Viola loves sun or shade. Pansies: planting and care in open ground. Soil care
The delicate beauty of viola, the cultivation of which is not particularly difficult even for a novice gardener, will decorate any corner of the garden. Pansies, this is the name that people use for this plant; they grow not only seedling method: Some people prefer to sow the seeds directly into the ground.
To please the plant with bright flowers of various shades big size, you need to try to find an area with optimal conditions for the growth and development of viola.
Viola
A small plant that grows to a maximum of 30 cm, has a bright single flower on a long stem. Flowers can be of various shades and shapes. The plant belongs to the violet family, among which it stands out for its decorative effect. Viola can be perennial or annual. Most often, it helps designers decorate borders or decorate low shrubs. Low growing varieties used to decorate alpine slides.
This plant is unpretentious - even when transplanted into open ground during flowering, it easily adapts to new conditions. The flowering time of viola depends on the planting period and the variety. The sooner pansies are planted, the sooner they will begin to delight you with colorful flowers.
The culture grows well on open places under direct sunlight. However, it cannot tolerate extreme heat. Therefore, when choosing a place, you should pay special attention to ensuring that the flower falls into the shade for some time. Even with insufficient light, the viola will grow well. However, its flowers will be smaller and not as bright as those that grow in the sun.
There are many varieties of viola. Among them stands out the ampelous one, which in the process of development forms a ball strewn with a large number flowers. She most often lands in hanging planters. The ampelous violet tolerates cold well and is very undemanding. Within half a month after sowing the seed material, you will be able to admire its flowers. The ampelous variety of the flower requires the same care as other varieties of this plant.
Growing viola
Planting a viola in open ground is not a particularly difficult task. It is important to consider several points before planting this plant:
- Soil: does not retain moisture, retains heat and contains nutrients - good option there will be a mixture of loamy soil with humus. For violets, before planting, you need to prepare a soil substrate consisting of turf, humus and peat, taken in equal quantities and sand, the amount of which is half as much as the other components of the soil mixture.
Important: You should not choose a lowland for planting viola: closely located groundwater will contribute to stagnation in the roots of the plant.
- Landing time: selected taking into account climatic conditions in mid or late spring.
- Planting location: grows well in partial shade with big amount diffused light.
Important: Ampelous violet and other varieties of viola growing under the sun will give large and bright flowers, but they will wither faster than those that grow in partial shade.
Pansies are planted in the ground by the end of spring in several ways:
- Seeds
They can be sown immediately in prepared soil at a rate of about fifty seeds per meter of furrow. You can sow in holes located at a distance of about 6 cm. In this case, 3 - 4 seeds are placed in each hole. The planting depth is about 0.6 cm. It is advisable to treat the seed material with a Zircon or Epin solution for 24 hours before sowing.
After sowing the seeds, the furrows or holes should be sprinkled with earth, lightly shed with water and sprinkled with sawdust to retain moisture in the soil. Viola, sown with seeds, will begin to bloom by the end of spring - beginning of summer.
Advice: The emerging sprouts need to be shaded for 2 - 3 weeks so that they are not exposed to direct exposure to hot sunlight. This will help save weak seedlings from burns and strengthen them.
- Seedlings
To obtain seedlings, seeds are sown similarly to the previous method. They are only grown indoors. At the same time, they are picked twice: a couple of days after germination and at two weeks of age at a distance of 6 cm from each other. Two-month-old sprouts are transplanted to permanent place into open ground.
Important: The ampelous variety of viola forms a large flowering ball as it develops, so it is often sown in hanging containers pre-filled with drained soil.
- Cuttings
The plant grows older every year, its flowers become smaller and there are fewer of them. To rejuvenate the bush, you need to use the cutting method. First you need to prepare the place where the cuttings will be planted - it should be shaded with a sufficient amount of moisture. On an adult bush, green apical shoots with several nodes are cut off (it is better if there are 2 - 3 of them). The petioles are planted tightly on the bed, deepened by about 0.5 cm. Then they are covered with damp material to speed up the adaptation process.
After this, care consists of daily watering and weeding. After about a month, all the cuttings should have taken root, then they can be planted in prepared beds. With a late procedure, the flowers are transferred to a permanent place in the spring.
Tip: Rooted petioles begin to bloom in the spring. You can achieve more early flowering, making cuttings by the end of spring - beginning of summer.
Plant care
After planting the plants in the ground in a permanent place, it is necessary to create for their development favorable conditions. Despite its undemanding nature, viola is still sensitive to some aspects of cultivation. Caring for viola in open ground consists of the following steps:
- Sun: necessary for abundant flowering. However, excess sun rays and high temperatures lead to the plant drying out, so if there is a possibility of a hot summer, it is better to choose shaded places for planting. When forecasting a cool season, it is better to choose open areas so that the plant receives maximum light and heat.
- Watering: daily, as pansies do not respond well to dry weather. They also do not like large amounts of moisture, so you need to water them sparingly.
Important: High humidity is a factor in the plant rotting and rotting, which can lead to its death.
- Feeding: to extend the flowering period of the crop, it is necessary to produce it regularly. It is advisable to apply complex mineral fertilizers to open ground 1–2 times a month, depending on the condition of the soil. Can be used for feeding ammonium nitrate or superphosphate, which are taken in the amount of 30 g per 1 m2. Doesn't like the flower organic fertilizers, especially do not introduce fresh manure.
- Weeding: regular removal of weeds that prevent flowers from growing and developing, depriving them of nutrients, sunlight, and moisture.
Tip: To extend the flowering time of viola, you need to regularly remove wilted flowers.
- Loosening: a regular procedure allows air to penetrate to the roots.
- Pest protection: To do this, treat the plant with the necessary means. The plant most often affected powdery mildew, if the sprouts were abundantly fed with nitrogen preparations or there was a drought. To treat pansies, treat them with a soapy solution of soda ash or “Fundazol”. “Fundazol” is also used for watering when infected with gray rot or blackleg, which affect sprouts when the agrotechnical conditions for growing the plant are violated.
- Preparing perennial varieties for wintering: covering with fallen leaves and spruce branches, which will need to be removed in early spring.
Viola, planted and cared for correctly, will delight the gardener for a long time bright and lush flowers. Ampelous violet will look beautiful in hanging containers. At the same time, it requires the same conditions as other varieties of this plant.
It is better to replant in shaded soil, where there is a large amount of diffused light. It is important that the soil is drained and capable of allowing water to pass through well. It is also necessary to regularly water flowers, which simply stop growing and blooming during drought. When collecting seeds, you need to tear off the yellowed boxes so that you can collect them before the seeds spill onto the ground.
In almost any landscaped area there are places where shadow dominates. For example, under the canopy of trees, near blind fences or northern walls of buildings. The sun appears here extremely rarely and quickly goes away, leaving no garden plants a chance to express your decorative qualities. Therefore, many gardeners think that planting ornamental, and especially flowering, plants in a flowerbed in the shade is the height of recklessness. Lilies do not bloom in the shade, roses look frail and get sick. So what? There are other plants, albeit not as luxurious and catchy, but resistant to the lack of bright lighting that can create the basis for a shady flower bed.
Flowerbed with shade-loving perennials near the fence
Initially, if you decide to plant a flowerbed in the shade, you need to assess the degree of illumination of the selected area. It’s one thing if the future flower garden is located on the north side of the house, where there is no direct sunlight, but there is more than enough scattered rays. And it’s completely different if we look at the thick shadow under a tree, where even grass has difficulty growing.
The gradation of zones according to the degree of illumination is quite arbitrary; in some sources (including foreign ones) it is presented as follows:
- sunny area - more than 6 hours of direct sunlight, several of which occur during the midday hours;
- partial shade – 4-6 hours of direct sunlight received in the morning or evening;
- shade – 1-4 hours of direct sunlight. This same niche can include areas where the sun penetrates through the foliage of trees (openwork shadow), or does not penetrate at all, but there is a lot of diffused light (for example, near the north side of the house);
- deep shade – up to 1 hour of direct sun.
Shadow representatives of the plant world
The most difficult living conditions are for plants planted in the “shade” and “deep shade” zones. Therefore, flower beds here are decorated not with wildly flowering perennials, but with more modest decorative foliage plants. They are not so spectacular, but they have the most important advantage - shade tolerance.
All plants for shady areas can be divided into 2 groups:
- shade-loving— they develop worse in the sun than in the shade: their leaves burn easily and change their natural shade. This includes most varieties of hosta, ferns, periwinkle, dodecatheon;
- shade-tolerant– these comrades just put up with the lack of light. That is, I don’t mind receiving a greater degree of insolation, but I have to be content with what I have. Prominent representatives of this group: aquilegia (catchment), astilbe, violas.
Choosing plants for deep shade
The most difficult thing is to plant a flower garden in deep shade: under old trees or between buildings. Shade-loving plants for flower bed No. 1 are ferns . They are not at all demanding on the quality and duration of lighting, and do not require scrupulous care. Ostrich, shieldweed, female nocturnal fern - all these forms of ferns, creating a voluminous background, will go well with ground cover, spring ephemerals, primroses, and hosts.
Another Spartan hoof . This is a ground cover plant with hoof-shaped leaves that grows best under the dense canopy of spruce and aspen. Clefthoof creates a dense green mat, so it can quickly disguise “gaps” in the flower garden.
Kopyten — evergreen, its leathery green leaves are well preserved under the snow
Can withstand dense shade hosts , especially varieties with dense, leathery leaves in green or blue shades, for example, “Queen of the Seas”, “Deep Blue Sea”, “Blue Mouse Ears”. Blue hostas are a real delight: their leaves are covered with a “waxy” coating, giving the plant a bluish or ashen tint. At the same time, most variegated hostas are sensitive to a lack of light and in deep shade can lose their color and become monochromatic.
On foreground the composition contains blue hostas with a “waxy” coating on the leaf blades
Plants for the “shade” zone
The list of plants for this shady zone is more extensive. In addition to all of the above shade-loving plants the most beautiful variegated leaves can take root here perfectly hosts with white, golden, yellow edging on the leaves. In June-August, hostas become not only decorative foliage, but also flowering. Flowers open on long stems in the center of the bush, which can have different colors (white, cream, purple) depending on the variety.
Grows quickly under trees periwinkle , covering the ground with dense leaves and small flowers of blue, purple, white, pink, red shades. Among the lush carpet of periwinkle, you can plant various perennials, including hostas, ferns, and shade-tolerant herbs.
Periwinkle quickly weaves around free space, creating an original blooming rug
Loves shade and moist soils Dicentra is magnificent , blooming with bright pink “hearts” with a white droplet in the center. In a shady flower bed, the dicentra bush often becomes a background element, near which the main flower arrangement is placed.
Dicentra splendid can grow up to 1 m in height
Ephemeral plants are traditionally planted under trees that create openwork shade: anemones , corydalis , crocuses , muscari , scillas etc. All of them have a short growing season and bloom in the spring, at a time when there are no leaves on the trees. At this time, even those areas that will become “shady” in summer are sufficiently illuminated sunlight.
Crocuses and other ephemerals will decorate the flower bed under the trees in spring
The openwork sliding shadow under deciduous trees and young pines is suitable and garden orchids — lady's slippers . They try to plant them on wet, nutritious soils with significant shading. No aggressive neighbors, like periwinkle, should be planted next to delicate shoes. But hostas, astilbes, sedges, tiarellas are best suited for the role of companions.
Lady's slippers are a capricious culture. It requires loose, permeable soils and mandatory shading.
Tiarellas - forest beauties with a dense bush and cream flowers on high legs. With age, tiarella bushes become more and more beautiful, so it is not recommended to frequently divide and replant them. When combined with hostas and ferns, tiarellas can create a very effective shade composition.
Tiarella grows quickly, forming a dense, wide ground cover in 2-3 seasons.
Her close relative is similar to Tiarella - heuchera . The triangular leaves of various colors make the plant especially attractive. In some varieties they are almost white, in others they are red, in others they are dark purple. Often the color of the leaf blade is uneven, due to contrasting veins, color splashes in the center or original border. Heuchera flowers are small, pink, red or white. Heuchera and tiarella are often used to create the border of a shade-loving flower bed, as they form dense bushes that do not fall apart and retain their shape flower arrangement.
Heuchera is valued for its spectacular leaves of various colors, compact dense bush shape and modest but graceful flowering.
The heroes of a flowerbed in the shade can be conifers, for example, cypress trees Lawson. In the open sun, their branches burn, but in the shade they feel great. Many varieties of pea cypress grow well in shade: “Filifera”, “Squarrosa”, “Plumosa”. Dwarf ones are good in shady flower beds ate , yews And junipers .
A juniper bush among hosta and heuchera is a worthy decoration for a flower bed near the house
On the verge of light and shadow: plants for semi-shaded places
The choice of plants for semi-shaded flower beds is quite large. The ideal ones are those that are able to stay in the sun for 4-6 hours a day, and the rest of the time in the shade. They develop well in such conditions aquilegia , viols , aconites , bergenia , rhododendron and etc.
Violas are shade-tolerant biennials that bloom all summer, even in partial shade.
You can grow many annuals in a semi-shaded flowerbed: petunias , lobelia , torenia , balsams and etc.
Rules for building a shady flower bed
Since the main part shade-tolerant plants does not have bright inflorescences, then the main emphasis when placing them in flower beds should be on the size and shape of the bushes. The basic rule of landscape combinations is: horizontal lines must be adjacent to vertical ones. That is, the wide, large leaves of some plants go well with the tall peduncles and long stems of others.
For example, broad-leaved hostas and heucheras can become spectacular neighbors in a flower garden during the flowering period. The gaps between them are filled with shade-tolerant groundcovers: periwinkle, hoofed grass, creeping tenacious - they will create a wide horizontal lower tier flower garden
Flowerbed under linden trees - composition for openwork shade
The loose shade under the linden trees makes it possible to build a composition of decorative foliage and flowering shade-tolerant plants. This flowerbed will be decorative all summer until late autumn. If you supplement it with spring ephemerals (lilies of the valley, muscari, crocuses, hyacinths), then bright colors it will be colored in early spring.
Flowerbed under the trees: 1 - multi-colored mountain weed, 2 - female nomad, 3 - hosta, 4 - Arends astilbe, 5 - yellow corydalis, 6 - Chinese astilbe, 7 - viola, 8 - wavy hosta, 9 - lungwort, 10 - telipteris, 11 - Volzhanka, 12 - linden
Multi-tiered flower bed an interesting shape will fill a problematic shady area between buildings or trees. In the composition, a tall Volzhanka dioecious, bordered by two ferns (ostriches), emphasizes the beauty of small inflorescences of brunnera, garden geranium and astrantia.
Triangular flowerbed: 1 - ostrich, 2 - astrantia, 3 - Volzhanka, 4 - hosta, 5 - flat-petaled geranium, 6 - brunnera
Flowerbed of shade-loving perennials
This shade-loving flowerbed consists entirely of decorative foliage unpretentious perennials. Even in deep shade, deep in the garden or under dense trees, it will not lose its decorative effect. However, in particularly problematic shady areas of the host, wavy may lose its white border.
Flowerbed in the shade: 1 - hosta wavy, 2 - hosta swollen, 3 - hosta Siebold, 4 - astilbe, 5 - black cohosh, 6 - fern (ostrich), 7 - tiarella cordifolia
Flowerbed for partial shade
The spectacular composition could have been planted in the shade, if not bright bush daylilies - they need at least 5-6 hours of direct sunlight to bloom. Remove daylilies from the scheme and you can safely place the flowerbed in the darkest areas of the garden.
Flowerbed for partial shade: 1 - daylily, 2 - brunnera, 3 - ostrich, 4 - broadleaf bellflower, 5 - lungwort, 6 - astilbe, 7 - hosta Siebold
A lot of advice on choosing shade-tolerant plants and the rules for growing them is given in the following video:
On personal plots There are many shaded places: under trees, along fences and buildings. They can be used to create beautiful compositions of shade-loving plants.
Shade-loving plants are considered to be those for which, for normal development, only rarefied sunlight penetrating to them through the crown of trees or they are in the sun just a few hours a day. They have bright, juicy green foliage, because it does not fade in the sun; if they are planted in sunny areas, they grow poorly.
Plants for shade can be divided into flowering and decorative deciduous.
TO blooming shade-loving include: lily of the valley, dicentra, garden geranium, anemone, foxglove, astration major, primrose, aquilegia, astilbe, kupena, beauty hydrangea, periwinkle, Volzhanka, elecampane.
Decorative deciduous shade-loving are: hostas, heucheras, ferns, bergenia, brunera.
The following vines grow well in the shade: actinidia kolomikta, maiden grapes, Chinese lemongrass. They decorate fences and walls of domestic premises.
Shaded areas of the garden can also be decorated for the summer season with flowers in pots, such as evergreen begonia, lobelia, impatiens and low-winter-hardy hydrangeas. In the fall, at the end summer season they are brought into the house, where they spend the winter well until next summer.
Let's take a closer look at shade-loving plants.
Unpretentious perennial a plant that enchants with its tenderness. She has beautiful not only flowers of various colors, but also openwork foliage.
Aquilegia is unpretentious in the choice of soil; it grows on loose, moist soils, but when compost or humus is added to the soil, it grows powerful and blooms profusely. Care consists of moderate watering followed by loosening the soil and fertilizing once every 3 weeks. Propagated by seeds, dividing the bush.
If you plant a geranium in the most unsightly place, you won’t recognize it in a year. The rapidly growing plant, with its lush, openwork bushes, fills the free space so tightly that even weeds cannot break through.
Perennial garden geranium popular among gardeners due to:
- drought and frost resistance
- long flowering and rich color scheme, in which only yellow and orange colors are missing so far
- longevity and resistance to diseases and pests
Geranium care consists of watering and fertilizing. In early spring nitrogen fertilizers are applied, and complex mineral fertilizers are applied once a month throughout the season.
shade-tolerant perennial. When planted under trees, flowering is delayed, but the color of the flowers is brighter. It is moisture-loving and responds well to fertilization. A few years after planting, dicentra forms a powerful, abundantly flowering bush.
Overwatering is detrimental; fleshy roots rot.
For the winter, it is better to cover the dicentra to avoid freezing. It reproduces by dividing overgrown bushes and cuttings.
Perennial frost-resistant a plant 1.5-2 m high and a bush up to 1 m wide, very decorative, one might even say spectacular. A sweet honey aroma emanates from the blooming white panicles, and the lacy foliage adorns the Volzhanka until frost.
Volzhanka is unpretentious, but grows best on fertile soils . It is quite drought-resistant, but it is not afraid of waterlogging of the soil either. After flowering throughout June, faded panicles must be removed so that the plant does not lose its decorative appearance. Late autumn The stems are cut at a level of 5 cm from the soil.
Hydrangea is a luxurious, beautifully flowering shrub, one of the most impressive with its flowering in the garden. Hydrangea loves acidic, nutritious and well-moistened soil. To maintain soil acidity and moisture in it, mulching with fallen pine needles, sawdust, and peat is necessary.
The shrub is practically not affected by diseases and pests.
Hydrangea blooms from late June until frost with large flowers.
Hydrangea has many varieties: tree-like, paniculate (the most winter-hardy), petiolate, large-leaved. Most hydrangeas are winter-hardy, but covering them for the winter is a good idea. Even if they freeze slightly in harsh winters, they easily recover within a season with good care.
Perennial undemanding a plant to care for that brings to flower beds and gardens bright accent. It pleases with its variegated foliage from spring to autumn. The composition of the soil for planting is not particularly important, the main thing is light and without stagnant water.
Once a month you can feed, but the dose of complex fertilizer should be halved compared to others. Outlets in winter needs to be hilled up and mulched.
Gardeners and flower growers value it for:
- compactness, frost resistance and unpretentiousness;
- a wide variety of varieties and colors;
- flowerbed decoration all season long and good compatibility with other flowers;
- ease and speed of reproduction;
- absence of diseases and pests;
- very good in containers.
Hostas do not like frequent division of bushes. It is enough to perform this procedure once every five years.
The variety of colors of hosta leaves is impressive: from soft green to dark green, there are variegated varieties with white and yellow stripes. Hosta sizes are also different: from dwarf to giant. The height varies from 5 cm to 1.5-2 m. There is plenty to choose from.
Astilbe is the little princess of the shadow. Plant moisture-loving and unpretentious. Astilbe is beautiful, both in flowering and before and after it, thanks to its carved foliage. After flowering, faded inflorescences do not need to be removed; they also decorate it.
Astilbe blooms with white, pink, and red panicle inflorescences in the first half of summer. The soil for growing must be fertile and moisture-absorbing. It is advisable to mulch the plant to maintain soil moisture.
Every 5 years, astilbe needs to be rejuvenated by dividing the bushes and transplanting to a new location.
Fern is herbaceous perennial shady a plant that loves moisture and shady places.
At the same time, the plant is drought-resistant; if in extreme heat without watering the plant dries out, next spring it will delight you with its appearance again. Planted in the shade of trees, they give the site the appearance of a tropical forest.
Actinidia - kolomikta
perennial aromatic deciduous liana, the variegated color of its leaves makes it decorative. Actinidia shoots require support and can grow up to 7 m in height. Actinidia is also valuable for its healthy, tasty fruits similar to kiwi.
For planting, seedlings no older than 4 years of age are used, because adult plants do not take root.
To obtain a harvest of berries, it is necessary to plant 2 plants (male and female), because dioecious plant.
On summer days, shady areas of the garden are developed and used for relaxation, where you can enjoy the coolness and hide from the sweltering heat and scorching sun. The recreation area can be decorated with shade-loving plants, creating flower beds or islands of lush greenery. The choice of plants for this is large and varied.
These beautiful early bloomers cultivated plants occupy first places in floriculture. Witroka's violet, pansy, tricolor violet and viola are the names of these plants. Gardeners and summer residents revere this floral and ornamental crop. Pansies are popular name Vitroki violets. The color of violets is very diverse: black and white, blue and red, with red, blue, yellow shades. The center of the flower may have a spot of original color and shape.
Pansies are shade-tolerant and winter-hardy crops. Violas planted in the shade bloom longer, but the abundance of flowering is not the same as in the sun. Their flowers are not as bright and smaller. Viola prefers moist and fertile loams. Pansies do not like lowland areas with stagnation melt water, planted in such a place, they rot and die. Viola should be planted on air- and moisture-permeable soil, with a mechanical structure.
Viola - biennial crop
Most often, pansies are grown as a biennial crop; the seeds are sown in June - July in open ground. Seedlings should be expected in 1-2 weeks; in August, the grown seedlings are transplanted to a permanent place. The flowering of such plants will occur in the spring of next year; the splendor and duration of flowering is much higher than that of pansies grown by seedlings.
Summer viola plantings need to be insulated for the winter with spruce branches, fallen leaves or straw; this will prevent the root system from freezing out in severe frosts.
Fertilizing in the spring is applied before the buds appear and at the beginning of flowering. Manure cannot be used to feed viola. Instead of organic matter, you need to use mineral fertilizers: superphosphate, ammonium nitrate. 20 g of these fertilizers are embedded in the ground per 1 square meter.
Growing viola seedlings
This is the only way to grow pansies where there are harsh winters, where large-flowered varietal violas have no chance of surviving in open ground. How indoor plant Witroka violet is not grown because it is demanding of light. It will not have enough illumination from fluorescent lamps, and the use of mercury lamps requires electricity, and this is not economically feasible.
To illuminate seedlings, fluorescent lamps, or better yet, phytolamps, are suitable. In order for the viola to bloom in the year of planting, it must be sown from December to February. Illumination should be carried out for 14-16 hours a day. Even additional lighting does not prevent the seedlings from stretching, but treating seedlings with the growth regulator Alar limits their growth. One or two treatments with the drug are enough.
For healthy germination of viola seeds, a temperature of 18-20 0 C is needed. Seeds germinate at this temperature for 5-14 days. For emerging shoots, it is necessary to provide a temperature of 12-15 0 C.
The substrate for sowing viola seeds should have a pH of 5.5-5.8. It is not recommended to add fertilizers to the substrate, but when 2 true leaves develop, then fertilizing begins.
Viola seeds are sown on the surface of moistened soil, followed by sprinkling with vermiculite. Until the plants sprout, containers with crops should be kept covered with film.
Growing healthy and strong viola seedlings is accompanied by an important condition– ensuring good drainage.
At five weeks of age, viola seedlings are ready to be planted in pots; their diameter should be about 10 cm. It is best to grow Vitroki violets in unheated greenhouses.
Planting pansy seedlings in flower beds is done after care return frosts, in this case, it is necessary to shade the seedlings from the rays of the sun for the first time.
Vegetative propagation of viola
This method of propagating Witroki violets is cuttings. This is an effective, economical and simple way to propagate viola. Cuttings begin in May: green shoots with 2-3 nodes are cut from the tops of the bushes and planted in the shade to a depth of 0.5 cm close to each other. Then the plantings are watered and sprayed with water. It will take up to 3-4 weeks for violet cuttings to develop roots. Early cuttings of violas allow you to grow plants that will bloom in summer - autumn. Viola grown from cuttings in late summer will produce flowers the following spring.
By cutting pansies, we not only get additional planting material, and also rejuvenate the plants. Thanks to this, the viola bushes do not grow too much and bloom well. One developed viola bush is enough to get up to 10 cuttings at one time; 30-40 cuttings can be obtained during the summer.
Transplanting
April – May are the months for planting viola seedlings in open ground. We have already written that these plants can grow in the shade, but sunny places are preferable for them. If you want to collect seeds, then plant different varieties better separately from each other.
Viola care
Watering on dry days should be daily; viola should be fed every two to three weeks mineral fertilizers, and you still need to weed. For the winter, it is necessary to cover the violet plants with spruce branches, sawdust or straw.
Pansies can suffer from diseases: powdery mildew, spotting, gray mold. If plants are damaged, they should be removed, and to prevent them from getting sick, you need to spray them with a solution laundry soap and soda ash, or you can sprinkle with ground sulfur.
From everything that has been written, it is clear that growing violas is not a simple process, but how can it scare you, because violas bring good mood all summer. Good luck to you!
In the world of gardeners, the viola plant is very popular. There are a large number of varieties and types of viola, more popularly known as pansies.
The wide distribution of these wonderful flowers is due to their beauty and variety of colors and shapes. Viola flowers delight with a long flowering period with proper planting and subsequent care - from early spring to late autumn.
Did you know? Viola has been known for a very long time - more than two and a half thousand years. At that time, the ancient peoples of Europe used these flowers for decoration during holidays.
Where to plant viola, choosing a place for a flower
Viola belongs to the Violet family, which is why it is also called garden violet. The plant can be annual, biennial, or perennial. Depending on the type of viola flower, planting and growing can be done even on the balcony, providing it with proper care.
In open ground, a high flower bed would be an ideal place for a viola, as it meets the plant’s needs for moisture and light.
What kind of lighting and temperature does viola like?
These flowers grow best in a cool location, but they also need plenty of light. Hence, the right choice for planting viola and further care in open ground there will be places with slightly shaded areas.
For example, under young trees, which will not cover the main part of the lighting with leaves, but will protect from the arid influence of direct rays of the sun. At home a balcony will do from the western or eastern side.
If there is not enough light for the viola, the flowering will not be so abundant, and the flowers themselves will be small and not so bright.
What should the soil be like for planting?
The best view The soil for pansies is loamy soil, fertile and moist.
Important!Stagnation of moisture is detrimental to viola, as it leads to rotting of the roots.
The soil for planting needs to be drained and loosened. Fresh humus cannot be used as fertilizer, so superphosphate or ammonium nitrate is suitable.
Also, peat is ideal as a soil for viola, as it retains heat and does not retain moisture. In addition, peat contains the nutritional elements needed by viola, so gardeners often use peat tablets to germinate the plant.
How to plant pansies correctly
Most often, viola is planted in open ground. This happens in April-May, as the plant loves cool weather. It is better to choose the following proportions for the soil:
- turf soil - 2 parts;
- peat – 2 parts;
- humus - 2 parts;
- sand - 1 part.
It is quite easy to follow the basic rules on how to plant viola flowers in open ground and how to care for them afterward.
For seedlings, prepare holes (the distance between them is 10-15 cm), place flowers there, then sprinkle them with earth, lightly compact the soil around them and water them.
It is better to plant different varieties separately from each other, because the plant is cross-pollinated.
Did you know?The first to be introduced into cultivation was the fragrant violet, and then the mountain violet. Breeders developed the first violet hybrids in 1683.
Rules for caring for viola
Gardeners often wonder how to grow viola beautiful and healthy. To do this, you need to regularly remove flowers that have wilted. In addition, mulching the roots of the plant in hot weather will help prolong the flowering of pansies. Be sure to also remove ripe seed pods.
If viola blooms worse, few new buds are formed, then you can trim the plant, leaving the stems about 10 cm long. After this, it is necessary to water and feed the viola abundantly, which will allow it to quickly grow young shoots and bloom with renewed vigor.
How to water pansies correctly
Often in hot weather, the cause of drying out roots is their close location to the soil surface. Therefore, watering garden violets should be done regularly, but not too much, so that the roots do not rot. Optimally - 2-3 times a week, and in hot weather it is possible to water the viola every day.
Fertilizing and feeding flowers
Feeding the viola should be done once a month. To do this, use superphosphate or ammonium nitrate at the rate of 25-30 g per square meter. There are also special complex fertilizers containing potassium, phosphorus, nitrogen, and microelements. Such fertilizers are sold in stores and used according to the instructions.
Soil care
Viola flowers are unpretentious, but during cultivation it is necessary to maintain the soil in a certain condition. Since the roots are located close to the surface - at a depth of only 15-20 cm, timely watering and loosening of the soil is needed to allow air to flow to the roots. In addition, it is important to promptly remove weeds from the area where viola grows.
Viola propagation methods
If you want to get a new viola plant yourself with beautiful flowers, for growing it is worth choosing a method that is suitable and corresponds to your capabilities. These include propagation by seeds, cuttings of pansies, and propagation by layering.
Did you know? Pansies are divided into large-flowered (the flower diameter of this variety is 10 cm), and multi-flowered - varieties with small flowers with a diameter of about 6 cm.
Propagation by seeds
Viola can be grown from seeds. Sowing occurs at several times, depending on when you want to get flowering.
By sowing pansies in January-February, you will see the first flowers by the end of spring. However, in apartment conditions it is difficult to obtain good seedlings, since the sown seeds need coolness and plenty of light.
If you sow viola seeds in March, flowering will begin in late July - August. Next year, at the beginning of spring, both plants will give good flowering.
If sowing is carried out in summer, flowers will also appear already in next year in the spring. However, in the summer, you can sow directly into open ground, bypassing growing seedlings at home.
Exist general rules for sowing viola seeds:
- The seeds are poured onto moist soil, lightly sprinkled with earth on top.
- The temperature at which the seedlings stand should be 15-20 °C. It is necessary to maintain constant sufficient hydration.
- The seedlings should be kept in a dark place until shoots appear.
- In 10-14 days the seeds will sprout, then you need to ensure good lighting, and reduce the temperature to 10 °C.
- After 2-3 weeks it is necessary to pick up the seedlings.
Did you know? Many varieties of viola self-sow from ripe seed pods.
Propagation by cuttings
Cuttings of pansies are carried out in late spring - early summer in several stages.
