How to grow notched kermek for a flower bed. Kermek or limonium: features of care, cultivation, reproduction How to replant broad-leaved Kermek soil

Original design in personal plots, unique floral compositions can be created using the picturesque dried flower Kermek Tatarian (in other words - statice). It is widespread and unpretentious.

Description of the plant

Tatarian Kermek (Goniolimon tataricum) is a perennial herbaceous subshrub. The natural habitat is the steppes, plains, rocky slopes of Russia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, and the Caucasus. Belongs to the Goniolimon genus.

It reaches a height of 0.3-0.4 m. Its shape resembles a ball, for which it is popularly called tumbleweed. The root is rod-shaped and powerful. It branches a meter deep, making replanting almost impossible.

At the base, leathery elongated leaves are collected, forming a rosette. Peduncles with spike-shaped inflorescences also branch from it. The flowers are small, shaped like a bell or a funnel. The color is white with a scarlet corolla. The flowering period is the first months of summer.

Medicinal properties

For a long time, the perennial herbaceous plant has been used for medicinal purposes.

It includes:

• tannins;
• ellagic and gallic acids;
• phytoncides.

The perennial Kermek Tatarian has medicinal properties:

• painkillers;
• anti-inflammatory;
• hemostatic;
• astringents;
• regenerating;
• fixing;
• antimicrobial.

For medicinal purposes, decoctions, powders, lotions, and baths are used, the main ingredient of which is tumbleweed root.

Traditional medicine uses it to treat hemorrhoids, heavy menstrual bleeding, eczema, gangrene, inflammation of the throat and mucous membranes, acute gastrointestinal diseases, high acidity, and stomach ulcers.

Treatment with the plant also has its contraindications:

• increased sensitivity;
• increased blood viscosity;
• tendency to constipation;
• children under 18 years of age;
• pregnancy;
• lactation.

Research in this direction has not been conducted, so the use of any traditional medicine methods should be discussed with a qualified specialist.

Kinds

The most common types of Tatara kermek:

Growing from seeds

Cultivation of Tatar kermek from seeds is carried out to obtain seedlings. You can start sowing seeds in early spring.

Seeds are sown in a disposable container and lightly sprinkled with soil. Then you should cover the temporary pot with film, glass and place it in a warm place.

If sowing was carried out in a large container, then the sprouts that appear should be planted in separate pots. From mid-spring, it is necessary to begin hardening off the plants by taking them outside.

Seeds can be sown directly into open ground.

Planting in open ground and care

You can plant seedlings outside at the end of May. Kermek needs sunlight, so it is better to choose a sunny, non-shady area for planting.

The perennial is not afraid of drafts and wind. It is undemanding to the soil. The only unsuitable composition may be clay soils. The ideal soil for the plant is light, well-draining soil.

During planting, it is necessary to maintain a distance between holes of 0.3-0.5 m. If the soil is fertile, then additional fertilizing is not required. If the soil is depleted and poor, then it should be fertilized with mineral and organic nutritional compounds.

The culture does not need frequent watering. This is a heat- and drought-resistant plant that only needs to be watered twice a season. It is necessary to water with salted water (6 tsp per 10 liters of water). You should not wet the leaves when watering, as this will cause disease and the appearance of pathogenic microflora.

Kermek is able to withstand temperatures down to -5°C. The perennial can overwinter without shelter if the winter is snowy. When the stems begin to die, they are cut off and covered with foliage.

On average, a plant lives about 5 years.

Perennial Kermek Tatarian in the photo:

Attractive perennials in the garden can maintain their decorative value for a long time. And some of them are able to please the eye even after the end of the flowering period - in the cold season. Kermek is one of these amazing flowers, which is often used to create dry winter bouquets.

In fact, this plant is completely unpretentious, and every novice gardener can plant it in their garden. So, let's clarify what Kermek flowers are in a little more detail, discuss their cultivation from seeds, consider how it is planted, and what care it needs.

Short description

Kermek is a very beautiful ornamental plant, this flower is also known as limonium. You can find many varieties of this culture on sale, but the notched kermek, which came to us from the Mediterranean, is especially popular. It grows up to forty centimeters in height, has elongated leaves, the edges of which look slightly wavy. Kermek leaves are collected in a rosette, and straight and completely leafless shoots grow directly from its base. Corymbose inflorescences form at their tops. Kermek flowers are small, in nature they are colored blue, but now you can buy varieties with yellow, cream, red, blue and pink colors. After drying, the flowers are not able to change shape or color; they look like paper.

In the photo the kermek is notched

Growing kermek from seeds is not at all difficult. Planting material can be sown directly into open ground - it is best to do this in late spring - in May. A good option would also be the seedling propagation method. In such a situation, Kermek seeds are sown in separate containers to obtain seedlings. It is best to sow in April. After planting, flower seeds need to be sprayed on top with a spray bottle and covered with glass until shoots appear. All this time, you need to ensure that the soil in the containers remains slightly moist, and that the temperature in the room does not drop below fifteen degrees and does not rise above twenty degrees.

The first seedlings appear after about a week and a half. After this, the shelter must be removed and the seedlings must be provided with sufficient watering. It would be a good idea to move it to a room with a temperature of fifteen degrees and provide very good lighting (but keep it away from direct sunlight). This will help prevent the plants from being pulled out.

At the end of May - beginning of June, the grown seedlings need to be transferred to the garden to a permanent growing place.

Planting flowers

To successfully grow flowers, such an unpretentious plant, you need to choose the right place in the garden. Readers of Popular Health should place such a crop in a well-lit, sunny place. The plant thrives in nutritious, well-drained soil. For drainage, a certain amount of coarse sand can be added to the holes before planting Kermek. It is desirable that the soil has water and breathability, as well as neutral acidity.

Kermek seedlings need to be planted, preserving the earthen ball, so as not to damage the root system. It is advisable to place young plants at intervals of thirty to thirty-five centimeters. In this case, it is extremely important that the center of the outlet remains on the surface of the ground, and water should not get into it.

You can also plant perennial kermek on your site by dividing the bush. This manipulation is usually carried out in the fall, in September, using heavily overgrown bushes.

In addition, propagation is also possible by cuttings. Cuttings are cut in the spring, after which they are placed in pots filled with light soil. Water the planting material and cover it with a plastic bag, like a greenhouse. After the cutting takes root, it can be planted in a permanent place of growth.

Features of flower care

This plant is completely unpretentious. It needs to be watered only in particularly severe drought, since the flower normally tolerates a lack of moisture. Watering should be done exclusively at the roots, because if water gets on the stems, this increases the likelihood of developing diseases.

In addition to caring for the Kermek, you can feed it occasionally. To do this, you need to use a complex mineral fertilizer. Experienced gardeners feed the plant two to three times a season.

A distinctive feature of Kermek is that it does not suffer from various diseases at all, and is not attacked by pests.

Additional Information

The plant we are describing looks great when planted in mixborders, as well as in rockeries. Plants classified as tall are often planted in the central part of flat flower beds, and medium-sized crops are grown when forming ridges and borders.

Such a flower, as we have already said, is a wonderful dried flower. To get a beautiful winter bouquet, you need to cut off several stems along with the inflorescences after the flowers open on them. Next, you need to hang them under a canopy and leave them until dry, or immediately put them in a vase, but there is no need to fill it with water. The flowers remain brightly colored for many years.

Kermek is a completely unpretentious plant for the garden that will grow well in almost any garden plot, even for forgetful gardeners.

The range of species and varieties of ornamental plants, including flowers, is so wide that it sometimes confuses amateur gardeners, who have to make their choice among the huge variety of their shapes and palettes, flowering times and conditions, for fear of getting lost in a sea of ​​exotic names and not saying anything.

If you are not put off by such a flower name as “Notched Kermek”, and you choose it for your flowerbed, then you will enjoy it almost all year round. Of course, you will have to work hard to grow seedlings from seeds, which germinate in three to four days and in mid-March delight with tiny rosettes of leaves. When it gets warm, in May we plant the seedlings in the flowerbed at a distance of about thirty centimeters, keeping in mind that the round rosettes grow, and then a branched stem a little more than half a meter high rises in the center. Moreover, each individual flower is a miniature bouquet of any color of the rainbow.

In the garden, Kermek always stands out for the slightly unusual shape of its inflorescences. And it blooms for a long time from the end of June until late autumn. But the most interesting thing is that any branch of Kermek can be cut at the most attractive moment for it and placed in a vase without water, and it will look just as wonderful in a day, or in a month, until a new flower blooms next season, whichever one you like the most. The fact is that notched kermek, also called statice, belongs to the so-called “immortelle” or “dried flowers”, but in appearance it compares favorably with the well-known gellichrysum, for example. And during the winter the bouquet does not lose its attractiveness.

Such an original plant should definitely be in every garden, because it is undoubtedly very beautiful. Its stem is quite strong, it firmly holds its multi-colored branched inflorescences. In addition, the rosettes of leaves retain their green carved charm until the end of flowering. Any florist or ordinary summer resident, having grown Kermek once, will never give it up. By planting statice flowers of different colors in the foreground, bordered by rosettes at the foot of the stem, and placing snow-white or cherry-colored cleomes behind them, with round leaves of unusual openwork beauty, you will get a unique, airy corner in your garden. You can admire it endlessly, especially if it is located next to the gazebo for relaxation.

In the international classification it is Limonium, more often in rumors and in seed packages it is Statitsa(e) (the name according to the old classification), and in the Turkic version it is Kermek.

This flowering perennial grows on all continents, and in Eurasia it can be found from the Mediterranean to the foothills of Altai.

A remarkable property of Kermek is that it is a dried flower, which means it will delight you with its flowering both in summer and winter.

In nature, limonium decorates meadows, in fact, this determines its name (from the Greek leimon - meadow). This also characterizes its qualities: unpretentious to soils (even saline ones), drought-resistant. Its root system penetrates deep into the soil to a depth of more than a meter. The long and thin root does not make it possible to propagate Kermek by dividing the rhizome and replanting.

Not all types of statice can be grown as a perennial in the climate of the Central zone, however, both perennial and annual are very good both in the landscape and as cut flowers.

Kermek is a long-flowering herbaceous plant. The flowering period lasts from July to October.

Highly decorative heat-loving species grown in greenhouses are popular among florists.

Kermek (statice) is successfully sold as a dried flower for creating flower arrangements.

POPULAR TYPES

There are more than 150 species of Limoniums. Not many have been adapted to our conditions; I’ll list six. The first three species are frost-resistant, they are grown in the garden, another three are grown as annuals in open ground, and as perennials in greenhouses for cutting.

Limonium vulgare(Limonium vulgare)

• Habitat: Southern Europe, North Africa.
• Flowering period: July-September.
• Color spectrum: lilac, lilac.
• Height: 50-70 cm.
• Growing conditions: sun, unpretentious to soils, frost resistance up to -23 0 C.
• Peculiarities:

perennial that requires dry shelter (shavings + film + spruce branches) for the winter.

Kermek Gmelina(Limonium gmelinii)

• Habitat: steppe regions of Ukraine, Russia, Siberia, Kazakhstan, Central Asia.
• Flowering period: July-September.
• Color spectrum: lilac, lilac.
• Height: 40-50 cm
• Growing conditions: able to grow in salt marshes.
• Peculiarities: perennial, ideal for a Naturgarden style garden in company with cereals, beautiful when cut.

Limonium latifolia, sea Lavander(Limonium latifolium)

• Habitat: South, Central Europe, Western Asia.
• Flowering period: July-September.
• Color spectrum: lilac lilac.
• Height: 60-70 cm.
• Growing conditions: sun, unpretentious to soil and watering, does not tolerate stagnant moisture.
• Peculiarities: perennial, basal rosette consists of wide leaves, incredibly beautiful with its sophistication, an excellent plant for dry bouquets, unique in massifs, however, it has an unpleasant odor - you should not plant it near the house, recreation areas and along paths.

Limonium vimata(Limonium sinuatum)

• Habitat: Mediterranean, Asia Minor.
• Flowering period: July-September.
• Color spectrum: white, pink, lilac, yellow, blue.
• Height: 60 cm.
• Growing conditions: sun, no stagnation of water, can winter in open ground provided there is reliable insulation (layer of shavings + film + spruce branches).
• Peculiarities: perennial, often grown as an annual plant.

Limonium perez(Limonium perezii)

• Habitat: Canary Islands.
• Flowering period: Aug. Sept
• Color spectrum: blue, lilac.
• Height: up to 50 cm.
• Growing conditions:
• Peculiarities: perennial, grown as an annual plant, requires long-term light, therefore it blooms only in the southern regions.

Kermek Bonduelli(Limonium bonduellii)

• Habitat: North Africa.
• Flowering period: July-September.
• Color spectrum: yellow, white.
• Height: up to 90 cm
• Growing conditions: sun, no stagnant water.
• Peculiarities: perennial grown as an annual plant.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW

To prepare kermek as a dried flower, the stem is cut off during the period of maximum decorativeness. The blanks are tied into bundles and dried with flowers down in the shade, in a warm, dry, well-ventilated place, or they are placed in containers (jars, vases) and dried under the same conditions.

The tiny trumpet-shaped flowers, which mostly form spreading clusters, contrast surprisingly well with the lush greenery and flowers of other border plants. Small species grow well in full sun in rocky gardens. Kermeks bloom from mid or late summer to early autumn. These plants are often grown for cut flowers or dried bouquets.

L. dumosum (Kermek tatarian) and L. sinuatum (K. sinuous) are especially good as dried flowers.

All species commonly grown in gardens are herbaceous perennials. All of the above species, with the exception of L. sinuatum, have dark green, often leathery, spatulate leaves in basal rosettes and leafless peduncles. In the first years of life, one rosette of leaves is formed, and after flowering there are more rosettes.

Mostly inhabitants of dry, warm steppes, Kermeks do not like the damp, cool summer of northern latitudes.

I. bellidifolium (C. daisy-leaved)

Blue or pinkish-blue funnel-shaped flowers in short loose inflorescences bloom on short branched peduncles in late summer - early autumn. Dark green leathery leaves about 5 cm long, in basal rosettes. The plant is suitable for rocky gardens. It requires particularly well-drained soil. Homeland - Europe. The height and diameter of the plant is 20x10cm.

L. cosyrense (K. kosirsky)

Short, erect, mauve-colored inflorescences begin to bloom in midsummer. Leaves are about 2.5 cm long.

This small plant is sometimes grown in pots in greenhouses and greenhouses. Homeland - South-East. Europe. The height and diameter of the plant is 10x10 cm.

Read also:

Ceratostigma plant: Photos, types, cultivation, planting and care

L. dumosum (syn. Goniolimon tataricwn) (K. tataric)

Red and white flowers in spreading inflorescences decorate these plants from mid-summer to early autumn. The leaves are fleshy, leathery, up to 15 cm in length. Homeland - Russia, South-East. Europe. The height and diameter of the plant is 30x30 cm.

L. platyphyllum (syn. L. latifolium) (K. flat-leaved)

Masses of tiny lavender-blue flowers, forming loose inflorescences up to 25 cm long, bloom from mid-summer to early autumn. The leaves are pubescent, with wavy edges, not numerous, can grow up to 60 cm in length. Homeland South-East Europe. The height and diameter of the plant is 60x45 cm.

L. sinuatum (K. sinuous)

The winter hardiness of this herbaceous perennial leaves much to be desired, so it is usually grown as a heat-loving annual. From mid-summer to early autumn it is covered with blue, pink, white or yellow flowers. On sale you can find seeds of both single-color forms and mixtures of different colors. Inflorescences about 10 cm long bloom on branched, erect and angular stems. The dark green leaves are lanceolate, form basal rosettes and cover the stems; they have deeply dissected wavy edges, pubescent, up to 10 cm long. Homeland - Mediterranean. Especially often used for arranging bouquets. The height and diameter of the plant is 45x30 cm.