Hibiscus swamp: planting and care

Recently, the market of perennial garden crops has become significantly more diverse. Already no one is surprised to meet in the garden areas not only traditional Russian eyes traditional cultures, but also decorative overseas newcomers, who appeared not so long ago, but instantly won the love of Russian gardeners. Such plants include hibiscus marsh - a representative of the Malvov family, attracting attention to the exotic elegant beauty of large bright flowers, the ability to perfectly adapt to the harsh conditions of a temperate climate and remarkably high unpretentiousness. About the cultivation of this interesting culture, agrotechnical requirements and basic rules of care will be discussed in the article.

From the history of the plant

A native of comfortable subtropical and tropical latitudes, hibiscus swamp, or herbaceous, well established in domestic gardens. Completely corresponding to its name, as well as at home, this perennial shrub quickly grows, lush and beautifully blooms, if it is provided with the necessary conditions - a good moisturizing and sheltered from the wind, a sunny area. A special attitude to the generous irrigation of these crops caused the appearance of yet another, very popular name, often used by gardeners - mallow marsh.

Hibiscus swamp: photos and features of the plant

Hibiscus, revered as a national symbol of many East Asian countries, is famous for its exquisite flowers with bright elegant crowns, colored red-terracotta spots blossoming at the ends of the stems and reaching 12-16 cm in diameter. Spectacular and large green, slightly incised leaves on short petioles retain their ornamentality before the onset of cold weather. The ripe fruit-box, formed after flowering, splits into leaflets filled with many small glossy seeds.

Hibiscus marsh grows up to 2.5-3 m, the width of the bush reaches from 1 to 1.8 m in diameter. Planted on the perimeter of several crops, quickly turn into a dense picturesque hedge, making the site uniquely beautiful. Despite its southern origin, the plant has a high winter hardiness and successfully survives Siberian winters in snow-covered gardens. The presence of an impressive layer of snow is a pledge of a successful wintering of the culture, whose life expectancy in temperate latitudes reaches 18-23 years. Critical for hibiscus is the lowering of the thermometer column to -30 ° C. The exotic Southerner blooms from the beginning of June until the fall.

Cultivation

The requirement of the plant extends only to the amount of vital moisture. In other respects, the culture is surprisingly unpretentious, and anyone can grow it, because marsh hibiscus can feel great in a pot on a balcony, loggia or in an apartment, although initially it is oriented to cultivation in the open ground.

The ideal place for planting hibiscus is a wet, waterlogged or located near the pond well-sunlit area with weakly acidic or neutral soils. It is possible and partial shading of the site. In this case, the foliage will be thicker and larger, and the bloom is slightly more scarce.

Reproduction of hibiscus: cuttings propagation

Hibiscus swamp is propagated by cuttings and seeds. Both methods are practically equivalent, but cuttings are the simplest and most common among gardeners. Cuttings, suitable young shoots, cut with a sharp knife in the spring and, treating them with special preparations that stimulate rooting (for example, "Kornevin", "Epin", "Zircon"), root them in a mixture of sand and peat, placing first in a mini-greenhouse and keeping At home, a half to two months. The optimum temperature for better rooting is 23-28 ° C. In June they are planted in open ground. In December, the entrenched seedling, experienced gardeners recommend that they be covered with spruce, linden, leaf compost or a special non-woven covering material - lutrasil. With the first snowfalls, you can pick up more snow on the trunk. It will protect the soil from freezing, and young roots from death.

Cuttings can be carried out in the summer. In this case, the rooted cuttings, which have turned into seedlings, are planted for the next year and there are incomparably more chances for successful survival.

How to grow hibiscus from seeds

In the absence of quality planting material, hibiscus is bred from seeds. They are sown in January, having previously selected viable. Seeds are flooded with water and otsotrirovyvayut settled on the bottom. Then each seed is pierced with a needle to facilitate puffing and placed in the solution of the biostimulator for several hours. After that, the seeds are dried and planted in a mixture of peat and vermiculite (2: 1), evenly spreading over the surface of the substrate and slightly pressing them. The container is covered with glass or a film, creating an impromptu greenhouse with the necessary microclimate. Seed boxes are placed in a room with an air temperature of + 25 ° C and provide it with heating from below for several hours a day.

Features of care for seedlings

Daily airing the seedlings and spraying the substrate with water from the spray gun to maintain the desired level of humidity. After germination of seeds, the film from the container is removed, leaving the containers in a comfortable warm and bright place. Seedlings can not stand drafts and bright direct sun rays, so care should be taken to ensure comfortable conditions at this important stage.

Diving seedlings on individual pots is carried out when 3-5 present leaflets appear on seedlings. At the stage of growing seedlings, hibiscus is not fed, only during transplanting-picking a humus is added to the peat-sand soil, nutrients are sufficient for the further development of seedlings. Such are the rules of the agrotechnology of reproduction of such a culture as hibiscus marsh. Cultivation from seeds or cuttings is not associated with special difficulties, but the plant obtained by cuttings, blooms earlier for 1-2 years.

Seedlings are planted in the garden only when the soil warms up well, and the threat of spring frosts finally passes. If you plan to grow in a pottery version, the volume of the container with each transplant should increase in diameter by 1.5-2 cm.

Hibiscus swamp: planting and care. A photo

Before planting hibiscus in the open ground, it is necessary to take care of the preparation of the site. Dig a landing pit corresponding to the size of the root system of the seedling. The upper fertile soil layer is mixed with leaf compost or humus, which can be successfully replaced with 30-40 grams of complex mineral fertilizer. It is important to remember that overfeeding nutrients is disastrous for a culture such as hibiscus marsh. Planting and caring for the plant suggests a certain restraint in the feeding process: a lack of fertilizer for it is unimportant, whereas excessive fertilizers will immediately affect hibiscus with a noticeable loss of decorativeness. The best option for food when planting is still a good quality organic.

The pit is filled with a prepared earth mix for a third, pouring it with a slide, placing a seedling in it, spreading the roots along the embankment and covering it with earth, after which the soil is well compacted and lavished with lukewarm water. To avoid loss of moisture around the seedling arrange a small earthen roller that holds water. For a week, the young plant is watered daily. This minimizes stress from landing and helps it to take root faster. The first two winters are covered with a young plant for the winter, using special materials, ruberoid or lapnik. The young shrub first blooms for 3-4 years.

Care: what a gardener needs to know

The shrub successfully tolerates forming scraps and keeps the prescribed shape throughout the season, which is especially appreciated by the designers of garden areas. Carry out this procedure in late winter or early spring, before the onset of sap flow and swelling of the kidneys. Along with the formation of the crown, the pruning also has a sanitary character: the plants, freed from the sick, shrunken and thickening shoots, grow better and more confidently, delighting gardeners with generous flowering. Like many garden plants, hibiscus requires traditional care, consisting of mandatory irrigation, loosening of the soil in the trunks, promoting aeration of the roots, and periodic propolok.

Top dressing: when and what to fertilize

A good growth of culture is promoted by regular feeding. Hibiscus swamp, care for which is not burdensome, should receive nutrients twice a season: nitrogen fertilizers (for example, humus or infusion of overripe manure) in the spring and phosphate-potash in autumn. Nitrogen stimulates the growth of culture, and phosphorus and potassium help the tissues of plants to survive the harsh winters.

What are the cuttings used for?

The first pruning of hibiscus is carried out when the shrub reaches 0.6 m in height. It is shortened by half the growth, thereby stimulating active branching and foliar formation. The main crop forming culture is carried out by the end of winter, cutting out dry peduncles, old stems and leaving the woody part of the bush. Note that pinching and pruning - procedures are mandatory, you can not ignore it, because hibiscus will stretch upwards, will not gain the necessary volume of green mass, i.e., significantly reduce decorativeness.

These are the main stages of care for such an exotic plant, as hibiscus marsh. Growing this beautiful culture - the procedure is simple and under the power of the most ignorant gardener.