Titonia (Tithonia) - one of the tropical plants that can grow well in the climate of the middle zone. This flower belongs to the Astrov family and is not yet very common in gardens. As a rule, most often you can see only one representative of this genus in the flower beds - the round-leaved titonia or the Mexican sunflower. Tithonia rotundifolia does indeed have rounded leaf blades. The name of the plant has Greek roots. The flower was named after the favorite of the goddess of dawn - Tsarevich Titon.
Mexico is considered the birthplace of the beautiful Titonia. There it grows as a perennial. Despite the fact that in its homeland - in Mexico - titonia can please the eye for several seasons, in the middle lane this species is usually grown as an annual. The conquistadors who returned from the American continent, who were impressed by the decorativeness of the plant, presented this flower to European gardeners.
In addition to Mexico, titonia is also found in the central and southwestern regions of America. More than ten of its varieties live there. The subtropical and tropical climate of these places allows titonia to exist for more than one year, but in temperate latitudes this flower does not winter and can only be used as an annual. An alternative solution is to plant the plant in a pot or container. Such a bush will spend winter in a warm room, and in spring, with the onset of heat, it can be returned to the veranda or garden.
Description of titonia
Even as a herbaceous plant, titonia is able to form large bushes, sometimes reaching 2 meters in height. At the same time, their width reaches 1.5 meters. The bush itself is shaped like a ball or pyramid. The foliage is large, bright green, but the shoots are distinguished by a reddish tint. The leaves on them are arranged alternately, almost completely hiding the stems from view. Depending on the variety, they can have a three-bladed or heart-shaped shape. The foliage, like the surface of the stems, has silky pubescence, which makes it appear gray, despite its green color. Titonia greens remain decorative until the onset of frost.
The abundance of tithonia twigs contributes to the splendor of its flowering. In this case, inflorescences-baskets can appear not only on the tops of the shoots, but also in the leaf axils. Despite some similarity of flowers with a sunflower, they are arranged in different ways, moreover, these plants are not even relatives. Due to the shape of the petals, titonia flowers are often compared to annual dahlias. When you get closer to a flower, you can smell its faint but pleasant aroma.
Titonia flowers can have a palette of colors from yellow to orange-red. The diameter of each can be up to 8 cm, but there are also smaller-flowered varieties. In the middle of the inflorescence, small tubular flowers are concentrated, located quite closely. The reed petals are arranged in a single row and are usually more intense in color, giving the flower a brighter and more radiant appearance.Each inflorescence is held on a large, high and fairly wide peduncle. The flowering period begins in June-July and lasts until autumn frosts.
Planting and caring for titonia
Titonia is considered a suitable plant for a novice gardener: it does not require close attention and constant care. But, despite the sufficient unpretentiousness, she still needs to create certain conditions.
Prerequisites for landing
A tropical bush will need sunlight, so you should choose well-lit places for it. Tithonia is not afraid even of the midday heat. Composing flower groups, you can combine titonia with the same light-loving Gaillardia, carnation and delphinium species.
The selected area must be protected from strong winds and cold drafts. That is why titonia is often advised to be planted along walls or fences, where the plants will be under sufficient protection from powerful gusts. Flowers do not tolerate cold and rain. If it is damp and chilly weather outside for a long time, the bushes can slow down their growth and not even bloom. Such whims of nature, as a rule, cannot even be compensated for by increased care.
Temperature
The heat-loving flower is not afraid of high temperatures and calmly tolerates the summer heat, so it can be grown in the sun itself. But titonia does not tolerate severe winter frosts. In the middle lane, it is grown as an annual; the cultivation of perennials is available only to residents of more southern regions. The mild climate and warm winters will not even require shelter.
Soil and fertilizing
For regular and full blooming, titonia should only be planted in suitable soil. It should be nutritious, very loose and well-drained. Titonia grows poorly on heavy soils. Poor soil can be compensated for with appropriate fertilizing. In this case, it is required to add organic matter or mineral compositions there about once every 3 weeks.
There is also a universal feeding schedule. It includes three stages. With the appearance of the first leaves, the ground near the plantings is fertilized with a mullein. When titonia begins to form buds, it is fed with ash. The third feeding is carried out when the bushes are in full bloom. At this time, mineral compounds or mullein are added to the soil.
Fertilizers for plants can be applied in advance. So it is recommended to add compost or manure even during autumn digging. If it was possible to decide on a place for planting titonia only in the spring, such procedures should be carried out at least a month before the future disembarkation. Bushes growing on fertile land need not be fed at all. An exception is made only during the period of bud formation. At this time, you can treat the foliage of the plant with a solution of nutrients that promote flowering. This will help make the flowers appear larger and brighter.
You can also feed the plants with the help of mulching. By covering the ground near bushes with humus, grass or compost, you can both add nutrients to the flowers and retain moisture in the garden. The layer can be up to 7 cm.
When fertilizing titonia, especially those growing on poor soils, it is important not to overdo it. An excess of nutrients (especially nitrogen) can adversely affect flowering. In a soil that is too saturated with useful elements, titonia can begin to abundantly build up a green mass, almost without forming buds.
Watering mode and humidity level
Titonia is one of the drought-resistant plants, it tolerates short periods without precipitation calmly, but the bay is much worse. Because of this, the bushes should be watered sparingly and rarely. The only exceptions are long dry periods. During this time, you can water the plants every week, trying to thoroughly wet the ground.
To protect the roots from excessive moisture, you can periodically spray or wash the aerial part of the plant, carrying out the sprinkling procedure.This will help clean the foliage of dust and dirt, and will also serve as a preventative measure against aphids. Fertilizers can be applied in the same way. Mineral foliar dressing during the budding or flowering period will positively affect the size and intensity of the color of the inflorescences.
Growing titonia from seeds
The main breeding method for titonia is seed. The seeds of this plant are large enough (up to 1 cm) and rough. They should be sown for seedlings in the last weeks of March, but this can be done until the end of April. In the case when the seedlings are grown in a greenhouse or greenhouse, sowing is carried out at the same time - this method allows you to get stronger and healthier young plants.
Before planting, you can soak the seeds in a wet cloth with a weak manganese solution for several days. This will shorten the time of emergence of seedlings. The container is filled with fertile soil and the seeds are slightly buried in it, trying to maintain a distance of at least 10 cm.They are left on the surface or just sprinkled with sifted earth a little, and then the container is placed in a bright place, where it keeps about +18 degrees. After that, it remains only to monitor the constant soil moisture. Usually, seedlings appear very amicably after about a couple of weeks. They are looked after as for any flower seedlings. Until the sprouts get stronger, it is recommended to water them with exceptionally warm water. Despite the fact that titonia can grow in places open to the sun, young plants should be protected from scorching rays.
As soon as the sprouts have several leaves, they should be planted in separate pots. The transplant will help the seedlings grow stronger. You can take them out to the garden in May or June, but it is advisable to do this before the formation of buds. Before transplanting, it is necessary to carry out a hardening procedure. To do this, the seedlings are taken out into fresh air for several hours, trying to gradually increase the duration of their stay in the cool. Plants can be planted in the ground only after the frost has probably passed.
Due to the fact that the bushes can grow, when planting, at least half a meter distance or even more should be observed between them. The distance for planting large varieties can be up to one and a half meters. Similar rules apply when moving titonia bushes to a common flower garden. The land for planting should be well loosened, fertilized with compost and mineral fertilizers, and also supplemented with a drainage layer, for example, sand. Seedlings are placed in individual holes, only slightly larger than the volume of the root system, trying to maintain the same depth as in the pots. The roots of the seedlings are carefully straightened, and the voids are filled with soil.
Possible difficulties of growing
To avoid self-seeding of titonia, its fading inflorescences should be removed. If the seeds are needed for reproduction, they are harvested in the fall, in September-October. To do this, you need to wait for the browning of the inflorescence, trying not to miss the moment when the seeds begin to crumble. Ripe boxes are carefully cut, and then laid out on a flat area for thorough drying. After that, the seeds are separated from the baskets, folded into a paper or cloth bag and stored until sowing. The germination capacity of such planting material can last for about 3 years.
Despite their high size, titonia bushes usually do not need a garter. An exception should be made only for the sake of detached bushes: this will help protect the stems from breaking off. Columns or special half rings will help with this. It is also worth tying up overgrown plants, whose height has exceeded one meter, as well as titonia growing on windy areas. Shoots in this case may begin to lie down or deform. When signs of curvature appear, the bushes should be tied up entirely, or at least the highest shoots should be supported.
Titonia tolerates pruning well, but usually this procedure is not required: often pinching does not give the desired result. The shoots of the plant branch quite well from nature and, if all the necessary conditions are met, they do not need to form a crown. It is only necessary to regularly remove wilting inflorescences - this will help prolong the decorative appearance of the bushes until the very frost.
Diseases and pests
Tithonia has a fairly strong immunity that protects it from the effects of pests and the development of diseases. But some harmful insects can still attack its bushes. Wet weather can cause slugs to appear. They feed on greenery and can eat the foliage of the plant. You can get rid of these pests by hand, prepare traps for them, or create an unpleasant barrier for pests next to the flower bed.
Sometimes aphids can appear on titonia. She attacks the wrong side of the leaves and drinks their juice. You can fight such pests with the help of specialized or folk remedies. An example would be decoctions of burning plants: garlic, wormwood, hot peppers, tobacco, pine needles or onions, as well as soap solutions. You can try to remove aphids with targeted jets of water. As a preventive measure against the appearance of aphids, you can plant fragrant herbs around the flower bed, which the pest does not like.
Excessive humidity caused by heavy rainfall can lead to rot. Usually it begins to appear on the flowers of the plant, rotting from moisture entering the basket. It is especially important to keep an eye on dying buds. Such parts of the plant must be removed as soon as possible in order to prevent further development of the disease.
Titonia in landscape design
Long flowering times and elegant inflorescences, along with ease of cultivation, make titonia an excellent plant for decorating a plot. Its bright flowers look good against a green background and are able to accentuate plantings with paler inflorescences. Its bushes look no less impressive against the background of a lawn or low ground cover plants.
Due to the fact that most of the titonia varieties are very large, they can be used as a tall component of mixborders. Due to its appearance, titonia fits perfectly into landscape and rustic landscape styles. Among others, her flowers look great in compositions with nivyanik, marigolds, lupines and cochia.
The size and spreading of titonia bushes also allow them to be used as a kind of green hedge. With their help, you can easily disguise an unsightly fence, hide a compost pile or even a medium-sized structure from view. But the formation of too large thickets should be avoided. Too massive group plantings of titonia can look sloppy and produce the effect of a weed. The overgrowth of bushes can be used for their own purposes, filling them in empty spaces of flower beds. Due to the width of each bush, even one specimen is able to occupy a considerable territory.
Tithonia planted in containers are placed on verandas and next to recreation areas. Usually, more compact and low varieties are chosen for placement in pots and flowerpots. Titonia flowers attract butterflies, so the decorative effect of their presence can be doubled. Inflorescences can also be used for cutting.
The main types and varieties of titonia
Despite the presence of more than a dozen different species, only round-leaved titonia is most often used in garden design. On its basis, the main varieties of this flower were bred:
- "Red Lantern" - a very popular variety, featuring a large bush. It can grow up to 1.5 meters in height. The bush is covered with large flowers, painted in orange or terracotta tones. In appearance, they resemble chamomile enlarged in size.
- "Torch" - has inflorescences of fiery color, giving the plant a blazing appearance from a distance. Bushes are tall.
- "Yellow Torch" - forms bushes up to 1.2 m tall.The flowers are smaller, colored bright yellow.
- «Fiesta del Sol "(" Sunny Evening ") - forms miniature bushes up to 50 cm in height. The flowers are small, bright orange.
- The Iliad - meter bushes with many branches. The foliage is heart-shaped, and the 6-cm inflorescences are shaped like simple dahlia flowers. The middle of each is colored yellow-orange, and the petals are more reddish. Due to its long flowering, the variety is often used in flower beds and individual plantings.
- "Odysseus" - resembles the above-described variety, but differs in the size of the bushes - in "Odyssey" they are lower and grow only up to 70 cm.
Other well-known varieties include Arcadian Blend (a mixture of flowers of various colors) and Goldfinger (65 cm high bushes, orange flowers with a golden hue).
