The perennial Matricaria, better known as chamomile, belongs to the Asteraceae or Asteraceae family. The genus includes about 20 different species, the most famous of which is pharmacy chamomile. This plant is not only beautiful, but also useful: it can often be found in the composition of cosmetics or medicines.
Matricaria lives on almost all continents: it was brought even to Australia. Due to its unpretentiousness and ease of reproduction, it often turns into a weed. Due to the characteristic shape of the flowers, this species is often confused with its relatives from the Astrov family. Among others, daisies are also used to call nivyanik, gerbera, aster and feverfew.
Matricaria owes its scientific name to its healing properties. This word comes from the Latin name for the uterus - it was believed that the plant is very effective in the fight against gynecological diseases and helps during childbirth. "Chamomile" is a reference to the old name of the matricaria - "romana" or "Roman flower".
Description of the matrix
Matricaria is a perennial of medium height. The maximum height of some varieties is 50 cm. Its pinnately dissected leaves have a large number of small lobes. Inflorescences-baskets have the shape of a hemisphere. Each basket is made up of small bisexual tubular flowers collected in its middle. They are colored bright yellow. They are framed by snow-white ligulate flowers, usually oblong. Chamomile has a characteristic, but not very strong odor. The culture is pollinated by bees or wasps. The germination of the obtained seeds lasts for three years.
Growing matricaria from seeds
Sowing seedlings
Matricaria is unpretentious and grows well outdoors. But, according to experts, its decorative varieties are more reliable to grow through seedlings. Sowing of seeds begins in early spring: March-April. The soil for planting should be loose, light and nutritious. They are filled with containers or boxes. The seeds are spread over the surface of the moist soil, keeping a distance of 2-3 cm. The planting depth should not exceed 1 cm. After completing the sowing, the soil is moistened again from the sprayer, and then covered with a film and placed in the light in a warm place. Caring for future daisies during this period consists in regular airing, removing condensate from the film and, if necessary, additional watering. But it is not worth overfilling crops.
How to care for seedlings
Remove the film immediately after the sprouts appear. After that, the container with the seedlings must be transferred to a cooler room: in the warmth they will stretch out too quickly. The sprouts will need bright, but diffused light. With the appearance of the second true leaf, the seedlings dive. As containers, you can use cups or a larger box.In it, daisies are placed at a distance of at least 4 cm from each other.
Planting the matrix in open ground
When to plant
Before planting in open ground, the seedlings of the matrix will need to be hardened. They begin to accustom plants to the cold about half a month before transplanting: at the beginning or at the end of May. To do this, you can transfer them to the balcony, airing a little every day and gradually increasing their time in the air. But even hardened plants should be planted in the ground only after they are no longer threatened by night frosts, and stable warm weather is established.
Landing features
To make chamomile more pleasing with its flowers, it should be grown in an open, well-lit place. A too shady corner will have a bad effect on the abundance of flowering and will lead to stretching of the stems. In addition, the plant will need a nutritious soil in which water does not stagnate. At the same time, the composition of the earth can be practically any: the matrix is not picky and is able to grow and multiply by self-seeding without additional efforts. The only requirement is that the soil should not be too acidic. In this case, you can add ash to the ground.
Transferring plants to a permanent place, they are captured together with an earthen clod. For planting, pits are prepared at a distance of about 30 cm.This will allow the bushes to receive sufficient nutrition. As they branch out, they will grow in width, filling in the gaps and merging into a single large bush.
After completing the planting, the plants are watered. After all the water has been absorbed, the wells can be filled with mulch or dry soil. Usually, all seedlings take root quickly and without problems.
In the future, if necessary, the grown bushes can be transplanted even during flowering. Usually this property of matricaria is used when it is urgently necessary to fill empty areas in a flower bed.
Matricaria care in the garden
Due to its undemanding nature, the matrix will not cause problems even for novice gardeners. The flower makes almost no special claims to the growing conditions. For healthy development, the bushes only need periodic watering and loosening of the soil. Do not forget about weeds, removing them as they appear.
To extend the flowering period of the matricaria, you need to cut off the wilted inflorescences in a timely manner. Then new ones will soon appear in their place. After full flowering, the bush is sheared, choosing dry or broken branches. At the end of the summer season, overgrown bushes should be dug up and divided so that each part has at least one rosette of leaves. If this is not done, next year the flowering will be much weaker. But the procedure for dividing the bushes should be carried out not too late, so that the resulting plants have time to take root before the winter cold.
This method can be used to propagate the desired variety. This approach will surely preserve all the decorative features inherent in it. Along with division, cuttings are also practiced. Cuttings for planting are cut until mid-summer: from May to July. For planting, wet sand is usually used, lined with moistened moss on top. You can do such rooting right in the open field, you just need to take care of a shelter that lets sunlight through. This will allow you to create an imitation of greenhouse conditions for the cuttings. After a couple of weeks, as soon as the branches take root, they are transplanted to a permanent place.
If chamomile is grown as a perennial in a cold region, additional shelter should be provided for the winter. Before the onset of frost, its bushes are cut shortly, and then covered with sawdust or covered with dry foliage and spruce branches.
Watering and feeding rules
Chamomile tolerates short periods of drought more easily than heavy overflow. That is why the matricaria should be watered abundantly only on hot and very dry days - in the morning or after sunset. It is best to use warm water for this. The rest of the time the flower will have enough rainfall.
To promote plant health, you can feed them. Fertilizers are recommended to be applied 2-3 weeks after planting in the ground. Both organic and mineral solutions are suitable. The same frequency is observed throughout the remainder of the summer. As soon as the chamomile fades, fertilization is stopped.
Diseases and pests
Subject to the growing conditions, the matrix has good resistance to any disease and is able to resist flower pests. Moreover, it can scare off some caterpillars, so the flower is often planted near other crops to protect them.
Problems in the matrix itself can begin only due to an unfavorable external environment. So cold and excess moisture can lead to the development of fungal diseases. Fusarium is considered very dangerous, leading to decay of the root system of the flower. A sign of another ailment - rust - brown bumps on the leaf blades. Over time, the leaves affected by it begin to fall off. Rust can spread downwind or fall on the flower through insects that land on it. Such diseases can be cured by treating the bushes with an appropriate drug. In the fight against them, Fundazol, Phytocid, Topaz, Cuproxat and other similar agents will help. To prevent the disease from returning, it will take about three treatments. In some cases, it makes sense to pre-treat the plant or soil.
It will be more difficult to get rid of another disease - gray rot. In this case, the bushes are covered with a gray fluffy bloom. In the fight against it, a mixture of wood ash with chalk and copper sulfate is used. If the procedure does not help, the affected plants will have to be dug up and burned until the disease spreads to other plantings. As a preventive measure, the rest of the flower garden should then be treated with fungicides.
If the matricaria grows near the root vegetable beds, it can be threatened by the wireworm. This pest is the larva of the click beetle living in the ground. Moving through the soil, it can injure chamomile roots. You can get rid of the wireworm by catching it in a special trap. In several places of the site, pits are dug, inside which bait is placed: pieces of fresh carrots, potatoes or beets. From above, the pits are covered with something dense: plywood, a board or an iron sheet. After a couple of days, you need to look inside. During this period, many wireworms can gather in each hole. The triggered baits are taken out and burned together with the pests. The procedure can be repeated if necessary.
Types and varieties of matrix with a photo
Most often, other representatives of the Astrov family are used to decorate the garden. In flower beds, you can usually see a popovnik, aster, gerbera or nivyanik, although the matrix can look no less decorative. The relatively small size allows you to plant bushes as a frame for flower beds or flower beds, as well as turn them into the edge of garden paths. White inflorescences of matricaria are perfectly combined with even the brightest colors of other plants.
Chamomile (Matricaria recutita)
Chamomile of this type is also called medicinal or peeled. Its bushes have an average height of about 40 cm, and the flowers exude a faint but recognizable aroma. The root of such a matrix is pivotal, branching. The stem is erect, hollow from the inside. A lot of twigs radiate to the side of it. Sitting leaf blades are arranged alternately. Single inflorescences are located on the tops of the stems.
In nature, such a chamomile can be found on soils with a predominance of sand. In gardens, it often grows in compositions with wildflowers.
Chamomile Chikhachev (Matricaria tchihatchewii)
Lives in Asia Minor. The bushes of such a matrix are more miniature: their height ranges from 15 to 30 cm. The peculiarity of the species is that it is able to grow on poor and dry rocky soil, unsuitable for most other plants. Only one flower is located on long stems, but due to their number, the flowering of such a chamomile is quite abundant.This makes it an excellent decoration for a rock garden.
Fragrant chamomile (Matricaria discoidea)
This type of chamomile was once most common in North America and the Far East. Today matricaria discoidea is found almost everywhere, but usually as a weed. The maximum size of its bush reaches 30 cm. Most of the shoots are concentrated in the upper part of the stem. The lobes of the doubly pinnately divided leaves are flat and slightly pointed at the ends. On short pedicels there are small inflorescences, on which the usual white tongue flowers are practically absent. Only tubular flowers are noticeable, which here have a yellow-green color. Their smell, in comparison with other species, is more pronounced, therefore such a chamomile is called fragrant or fragrant. Despite the status of a weed, this type of matrix is also actively used in medicine, as well as in cosmetics. One of the examples of its use are products and decoctions for rinsing hair.
Chamomile (Matricaria parthenium)
The most decorative type of matrix is also called excellent. Her third name is chrysanthemum parthenium - she got it due to the resemblance to a small chrysanthemum. Both plants have the same leaf shape (in this type of chamomile they are lobed) and a similar smell. In nature, an excellent matrix can be found in European countries. It forms bushes of medium height. Due to the abundance of twigs, they have a compact shape. The maximum flower size of such a chamomile is up to 2.5 cm. The yellow center in them is combined with a slightly rounded shape of white reed flowers. You can admire them from summer to late autumn.
This type of matricaria has a number of varieties used in horticulture. Among them:
- White Star (White Star) - has lush white inflorescences.
- Aureum - the leaves of this variety are quite decorative in themselves: they are painted in a golden hue. The baskets have a yellow-orange center and white marginal flowers.
- Golden Ball (Golden ball) - inflorescences consist only of central tubular flowers and are in the form of yellow balls. In nature, the species is found in southern Europe. Most often it is grown as an annual, otherwise it quickly loses its decorative effect.
- Snow Ball (Snow Globe) - has spectacular "double" inflorescences with large reed flowers.
- Lemon Santana - inflorescences are painted in a pale yellow color.
