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Ground cover plants are invariably in demand by gardeners who want to disguise not particularly presentable places on the site and “bald spots” in the flower beds. Many of them are very decorative and unpretentious. Both criteria are matched by a yazkolka. There are several varieties of it, all of which are suitable for beginners. Cultivation of a sapling Snow carpet from seeds and further care for it is within the power of even inexperienced gardeners.
History of breeding
The Bieberstein sapling, on the basis of which the Snow Carpet cultivar was bred, has been known to gardeners for a long time, since the 20s of the 0,5th century. It was not subjected to targeted and multi-stage selection, such as roses, chrysanthemums, lilies. Outwardly, it differs slightly from its “wild” relative. Specialists only worked on the size of the flowers (they became 0,8-XNUMX cm larger in diameter) and shoots, making them spread.
From the “ancestor” of the weed, the Snow Carpet inherited all the qualities due to which this weed was considered exceptionally tenacious. It successfully adapts to the peculiarities of the local climate and the vagaries of the weather, takes root in the substrate of almost any quality, requires minimal care, it does not need special preparation for winter.
Description of the variety and characteristics
Yaskolka Snow carpet is a plant from the Carnation family. In nature, its “relatives” are found throughout Eurasia, North and South America, the North African coast, even in Australia. The name (in Greek “horned”) is due to the specific shape of the fruit. However, “cultivated” varieties are rarely tied.
Yaskolka Snow Carpet is a herbaceous perennial with intensely branching, thin shoots covered with a thick short “pile”. They rise above the soil by a maximum of 25-30 cm, then droop and creep.
The roots are very developed, actively growing in width and depth. In one copy of the snow carpet, they occupy an area of about 1 m2. Stems lying on the ground quickly take root.
Leaves without petioles, entire, small (4-5 cm), rather narrow, also with edging. Because of this, they acquire an unusual silvery-green hue. The size of the leaf plates allows you to reduce the evaporation area, since the snow carpet can do without moisture for a long time.
Flowering begins at the end of May, stretches for about a month. The flowers are about 2 cm in diameter, look like stars. Petals (there are always 5 of them) are snow-white, the core is bright yellow. The edge of each seems to be slightly “torn”. Flowering of a sapling Winter carpet is very plentiful. The buds are concentrated on the tops of the shoots. Because of this, the plant resembles a snowdrift.
The flowers of the winter carpet are modest, but there are a lot of them
Advantages and disadvantages of the variety
The undeniable advantages of the Winter Carpet can be attributed to:
- Decorative throughout the active growing season. The flowering plant and its foliage look very beautiful.
- Wide range of applications in landscape design.
- Cold resistance. In central Our Country and even in the more severe climatic conditions of the Urals, Siberia, and the Far East, the weasel hibernates successfully. It can tolerate temperatures as low as -40°C.
- General undemanding to the gardener. This also applies to the quality of the substrate, and the landing site, and care during the growing season.
- “Stress tolerance”. Yaskolka Winter carpet is not particularly sensitive to heat, drought, direct sunlight. She will survive, and if the summer turns out to be cool and rainy.
- Very good immunity. Pest attacks, fungal diseases for snails are an exceptional phenomenon.
- Ease of reproduction. Purchased seeds are distinguished by excellent germination, seedlings quickly take root and start growing after planting in a flower bed. The plant reproduces even without the participation of the gardener – the stems take root, the root system expands.
The last advantage of the winter carpet, in the eyes of some gardeners, is, on the contrary, a disadvantage. If it is not cut off in a timely and regular manner, it can quickly “spread” along the flower bed and the plot, simply “hammering” other flowers and other herbaceous plants. Gardeners have not been able to identify other objective disadvantages over several centuries of cultivation.
The fact that the winter carpet is actively growing is not liked by all gardeners.
Methods of reproduction
Yaskolka Winter carpet successfully reproduces without human help. Often he even faces the opposite problem – how to restrain the growth of a flower. In addition to planting seeds, there are two vegetative methods:
- Division of the bush. Instances aged 3-4 years in the spring, before the start of the active growing season, are dug out together with an earthen clod, trying to injure the root system to a minimum, divided into 3-4 equal parts with a sharp knife or shovel, immediately transplanted to a new place.
- Cutting. At the end of June or at the beginning of July, the top is cut off 12-15 cm long, without buds. All leaves are removed from the lower third, the base is kept in a solution of a root formation stimulator for 2-3 hours and immediately planted in a permanent place. Until the cutting begins to grow, it is important to protect it from direct sunlight.
Winter carpet cuttings take root quickly, in 10-12 days
Planting and caring for a perennial sapling Snow carpet
Growing seedlings of a perennial seedling Snow carpet from seeds at home is a task that even a novice gardener can handle. Preparing a flower bed is also easy. It is only necessary, if possible, to take into account the “wishes” of the plant, of which it has a minimum.
When to plant seedlings on seedlings Snow carpet
Terms depend on the region of cultivation. The seedlings of the snow carpet are ready for transplanting into the ground at the age of 25-30 days. It is carried out when the risk of return spring frosts is minimized. For central Our Country, a favorable period begins in mid-May, in a more severe climate it is worth waiting until the beginning of June, in the south you can plant as early as early May. Accordingly, seedlings are sown for seedlings during April.
Soil and seed preparation
The preparation of a flower bed for a snow carpet begins with the choice of a suitable place. In principle, the plant will take root almost anywhere, but in completely unsuitable areas, the pace of development slows down sharply, flowering is poor. Jaskolka prefers good lighting or light partial shade. The quality and fertility of the substrate is unimportant if it is not swampy and groundwater does not approach the surface closer than 1 m. The ideal option is a fairly light, sandy soil with a slightly acidic pH.
The preparation goes like this:
- 20-25 days before planting, dig a flower bed to a depth of about one bayonet of a shovel, introducing humus or compost (2-3 l / m²).
- Immediately before planting, loosen the soil, mark holes 8-10 cm deep with an interval of at least 50 cm (preferably 70-80 cm) between them.
Seed preparation for planting requires standard. Although, in principle, you can do without it at all, the germination of the planting material is good. From the seeds of the snow carpet, first select those that definitely do not germinate (they pop up if placed in a container with saline), then soak the remaining ones in a biostimulator for 30-40 minutes.
Planting a sapling Snow carpet for seedlings
Planting seeds for seedlings takes place according to the following algorithm:
- Fill peat pots or plastic cups with special soil for seedlings or a mixture of peat with “baking powder” (sand, perlite, vermiculite) in equal proportions.
- Create a “greenhouse” by covering them with glass or a plastic bag. Remove containers in a dark place. Ensure the temperature is 22-25 °C. Ventilate daily, getting rid of accumulated condensate.
The percentage of germination of the seeds of the snow carpet is large, but they germinate unevenly. The process stretches for 10-20 days.
Seedling care and planting in open ground
Containers with seedlings are transferred to a well-lit place. Water them no more than once every 10-12 days. Fertilizers before transplanting to the flower bed are not required. A pick, if more than one seed was planted in one pot, is carried out when the seedlings reach a height of 5 cm, and they have 2-3 true leaves.
It is more convenient to plant the seeds of the sapling immediately in separate containers, so that later you do not have to dive seedlings
It is best to plant snow carpet flowers in open ground on a cloudy, but relatively warm day. About an hour before the procedure, the ground in containers with seedlings is watered abundantly. So it will be easier to remove them without damaging the roots and the clod of soil on them.
Plants are planted in prepared holes. If desired, a handful of sifted wood ash or a teaspoon of complex fertilizer containing nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium can be thrown to the bottom. The gap between the earthen clod and the walls of the hole is filled with soil. Having reached the top, it is carefully tamped, the seedlings of the snow carpet are watered abundantly, spending about a liter of water for each.
Aftercare
Yaskolka Snow carpet is a truly trouble-free plant, the care of which takes the gardener a minimum of time and effort. The flower bed does not require weeding, mulching and loosening. Weeds simply cannot break through a dense “carpet”, the soil under it is not baked with a crust, and water does not evaporate quickly.
The plant requires the following agrotechnical measures:
- Watering. Yaskolka can get by with natural precipitation. But if dry and hot weather has been established for a long time, it is recommended to water it every 5-7 days, spending 8-10 liters of water per adult plant.
- Additional fertilizing. If the substrate is quite fertile, there will be enough humus or rotted compost poured into the flower bed every 2-3 years in the spring. With poor soil in a flower bed, once a month during the active growing season, any complex fertilizers are applied for decorative flowering perennials or natural organics (infusions of manure, bird droppings, weed “tea”).
- Trimming. If the snow carpet grows excessively, “unnecessary” shoots are simply shortened during the summer. If desired, you can give the correct geometric configuration, the bush tolerates such a “haircut” well. When flowering ends, it is recommended to get rid of all faded buds and shorten the stems by about a third, stimulating branching.
- Preparation for winter. If particularly severe frosts are predicted, the flower bed can be covered with 2-3 layers of any air-permeable covering material. It is better not to use spruce branches and fallen leaves.
After flowering, it is recommended to shortly “mow” the sapling
Pests and diseases
Yaskolka The winter carpet, with minimal care and a well-chosen landing site, does not suffer from diseases and pests in principle. Excellent immunity is one of the main advantages of the plant.
The only problem that a gardener growing a sapling may face is rot. It develops if you are too zealous with watering, not considering how often it rains, turning the flower bed almost into a swamp. Another reason for the appearance of rot is landing in muddy or peaty soil, where water stagnates for a long time.
Having found “watery” dark spots on the leaves of the plant, blackening and wetting bases of the shoots, mold in the flower bed, it is necessary to sharply reduce watering, allowing the soil to dry 8-10 cm deep. All damaged parts of the plants are cut off, capturing another 0,5 cm of tissues that appear healthy in appearance. Severely affected specimens are completely destroyed.
In the future, you need to adjust the irrigation schedule. Within a month after the discovery of the disease – use not ordinary water, but a solution of any fungicide, reducing the concentration of the drug by half compared to that recommended in the instructions.
What plants are combined with
Judging by the photos of flower beds and reviews of the Snow Carpet, gardeners prefer the most obvious options for using it in landscape design – creating “green” carpets or “rivers” that occupy the space between tiles or boulders, decorating alpine slides and rockeries.
Carpet from a sapling is a suitable option for filling any empty spaces on the site.
It looks impressive, but by combining the Snow Carpet with other plants, you can create more original flower beds. As “neighbors” fit:
- any large bulbous (lilies, tulips, certain varieties of daffodils);
- all flowers in blue-violet tones (lavender, sage, cornflowers, bluebells, armeria, sisyurinchiy, echium);
- decorative leafy plants with silvery, whitish, bluish-gray leaves, used to create the so-called moon gardens (rejuvenated, “cultural” wormwood, yarrow).
Companions in the flower bed for the chickweed Snow carpet should be selected so that they can resist its growth
Conclusion
Growing a sapling Snow carpet from seeds is a task that even a novice gardener can handle. The plant lives up to its name. The flowerbeds really look like non-melting snowdrifts. A non-flowering sapling retains its decorative effect until the end of the active growing season. Gardeners appreciate it for its undemanding care, fast growth rates, ease of reproduction, and the original shade of the leaves.