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The birthplace of exotic cleoma is South America. An annual plant throws out an elongated inflorescence, consisting of four petals and collected on a long stem in a large brush. The flower is tall. The height of the stem reaches 1,5 m. What does cleoma look like, growing from seeds, when to plant, we will now try to find out.
Flower characteristics
Ornamental plant Cleome spinosa of the caper family grows as a bush. At the tops, long stems are formed, where buds appear. By the end of the season, soft shoots become woody. The volume of the inflorescence is given by stamen filaments and four petals. Throughout the season, after the death of the flower, new buds immediately appear. Small inflorescences are collected in a large brush with a diameter of up to 20 cm. With the advent of new flowers, the tops of the stems are elongated.
In place of faded inflorescences, boxes with seeds are formed. You don’t even have to delete them. Dried flowers will not interfere with the formation of new buds on the shoots. The color of the corolla is monophonic or with two shades. Cotyledon leaves and stems are covered with edging. When touched, a specific smell is released. Cleoma uses stench to repel pests.
The pungent odor does not prevent bees from pollinating the flower. In the homeland of cleoma, bats do this. A feature of the flower is resistance to sudden changes in humidity and temperature. Immunity allowed cleoma to take root in the vastness of our country.
Variety of varieties
Considering the photo of the cleoma flower and the rules of cultivation, it is worth briefly dwelling on the varieties. Domestic gardeners grow only two species: Hassleriana and Spinosa. It is difficult for a non-professional to find differences in varieties. Gardeners combined the flower into one species – prickly cleoma.
Now many new varieties have been bred. All flowers are obtained by crossing two types of glue. The result was bushes with beautiful inflorescences of white, pink, purple. The most popular variety is Cherry Queen. The stems of the bushes grow up to 60 cm in height. The flowers emit a pronounced aroma and grow up to 3 cm in diameter.
Peculiarities of growing
Self-cultivation of cleoma from seeds at home occurs in two ways: seedlings and sowing seeds immediately on the beds.
Soil preparation and landing site
It doesn’t matter if cleoma is grown by seedlings or sown directly on the garden, in any case, the soil and the place are prepared for the flower. The plant loves a sunny area with non-marshy soil. It is better to choose a hill so that after the rain the water drains, and does not accumulate in puddles.
Before planting cleoma seedlings in the last days of April, the garden bed is dug up on a shovel bayonet. Weed roots are removed from the soil. Organic matter is used as a fertilizer. Compost is best. In the absence of organics, they are replaced with complex fertilizer at the rate of 2 tbsp. l/1 m2 beds. The size of the flower bed for glue is calculated taking into account the landing pattern. Between each plant leave at least 50 cm of space for the growth of bushes.
Cleoma flower seeds can be sown even in autumn. The bed is prepared in a similar way. Sowing is carried out in rows. Extra plants are removed in the spring, observing a favorable scheme for planting bushes.
The nuances of growing seedlings
In cold regions, everyone is used to growing seedlings. Flowers are no exception. It remains only to figure out when to sow the cleoma, and how to do it. To get seedlings, you first need to collect seeds. When the cleoma inflorescences that have faded on the bushes turn into boxes, they are given time to dry. When crushing the pods, small brown-black grains will fall. Seeds are collected in a bag and stored until spring.
In the first days of March, the time comes for sowing cleoma seeds for seedlings, but first the grains are prepared. For better germination, seeds are soaked in a growth stimulator. The drug is bought in a store or resorted to folk methods using aloe flower juice.
The soil mixture for cleoma is prepared at the rate of two parts of compost and earth, plus one part of sand. Soil 15 cm thick is poured into a box, sprinkled with ash on top, grooves 1 cm deep are cut into which the seeds are immersed. From above, the grains are covered with loose humus. The box is covered with a transparent film, leaving it warm until germination. If the seeds have gone through the soaking process, sprouts will appear in 15 days.
When growing seedlings from cleoma seeds, it is required to provide the flower with maximum care at the initial stage. The procedure involves timely watering. It should be plentiful, but not frequent. Cleoma bushes love moist and loose soil without the accumulation of puddles. For disinfection, a few crystals of manganese are added to the irrigation water.
Cleoma seedlings provide good light. In the evening, turn on artificial lighting. After the appearance of two adult leaves, the seedlings dive, planting in separate containers. After 10 days, and then another two weeks later, nitrogenous top dressing is applied. When the cleoma has adapted and started growing, seedlings do not need artificial lighting. Before planting in the garden, the plants are hardened by taking them outside or into a cool room.
Sowing seeds in the garden
Now let’s look at how to grow cleoma from seeds without seedlings. Autumn is considered the best time for sowing. Seeds will undergo a natural soaking and hardening procedure before the onset of spring, and in the spring they will sprout quickly. Grooves 1,5 cm deep are cut along the bed with fertilized soil. Cleoma grains are thrown in bulk. Sprinkle with earth on top and lay any organic insulation: grass, leaves, tops of garden crops. With the onset of spring, the shelter is removed, and after the emergence of seedlings, thinning is carried out.
Spring sowing of seeds is carried out at the end of frost. The procedure for preparing the beds, as well as further care, remain unchanged. The only difference is the condition of the seeds. For sowing, awakened grains that have passed the soaking stage are used. You can sow dry seeds, but then flowering will begin late.
Flower care
Cleoma bushes do not require complex care. It is enough to water in a timely manner, weed weeds, loosen the soil and it is advisable to fertilize.
For gardeners involved in growing cleoma from seeds at home, you should familiarize yourself with a number of rules:
- a sunny and wind-sheltered area is suitable for planting cleoma;
- a heat-loving flower is planted with seedlings after the end of night frosts;
- between the bushes maintain a distance of 50 cm;
- fertilize the ground in the garden before planting seedlings;
- cleoma roots, when transplanted into open ground, are moistened with Kornevin’s solution;
- flowers are poured with a solution of humate, and sprayed with a stress reliever on top.
Cleoma bushes adorn the flower bed with lush inflorescences from mid-June until the onset of autumn cold weather. The flower is useful to grow in the garden. The odor emitted attracts pollinating insects.
Bush feeding
Initially, after planting, the seedlings will have enough nutrients introduced during the preparation of the soil. If there is a weak development of the bushes, nitrogen-containing preparations are introduced. Before flowering, it is useful to feed the glue with complex fertilizer for flowers. The composition of such drugs includes a minimum of nitrogen, and more phosphorus and potassium.
List of summer procedures
Throughout the growing season around the bushes loosen the soil and weed the grass. Mulch will help to get rid of weeds and retain moisture. Watering the flower is carried out only in hot dry weather. A lot of water is poured, but it should not remain a puddle, but evenly soak into the soil around the trunk.
In summer, the state of the flower is occasionally looked after. If the bushes are stunted, weakened, bloom poorly, plantings are treated with a solution of the Zircon preparation. With an increase in the height of the plant, the stems are tied to a support. The easiest option is to drive in wooden stakes or scraps of a metal rod and tie a bush to them with a rope.
Flower care in winter
Cleoma is considered an annual plant. With the onset of cold weather in autumn, the bush dies off. Dry plants are removed from the garden, and new seeds can be sown in their place in the winter. The bed must be covered with organic waste until spring so that the grains do not freeze.
Causes of non-germination of seeds
A small percentage of the germination of cleoma seeds is explained only by the poor quality of the grains or a violation of the flower growing technology. Self-harvesting seed grain should be taken from developed bushes with large inflorescences. Cleoma seeds are given time to mature inside the pods. Unripe grain will not germinate in spring.
To increase the percentage of germination, flower seeds are soaked in Epin before sowing. Excellent results are shown by a sharp change in temperature. Boxes with crops are exposed under the sun during the day, and at night they are taken out to the balcony or to an unheated room.
Dangerous diseases and pests
Cleoma is so adapted to the environment that its aroma does not scare away only beneficial pollinating insects. All pests try to fly around this flower side. Sometimes vegetable growers plant a couple of cleoma bushes around beds with garden crops. The emitted smell repels pests, and the bees boldly do their useful work.
A flower can get sick only through the fault of a gardener or a rainy summer. Frequent watering, rains and closely located groundwater will lead to decay of the root system of the bush.
The use of flowers in landscape decoration
A tall and long flowering bush will decorate a flower garden, broken along the border. Among other annuals, cleoma is planted in the background. In front, there are undersized flowers. Bushes with bright inflorescences look like a salute among a green meadow.
Cleoma can be planted together with perennials. It is best combined with white flowers of cosmea, rose or lobelia. A tall flowering dicentra plant is organically suitable.
The flower is great for decorating bouquets. Cut cleoma can stand in a vase with water for up to ten days. For bouquets, a flower is planted in a garden among vegetables so that cutting does not violate the aesthetics of a flower bed in a conspicuous place.
The video talks about growing cleoma:
To decorate the yard with glue, you don’t even need to have design skills. It is enough just to sow the seeds along the hedge and the whole warm season the yard will stand out on the street with a flowering meadow.