The sunflower (Helianthemum) or stone flower is an unusual annual or perennial plant from the Ladannikov family. More than 70 different species of this culture are found in the natural environment of European and Asian countries, as well as on the African and American continents. An individual feature of the sunflower is its amazing flowers, which open with the first rays of the sun early in the morning and crumble at midday.
Description of the sunflower flower
A herbaceous or semi-shrub plant consists of a straight or creeping stem no more than 30 cm in height, simple bright green oval-shaped leaves, yellow, orange, white or pink flowers in racemose inflorescences and fruit-capsules with seeds inside.
Growing sunflower seeds
Sowing seeds
It is not difficult to grow sunflower seedlings at home. Plants, with proper care, will get stronger and will be ready to be transplanted into an open flower garden. A favorable time for sowing seeds is the first days of March.
Experienced growers recommend using only peat pots or tablets, since the plant reacts very negatively to transplanting and picking. It's all about its root system, which is in constant interaction with certain fungi. If this interaction is disrupted by transplanting or dividing the bush into parts, then the flower can become seriously ill and even die.
The containers are filled with a pre-moistened and loose soil mixture and two or three seeds are placed in each of them. The seeds are sprinkled with a thin layer of fine river sand and covered with a transparent film.
Before emergence, planting containers must be kept in a warm and very bright room with a temperature of about 25 degrees Celsius. Depending on the species and variety, seedlings may appear in one or even four weeks. Immediately after this, it is necessary to remove the film covering and transfer the pots to a cooler room with a temperature of 15-16 degrees.
For high-quality and full-fledged development of young plants, they will need special temperature conditions. The daytime temperature should be 4-5 degrees higher than the nighttime.
Sunflower seedlings
Within 2-3 weeks, the plants will grow noticeably, and their difference in growth and quality will become obvious. Of 2-3 copies in each container, it is recommended to leave only the strongest and strongest culture, and the rest must be cut off at the root.
The main care of seedlings consists of gentle loosening of the soil and its moderate moisture. It is very important to carry out hardening procedures for seedlings for 10-15 days before planting in open ground."Walking" in the open air for several hours every day will help plants to get stronger and prepare for new living conditions. The sunflower must learn to grow in the fresh air around the clock. In the early days, you need to protect fragile seedlings from sudden gusts of wind and unexpected drafts.
Planting sunflower in open ground
When is it better to plant sunflower
Planting a sunflower and further caring for them does not take much time and effort. Every flower lover can handle this, even without many years of experience in floriculture.
Seasoned seedlings can be transferred to an open flower garden or garden in the second half of May or the first half of June. Important conditions are well-warmed land and stable warm weather.
The planting site should be sunny and open, and the soil on the site should be alkaline or neutral in composition. The obligatory components of the soil should be fine gravel and coarse river sand. If there is loamy soil on the site during preparatory digging, it is recommended to add dolomite flour into it.
How to plant correctly
When preparing the landing holes, it should be borne in mind that the sunflower grows very quickly. The spacing between plants should not be less than 30-35 cm. The depth of the hole and the height of the pot with the plant should be approximately the same. A peat pot is placed in a hole, sprinkled with earth, watered.
Sunflower care in the garden
Watering
Sunflower is endowed with high resistance to droughts, so it usually has enough natural precipitation with their regular fall. It is not recommended to water the flowers during the spring and autumn months. In the summer, the soil is moistened only with a long absence of rain and high air temperatures for a long time. Irrigation water is preliminarily settled and heated in an open sunny area. Summer watering is plentiful.
The soil
The soil must be weeded and loosened in a timely manner around each plant. The mulching layer on the site will relieve you of these procedures and give additional nutrition to the soil.
Fertilization
When growing a sunflower on fertile soil, it will not need any additional feeding. In other cases, fertilizers are used as needed. Before flowering, it is recommended to feed the plants with liquid organic matter. It is important to remember that excess nutrients in the soil will lead to an abundant build-up of leaf mass, which will interfere with active flowering.
Pruning
To maintain the attractiveness and preserve the high decorativeness of the sunflower, withered and faded buds are regularly trimmed. Removal of faded shoots (about 30% of the total length) will promote more active and lush flowering.
Wintering
Some species and varieties of plants are very cold resistant and do not require any preparation for winter. This applies to the sunflower with orange and yellow flowers. Over the course of several years, the culture is developing and growing well in one area. But cultures with silvery leaves and varieties with red flowers are recommended to be covered with dry grass or spruce branches, otherwise they will not survive the harsh cold.
Diseases and pests of the sunflower
A possible disease is root rot, which occurs when there is a regular excess of moisture in the soil. Affected plants must be immediately destroyed, and the remaining flowers and the entire area must be treated with a fungicidal preparation (for example, Fundazol).
The main pests are thrips and aphids. They feed on plant sap and are able to destroy the entire flower garden. Any flower shop offers a wide variety of remedies to deal with these unwelcome guests.
Types and varieties of sunflower
Among the large number of sunflower species in culture, only a fraction of them are grown. Among flower lovers there are the most popular and demanded specimens.
Apennine sunflower (Helianthemum apenninum)
Cold-resistant semi-shrub perennial, average height - 25 cm, widespread in the southwestern part of Europe, white flowers, 1.5-2 cm in diameter, lanceolate leaves, with a pubescent surface.
Arctic sunflower (Helianthemum arcticum)
The perennial is common only in the Murmansk region, blooms with inflorescences of three or six bright yellow flowers, the shrub usually does not exceed a height of 40 cm, the lower growth limit is 10 cm.
Changeable sunflower (Helianthemum mutabile)
Cold-hardy perennial, blooms with white-pink flowers in May - June. Height - about 25 cm, flower diameter - 1.5-2 cm.
Hybrid sunflower (Helianthemum x hybridum)
It was bred as a result of selection work when crossing different species and combines all new forms and varieties. The resulting varieties differ in the shape of the leaves and shades of flowering. Hybrid sunflowers adorn the garden and flower bed with red, orange, yellow, white and pink inflorescences.
Alpine sunflower (Helianthemum alpestre)
Low-growing frost-resistant perennial, height does not exceed 10 cm, dense growth densely covers the soil, blooms with small yellow flowers with five petals.
Monet Sunflower (Helianthemum nummularium)
Semi-shrub perennial from the Mediterranean, height - no more than 45 cm, branchy stem with strong pubescence, the upper part of the leaves is green, and the lower part is gray, oval in shape. It blooms with beautiful yellow-orange flowers about 2 cm in diameter.
