More often than not, the flower hibiscus or "Chinese rose" is associated in people with a decorative tree grown at home, but there are varieties of it that can decorate and garden. This hibiscus is grassy, derived from the crossing of three North American varieties - red, pink and holly-leaved. It is also called hibiscus hybrid.
Hibiscus herbaceous is a perennial frost-resistant light-loving plant with very large (up to 30 cm) bright color (white, pink, crimson) flowers and sunflower-like leaves. Its flowering begins in early August and ends at the beginning of autumn, with each individual flower blooming for only one day, and a continuous blossoming provides a new daily opening.
Hibiscus herbaceous - planting and care
Although hibiscus grassy is unpretentious in care, but in order to avoid mistakes when growing it, one should know the basic rules:
- Location - it's better to plant hibiscus on a well-lit place of your garden site, then it will please its abundant flowering. When choosing a site for planting hibiscus grassy, one must take into account its height and ability to grow.
- Soil - you can use any, but for the cultivation of stronger and healthy plants, it is recommended to add to the ground the overgone needles.
- Care - is the timely abundant watering of the flower, making under it nitrogen fertilizers 1 time per month and the correct preparation for the winter. To hibernate hibiscus herbaceous was successful, you need to cover it for the winter first cut, well watered, mown and thicken the ground over the rhizome with dry foliage or sawdust.
- Formation of the bush - to ensure that the hibiscus blossoms well and has a beautiful shape, it is recommended that the young shoots prick the tops.
- Transplantation can be carried out in both spring and autumn. Young plants are best transplanted annually, and adults - in three years. It should be borne in mind that the transplantation of hibiscus herbaceous is necessary until its young shoots have not reached 10cm.
Simultaneously with the transplant, you can also reproduce the flower.
Reproduction of herbaceous hibiscus
Reproduction of Hibiscus herbaceous is carried out in such ways:
- seeds ( stratified );
- cuttings;
- by dividing the rhizome of the bush;
- layers.
The fastest and easiest way to get a new bush of hibiscus is the division of the rhizome, in this case the species characteristics of the variety are preserved.
Unlike other varieties, herbaceous hibiscus grows well with seeds. There are several ways to do this:
The first way is to sow seeds directly into the open ground to a depth of 1-2 cm. In this case, hibiscus will blossom in 3-4 years.
2-way - sow in the greenhouse in the period from January to mid-March and germinate a small plant. This is done like this:
- seeds are soaked for 10-12 hours in a growth stimulator, for example, in "Epin";
- wrapped in a wet warm cloth, which is put in a bag and kept warm, regularly airing and moisturizing, until the appearance of sprouts;
- sprouts are seated one by one in cups with a mixture of peat and sand, put on a heated window and covered with glass on top. It should be borne in mind that for the cultivation of hibiscus grassy, an air temperature of 25-27 ° C is required;
- small plants with 2-3 leaves are transplanted into a larger pot and fed with a solution of "Kemira";
- in May the seedlings are planted in the soil at a distance of 1 m.
With this method, the new hibiscus can blossom even at the end of the same summer.
It is very easy to propagate hibiscus cuttings, which are cut in summer from the tips of young shoots (they must have 2-3 interstices). Root can be rooted in containers with water or substrate at a temperature of 22-25 ° C. And with the appearance of roots (about a month), you can transplant into the open soil, covering the top with a bottle.
Hibiscus herbaceous is often used to create a hedge or a certain landscape, as it looks good in composition with stunted plants.