Night violet Matiola pink - photo, planting and care
General description of the genus
This genus includes annual and perennial herbaceous plants of the Cruciferous family. In nature, representatives of this genus are distributed throughout Southern Europe, the Mediterranean and surrounding regions.
All species and varieties belonging to the genus Matthiola have a number of common characteristics:
- plants have a single stem or form woody bushes covered with a felt edge;
- foliage is dense, pubescent, lanceolate, edge entire or serrated;
- flowers with four petals are available in a wide range of colors from white to yellow or lilac tones. Characterized by a sweet aroma. The flowers are collected in inflorescences - spike-shaped panicles;
- the fruit is a dry, flat pod with protruding tubercles from the seeds.
The evening smell attracts a large number of nocturnal insects that pollinate the flowers of the gillyflower.
Varieties
About 50 species of matthiola are known in nature . Thanks to breeding work, they gave rise to several hundred varieties.
The species that are most often used in ornamental gardening include the following.
Two-horned or night violet
Double-horned violet is an annual plant with an erect or branching stem, which is popularly called night violet .
Cold-resistant, unpretentious plant, can grow in partial shade.
Matthiola bicornuum pink.
Its features include:
- thin branched lodging stems reaching a length of up to 50 cm;
- inconspicuous flowers with a pale pink or purple color.
They are closed during the day and open only at night and in cloudy weather.
Gray-haired or left-haired
Cold-resistant annual , characterized by the following features:
- erect branched stem;
- flowers are simple or double, 3-7 cm in diameter, the inflorescence is a loose raceme;
- Fruit with seeds is produced only by non-double varieties of gillyflower. Terry varieties lack stamens and pistil, so no fruit is formed.
Mattiola gray-haired pink.
Important! In terms of the strength of the aroma, matthiola gray is significantly inferior to matthiola bicornuum.
Like night violet, gillyflower flowers are excellent honey plants.
Mattiola of Querdlinburg
Terry plants of this species are colored greenish. The foliage is bluish green, but the height depends on the variety.
Late matthiola grows more than 50 cm and forms a wide pyramidal bush with large flowers.
An early tall plant can have a stem height of up to 65 cm. They have large leaves and bright flowers in inflorescences. It begins to bloom in June and fades after two months.
The early low subspecies are spherical bushes not exceeding 50 cm in height. It has been blooming for a little over a month.
Features and landing conditions
After picking, matthiola bicornuum seedlings do not take root well , so it is preferable for them to be grown from seeds immediately in a permanent place. But gillyflower is grown using the seedling method.
What do the seeds look like?
Matthiola seeds are small , black, brown or greenish in color and have a light membranous border, flattened . When properly stored, the seeds remain viable for 2-3 years.
Preparing for sowing
Night violet seedlings do not tolerate picking well, so it is better to plant them in the garden right away. Mattiola loves sunny places and does not tolerate stagnant water . Only very depleted soil needs to be fertilized.
In order for the seeds to germinate together, they are first prepared for sowing:
- Soak for 24 hours in water at room temperature, change the water several times;
- The water is drained, the seeds are wrapped in a moistened cloth and placed in the refrigerator for several days.
Seeds are sown in beds in April after a two-week period of stable above-zero temperatures. Light frost down to -5℃ is not scary for seeds:
- Before sowing, for convenience, the seeds are mixed with sand and sown in furrows to a depth of 0.5 cm;
- The first seedlings will appear in 5-7 days. When the seedlings develop 2-3 true leaves, they are thinned out at intervals of about 20 cm;
- To ensure flowering continues until late autumn, seeds are sown every 10-12 days.
Of all the varieties of gillyflower, only the seeds of summer gillyflower can be sown in open ground.
Growing through seedlings
It is preferable to grow Levka seedlings , planting seeds in late winter-early March:
- the substrate is prepared from a mixture of turf soil and sand (3:1);
- the cups are filled with the prepared mixture, the seeds are planted to a depth of half a centimeter;
- leave a small distance between the seeds to make it easier to plant later;
- the cups are covered with film and placed in a cool place until the seedlings appear;
- after this, the seedlings are exposed to light and cultivated at a temperature not exceeding 15℃, this stimulates the formation of flower buds.
Levkoy shoots.
Flowerbeds are planted at the end of April, keeping an interval of 16-20 cm between seedlings. The main thing is that there are no severe frosts during this period.
Analogue flowers
If for some reason it was not possible to plant matthiola bicornuum on the site, then it can be replaced by its closest relative - grey-haired left-handed grass. The noctule, otherwise hesperis, is also suitable as a replacement .
You can plant lupine, clove or clover on the site. These plants have a less pronounced but pleasant odor.
Matthiola bicornuum is a modest plant, but once planted on the site, it is difficult to refuse the rich aroma that accompanies the plant.
Summer care
Proper care will ensure long-term flowering of matthiola:
- watering. There is no need to water matthiola regularly; short-term drought is not dangerous for it. Watering is required in case of prolonged drought;
- loosening and weeding. To prevent the appearance of a dense crust after watering, the soil must be loosened; it is also recommended to weed;
- feeding Matthiola does not need to be fed with organic matter; it is enough to water it in the spring with mineral fertilizer for flowering plants containing a complex of microelements. If the soil is fertile, then fertilizing is not necessary.
Succinic acid can be used as a plant growth biostimulator It promotes the development of soil microflora, strengthens the plant’s immunity, and does not accumulate in the soil.
Seed treatment, soil preparation
Hardening and germination of seeds will help speed up the germination of matthiola and strengthen the health of future plants.
Levkoy seed material is placed in a fabric bag and soaked in moisture. You need to make sure that the seeds do not float in the water, but also do not dry out. First, the seeds are kept warm (8-12 hours), then they are put in the vegetable section of the refrigerator for 3-5 days.
In addition to hardening, Levka can be treated with any plant growth stimulator: Energen, Epin, Zircon. Some gardeners use folk remedies: succinic acid solution, aloe juice.
If the seeds were collected from your own plants, you need to pickle them in a pink solution of potassium permanganate for half an hour or soak them in a solution of Fitosporin. This treatment will destroy fungal spores from the seed material.
Light soil with a significant admixture of sand is suitable for matthiola. You can buy soil “for succulents” in the store, or make your own substrate. To prepare the correct soil mixture you will need:
- 2 parts of turf soil (good soil is collected in the forest, under a layer of leaf litter);
- 1 part mature vegetable compost;
- 2 parts coarse sand or perlite.
It is recommended to treat all components of the mixture with steam, boiling water or fry in the oven to destroy infections.
You can add 1 cup of wood ash per 5 liters to the prepared soil to eliminate excess acidity and complex granular fertilizer.
Damage by diseases and pests
If lesions of any nature are found on the leaves, they are removed to prevent further spread:
- if fungal diseases , the plant is removed and burned;
- when cabbage , treat with valerian (1 teaspoon per liter of water);
Cabbage butterfly.
- Treating the plant with powdered ash will help prevent the appearance of cruciferous flea beetle
Important! Prevention consists of maintaining a distance between plants, regular weeding and avoiding stagnation of water in the soil.
Reproduction methods
Night violet is propagated by seeds. The procedure is carried out in two ways:
- planting in the ground;
- growing seedlings.
Read about other annual plants:
Mallow flower: lovely gramophones
Phlox Drummond - the star of any garden
Diascia - types and photos of long-flowering exotic
Bloom
It is not necessary to remove fading flowers on gillyflowers ; the procedure is more of an aesthetic nature. Withering of flowers and formation of fruits does not affect the duration of matthiola flowering.
Deadlines
Among the decorative varieties of gillyflower there are:
- summer gillyflower , annual, flowering July-August;
- autumn , can be one- or perennial, flowering from the last ten days of August to November;
- winter biennial , blooms in April-May.
Autumn and winter varieties in the middle zone are cultivated only as greenhouse plants.
Peculiarities
Simple matthiola flowers are characterized by short flowering, no more than five days .
Terry varieties bloom for 15-20 days.
Fertilizers
It is better not to give preference to organic products at all, with the only exception being wood ash. It is still recommended to use mineral ones, and in the spring this is absolutely necessary.
