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Clarkia is an ornamental plant with an annual life cycle. In a summer cottage, a flower can advantageously decorate the landscape, but it must be planted and grown in compliance with important rules.
Clarkia description
Clarkia (Clarkia) is a herbaceous annual plant of the Cypress family. It has erect branched stems, often with pubescence, and sessile elongated leaves of bright green or bluish color. The plates are in sequential order.
Clarkia flowers are axillary, simple or double. The hue can be white, pink, red-purple or lilac depending on the species. Most often, the buds are collected in racemose or spike-shaped inflorescences, sometimes they are solitary. The calyx of the Clarkia is tubular, and the corolla of the plant is composed of four three-lobed or whole flowers.
Clarkia can grow up to 90 cm
In its natural form, the culture grows on the Pacific coast of the United States and in Chile. Artificially, the flower is bred all over the world, although out of several dozen varieties, only four are popular.
The difference between Clarkia and Godetia
Clarkia and Godetia are very similar to each other and are considered closely related cultures. However, there are significant differences between them:
- Clarkia stretches up to 90 cm above the ground in height. Godetia stems rise up to 40 cm.
- Clarkia flowers are miniature, no more than 3,5 cm in diameter, often located on the stem. Godetia buds are larger, up to 6-8 cm wide, with a satin surface of the petals.
Ornamental plants have similar growing requirements, which is why they are often placed in the same flower bed in the garden.
Species and varieties
Among the numerous varieties of Clarkia, four varieties are most famous and popular. They do best in temperate climates and do not have high requirements for cultivation.
Terry
The annual terry Clarkia is not a species, but a whole group of varieties with lush inflorescences. It grows up to 36 cm above the ground and has branched stems with double buds up to 4,5 cm. Flowering is white, lilac or rich carmine, depending on the particular variety.
Terry clarkia retains its decorative effect for two months
Fantasy
Clarkia Fantasia (Fantaziya) – a mixture of seeds that allows you to grow flowers up to 75 cm tall. The buds of plants of this variety are axillary, most often terry, less often simple. The color ranges from white to pale red and deep carmine.
Clarkia Fantasy blooms in mid-June
Pretty
Clarkia pretty (Clarkia pulchella) is a dwarf plant with erect stems. The leaves of the species are green, long and narrow, the flowers are simple, collected in several pieces at the tops of the shoots. The shade of the petals is usually pink or lilac. Flowering culture begins in the third decade of June.
A pretty Clarkia grows up to an average of 40 cm.
Elegant
Clarkia graceful, or marigold (Clarkia elegans), is a tall annual plant up to 1 m above the ground. It has slender but strong stems with woody undersides, producing double or single type flowers in white to purple hues. The decorative period lasts from early July to September.
Graceful Clarkia prefers landing in sunny places
Growing clarkia from seeds
Cultivation of clarkia flowers is usually carried out by seedling method. This allows you to protect young plants from negative external conditions and transfer them to the ground after the annuals are a little stronger.
When to plant a Clarkia for seedlings
Sowing seeds for seedlings is usually carried out in March. In this case, you can transfer the flower to open ground in June, after the final passage of return frosts.
Clarkia sowing scheme
Before sowing plant seeds in closed containers, they must be treated against possible fungal diseases. To do this, planting material is immersed in a light pink solution of potassium permanganate for 15 minutes, and then dried from moisture on a paper towel.
The seed sowing scheme is as follows:
- A shallow but wide container is prepared for the plant.
- The container is filled with a nutritious slightly acidic substrate with the addition of rotted manure, peat and river sand.
- Make small indentations at a distance of about 2 cm from each other.
- Sow seeds in holes and cover with soil.
- Spray the soil abundantly with a spray bottle and cover the container with glass or film.
Before germination, the container with seedlings is placed in a warm place without direct access to the sun. As soon as the Clarkia sprouts, you will need to remove the shelter from it and move the box to a lighted windowsill.
The optimum temperature for growing seedlings of Clarkia is 20-22 ° C
Care of seedlings
Growing seedlings at home is not associated with any difficulties. Before planting in open ground, seedlings should be watered regularly as the substrate dries. The length of daylight hours should be at least 12 hours, therefore, with a lack of sun, the plants need to be highlighted. When the first true leaves appear, the Clarkia dive, leaving only the strongest seedlings at intervals of 6-8 cm between individual specimens.
Shortly before transplanting into open ground, the plant begins to harden. To do this, the seedlings are taken out into the fresh air, first for a couple of hours, and then gradually increase the duration of their stay on the street.
Transplantation in open ground
Landing in open ground for culture is carried out in May or June, depending on climatic conditions. A place for a flower is selected well-lit, with slightly acidic soil. The site is prepared a couple of weeks before planting the crop. If the soil is too alkaline, when digging, 1,5 kg of peat and 60 g of sulfur per meter are added to it. Also, complex minerals are added to the soil – nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.
The planting algorithm is as follows:
- Shallow holes are made on the prepared site.
- The grown seedlings are removed from the container not one at a time, but in small groups, keeping an earthen clod.
- The plants are planted in holes at a distance of 20-40 cm from each other.
- Fill the remaining voids in the pits with nutrient soil and water the area with clarkia.
Immediately after planting, a stick or rail must be installed near each hole. Clarkia stems are thin and fragile, so they need support.
After planting, the Clarkia must be pinched to encourage tillering.
Features of care
The flower does not impose strict requirements on growing conditions. Caring for him is quite easy if you follow the basic rules.
Watering
Ornamental culture reacts positively to the introduction of water, but does not like waterlogging. The annual is watered only in severe drought at intervals of twice a week. The rest of the time, the flower has enough natural precipitation. Watering is carried out using settled, slightly warm water, the liquid is applied so that it is evenly distributed around the plant, and does not accumulate near the stem.
After the next moistening, the soil at the roots of the Clarkia must be slightly loosened. This prevents stagnation of water and also improves the access of oxygen.
Additional fertilizing
Clarkia needs top dressing, but they are carried out only during the flowering period of the plant with a frequency of once every two weeks. It is necessary to use complex mineral mixtures, for example, Rainbow or Kemira preparations.
Organics are not used for Clarkia. But to improve the flowering performance, it is allowed to sprinkle the soil near the roots of the plant with wood ash.
Trimming
In the summer, Clarkia needs to be trimmed from time to time, removing wilted buds. This allows you to extend the decorative period and provide more lush flowering.
Classical sanitary or formative pruning for an annual plant is not carried out. With the onset of autumn, the bushes are simply cut flush with the ground, and shortly before the cold weather they dig up the site, remove the remnants of the roots and burn them in a remote corner of the garden.
How to collect seeds
Plant seeds for planting next season do not need to be bought at the store, they can be collected in the summer from adult bushes. By the end of the decorative period, it is necessary to wrap the largest and most spectacular buds in gauze or fabric bags.
About a month after the flower wilts, the seed pods formed in its place will reach maturity. At this point, it will be possible to cut them off, unfold the gauze or cloth over the spread newspaper and pour out the grains. After several days of drying, the seeds are poured into a paper bag and placed in a dark place for storage until spring.
Protection against pests and diseases
Decorative clarkia on the site may suffer from some fungal diseases and harmful insects. The danger to the plant is:
- mealybug – you can recognize the pest by the wax coating on the leaves, similar to cotton wool;
The fight against mealybugs is carried out with Aktara or Fitoverm preparations
- rust – the fungus develops under waterlogged conditions, manifests itself as yellowish-brown spots with dark edging on the plates of clarkia;
To eliminate rust, Bordeaux liquid 1% is used.
- downy mildew – with this disease, a light coating and discolored or dark rounded spots form on the underside of the leaves of clarcia;
To cope with downy mildew allows the drug Fundazol or similar means
- flower midges – insects appear with excessive moisture and damage mainly the roots, pests can be eliminated with a solution of potassium permanganate or sulfur preparations.
Flower midge can harm clarkia at the seedling stage
For the prevention of fungal diseases and parasites, agricultural technology must be observed. Watering is carried out so that the soil does not remain swampy, the soil is regularly loosened and weeds are removed.
Photo of Clarkia in landscape design
A low flower on the site is planted in artistic groups or in solo order. Most often, the plant is used:
- for decorating paths;
Clarkia emphasizes the lines of paths in the garden
- for planting near walls and fences;
Clarkia helps bring dull facades and fences to life
- in large flower beds;
In artistic groups, you can combine multi-colored varieties of clarkia to create contrasts.
When planting a crop in close proximity to other plants, you need to ensure that their requirements for agricultural technology coincide. If desired, you can also plant a flower in pots and flowerpots on terraces and balconies.
Conclusion
Clarkia is a beautiful annual plant with small but bright flowers. The culture easily takes root in a temperate climate, because in any case it does not go to winter. When growing, it is necessary to provide the plant with only regular watering and moderate feeding.
