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A beautiful flower garden is a mandatory attribute of every suburban area. In addition to performing a decorative function, flowers are able to attract insects to the site, which are so necessary for pollinating fruit trees and vegetable crops. Seeds of the desired colors can be purchased separately, or can be purchased in a ready-made combination. Such prefabricated sets of flower seeds include a mixture of low perennials “Flower Cocktail”, which will be discussed in this article.
Characteristics of mixtures
Flower Cocktail is a specially formulated blend of low perennial flowers ideal for flower beds and lawn beds. The height of each flower included in the Flower Cocktail will not exceed 30 centimeters. All the flowers included in this mixture have a different shape and color. In addition, they have a rather long flowering period, which covers almost the entire summer.
Based on a photo from a package of perennial seeds, as well as feedback from gardeners, we have compiled a rough list of flowers that make up the Flower Cocktail mixture.
decorative bow
Ornamental onion or allium is one of the most unpretentious and showy perennial flowers. Some of its species can even be eaten.
Allium looks very impressive during flowering, which lasts from late spring to late July. At this time, a decorative bow shoots up a long stem, on which a spherical umbrella inflorescence is located. But even after the end of flowering, the decorative function of this onion relative does not disappear. Its inflorescences dry out, and become like large dandelions. Maybe that’s why the decorative bow attracts all the kids.
Primrose
This perennial undersized flower belongs to the most beautiful representatives of the Primrose family. In addition, primrose is one of the earliest perennials. The flowering period of primrose begins in early spring, and ends at the end of summer. In total, just over 500 species of these undersized perennials are known, some of which are listed in the Red Book.
In addition to early and abundant flowering, primrose has a number of distinctive advantages:
- winter hardiness;
- rapid reproduction both by seeds and vegetatively;
- ease of cultivation and care;
- decorative foliage.
Primula looks great not only in discounts and borders, but also on alpine slides.
Smolevka
This undersized perennial flower belongs to the Carnation family. Smolevka got its name due to its resinous, sticky stems that crawl a little on the ground. On the territory of Our Country, about 150 types of smolevka can grow, despite the fact that there are more than 500 of them in total.
A single resin looks rather inconspicuous due to the small size of the flowers. But multiple tar plants, forming a carpet on the ground, look very impressive during flowering. Smolevka blooms for quite a long time from May to early autumn. At the same time, its distinctive feature is night flowering.
Smolevka is not only a very beautiful flower, but also very useful. Since ancient times, it has been used to treat nervous disorders and inflammatory processes.
Phlox-shaped
The styloid phlox is a creeping ground cover plant with a height of 16 to 18 centimeters. This phlox got its name because of the narrow pointed leaf plate, similar to small “saws”.
During the season, the styloid phlox blooms twice:
- from May to early June;
- from August to September.
The varied color range of this perennial flower includes pink, white, purple and other colors. The awl-shaped phlox is very undemanding to care for, which makes it one of the best flowers for beginner gardeners.
Recommendations for growing
A mixture of undersized perennial flowers “Flower Cocktail” can be grown in two ways:
- through seedlings at the end of April.
- sowing seeds in the ground in early May.
In both cases, the seeds of perennial flowers are carefully scattered over the surface of the earth and lightly sprinkled. The first shoots of perennials will begin to appear after 2 weeks from planting. When the young shoots of flowers get stronger, they need to dive. If seedlings of perennials were planted immediately in a permanent place, then they need to be thinned out so that there are from 15 to 20 centimeters between plants.
Perennials should be watered sparingly as the topsoil dries out. Also, several times a season, you can feed perennials with any organic or mineral fertilizer.