In the spring we rejoice at the delicate primroses, in the summer we are delighted to observe the luxurious peonies, roses, and other garden tapeworms replacing each other, and in the fall the time comes for asters, gladioli and dahlias, which are traditionally used for gifts to teachers by the first of September.
Autumn flower bed - until the frost and longer
In autumn, flower beds are still decorated with many plants that bloom continuously or bloom in the second half of summer, for example, pansies, phlox. All of them get along well with asters, chrysanthemums, crocosmia, autumn-flowering crocuses, montbrecia, dahlias and dahlias. Gelenium, goldenrod, autumn saffron, crocus, stonecrop are worthy candidates for decorating a garden from which greenery leaves.
Perennial asters and pansies can even endure autumn frosts and continue to delight us with bright colors.
An autumn flower bed can be formed from plants of the same height, according to the cascade principle in several tiers, or with a group of dominant tapeworm plants, which will not be difficult to pick up. Many gardeners prefer to make continuous flowering beds from early spring to late fall.
Perennials
Perennials are plants that can grow in one place for several years. The autumn flowers of this species are named: phlox, montbrecia, goldenrod, chrysanthemum, dahlias. Let's dwell on some of them in more detail.
Phlox is grown by most gardeners. They are beautiful, easy to care for, easily multiply by dividing the bush. Phlox Drummond is an annual, the other 50 species are perennials. North America is considered the birthplace of phlox; this flower was brought to Europe only in the middle of the 18th century. The name was given to him by Karl Linnaeus, translated from Greek it means flame. Wild tall phlox in shape and color resembled tongues of flame, there is even a legend that they appeared after Odysseus and his comrades left the kingdom of Hades and threw their torches on the ground. Of the perennial varieties in the middle lane, the most widespread are paniculate phlox (tall) and subulate phlox (creeping).
Chrysanthemum is often called the queen of the autumn garden, it blooms so beautifully, abundantly and continuously. The Chinese have been cultivating this plant since ancient times, but its wild progenitors are unknown. In Japan and China, the beautiful chrysanthemum is considered a magical flower; there is even a special ritual for its presentation. Europeans have known the flower since the second half of the 18th century, since then about 650 of its varieties and varieties have been bred, differing in color, shape, size and degree of doubleness of flowers, length of pedicels, and flowering time. They reproduce by seeds, cuttings and dividing the bush. These plants are not very demanding on the soil, but they require good lighting and do not tolerate stagnant moisture. In order for the flowers to form large, the side shoots should be removed, leaving 2-3 buds.
Annuals
The easiest way to create an autumn flower bed is to plant only annuals in it. If you sow it with seeds in spring, it will be "out of work" all summer long, it will not take part in decorating the garden space in any way, but planting seedlings grown by this time in the second half of summer is a better solution, in this case the earlier ones will already bloom on the site plants.
Late levkoi, zinnia, aggregate, annual asters - the choice is huge. Graceful zinnia, along with petunia, is one of the most popular garden flowers in the world. The Spaniards discovered this flower in the gardens of the last Aztec ruler, Montezuma. The name was given to it by Karl Linnaeus after the name of Professor Zinna, who was in charge of the botanical garden in Göttingen. The height of the zinnia stem depends on the variety and is about one meter. Low varieties are more suitable for growing in the middle lane. The inflorescences of the plant are very unusual and represent apical baskets with a multi-row wrapper. Zinnia blooms until the frost and loves very sunny places. Large leaves beautifully set off bright flowers that cannot have blue shades, and all the rest - easily. In the United States, it is considered the national flower.
Annual asters have gained immense popularity thanks to French breeders, although these plants are native to North Asia. It was the French who bred the terry varieties of this star (this is how its name is translated from Greek) among the plants. Their inflorescences are baskets, collected in scutes or panicles. They can have a variety of colors, including two-color. For example, aster "Winter cherry" has white inflorescences in the middle and burgundy - along the edge of the flowers, forming a bright rim. This plant is quite unpretentious, it can be planted with seedlings, sown in spring, when the threat of frost has passed, and even sown before winter. They often grow by self-seeding.
Corms
Perennial plants that reproduce with bulbs are usually distinguished into a separate group. Popular autumn-flowering bulbous:, montbrecia, colchicum. The nodule also adjoins them. Undoubtedly the most luxurious of these is the dahlia, although many people prefer the gladiolus. Let us recall the peculiarities of the cultivation of both plants. Dahlias were first sent to Europe from America by Spanish settlers in the 16th century. Two hundred years after that the Spaniards raised them for ... food, their nodules are quite suitable for food. And only then the breeders paid attention to the beautiful flowers.
The entire modern, diverse world of these unique flowers originates from a single species: changeable dahlias. Despite the late flowering, dahlias are very thermophilic and die already at a temperature of +1 degrees. Therefore, in the middle lane, tubers are dug out of the soil for the winter and stored in cellars (in the refrigerator, and even more so in the apartment they are too hot, in an unheated room it is too cold). In summer, the plant needs a lot of heat and light, it will not bloom in the shade and even partial shade, it needs fertile soil with good drainage and regular abundant watering. Usually, dahlias are propagated by dividing the nodules, for selection, of course, you have to get seeds.
Gladioli are very unusual upright flowers that dominate any bouquet. In Africa, from where gladiolus spread throughout the world, it is a symbol of happiness. It was cultivated in Ancient Greece and Rome, where it was considered a symbol of gladiators (it resembles a sword in shape, doesn't it?), To which it owes its name. A beautiful gladiolus, like a dahlia, cannot be grown in the shade, it needs a lot of light, light fertile soil and infrequent but abundant watering. Sometimes the bulb gives two stems, if they are equal, then both can be left, otherwise the lagging behind in development is broken out.
In the fall, after flowering, the aerial part of the plant is cut shortly and left in the soil for a couple of weeks to ripen the bulb, and then dug up, dried and stored in a vegetable box of the refrigerator until spring. The main enemy of the plant is thrips, they hide in leaves and bulbs. To combat them during the growing season, the plant is sprayed with "Fitoverm" or another preparation, and the bulbs are soaked in the "Maxim" preparation. These flowers are propagated by daughter bulbs, usually called "babies".
