, which is useful before flowering. Then they are fed with potash and phosphorus fertilizers, based on their instructions. After flowering has begun, additional nutrients are not required to be added to the soil. The introduction of nitrogen, which leads to abundant growth of green mass, is not recommended.
- Planting in loamy, well-drained soils. Under this culture, fresh organic fertilizers and lime are not used. An excess of nutrients adversely affects the development of the plant.
- Placement in a sunny, open place, but not in the sun. You can plant a flower culture in partial shade, but this most often leads to stretching of the stems and a decrease in the number of flowers. Leaves shrink and become pale.
- Abundant watering during the period of plant growth and moderate - after the start of flowering. Only after the earthen clod dries up, the next irrigation of the soil is carried out. With strong moisture, a lot of leaves and few flowers develop on a flower culture; roots can rot on heavy soil. When placed near a pond, watering should be limited.
Water droplets on leaves on a sunny day can cause burns.
- Removal of dried and dead flowers, which significantly prolongs the flowering period. This technique contributes to the active formation of flower ovaries and the plant itself looks more well-groomed.
- Mulching not only retains moisture, but also keeps the soil layer loose.. This eliminates the need for regular weeding and loosening.
- Weed control, especially perennial, which has a powerful root system. To do this, carefully dig the soil before planting, removing all the roots. Further, the culture is periodically freed from weeds, shallow loosening is carried out to remove the soil crust.
If necessary, you can collect seeds that remain viable for a long time - from 3 to 5 years. To do this, on one lash, the “old” flowers are not cut off, waiting for the formation of the fetus. When the seeds turn whitish, they should be collected and laid out to dry.
With the onset of autumn, watering is minimized, and then completely stopped.. After the ground part has dried, the shoots are removed by cleaning and digging the soil. The "heat-loving beauty" does not withstand the winter, so in the spring it is sown again.
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Capuchins are one of those rare crops from which you can collect seeds without buying them annually. In addition, they are well stored for several years and will not lose their germination.
To obtain seeds, one lash is left, from which the dried flowers are not removed, where the seeds are formed. They are large and green. When ripe they become whitish. Seeds ripen 40-50 days after the flower has withered.
Nasturtium seeds can be collected independently and planted in subsequent years
Seeds are harvested without waiting for them to scatter on the soil (self-sowing occurs). Dosing takes place in a warm, ventilated room. After the seed has dried, it is placed in paper bags and stored until next spring at room temperature.
With thoughtful, proper placement, nasturtium will give the site a bright and elegant look throughout the summer, without requiring you to do much maintenance. She is unpretentious and copes with many difficulties on her own, and the task of the grower is only to help her a little in this.
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Among nasturtiums there are ground cover, climbing and bush varieties., which is important to consider when planting, correctly placing a certain variety. Mostly flowering plant is used for vertical or horizontal landscape design, which gives any unsightly corner of the garden plot a unique look.
In parks, gardens, on the coast, the plant creates bright and cozy corners.
This is a solid green-orange carpet that covers the soil or trellis. It is ideal for mixborders, looks good in the foreground flower garden, weaving the walls pavilions. The undersized nasturtium, planted in groups, fits perfectly into the design of the garden.
Using a multi-leaf variety for a rocky slide
In combined plantings, it is better to use bush forms that go well with bluebells, delphinium, ageratum. Creeping forms are preferable to grow separately, since most varieties grow strongly and produce abundant lashes that cover other plants.
In this way:
- if you want the nasturtium to bloom longer (until November), then at the end of the summer season it can be dug up, transplanted into a flowerpot and put on a loggia;
- bush nasturtium is great for track design; planted along the edges, it perfectly retains its shape and marks the borders;
- wicker forms are ideal for ampelous plantings: in hanging baskets or planters, in balcony boxes.
One of the options for placing in a flowerpot
Nasturtium looks great in a flowerpot, container, flowerpot, which can be placed on the balcony, terrace or veranda and complement the interior with drooping shoots with bright flowers. The container for planting should be wide and shallow.
Care is no different from growing a flower crop in the ground:
- planters or flowerpots are placed outdoors or in a well-ventilated area
- make sure that the earthen ball does not dry out
- with regular watering, a drainage layer is important
- twice a month fertilizing with fertilizer for flowering crops
- remove dried flowers and prune shoots so that they bush more strongly
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Due to the sharp aroma and phytoncidal properties, nasturtium itself is able to cope with some "enemies of the garden". It perfectly protects the soil from fungal diseases, and when planted on vegetable beds or under trees, the flower culture repels whiteflies, aphids, cabbage, and the Colorado potato beetle.
A diseased plant looks unsightly
Nasturtium is rarely affected by pests, but can get sick:
- black ring spotat which brown dots appear on the leaves. The dots merge into spots, increase in size, the leaves curl and die.
- gray rot, which can be determined due to the appearing gray dry spots on the leaf blades.
- Rust: it is noticeable due to convex brown blotches, which gradually turn into dirty brown "streaks".
- Mosaicwhen light green stains appear on the leaves, scattered over its entire surface.
- bacterial wilt, in which the leaves in the lower part of the plant wither and die, and then the entire bush dries up.
At the first sign of infection with infections (bacterial, fungal or viral), all affected parts of the plant are destroyed. If nasturtium is just starting to hurt, then it is treated with specially selected chemicals. The main thing is to correctly determine the cause of the disease in order to stop the development of a certain infection. Most often, the plant gets sick from an excess of moisture and top spraying.
The most common problem is yellowing leaves.. The change in their color in the lower tier refers to natural processes. But if the upper leaves begin to turn yellow, then the cause may be a lack of nutrition (lack of a certain element), growing in the shade, excess moisture, and the development of the disease.
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Nasturtium is interesting not only as an ornamental plant.
It is edible, and all its parts except the roots are added to dishes:
- fresh shoots and young leaves are used in salads, minced meats, soups and drinks, which have a piquant taste and contain vitamin C in abundance
- diet meals are sprinkled with crushed seeds instead of seasoning
- the seeds are suitable for making edible oil, which tastes like mustard
- flowers and leaves decorate salads and sandwiches
- fruits are used in pickled form, which are similar in taste to capers
- dry flowers due to their strong aroma are used in tea collections
The rich chemical composition allows the plant to be used in folk medicine and cooking.
The plant is not forgotten in folk medicine, as it contains many useful substances. This is a whole group of vitamins, of which iron and iodine are of particular value. The juice is rich in organic acids. In addition, nasturtium is classified as a plant antibiotic. It is mainly used in the form of decoctions and infusions.
The use of nasturtium is associated with a number of diseases. It is useful for:
- beriberi
- anemia
- skin diseases
- burns (use juice)
- rheumatism
- diabetes
- colds of various nature
A beautiful and fragrant plant is not forgotten by cosmetologists. It is a part of ointments, creams, balms made for skin and hair. The tincture has a good effect on problem skin and is used as a hair growth stimulator. Broths are rinsed with curls to give them shine and silkiness.
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beautiful, not deservedly forgotten flower!