If you are wondering what flowers to plant on the site, so that it is both beautiful and easy to care for, then it is better not to find a lavater. The plant blooms from June to the very frost. She is unusually beautiful, unpretentious in maintenance, requires minimal labor, is drought-resistant: in a word, a godsend for very busy gardeners. This article will tell you how to grow a lavater in the open field without hassle.
Lavatera got its name from the word of Latin origin "lavatum" - to wash, as the color of flowers is very clean. The people call Lavatera a hautma or a dog's rose.
In horticulture, three types of lavater are used:
Lavatera annual or in another way it is called the three-month lavatera. It grows up to 120 cm in height and the whole bush is abundantly covered with flowers, which gives it a special decorative effect. Blooms from July until frost.
Lavatera annual The most popular varieties in our latitudes:
- Silver Cap with salmon flowers;
- Mont Blanc is a white-flowered cultivar;
- Lovelines blooms with pink flowers;
- Pink Beauty has bright pink buds;
- The ruby queen has carmine flowers;
- The Sun Goddess is a mixture of Lavatera seeds with a wide palette of flower colors.
Perennial Lavatera Perennial Lavatera or Thuringian. The most popular varieties:
- Lilak Lady - has lilac flowers;
- Bregon Springs - with pink buds;
- Burgundy Vine - pink flowers;
- ICatcher is a cultivar with beautiful pink flowers.
Biennial Lavatera Biennial Lavatera or tree lavater. It grows up to two meters in height and has a slender stem with reddish-purple flowers, similar to hibiscus inflorescences. Varieties:
- Candy Floss - has light pink flowers;
- Rosea - with beautiful salmon flowers.
There are three more types of lavater, which are intended for warm latitudes, but you can also grow here:
- seaside lavatera, which has flowers of lilac color in two shades;
Lavatera seaside - Cretan lavatera has pubescent felt stems and purple or lilac flowers;
Cretan Lavater - Moorish lavatera is the most thermophilic with pubescent stems and purple flowers.
Moorish Lavatera Attention! Lavatera is not only an ornamental plant. Perennial Thuringian Lavatera is a medicinal culture.
Reproduction and planting of the lavater
Lavater propagates by seeds. The seeds are harvested in early autumn, by which time the inflorescences of the plant have turned into brown bolls. If you shake the box, the contents will rustle, which means that the seeds are ripe and ready for harvesting.
Lavater seeds The plant is grown in two ways:
- Seeds are sown directly into open ground in May. Before planting, the soil is dug up, adding a bucket of humus and a spoonful of nitroammophoska for each square meter. Then the seeds are sown to a depth of 1 cm. Shoots appear in a couple of weeks.
- Seedlings. First, you should decide on the timing of planting seeds for seedlings. If the flower garden is to be arranged in May, then the seeds should be sown in early March. Sowing earlier will produce larger plants. Before sowing the seeds of the lavater, it is necessary to pour drainage on the bottom of the boxes, and soil on top. The seeds must be buried 1 cm in moistened soil, then covered with glass. When the seeds germinate, the glass should be removed. Further care of the seedlings is to moisten the soil. Grown plants are planted in the ground in rows with a distance of 20 x 25 cm and watered regularly.
Seedling Lavatera Lavatera reproduces excellently by self-seeding, which greatly facilitates the task of the gardener.
Advice. To get one large bush from a lavatera, seedlings or seeds must be planted in a circle at a distance of 20 - 25 cm between holes, placing five seedlings in each.
Plant care, fertilization and feeding
Lavatera prefers to grow in sunny areas, but thrives well in partial shade. It can grow on any soil, but it develops better on organic-rich soils. Drought-resistant, watering is necessary as the soil dries up once a week in extreme heat. It is frost-resistant, tolerates temperatures down to -3 degrees well. Tall varieties require additional support and stalk garters.
Don't water the lavender too often. Once a week is enough At the beginning of growth, it is necessary to remove weeds and loosen the soil, when the lavatera reaches vegetative maturity, it will cope with the weeds itself, taking a place in the sun. By timely removing faded inflorescences and seed pods, you will simultaneously stimulate the plant to further long-term flowering, as well as replenish your seed fund for future years, since the seeds do not lose their germination for up to five years.
Nutritional dressings for Lavatere are necessary only if the crop is growing in very nutrient-poor soil. The plant is fed no more than once a month. The first feeding is done at the beginning of the growing season with a solution of urea and nitroammofoska: a tablespoon per 10 liters of water. The second time, the lavater is fertilized with the appearance of flower buds with potash and phosphorus fertilizers.
Attention. The older the plant, the darker its foliage becomes. Pale green leaves signal a lack of nitrogen and phosphorus.
Diseases and pests
Fortunately, Lavatera is one of those plants that practically do not get sick and are not damaged by pests. Sometimes the plant can be chosen by aphids. It is enough to wash it off with water with the addition of laundry soap, or spray it with a systemic preparation.
Rust on lavater leaves It can be affected by a fungal disease - rust. On the lower side of the leaves, swellings (pustules) of yellow or orange appear, which, when ripe, darken, crack and spores spill out of them, which infect healthy plants. The fungus feeds on living tissues and leads to the death of the plant. If you find a diseased plant, then remove the infected parts, and the rest should be sprayed with fungicides such as Topaz or Hom. If the damage is significant, then it is better to get rid of such plants completely.
Advice. Observe crop rotation to prevent disease. Do not plant the lavender in the same place for 4 years.
Combination with other plants
Lavatera can be combined with a wide variety of other plants that grow in traditional flower gardens. Lavatera with pink flowers looks good in combination with crops that bloom with blue and purple flowers:
- verbena;
Lavatera on a personal plot - brachycoma;
- delphinium.
White varieties of Lavater are versatile and suitable for almost any color, but look especially good with lilac petunia and blue ageratum. But with lanster, the variety of lavatery "Ruby Carpet" looks great
In landscape design
Lavateru is often used in landscape design in single or group plantings; it looks good as a bright spot on a grassy lawn, at the foot of large trees and shrubs. Tall varieties of perennial lavater can be used as a screen for decorating a fence or outbuildings on the site.
Lavatera looks great in mono landings In group compositions, she is incredibly beautiful if you plant the plants according to a certain color palette. For example, first plant a group of lavatera with white flowers, then a group of pink flowers, and the next group of a mix of pink and white flowers. It is also good to combine plants in height using different varieties. Perfect for cutting into bouquets. Lavatera is able to transform the most dull landscape with its lush bloom until the very frost.
Other uses of the Lavater
The perennial Thuringian Lavater is used as a medicinal plant in folk medicine. The roots of the plant contain a lot of mucus and vitamin C, therefore, in terms of its pharmacological properties, Lavater is close to marshmallow.
Lavatera is also grown for use in traditional medicine. A decoction from the roots is used for colds, coughs, hoarseness, various gastrointestinal ailments and women's diseases. Infusion of the root is used as an anti-inflammatory agent for dermatitis. For rheumatic and neuralgic pains, the leaves of the plant are used. Apply poultices from leaves for purulent skin lesions, boils, lichen.
Lavater care in the garden: video
In recent years, the vagaries of nature have become commonplace, so flower growers select suitable specimens for their garden. Lavatera perfectly tolerates sudden changes in temperature, violent gusts of wind, as well as dry or humid climates. The representative of the Malvov family is characterized by self-seeding. It is worth planting a culture once and periodically looking after it, how it will settle forever.
View from above
Both annual and perennial varieties were bred. Tall and dwarf (within 50 cm) annuals live up to 3 months. But the permanent inhabitants of the front garden are capable of reaching one and a half meters in height. Such a curly bush of lavatera flowers (pictured here) captivates with its appearance. Varieties with petals of such shades are popular:
- white;
- pink;
- yellow;
- purple;
- red.
They differ in the type of inflorescences, which are single or complex. The first buds appear at the turn of May and June. In a flowering state, the plant persists until October. At the same time, it is impossible to approach the flowerbed. It is enveloped in a swarm of insects that collect nectar / honey. Although Lavatera is a garden rose, it is also used in folk medicine.
The preparations obtained from the roots of lavater have anti-inflammatory, expectorant and enveloping effects.
In addition to such a healing effect, culture has a beneficial effect on the mental state of a person. In this regard, khatma occupies not the last place in landscape design. You can watch and enjoy for hours:
- fast-growing and highly branched bush;
- dark green 3- or 5-lobed leaves with serrated edges;
- funnel-shaped flowers reaching 5-10 cm in diameter.
A photo of the Lavatera flowers taken on a flowerbed evokes admiration and delight. Such carpet compositions look unrivaled in the company of other varieties. Observers are especially struck by the contrasting veins on the petals, emerging from the middle and scattering to the edge. The unusual color creates the illusion of a corrugated surface. 
A huge number of side shoots are formed on a powerful bush. They are crowned with luxurious bouquets of garden roses. Towards the middle of summer, there are so many buds that they completely cover all the greens.
The more years the perennial lavater is, the darker its foliage becomes. If, with age, it brightens and fades, it means that the culture needs feeding with phosphorus and.
Cultivation systematics
There are two known planting techniques: seeds and seedlings. In the first case, sowing is carried out directly into the open ground. The optimal period for this is May, when the sun is still low above the horizon, but frost is not expected. In the second version, the grains are also sown, but only in containers and much earlier. In this regard, the question arises when to plant lavatera seedlings. After all, the plant needs to have time to germinate and get stronger, and in the future to adapt to a new place.
Florists practice planting hautma with whole families and groups. So, holes are made in a circle. The step is 20-25 cm. In a separate funnel, 5 to 7 seedlings / seeds are placed at once. As a result, voluminous bouquets of dog roses will grow.
Seedling instinct
There are several advantages to growing lavater in this way. With the help of seedlings, it is easier to create original design compositions. Practice shows that not every seed sown in the garden sprouts. Then you have to urgently fill the resulting "gaps" with other varieties. But in a home environment, it is much easier to pay attention to a single instance. Moreover, the described breeding technique brings the flowering period closer to one and a half months.
How to calculate when to sow lavatera seedlings? First, the date of flowering is determined - June. This means that seedlings should be planted in the front garden a month in advance - at the beginning of May. The culture will take 8 weeks to germinate. It turns out - the first days of March.
The first step is to prepare the landing containers. The containers are washed out with a solution of potassium permanganate. The soil is a universal soil or peat-based substrates. At the bottom, a drainage layer is formed - 5-7 cm of pebbles mixed with sand. 
The sowing process is carried out using the following technology:
- Make furrows 1-2 cm deep.
- Spread out the shift separately and spray with water using a spray bottle.
- Cover miniature beds with a layer of 1 cm.
- Cover the dishes with a tray, glass or thick plastic wrap.
- Place in a bright and warm place, preferably in the southern part of the house. There will be no superfluous LED backlighting.
Check the microclimate in the container several times a day. Condensation must not form on the lid. When the first drops appear, it is removed for 2-3 minutes.
After 14-21 days, sprouts (5-6 cm) will appear on the surface of the soil. In such a case, it's time to remove the makeshift shelter. 
Now the hostess should regularly spray, but not water, her indoor garden with moderate doses. Rotate the container every 3-4 days to provide the sprouts with sufficient light.
Free spaces
They are very responsible for growing lavaters from seeds. When the first 3 full-fledged leaves appear, the sprouts are transferred to open ground. There should be no frost by that time. The picking system is as follows:
- the land in the garden is plowed up;
- make holes at a distance of 20 cm (the width is several times larger than the rhizome);
- fertilize them with compost;
- irrigate abundantly;
- carefully remove the seedling from the container / pot together with the soil;
- put in a hole and fall asleep, tamping the area a little.
A wild rose takes root quickly if watered every day. As soon as the stems begin to stretch intensively, the procedure is stopped, switching to the normal mode. It should be borne in mind that too humid soil, and even more so stagnant water, hatyma does not withstand. 
Now all that remains is to weed the area and wage internecine battles with weeds.
The place in the flower bed is chosen open and not shaded. Away from walls and tall "neighbors".
Seeds in the open field
For busy people, the method of growing a laver from seeds is suitable, when you can plant a crop right on the garden bed. This saves time and effort. However, you have to try at the beginning of planting and when shoots appear. The first step is to prepare the site:
- they dig up the earth;
- make humus / manure;
- level the surface with a rake;
- form beds, deepening by 1 cm (row spacing - 30 cm);
- watered with water (it is recommended to warm up the liquid a little);
- seeds are mixed with sand and sown;
- sprinkle with a thin layer of fertilized soil;
- watered with drip;
- make a shelter from a film.
For tall specimens, the distance is 40 cm. After 7-14 days, leaves will begin to erupt. When they grow up and become 5 cm high, the canopy can be taken. At this point, it is important to thin out the seedlings, leaving 25 cm between them. After that, the young sprouts are spud. 
Lavaters also make supports for flowers so that the rapidly growing stems do not break. Some build walls from nets, others simply fix wooden slats (1 m) 5 cm from the bush.
For the effectiveness of seedlings, the furrows are scalded with boiling water. When the ground cools down a little, sowing begins.
Even the hardy ones need grooming
The soil is moistened twice a week if the summer is dry. The amount of water is calculated so that the earth is saturated by 6 cm. The next session is carried out in 1-2 weeks. By that time, the soil should be completely dry. It is not advised to spray the lavender. She successfully survives heat and drought.
In this case, you can alternate water procedures with loosening the site. The earth will not be crusted, and the roots will receive the necessary supply of oxygen. Weeds are removed from the site or left to rot in the aisles. Weed the flower bed all the time until the bush rises up to 1 meter above the surface. Since the roots are too close, weeding should be done carefully so as not to damage them. 
Planting and caring for a lavater includes several more important components.
The optimum temperature at which the flower grows intensively varies between 20-25 ° C. For the winter, the bushes should be covered with leaves / grass. A wooden plank or bowl is placed under this layer.
Wild rose diet
Top dressing is carried out twice during the entire growing season. Before flowering, prepare the following solution:
- 1 st. l. nitrophosphate and;
- diluted in 10 liters of water (standard bucket);
- irrigate the area evenly.
When the garden rose discards the buds, the procedure is repeated. Only now the composition is being replaced with sodium sulfate and potassium. Minerals are diluted in accordance with the instructions or according to the scheme indicated above. 
In the case of digging up soil with humus, the plant does not need fertilization before planting and during the care process. A photo of lavater flowers shows how they will look after feeding. No changes are visible.
Ambulance
Climatic conditions, air humidity, local flora and fauna have an impact on the flora of the dacha. Despite its resilience, the hautma also suffers from certain diseases and from the invasion of popular pests. This rarely happens, but it is important to know how to deal with it. Action plan:
You can get acquainted with uninvited guests using a photo. Lavatera perennial (planting and care as for annuals) quickly recovers after therapy. At the same time, do not forget to remove dried buds and leaves. Then they will not turn into ovaries. Indeed, when seeds ripen, culture throws all its strength into this process. The bush stops throwing out gorgeous buds and withers away.
If the grower wants to control the shape of the wild rose, then it must be pinched. Pruning is also carried out in the case of a deficiency of side shoots.
It is worth remembering that under the weight of chic flowers, fragile stems of perennial varieties often break. Therefore, they are tied to a canopy or attached with special clips to a vertical support.
In the collection of each gardener, a separate place is occupied by a lavatera. Her endurance and grace have already won the hearts of millions of owners of summer cottages. It remains to allow her to enter the life of still inexperienced florists.
Collecting Lavatera seeds - video
From our article you will learn a lot of interesting things about the lavater flower: how to grow a crop from seeds, when to plant and how to care for it.
Lavatera is a bushy plant that blooms all summer. By choosing varieties of various colors, you can transform the flower garden, decorate the flower bed, and give the lawn a well-groomed appearance.
Description
Lavatera belongs to the Malvaceae family. It is represented by only 25 species, among which there are grasses, shrubs and even trees.
The leaves of the plant are lobed, the flowers are single or collected in inflorescences. Breeders have bred varieties with the most diverse corolla colors - purple, yellow, pink, raspberry, white. They bloom in June and continue to bloom until the first frost in October.
Some types of lavater are perennial plants, they are sheltered for the winter. Annuals are planted annually in spring with seeds or seedlings.
This is interesting: Lavatera flowers do not lose their freshness after being cut for more than seven days.
Growing from seeds
In order to get seedlings, seeds are planted in boxes with soil. They start doing this in March.
Sowing
Drainage is placed at the bottom of the boxes, they are filled with light soil from a flower shop and seeds are sown, deepening them no more than 1 centimeter. The soil is moistened and covered with glass or oilcloth. Shoots should appear in two weeks. The soil is moistened as needed.
Picking
The seedlings dive when two pairs of true leaves appear. The root is pinched, leaving 2/3 of the length, and the bushes are planted in separate pots.
When the soil warms up enough, seedlings are planted in an open flower bed. In the southern regions, this is the end of April, the beginning of May, and in the northern regions, the end of May.
Seedling
In order for the seedlings to grow healthy and strong, they are placed on a well-lit window.
They use additional lighting, without it, plants can stretch out strongly and grow weak.
Landing dates
Lavatera is planted in a flower bed in May, when persistent warming occurs. For this, seedlings or seeds are used. The plant grown from seedlings blooms earlier and pleases with its flowering for a long time.
Step-by-step description of the process:
- the soil is dug up before planting, cleaned of weeds;
- make humus or compost (1 bucket per 1 square meter) and nitrophosphate (50 g);
- seedlings are planted at a distance of 20 centimeters between the bushes, if the variety is tall, a support for the seedlings is installed.
Planting seeds in open ground
Seeds are planted in open ground in May. The procedure for preparing the soil is the same as for planting seedlings. Dry seeds are sown in 1 centimeter deep furrows watered with water.
From above, the seeds are covered with earth, mixed with humus in equal proportions, and covered with a transparent oilcloth. Seedlings appear in seven days. After another week, the film is removed, the seedlings are thinned out and hilled.
Flower care
A light-loving and drought-resistant plant will not tire you with difficult care. For the entire growing season, the lavater needs to be fertilized only twice: before planting in a flower bed and before flowering. When the first buds appear, under each bush, add a bucket of water with sodium sulfate and potassium sulfate (1 tablespoon each).
During flowering, faded buds are removed and the bushes are watered once every seven days in dry weather. Lavater does not need pruning and shaping a bush. In autumn, seeds are collected, and perennial plants are prepared for frost.
Please note: Lavatera does not like excess moisture, it tolerates drought more easily than waterlogging.
Diseases and pests
The plant is resistant to diseases and rarely affected by garden pests. Possesses strong immunity. Sometimes the bushes can suffer from aphid infestation or rust.
When the leaves of aphids are damaged, the bushes are treated with Akarin, Aktara, Aktellik or Biotlin. In case of severe rust infection, leaves or even whole plants are removed from the site and burned, the rest are treated with Topaz or Bordeaux liquid.
Please note: for the prevention of diseases, it is recommended to plant a lavatera in a new place every year.
After flowering
In autumn, when flowering ends, seed pods remain on the plant. The ripe seeds in them are grayish-brown in color. They are collected, dried indoors and stored in linen or paper bags.
When to collect seeds
After the flower wilts, the green seed pods gradually acquire a brown color. When the seeds from the ripened capsules, when pressed, easily spill out onto the hand, they can be collected. The shelf life of the harvested seeds is quite long - up to 5 years.
Please note: Lavatera can grow next year on a self-seeding site, in order to prevent this, the seed pods are tied with gauze or removed before ripening.
Perennial plant in winter
Before the onset of cold weather, perennial plants are removed from the support and bent to the ground, covering with spruce branches or other covering material.
Types and varieties with a description
Most often, for growing in the middle lane, they use a three-month or Thuringian Lavater. The first species is an annual, and the second is a perennial.
Lavatera trimestris
The height of plants of this species is from 20 centimeters to one meter. Flowers appear at the end of the stems, due to their abundance, the bushes look very elegant.
Lavatera trimestris
Popular varieties:
"Novella", bushes about 25 centimeters in height, have large pink flowers. Perfect for growing on loggias and balconies, as well as indoors with south-facing windows.
"Ruby Queen", tall bushes about 1 meter, red, large flowers, up to 10 centimeters in diameter.
"Moonlight", a tall plant, up to 1.2 m with silvery pink flowers, blooms all summer until frost.
"Bride", the height of the bushes is about 70 centimeters, the flowers are white, large.
Lavatera thuringiaca
A powerful plant up to two meters in height. Flowers of different varieties are presented in all shades of pink.
Lavatera thuringiaca
Popular varieties:
"I Catcher" has large flowers of deep pink color.
"Barnsley Baby" blooms in large pink and white flowers.
"Lilac Lady" has flowers of delicate lilac color.
Reproduction methods
The plant is propagated by seeds or purchased seedlings. Seedlings are also grown independently from seeds in order to get flowering bushes in June.
Lavater cuttings do not reproduce. Seedlings, as well as seeds, are planted in open ground in late spring.
It is as easy to grow a perennial lavender from seeds as an annual one. Ripe seeds, collected on the site in the fall, remain viable for a long time.
Note: seedlings are planted in a flower bed when the air temperature is at least 15 degrees.
You will fall in love with the lavender for its beauty and unpretentiousness. And for those who are interested in folk medicine, it will be interesting that the leaves of this plant are used to treat wounds and purulent boils, used to make tinctures for coughs and headaches, for diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.
These flowers are wonderful honey plants, and bees gladly use them to make honey.
How to care for a lavender, see the following video:
This article is devoted to a wonderful flower - a lavater, growing it from seeds, advice on how to plant and how to care for this unpretentious plant. The flower of the lavatera is rightfully considered one of the most beautiful, often called the garden rose. Despite the fact that changeable fashion has not spared even flowers, the lavatera has firmly taken its place in our farmsteads.
Lavatera or khatma (lat. Lavatera) is a genus belonging to the Malvov family. These plants are shrubs, grasses, or short trees. There are perennial lavatera, one-year and tree-like or two-year lavatera. The genus is relatively small, it has only 25 species, its natural habitat is the Mediterranean countries, Australia, Central Asia, North America.
Plant height varies from 0.5 to 1.5 meters. She has a powerful rhizome, a thick stem and alternate large leaves, most often pubescent. The flowers are white, all shades of pink, crimson and purple can reach a diameter of 10 cm. They are collected one or more in spike-shaped or racemose inflorescences. Flowering lasts from early summer to autumn.
Breeders love this plant, new varieties are constantly appearing. Let's look at the varietal and species characteristics, vegetation and appearance of the lavater.
Lavatera three-month
L. three-month is grown as an annual. This is a plant with a powerful stem up to 120 cm. The flowers are single, large, in some varieties up to 12 cm in diameter. Popular varieties:
- Lavatera "Silver Bowl" - medium-sized, about 70 cm in height. The flowers are large, salmon pink with darker veins.
- Lavatera Novella - suitable for indoor and container floriculture. In a pot it reaches only 20 cm, in the open field - up to 60. Blooms very early with large pink flowers.
- Lavatera "Mont Blanc" is medium-sized, up to 75 cm high, with large white flowers.
Lavatera three-month "Novella" 
Lavatera three-month "Mont Blanc"
- Lavatera "Ruby Queen" - tall, up to 1 m tall, with carmine-red flowers up to 10 cm in diameter.
- Lavatera "Krasotka" - medium-sized, up to 70 cm tall, fast-growing and cold-resistant. The flowers are pink, carmine, white.
- Lavatera "Moonlight" - tall with a stem up to 1.25 m tall. Large, up to 10 cm in diameter, flowers are pale pink, have a silvery tint. Blooms until frost.
- Lavatera "Melange" - high, up to 90 cm in height, branched and strong. Flowers from 6 to 9 cm, white, pink or red.
- Lavatera "Bride" - medium height, up to 70 cm, with white flowers.
- Lavatera "Tanagra" - undersized up to 50 cm, pink flowers, small, up to 5 cm in diameter.
- Lavatera "Charovnitsa" - tall, up to 1 meter, flowers up to 6 cm, white, pink and crimson.
- Lavatera "Rubin" - high, up to 1 m, large flowers, up to 10 cm in diameter, ruby color, blooms all summer.
Lavatera three-month "Ruby"
Lavatera Thuringian
L. Thuringian or Dog Rose is a perennial plant with powerful stems, sometimes reaching 2 meters, with tough gray-green leaves. It usually blooms in all shades of pink. The petals are strongly narrowed at the base, with gaps. The perennial lavatera is more capricious than the three-month lavatera, perhaps that is why it has been somewhat forgotten. But recently, fashion has returned, and new varieties appear on the market, most often of foreign selection, more compact forms appear and the color gamut expands.
- Lavatera "Barnsley" - a distinctive feature of the variety is that a large number of white-pink buds of various sizes are simultaneously present on one bush.
- "Lilac Lady" - blooms with lilac flowers.
- "Au Catcher" - bright pink flowers.
- "Bredon Springs" is a highly branched bush with dense foliage up to 1.3 m in height. The flowers are pink-lilac, with reddish veins. Requires shelter for the winter.
Lavatera Thuringian "Lilac Lady" 
Lavatera Thuringian "Bredon Springs"
Other species
Four more species of lavater are grown, which are cultivated in the open field only in the south. In the conditions of the middle zone, these are rather greenhouse plants.
A tree or two-year-old can reach a height of up to two meters. They have large leaves up to 20 cm long and purple flowers with darker veins, they are similar to the flowers of Chinese hibiscus. The flowering of this plant is short, from July to August. Mainly grown in containers.
Primorskaya L. (bicolor) has lilac flowers in two shades.
Lavatera tree or biennial 
Lavatera seaside (bicolor)
The Cretan Lavater has purple or purple flowers on pubescent stems.
Moorish L. - purple flowers, pubescent stems.
Breeding Lavater
How to grow a lavender? It reproduces by seeds, their germination, if stored correctly, is good. In order to collect the seeds in time, it is necessary, after the capsules turn brown, to pick one and knead it slightly with your fingers. If the seeds spill out easily, have a gray-brown color, they are already ripe. Shake them out of the boxes on paper, dry them in a dry, well-ventilated area. The seeds are stored in a paper or cloth bag.
Lavater seeds
They can be sown directly into the ground, or they can be grown from seeds through seedlings with subsequent picking. This is done when it is necessary to get flowers as early as possible or in regions with cool climates.
Sowing seeds in open ground
Directly into the ground, the seeds of a three-month lavater are sown in April-May, when the weather is warm.
The soil is dug up, leveled, shallow grooves are made, and watered with warm water. The seeds are sown, embedded in the ground and covered with lutrasil. Hatched seedlings are ventilated in warm sunny weather. When the sprouts reach 5 cm, the covering material is removed, the seedlings are thinned out, leaving the plants at a distance of 25-30 cm from each other and slightly spud.
Be sure to water young plants. Give the first feeding with liquid or water-dissolved fertilizer one week after opening.
It is quite easy to grow a perennial lavender from seeds. They are sown in the ground in early spring. Seedlings appear in a few weeks, when the soil warms up to 15 degrees. The growing seedlings are looked after, as well as the seedlings of the annual lavater - they are watered, thinned out and hilled.
Sow seeds as rarely as possible so that fewer young plants have to be removed. After thinning, sprouts will remain, they can be rooted, if before planting, pinch the root by 1/3.
Believe me, once having grown a flower, it is already impossible to stop. This process is slow, rather complicated, but from this ...
Growing seedlings and caring for it
To determine when to plant lavatera seedlings, you need to know when warm weather sets in in your area. If the plants are supposed to be planted in May, we will sow in March.
First you need to prepare the container. If you need a lot of seedlings, use shallow wooden crates with slats that fit tightly together. When you need a little seedlings, you can take shallow bowls. Place drainage on the bottom, add soil and tamp it well. Tamping is necessary so that the seeds do not fall when watering, then they simply will not sprout. Pour 2-3 cm of sifted soil on top, spill the earth well with warm water. When the water has been absorbed, sow the seeds as sparsely as possible and dust them with earth. Install labels with the name of the variety.
Cover the drawers with glass or transparent plastic, find a warm, bright place for them. Maintain humidity, ventilate and remove condensation. When the seeds germinate, the glass or film can be removed.
When two pairs of real leaves appear, cut the seedlings into pots with a diameter of 5 cm, pinching the roots 1/3. Most likely, it will be required, otherwise the seedlings may stretch out and lie down. Water the newly planted plants little by little every day, with overflow there is a danger of the appearance of a black leg - a specific disease of seedlings and young seedlings, leading to the death of the plant. After 10 days, feed with universal fertilizers diluted 2 times weaker than written in the instructions.
Transplanting seedlings into the ground
When the weather is warm at least 15 degrees, plant the seedlings. Choose a location that is well lit throughout the day. Dig up the ground by introducing organic fertilizers for digging, just do not overdo it, this plant does not like too rich soil. Level the ground, dig holes and water them abundantly. When the water is absorbed, plant the plants. Water daily for the first ten days.
Seasonal care
Lavatera is a persistent plant, and if planting and caring for it at first seems difficult to someone, it will pay off with a beautiful long flowering. Lavatera grows on almost any soil, it is cold-resistant, withstands prolonged drought. True, if the summer is dry, watering is still necessary, infrequent, but abundant.
She needs top dressing only a couple of times per season - at the beginning of the growing season, when it takes root in a permanent place, and during the budding period. Another top dressing will be required for those varieties of a three-month-old lavater that bloom before frost.
Large plants require support. Weeds must be weeded out, and the soil under young plants must be loosened. When the culture grows up, we stop loosening so as not to damage the roots. The question is often asked whether it is necessary to pinch the lavender. The answer is no. Lavater is not pinched. It is necessary to cut off the faded branches in order for the flowering to last long and abundantly. Also, annual plants are cut off after flowering.
As you can see, after the lavater has taken root, growing and caring for it is not difficult.
Diseases and pests
When planting the Thuringian Lavatera, keep in mind that it has a tendency to rust. It is difficult to deal with it. As a preventive measure, even before the start of budding, the plant can be treated with a copper-containing preparation twice with an interval of 2 weeks. If the disease nevertheless manifests itself, the affected parts or the entire plant must be removed from the site. Do not plant a lavender on an infected area for several years.
This flower is also threatened by an aphid invasion - treat it with insecticides and fight anthills.
It is extremely rarely affected by other pests and diseases.
With the arrival of spring, the trees are covered with leaves, green grass breaks through and the first flowers bloom. For summer residents ...
Application in landscape design
Lavatera in the garden is always a welcome guest. It looks great as a tapeworm (single focal plant) and in group plantings. It is used to create large and small landscape groups, mixborders, as a curb and in continuous plantings.
In parks planted on a highly visible slope, these flowers from afar can appear like a ruby carpet if the color is chosen appropriately. Tall varieties will look great as a backstage when it is necessary to separate one part of the garden from another.
Any perennials and annuals of blue and purple colors of the appropriate size - verbena, sage, can become a companion for the lavater. When planted together with roses, the flowers will set off the beauty of each other.
If you have a small plot and want to have plants of different colors, you can buy a mix of Melange lavatera or a mixture of Podruzhka lavatera, made up of tall plants of different colors. Lavatera flowers look great in bouquets.
We have told you how to properly care for the beautiful lavater plant. As you can see, this is a simple matter. Just follow a few easy rules so that the plant growing in your garden will give joy and lush bloom until the very frost.
