Cornflower flowers - photos, types, planting and care. Cornflower field - a flower with healing properties

Figs, figs, fig trees - these are all the names of the same plant, which we strongly associate with mediterranean life. Anyone who has ever tasted fig fruits knows how delicious it is. But, in addition to a delicate sweet taste, they are also very healthy. And here is an interesting detail: it turns out that figs are completely unpretentious plant. In addition, it can be successfully grown on a plot in middle lane or at home - in a container.

Quite often, even experienced summer residents face difficulties in growing tomato seedlings. For some, all seedlings turn out to be elongated and weak, for others, they suddenly begin to fall and die. The thing is that it is difficult to maintain in an apartment ideal conditions for growing seedlings. Seedlings of any plants need to provide a lot of light, sufficient moisture and optimal temperature. What else do you need to know and observe when growing tomato seedlings in an apartment?

Delicious vinaigrette with apple and sauerkraut- vegetarian salad of boiled and chilled, raw, pickled, salted, pickled vegetables and fruits. The name comes from a French sauce made from vinegar, olive oil and mustard (vinaigrette). Vinaigrette appeared in Russian cuisine not so long ago, around the beginning of the 19th century, perhaps the recipe was borrowed from Austrian or German cuisine, since the ingredients for the Austrian herring salad are very similar.

When we dreamily touch bright seed bags in our hands, we are sometimes subconsciously sure that we have a prototype of the future plant. We mentally allocate a place for him in the flower garden and look forward to the cherished day of the appearance of the first bud. However, buying seeds does not always guarantee that you will eventually get the desired flower. I would like to draw attention to the reasons why the seeds may not sprout or die at the very beginning of germination.

Spring is coming, and gardeners have more work to do, and with the onset of heat, changes in the garden are happening rapidly. Buds are already beginning to swell on plants that were still sleeping yesterday, everything literally comes to life before our eyes. After a long winter, this can not but rejoice. But along with the garden, its problems come to life - pests and pathogens. Weevils, flower beetles, aphids, clasterosporiasis, maniliasis, scab, powdery mildew - you can list for a very long time.

Breakfast toast with avocado and egg salad is a great start to the day. The egg salad in this recipe acts as a thick sauce seasoned with fresh vegetables and shrimp. My egg salad is quite unusual, it is a dietary version of everyone's favorite snack - with Feta cheese, Greek yogurt and red caviar. If you have time in the morning, never deny yourself the pleasure of cooking something tasty and healthy. The day should start with positive emotions!

Perhaps every woman at least once received a blooming orchid as a gift. It is not surprising, because such a lively bouquet looks amazing and blooms for a long time. Orchids cannot be called very difficult indoor crops to grow, but not fulfilling the main conditions for their maintenance often leads to the loss of a flower. If you are just getting started with indoor orchids, you should find out the right answers to the main questions on growing these beautiful plants in the house.

Lush cheesecakes with poppy seeds and raisins, prepared according to this recipe, are eaten in my family in the blink of an eye. Moderately sweet, plump, tender, with an appetizing crust, without excess oil, in a word, just like mother or grandmother fried in childhood. If the raisins are very sweet, then granulated sugar can not be added at all, without sugar, cheesecakes will be better fried and will never burn. Cook them in a well-heated pan, greased with oil, over low heat and without a lid!

Cherry tomatoes differ from their large counterparts not only in the small size of the berries. Many varieties of cherry are characterized by a unique sweet taste, which is very different from the classic tomato. Anyone who has never tasted such cherry tomatoes with their eyes closed may well decide that they are tasting some unusual Exotic fruits. In this article, I will talk about five different cherry tomatoes that have the sweetest fruits of unusual colors.

I started growing annual flowers in the garden and on the balcony more than 20 years ago, but I will never forget my first petunia, which I planted in the country along the path. Only a couple of decades have passed, but one wonders how different petunias of the past are from today's many-sided hybrids! In this article, I propose to trace the history of the transformation of this flower from a simpleton into a real queen of annuals, as well as consider modern varieties of unusual colors.

Salad with spicy chicken, mushrooms, cheese and grapes - fragrant and satisfying. This dish can be served as a main dish if you are preparing a cold dinner. Cheese, nuts, mayonnaise are high-calorie foods, combined with spicy fried chicken and mushrooms, you get a very nutritious snack that is refreshing. sweet and sour berries grapes. The chicken fillet in this recipe is marinated in a spicy mixture of ground cinnamon, turmeric and chili powder. If you like food with a spark, use hot chili.

The question is how to grow healthy seedlings, all summer residents are concerned in early spring. It seems that there are no secrets here - the main thing for fast and strong seedlings is to provide them with warmth, moisture and light. But in practice, in a city apartment or a private house, this is not so easy to do. Certainly, everyone experienced gardener there is a proven way to grow seedlings. But today we will talk about a relatively new assistant in this matter - the propagator.

The variety of tomato "Sanka" is one of the most popular in Russia. Why? The answer is simple. He is the very first to bear fruit in the garden. Tomatoes ripen when other varieties have not even faded yet. Of course, if you follow the recommendations for growing and make an effort, even a novice grower will get a rich harvest and joy from the process. And so that efforts are not in vain, we advise you to plant high-quality seeds. For example, such as seeds from TM "Agrosuccess".

A task indoor plants in the house - decorate your home with your appearance, create a special atmosphere of comfort. For this we are ready to take care of them regularly. Care is not only watering on time, although this is also important. It is necessary to create other conditions: suitable lighting, humidity and air temperature, make the correct and timely transplant. For experienced flower growers there is nothing supernatural in this. But beginners often face certain difficulties.

Tender chicken breast cutlets with champignons are easy to prepare according to this recipe with step by step photos. There is an opinion that it is difficult to cook juicy and tender cutlets from chicken breast, this is not so! Chicken meat contains practically no fat, which is why it is dry. But, if you add cream to the chicken fillet, White bread and mushrooms with onions, you get awesome tasty cutlets that both children and adults will like. In the mushroom season, try adding forest mushrooms to the minced meat.

Weed herbaceous plant blue cornflower is a member of the Compositae family and has medicinal properties. It can almost always be found in fields sown with rye, wheat, flax, potatoes and other crops, on roadsides, along forest belts. In addition to spontaneous propagation, cornflowers are also grown specifically for decorative purposes and the manufacture of medicines.

Main vegetable raw materials used in traditional medicine, are the flowers of blue cornflower. They don't have much big sizes, painted in blue or blue, appear in late spring and persist until the end of autumn. For some diseases, the seeds of the plant, which ripen by the end of summer, are also used for medicinal purposes.

Botanical description

Blue cornflower flowers, according to the description of the botanical characteristics of the plant, are collected in single baskets, the diameter of which does not exceed 3 cm. They have a common wrapper formed by membranous brown leaves with a tiled arrangement. Small flowers in a basket are divided into two types: marginal and internal. The flowers, located at the edges of the pedicel, are blue in color, funnel-shaped and asexual. The inner flowers are bright and deep blue-violet, tubular and bisexual.

The fruits of the blue cornflower are an achene of an ashen or gray-yellow color of an obovate shape. It has a smooth shiny surface. At one end there is a red crest of stiff bristly hairs, the length of which is slightly less than the length of the fetus itself (2.5 - 4 mm).

The stem is erect, branched and can reach 1 m, but usually its height is no more than 80 cm. The arrangement of leaves on the stem is consistent. They have a narrow and elongated shape, in the upper part of the stem they are solid, and at the bottom they are lobed. The stem and leaves are covered with fine cobweb hairs. The plant has a very developed root system represented by a thin tap root.

Healing properties of the plant

Folk recipes based on blue cornflower are effective in the treatment of many diseases, due to a wide range pharmacological activity of the compounds found in its composition. Among them:

• glycosides (anthocyanins);
• tannins;
• flavonoids;
• vitamins (ascorbic acid, beta-carotene);
• essential oils;
• minerals (potassium, magnesium, copper, iron, calcium);
• alkaloids;
• organic acids, etc.

Important: The quantitative composition in the plant of certain compounds that have a biological effect may differ depending on the place of its growth.

Folk remedies from blue cornflower have healing properties and have the following effect on the body:

• antipyretic and anti-inflammatory;
• painkiller;
• relaxing and antispasmodic;
• diaphoretic and diuretic;
• wound healing and regenerating;
• antioxidant;
• choleretic;
• antimicrobial.

Cornflower blue like medicinal plant taken as part of the complex treatment of colds, diseases of the urinary system (cystitis, nephritis, urethritis, urolithiasis), to relieve edema, which are the result of disturbances in work of cardio-vascular system or kidneys. Its intake helps cleanse the body of harmful and toxic substances, derivation excess fluid and fat burning.

The choleretic effect of cornflower flowers improves digestion and the digestive tract. They are used for diseases of the biliary tract, liver, jaundice, helminthic invasions, as well as to improve appetite as part of herbal preparations or by themselves.

Means from the flowers and seeds of the plant are used externally for diseases of the skin, joints and eyes (blepharitis, conjunctivitis, fatigue, impaired twilight vision).

The beneficial properties of blue cornflower are also used for cosmetic purposes. Means based on it improve the condition and appearance skin in the eye area, on the face and neck, strengthen hair and prevent hair loss.

Ways to use cornflower

In folk medicine, marginal flowers or, less commonly, cornflower seeds are used for medicinal purposes. The collection and preparation of raw materials is carried out in the summer. First, the flower baskets are completely cut off, and then only the marginal flowers are carefully pulled out of them with their hands. The raw material obtained in this way is laid out on paper in a layer up to 2 cm in height and dried in a dark, ventilated place. Dried flowers are placed in glass jars or cloth bags and used as needed. Shelf life is a maximum of two years in a dry, dark place.

Important: In case of contact with cornflower flowers during the drying process sun rays they gradually lose their color and a significant part of their healing properties. Such raw materials become unsuitable for medicinal purposes.

Blue cornflower flowers have been used in folk medicine as a separate remedy in the form of decoctions, infusions and tinctures, and as part of herbal preparations prescribed for the treatment of diseases of the urinary system, digestive tract, hypertension.

Infusion of flowers

Cornflower infusion has antibacterial, choleretic and diuretic effects. It is prepared according to the following technology:

1. Flowers in the amount of 1 tbsp. l. placed in a small saucepan (enamelled) and pour a glass of boiling water.
2. The pan is covered with a lid and placed in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.
3. The resulting infusion is gradually cooled to room temperature.
4. The flowers are filtered, squeezed.
5. Add to the solution boiled water in such quantity that the total volume is 200 ml.

Take the resulting remedy 20 ml in the morning, afternoon and evening. It can be stored in the refrigerator for no more than two days.

Decoction of flowers

A decoction of cornflower flowers is used for inflammatory eye diseases and for colds accompanied by a cough. Saponins, which are part of the flowers, have an expectorant effect, therefore, they facilitate the discharge of sputum.

To obtain a decoction 1 tsp. carefully crushed flowers pour 0.25 liters of boiling water and boil for 4-5 minutes. Then the agent is infused for 1 hour, filtered and taken for laryngitis, tonsillitis or bronchitis, 40 ml several times a day.

Alcoholic tincture of flowers

1. Dried raw materials are mixed in a ratio of 1 to 10 with alcohol or vodka.
2. Tightly close the container with the resulting mixture and infuse for 14 days, shaking daily.
3. Drink 20-30 drops at a time with water.

Outdoor use

As an external agent, blue cornflower flowers have been used for skin irritation, rashes, diathesis, allergic dermatosis, and boils. From the decoction of the plant, compresses, lotions are made, or simply wipe the affected areas on the skin.

In the form of lotions, cornflower is used for eye diseases. To receive funds 1 tbsp. l. flowers pour 0.4 l of boiling water, insist 1 hour, cool and filter. With conjunctivitis, such lotions are used up to 8 times a day.

Recommendation: To relieve fatigue and improve body tone, you can take a bath with cornflower flowers. Preliminarily, half a glass of flowers, together with baskets, is poured with 0.5 liters of boiling water and the mixture is left to infuse for half an hour. The mixture is then filtered and added to a bath of about 37°C water.

In case of baldness, it is recommended to rub warm, freshly prepared infusion of flowers into the hair roots, as well as the scalp. A good effect with such a problem has a remedy prepared from 1 tbsp. l. flowers of the plant, 250 ml of boiling water and 250 ml of table 9% vinegar. The mixture is insisted for half an hour, filtered and rubbed into the hair roots.

If you add 20 ml of alcohol or vodka to the infusion, you get a lotion that can be used to treat oily skin. For the preparation of infusion in this case, both dry and freshly picked flowers are used.

The use of cornflower seeds

blue cornflower seeds are effective tool in the fight against warts. They are dried and applied to neoplasms. Also, they, along with crushed leaves of the plant, can be used in the form of compresses to speed up wound healing.

If you want to have small blue islands in your flower garden that resemble a piece of the sky or small lakes, then you can’t do without cornflowers. In its classic form, the description of the cornflower plant looks like this: blue or purple flowers on thin stems, ideal for making bouquets with cereals. But there are varieties with white, pink and even red flowers.

What does a cornflower look like and a photo of its varieties

Cornflower blue- one- and two-year-old plant of the Compositae family. Its homeland is Europe, Asia Minor. It grows in gardens, various landscaping objects as an ornamental plant.

The stem is straight, dryish, branched, from 20 to 90 cm high. The leaves are linear, narrow, rarely located along the stem. The inflorescence is bright blue or purple, pink, purple, depending on the variety, which this species has many. The most famous of them:

"Blauer Bush"

"Captivity of Alba" garden (with double white flowers)

"The Captivity of Rosea" (with pink flowers).

See how other cornflowers look in the photo:

Cornflower "Frosty Mix" - a special mixture with the original color of the petals, as if touched by frost. For bouquets, compositions, mixed flower beds.

Musk cornflower is also of interest. Valued for stability in cutting and fragrant inflorescences with a diameter of 5-8 cm. Cold-resistant, unpretentious to growing conditions. Used on rocky hills, discounts, in group plantings on lawns, for cutting. Long stored in bouquets.

Photos of varieties of cornflowers growing in the middle lane can be found below:

How to plant a cornflower in a flower garden

How do cornflowers grow in natural conditions and on garden plots? In nature, these plants bloom in the second year, in culture - 2-3 months after sowing. Blooms from May to September. Fruits in July-October.

The root is deeply taprooted, branched, which determines its unpretentiousness to growth conditions.

How cultivated plant, namely decorative, cornflower loves an open, sunny location and dry, loose soils. Growing and caring for cornflowers does not require much effort - gardeners love these plants for their unpretentiousness. They can withstand drought and, moreover, do not tolerate watering, especially systematic.

Cornflower can grow almost on pure sand, at the same time, its sprouts are able to "break through" the soil of almost road density. Care for him consists in periodic weeding, very rare watering, cutting off faded shoots.

Reproduction of cornflowers is carried out by seeds, self-seeding and dividing the bush.

When self-sowing, it is necessary to thin out by 15-20 cm. Sowing with seeds in culture is carried out in spring and autumn. autumn crops do in October, spring - in April. Cornflowers of all decorative species they stand well in cutting, therefore they are used as floristic bouquets together with decorative cereals.

How to plant cornflowers in a flower garden so that they are in harmony with other plants? Cornflower blue is part of the seed mixture for the Mauritanian lawn. Together with poppy, escholcia, calendula, cosmos, summer adonis, which are just as easily renewed by seeds, cornflower forms a beautiful and long-blooming motley meadow.

Cornflower lawns in the background are a classic example of decorative groups.

The Latin name for this flower is "Centaurea cyanus", which translates as " blue flower Centaur." According to legend, the Centaur, wounded by Hercules, was cured with the help of cornflower, putting it on the wound. Hence the name. AT Slavic mythology also has its own explanation. There lived, allegedly, the guy Vasya and the mermaid fell in love with him. The mermaid's love turned out to be unrequited, and in anger she turned him into a flower.

The story is rather sad, which cannot be said about the flower. Its bright shades will not only decorate your lawn, but will definitely cheer you up. Moreover, this flower is completely undemanding to care for. It can grow without transplants for about 10 years in one place. Yes, and cornflower blooms for a long time - all summer.

Cornflower garden- a beautiful, uncomplicated flower that does not require special care. It is annual, biennial and perennial. The colors are completely different: blue, purple, yellow, pink, white, depending on the variety.

white cornflower is in the European Red Book as a rare endangered species.

Cornflower field, on the contrary, refers to the weed. They are actively fighting with him. This type of weed clogs rye and is dangerous for horses.

In general, cornflower grows up to 1.2 m!

Planting and reproduction

For planting cornflower should choose a sunny place. This flower is very fond of the sun, although it can also tolerate a little falling shade from trees or fences. But it is better to choose a spacious place for planting so that the plants do not obscure each other. annual species propagate directly by planting seeds in the soil in early spring. They sprout quickly, grow well and bloom. perennial species often propagated by dividing the roots or cuttings after flowering, in August. Also perennial cornflower can be grown from seed. To do this, they are planted in the ground in late autumn. After a few days, the seeds germinate.

Watering

Cornflowers do not like excess moisture, you can even say that they prefer very moderate watering. Summer rains are enough for them. Unless, of course, the summer is not very dry. Cornflowers do not tolerate waterlogged soil well.

The soil

Cornflowers prefer light loam. The soil should be neutral and loose enough. Acidic soil must be treated with limestone: spread about 1 cm thick over the top layer of dolomite flour or limestone. This procedure is carried out in the fall. Clay soils facilitate by adding sand to them.

top dressing

To prolong the flowering of cornflower, it can and even needs to be fed. This should be done 2 times a month. It is recommended to use 20-30 gr of complex fertilizer per 1 square meter soil. With top dressing, the main thing is not to overdo it, otherwise yellowing of the leaves cannot be avoided. Perennial cornflowers are fed in the fall to increase winter hardiness.

pruning

In order for your cornflowers to look aesthetically pleasing and beautiful, it is necessary to cut off faded flowers. If this is not done, then next year you will be unpleasantly surprised when you find cornflower bushes growing anywhere on your site. In total, there are 2 ways to trim the stems: high and low. Using high way, the stems are cut under the inflorescences, low - the entire stem is cut, leaving about 10 cm. If you are in doubt which one to choose, then it is better to stop at the second method, the so-called upper pruning. So the bush will look neater and fluffier, in comparison with low pruning, using which you can get a bald spot on the flower bed.

Diseases and pests

These flowers practically do not get sick. If this happens, then the reason lies in improper care and over watering. If you still notice dark spots on annual cornflowers, then most likely it is fusarium. To treat this disease, it is necessary to treat the plant with foundationazole. You can also spray cornflowers with a 3-day infusion of cow dung in a 1: 1 ratio. Helps in the fight against pests and diseases ash. She should sprinkle leaves and shoots.

Perennial species do not cure at all. It is preferable to cut off the affected parts of the plant and burn it in order to next year the disease did not recur.

Uses of cornflower: medicinal properties

Cornflower contains a wide range of minerals, vitamins, flavonoids and coumarins. It has diuretic, anti-inflammatory, choleretic agents. It is also used in the treatment of gastrointestinal tract, cough, nervous system. A decoction of the flowers has positive influence with amenorrhea, normalizing the cycle, and also enhances lactation.

Cornflower garden - beautiful, easy to care for bright flower. It will decorate your flower bed, will not require much time and effort to care for, and its flowers can be used for medicinal purposes. If you are a beginner gardener, then this is definitely the flower with which you will succeed. Although it is grown by experienced gardeners. Many people love vaslek for its unobtrusive beauty and unpretentiousness in care.

Perennial cornflowers, which are called Centaurea in Latin, will be a worthy decoration of the garden. These plants easily adapt to any conditions, are unpretentious in care and are successfully grown on the territory of Russia and the world. To grow them, you need to know what a cornflower looks like, where cornflowers grow, how to collect cornflower seeds and other issues related to agricultural technology.

Brief description of the flower

Cornflower from the Compositae (Asteraceae) family belongs to herbaceous plants. Includes several species, most of which originate from the territory Southern Europe. Today, it is ubiquitous throughout Europe and most often grows as a weed on plantations of grain crops, primarily rye. Most of the species are also found in Russia, and some of them are listed in the Red Book. These include:

• cornflower;
• cornflower Dubyansky;
• cornflower Taliyev.

Cornflower perennial

Outwardly, a perennial cornflower is beautiful plant, the shoots of which can be recumbent or erect, depending on the structure. Their height can reach 120 cm. The foliage is arranged alternately, the shape varies from whole to variegated-dissected. Inflorescences are presented in the form of baskets of various shapes: from the usual spherical to cylindrical. Scale wrappers are either bare or pubescent. They are arranged in several pieces or arranged one by one in paniculate and corymbose inflorescences. Along the edges are flowers in the form of a funnel, most often tubular. Their color in most cases is blue or blue, but there are other options:

• white;
• pink;
• burgundy;
• yellow;
• purple;
• red;
• blue.

The root system of different types is also very different and can be represented in the following forms:

• formed due to the numerous number of root overgrowth offspring;
• with a powerful and deepened root rod;
• with oblong branched rhizomes;
• with a shortened strongly branched root forming a curtain;
• with a strong and thickened spine.

Powerful stems

This plant can be grown for cultural purposes due to its beauty. They are often planted near schools and kindergartens to saturate territories with greenery and bright inflorescences. They go well with daisies and bluebells. The useful value of the cornflower flower is very high due to the fact that it is a honey plant that can attract pollinating insects to a flower bed or orchard.

Cornflowers have a therapeutic diuretic effect, which leads to the use folk remedies based on them for the treatment of kidney diseases. The petals of the plant are rich in other medicinal properties. Due to their powerful aroma, the flowers can be used in cooking as a seasoning, as well as for cosmetic purposes.

Species and varieties

In nature, cornflower is represented by more than 500 various types, which differ from each other in inflorescences, the appearance of flowers, the shape of foliage, the elongation of shoots, the root system and other external indicators. The most common among them include the following:

• Blue cornflower is the most common variety in Russia. Herbaceous annual or biennial plant with an erect stem about 80 cm high. The foliage is grayish-green, arranged alternately, woolly-web. The leaves in the lower part of the plant are petiolate, and all the remaining ones are linear, entire, sessile. Inflorescences are presented in the form of single baskets, placed along the edges of the leafless parts of the shoots. When asked when cornflowers bloom, you can answer that flowering begins in early summer and lasts until the end of autumn.
• Cornflower large-headed - perennial height up to 120 cm with yellow flowers varying degrees saturation with a diameter of up to 7 cm. Flowering lasts for a month and a half, starting in July.
• Cornflower meadow - another perennial herbaceous plant about 80 cm in height. The stem is rigid, erect, ribbed. The plant is completely covered with a cobweb or grayish cover. The foliage is ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate arranged alternately. The upper and central leaves are sessile, while the lower leaves are attached to the stem with petioles. Inflorescences are basket-shaped, pinkish-lilac almost white.
• Cornflower bleached. It is a perennial plant with an upright 60 cm stem, very sprawling, branched and densely leafed. The upper leaves are green, slightly pubescent, while the lower ones are whitish, dissected-pinnate, have an oval shape and are held on oblong petioles. The plant has beautiful bright pink flowers 4 cm in diameter, blooming from the beginning to the end of summer.
• Cornflower pink. Herbaceous perennial plant with a stem 1 m high. The stems are erect. The leaves are light green in color, lanceolate-oblong. The inflorescences are enlarged, arranged singly, 5 cm in diameter. It blooms in early July and blooms for another month and a half.
• Cornflower white. Herbaceous perennial a quarter of a meter high, distinguished by white double flowers, grouped in basket-shaped inflorescences 4 cm in diameter. The species is in the European Red Book.
• Cornflower yellow. perennial shrub pronounced cylindrical shape up to 1 m high. It has bright yellow flowers up to 5 cm in diameter. Lance-oblong leaves are placed on thickened straight stems.
• Eastern cornflower. Predominantly wild perennial, 80-120 cm high, with pinnately divided foliage, held on oblong petioles. The flowers are yellow, collected in inflorescences-baskets.
• Field cornflower is a grass of one year, 0.6 m high. The foliage is linear-lanceolate, gray-greenish in color. Upper foliage entire, lower slightly lobed. Basket inflorescences are located singly, the color of cornflowers is usually blue-blue. Blooms from late spring to late summer.

field cornflower

The most common varieties of cornflowers are:

• Captivity Azurea;
• Captivity of Carminea;
• Captivity Rosea;
• Blue Tiara;
• Black Bal;
• Florence Pink.

Note! In nature, there is a flower that looks like a cornflower. This is chicory, they are often confused with each other.

Growing and caring for a plant

Cornflower is not just a field weed. Decorative varieties look very good on the site.

Place selection

Cornflowers are flowers that belong to the category of heat-loving plants. In this regard, for them you need to choose an open area where the rays of the sun easily penetrate. Plants should not be planted too close to each other, so as not to cause excessive shading. It is worth providing a spatial isolation of 15-50 cm, depending on the type and variety.

The plant is best cultivated on light loam. From this it follows that on oxidized soils, lime must be added since autumn. It is also recommended to add sand or sawdust to give the soil additional looseness. Cornflower reacts negatively to close occurrence ground water, so you should first take care of the organization of the drainage system.

Note! To prepare the soil directly for sowing, it will be enough just to dig it up and loosen it.

Sowing with seedlings

It is recommended to sow cornflower seeds for seedlings either a month before transplanting seedlings into open ground, or a month before the end of the frost period. In most cases, this procedure is carried out in the last days of March - the first decade of April.

You need to prepare in advance either peat pots, or suitable containers that are filled with a special soil mixture for flower plants. When the containers are full, the soil in them is abundantly moistened and then the water is allowed to drain. After that, 3-4 seeds are sown in each pot and lightly sprinkled with earth. Capacities are covered polyethylene film for the greenhouse effect. Containers are placed in an insulated place, which, along with high humidity will speed up the germination of seedlings.

When the seeds germinate, the film should be removed and the dishes should be moved to a room saturated with sunlight. When plants have 2 true leaves, the plantings are visually inspected to identify the strongest and most fully formed specimens. They are left for subsequent cultivation, and all other seedlings are pinched at the level of the ground surface. During this period, seedlings are also fed complex fertilizer pre-dissolved in water.

Important! When the height of the seedlings is 8-10 cm, this means that they are ready for transplanting to a permanent place in open ground.

Sowing seeds in open ground

For this procedure, a period is selected when the soil warms up well enough. Most often this time falls on the end of April - the beginning of May. After 1-2 weeks, the first shoots will appear.

When cultivating perennial cornflowers, planting is recommended in autumn in a slightly frozen ground. Seeds spend the winter well under the ground layer and with the onset of spring immediately begin to grow.

Watering and fertilizing

Cornflower is a flower that does not like excess moisture. In this regard, moderate irrigation is carried out only in arid conditions with prolonged absence of precipitation. During rainy periods do without watering.

At the beginning of the cultivation of the plant, crops should be regularly weeded. When the bush grows large, it will be able to drown out all the available weeds. Approximately 1 time in 2-3 weeks, light loosening of the soil is carried out.

Fertilization for cornflowers is most often practiced in order to increase the continuation of their flowering period. Optimal Mode top dressing - 1 time in 2 weeks. It is recommended to use complex preparations (kristalin, nitroammophoska) at the rate of 20-30 g of the substance per 1 m² of area.

Important! Nutrients should not be overdosed.

pruning

This procedure is carried out in order to increase the level of aesthetics of plantings, as well as to avoid self-seeding of plants. Practice 2 ways of trimming: low and high. In the first case, the height of the plantations after the procedure should not exceed 10 cm. High pruning means shortening the stems directly under the inflorescences. This method is more preferable for beginners.

Plant propagation

Apart from seed propagation on cornflowers, cuttings of roots and bush division are also used. Under natural conditions, plants reproduce by self-sowing after flowering is completed.

The division of the bush is carried out at the end of summer, when the flowering period is completed. The mother plant is dug out of the ground, thoroughly shaken off and washed with roots. Excess shoots are cut out, after which the lateral part is separated from the plant. There must be at least 3 buds per division. Then it is transplanted to a permanent place and the lower pruning is carried out. The transplanted part of the plant needs more frequent watering, which is carried out every other day, but in moderate volumes, avoiding waterlogging. Next year, this plant will already begin to fully bloom.

Bloom

Diseases and pests

Cornflower refers to plants that are rarely affected by certain diseases or diseases. harmful insects. Only fungal diseases and mites can cause significant damage to plantings.

The main disease of cornflowers is Fusarium, which is expressed in a painful change in the appearance of foliage. In this case, all affected areas must be removed and the cut points treated with special means. In hot weather, plantings can be attacked spider mite, which provokes yellowing of foliage and the formation dark spots on it with subsequent fall. All fallen leaves are immediately removed, and the plants themselves are sprayed twice a day with soapy water.

Ease of care, a variety of species and varieties, a pleasant decorative appearance make cornflowers promising for cultivation in gardens and flower beds. Its cultivation will not bring significant trouble and economic costs. Knowing which species to choose and how to grow it, you can get plantings of stunning beauty.