Gardeners are constantly looking for bright and unusual plants for their flower beds. When originality and decorativeness are combined with ease of care – it’s even better. The unpretentious and outwardly attractive lychnis Rosetta is a very suitable option for those who cannot devote much time and effort to the garden, but want to have a beautiful flower garden.

Description of the variety and characteristics

Lychnis, popularly known as “dawn”, is a perennial plant from the Carnation family. In nature, it is widely distributed in the Far East, Siberia, and northern China. On the basis of different types of this plant, breeders have created many “cultivated” varieties, including sparkling lychnis Rosetta. They successfully take root throughout Our Country in a temperate climate.

The flower attracted the attention of specialists with its decorative effect and unpretentiousness. Work in the USSR was actively carried out in the 70s of the twentieth century. By the method of experimental polyploidy, its new tetraploid varieties were created, which differ from the “natural” ones in the larger size of the inflorescences and the brightness of their color. One of the most successful achievements of specialists is sparkling lychnis Rosetta.

Unlike intensively branching wild-growing specimens, the “cultivated” lychnis Rosetta has one, but very thick and powerful stem. It does not need a garter or other support, it does not break even with strong gusts of wind and heavy rains. The stem branches only at the top.

Lychnis Rosetta is a perennial rhizomatous shrub. The average height is 60-65 cm, in favorable conditions the plant stretches up to 1 m. The stems and leaves are of a noble dark green color. The leaf plates are large, leathery, rough to the touch, with a “fleshy” edge. The stems are also rough. The shape of the leaves is heart-shaped, with a pointed tip. They are assembled in a basal rosette. The number in each is 15-19 pieces.

Important! The roots of the “cultivated” plant inherited an interesting feature from their “parent”. They are moist to the touch, and if you rub them in your hands, they begin to “soap”. The roots can be used for washing hands and laundry if desired, as women did several centuries ago.

Flowering is very bright, pleases the gardener for about a month and a half. It begins in the second decade of July, ends at the end of summer.

Inflorescences reach 12-15 cm in diameter, individual flowers – 2-3,5 cm. The shape of the flowers is tubular, the inflorescences are a cross between spherical and cone-capitate. They are quite loose, each with at least 3 flowers. The petals are twisted, rather wide, four-parted, very bright in color (something between lilac, crimson-pink and raspberry). Artists call this shade scarlet.

Lychnis sparkling Rosetta: planting and care, photo

Blooming lychnis Rosetta is like a bright “cloud” in a flower bed

After flowering, the plant bears fruit. According to the botanical classification, this is a polynutlet. It contains large (up to 2 cm in diameter) seeds similar to kidneys. They are suitable for reproduction, new specimens of the flower can be obtained independently.

Lichnis – “dawn” – a flower for the “lazy”

Important! In one place, a flower can grow for a maximum of 5 years. Then the plant needs to be transplanted and updated.

Methods for propagating Lychnis sparkling Rosetta

Lychnis sparkling Rosetta can be propagated both vegetatively and generatively. The resulting plants retain the varietal characteristics of the “parent”.

Growing Lychnis Rosetta from seeds

When collecting seeds, it is important not to miss the moment, otherwise the “box” with them will burst, they will scatter. To prevent this from happening, the fruit, when it starts to crack, needs to be wrapped with a napkin, fixing it on the shoot.

Seeds remain viable for 3-4 years. Before planting, personally collected planting material, in addition to checking for germination and disinfection to prevent fungal diseases, needs to be stratified. The seeds are mixed with wet peat or sand and the container with them is sent to the refrigerator for 12-15 days.

Lychnis sparkling Rosetta: planting and care, photo

To maintain germination for a long time, the seeds of Lychnis Rosetta should be stored in a paper or linen bag, in a cool, dark room.

You can grow a flower and seedlings. But gardeners rarely resort to this method of reproduction. This means an additional investment of time and effort, and the seeds are already characterized by good germination.

Important! At home, the seeds germinate for a long time, for 2,5-3 weeks, before planting, the seedlings need to be hardened off, the seedlings are taken out into the open air, gradually extending their time on the street from 2-3 hours to the whole night.

Cuttings

The best time for cuttings is the first half of June. From healthy plants at the age of 2-3 years, the tops of shoots 20-25 cm long are cut off. The lower oblique cut is kept in a solution of any root formation stimulator for 2-3 hours and planted in a greenhouse or in a garden bed, installing a canopy of white covering material on top. The accustomed plants are transferred to the flower bed in early autumn. Cuttings take root in almost 100% of cases.

Lichnis or Viscaria smolka Reproduction in autumn

Planting and caring for Lychnis Rosetta

Caring for Lychnis Rosetta is extremely simple. No specific agricultural technology is required for the plant. It adapts to a wide range of climatic and weather conditions.

When and how to plant Lychnis Rosetta seeds

Seeds are planted in spring (April-May) and before winter (October-November). Lychnis will bloom this summer or next year, but there will be few buds in both cases.

When planting in open ground, the depth of embedding the seeds of Lychnis Rosetta depends on the time of year. In spring, holes of 2-3 cm are enough, in autumn – 6-8 cm. In the second case, in order for the seeds to survive the winter, they are sprinkled with a mixture of humus with peat or sand, and a covering material is covered over the flower bed. The interval between future bushes of Lychnis Rosetta is 30-35 cm, row spacing is 40-50 cm.

Important! Seeds and seedlings are planted in the flower bed when the threat of return spring frosts has passed. The minimum air temperature is 8-12 ºС.
Important! Lychnis Rosetta is a moisture-loving plant. It is advisable to plant it where groundwater approaches the surface by about 1 m.

Rosetta is unpretentious in terms of lighting – it adapts to both direct sunlight and partial shade. This does not affect the abundance and brightness of flowering.

How to care

Features of caring for Lychnis Rosetta:

  1. Watering. Usually once a week is enough. In the heat give water twice as often. The norm for an adult plant is 7-10 liters. It is best to water it in the morning, lychnis most actively absorbs water during the day.
  2. Loosening. It is carried out 1-2 times a month a couple of hours after watering. The depth of soil elaboration in a flower bed with lychnis Rosetta is 4-5 cm.
  3. Top dressing. Lychnis Rosetta does not tolerate an abundance of organic matter. For this reason, it is preferable to plant it in a light, “poor” substrate. During the season (from mid-April to the end of August), about once a month, it is fed with any fertilizer for flowering garden plants with a minimum of nitrogen in the composition.
  4. Wintering. Frost resistance of Lychnis Rosetta is up to -30-35 ºС. Therefore, no special preparation for cold weather is required for the plant. It is only necessary to cut off the dried shoots, leaving “stumps” 3-5 cm high.
Lychnis sparkling Rosetta: planting and care, photo

Irrigation for Lychnis Rosetta is the most important agrotechnical event

Important! If you regularly remove dry inflorescences, you can extend the flowering of Lychnis Rosetta for another 10-15 days.

Pests and diseases

Insects are not too interested in the flower. But occasionally it can be attacked by such “universal” garden pests as aphids and leafworms. It is worth inspecting the plant regularly to notice insects immediately after they appear.

An effective preventive measure is spraying the plant and soil in the flower bed with any sharp-smelling infusions every 10-12 days. For these purposes, needles, citrus peel, tomato and potato tops, onion and garlic arrows, wormwood, and tansy are used. If insects attack Lychnis Rosetta en masse, they are treated with any broad-spectrum insecticides (the frequency and concentration of the solution are indicated in the instructions).

The main cause of fungal diseases (rust, powdery mildew) is excessive “crowding” in the flower bed with rainy cool weather conducive to their development. To cope with them will help the removal of all the affected parts of the lychnis Rosetta (leaves, flowers, shoots) and treatment with fungicides.

Application in landscape design

In the flowerbed, lychnis Rosetta is quite “self-sufficient”. A bright spot on a green background (for example, in the middle of a lawn or in front of decorative coniferous trees) immediately attracts attention. It looks good against the background of light walls, fences, arbors.

If you want to create a plant “company”, for this fit:

  • bells;
  • primrose;
  • asters;
  • chrysanthemums;
  • carnations;
  • gaillardia;
  • grain field
Important! It is better to admire a flower in a flower bed. After cutting in a vase, it will last no more than 2-3 days.
Lychnis sparkling Rosetta: planting and care, photo

The simplest and most obvious solution is to make a curb from Rosetta

The plant is suitable for decorating mixborders, rockeries, alpine slides. If you look at a photo of Rosetta lychnis in flower beds, it is easy to understand that it combines very effectively with any white, cream and bright yellow flowers. For the winter, the plant can even be transplanted into a pot of a suitable size and taken home with you.

Conclusion

Lychnis Rosetta can grow even a novice gardener. The plant is very undemanding in terms of care, it reproduces easily, rarely suffers from diseases and pests. In the flower bed, Lychnis Rosetta harmoniously combines with many plants, but it also looks good “alone”.

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