Shabo carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus var. Schabaud) is an unusually beautiful flowering perennial from the Carnation family. The Shabo carnation was created by crossing Dianthus caryophyllus and Dianthus suffruticossus. It is not so easy to grow a carnation of this type, but if you follow all the rules of care and cultivation, you can grow the most beautiful original and unusual flower, which will become a real decoration of the garden.
Description of the Shabo carnation plant
A carnation of this species can grow up to 30-80 cm. The roots are located at a depth of 20 cm and have a rod-like shape. The main stem is well expressed, the bush has a reverse-pyramidal shape. Shoots are rounded, blue with a bluish-green tint. The flowers are large enough, of various shades. They can be simple, terry, semi-double, curved, corrugated, split and folded. Clove seeds ripen in a cylindrical box with five teeth. Seeds are small and black in color, rough.
This article will tell you how to properly grow Shabo carnations, grow and care for them in the open field.
Growing from Shabo Clove Seeds
Sowing seeds
It is necessary to plant Shabo carnation seeds in prepared soil with a neutral reaction. To do this, you need to mix peat, turf soil, sand and humus. The box for planting seeds should be plastic with good drainage holes, about 6 cm high. The best time to plant carnation seeds for seedlings is the period from mid-January to the end of February. If you plant the seeds earlier, you will have to additionally highlight them, and if you plant them later, then the carnation will begin to bloom only at the end of summer.
It is not necessary to process the clove seeds before planting, but treatment with a growth activator does not hurt. The prepared soil must be evenly distributed in the box and watered abundantly before planting. Then spread the clove seeds on the surface at a distance of one centimeter from each other and sprinkle with calcined sand. Boxes with planted carnation seeds must be covered with plastic wrap to create a greenhouse effect.
Seedling carnation Shabo
For germination of carnation seeds, a temperature of no higher than 15 degrees is needed. If it is too hot in the house, then it is better to grow seedlings not on the windowsill, but on the floor, but away from heating objects. Watering should be carried out regularly, without allowing the soil to dry out, but this is best done with a sprayer, so as not to accidentally wash the seeds. Every day, the film should be removed from the boxes for at least 10 minutes, be sure to remove the collected condensation from it. With the creation of the necessary conditions and proper care, the first shoots will appear in a week, or maybe even earlier.After the shoots appear, the film must be removed and the boxes must be placed in a place where the temperature is about 13 degrees, the most suitable window sill will be on the south side of the house. Watering should be reduced and the soil should not be waterlogged.
Seedling picking
When the seedlings have two true leaves, they must be planted in separate pots or seedling cassettes with a diameter of about four centimeters. For seedlings planted earlier, it is necessary to carry out another transplant after the fourth pair of leaves appears. This time, the pots should be at least 10 cm in diameter. After the formation of the fifth pair of leaves, you need to pinch. If at this stage of growth the plants are very pale and their growth is slowed down, then they must be fed with fertilizers containing nitrogen. After the second pinching, it's time to start hardening the seedlings. To do this, take it out to a cold place starting at 10 minutes and gradually increasing the time. After the threat of night frost is gone, you can transfer the seedlings to the greenhouse and grow them there until they are transplanted into the open ground.
Planting Shabo carnations in open ground
It is possible to plant seedlings of Shabo carnations already at the beginning of May, since it is hardened and short-term small frosts are not afraid of it. The planting site should be in the sunny side of the site, since the Shabo carnation is a photophilous plant. The soil should be fertile and neutral or slightly alkaline. Cloves will not take root in clay and sandy soil.
The soil for planting Shabo carnations must be prepared in the autumn. To do this, during digging, add 20 kg of compost or humus and forty-five grams of phosphates per square meter. This will significantly improve the condition of the soil. And in the spring you need to apply fertilizers containing potassium and nitrogen.
Before planting seedlings in open ground, it must be watered abundantly and transplanted into the dug holes along with an earthen clod. The root system should be deepened to the same depth, in no case more. After planting, you need to water the soil abundantly.
Shabo carnation care
Watering
Growing a Shabo clove is not easy. In order to grow a healthy bush with large flowers, you have to work hard. It is necessary to regularly water the soil and prevent it from drying out. After each watering, you should loosen the soil around the bushes with extreme care so as not to damage the root system. Loosening regularly will help you weed less frequently. Too long shoots must be tied up so that they do not lie down. It is also necessary to regularly carry out preventive spraying, which will prevent the development of various diseases and the appearance of harmful insects.
Top dressing and fertilizers
The first feeding should be nitrogen fertilizers, which should be carried out a week after planting seedlings in open ground. During the active formation of buds, you need to add a second top dressing - potassium sulfate and ammonium nitrate. Shabo does not like organic fertilizers, but mineral fertilizers can be applied every 2 weeks if necessary.
Transfer
Every two years, it is necessary to transplant the bushes to rejuvenate them and thin out a little.
Stepping
In order to get a large flower, it is necessary to remove excess buds during the period of bud formation and until autumn, leaving only the central one. This will enable him to grow sharper and larger. And in order for flowering to last longer, you need to remove dried inflorescences and leaves in time. The Shabo carnation can continue to bloom until mid-autumn.
Reproduction of Shabo carnation
The seed method often does not give the desired result, since the varietal characteristics are poorly preserved. Therefore, propagation of Shabo cloves is best done by cuttings.To do this, the bushes are dug up in the fall and stored in a cool place in winter, and with the onset of spring, you need to cut cuttings from the central part of the bush so that one cuttings have at least two living buds. Immediately after cutting, the cut sites must be lubricated with a root growth activator and planted in moist sandy soil. To create a greenhouse effect, cuttings should be covered with glass jars. Every day, jars need to be removed for 10 minutes in order for the cuttings to air. After a while, the roots will grow and bushes will form.
Carnation Shabo at home
It is impossible to grow Shabo carnations in the house all year round, it is a garden plant. You can only grow carnations in the house during the winter. To do this, the bushes must be dug up and planted in pots, but with the onset of spring they must be transplanted back into the garden.
Diseases and pests
The Shabo carnation is extremely rarely affected by diseases and pest attacks. But if the weather is too rainy and stuffy, then fungal diseases can begin to develop. In order for the disease not to spread, you need to remove the affected plants, and carefully treat the rest with special solutions.
As for pests, aphids, ticks and thrips love to feast on cloves. They suck the sap from the plant, because of this, the plant deforms and becomes less beautiful and attractive. Also, pests are a difference of various viral diseases, so they must be eliminated without fail. To do this, you need to treat the carnation bushes with special insectoacaricides.
Shabo carnation varieties
The most popular varieties and Shabo carnations are:
- Lezhien D'Oner - the flowers of this variety have an unusual and interesting color of a dark cherry shade with a red tint.
- Girofle - flowers have a beautiful purple color.
- Marie Shabo - this variety is very interesting, its flowers have a bright yellow tint.
- Jeanne Dionysus - the flowers of this variety are snow-white and quite large.
- Aurora - flowers have an original salmon-pink color.
- The varieties Foyer Koenig and Etinselyan have flowers of different shades of red.
- The Mikado cultivar is the owner of rare and unusually beautiful lilac flowers.
- Ruby - the flowers of this variety have a dark red color, like the ruby gem. Hence the name.
- Fire King - the flowers are somewhat reminiscent of fire, as they have a bright red color with an orange tint.
- Pink Queen - flowers are large and pale pink. The carnation is beautiful and delicate, hence the name - pink queen.
- Benigna - flowers of light shades of lilac with purple edging.
- Nero - velvety dark red flowers. They do not fade in the sun.
The Shabo carnation will be a great garden decoration and will look beautiful in combination with other garden flowering plants. Carnation also looks original and beautiful in flower arrangements and does not fade for a long time.
