Chamomile is a perennial plant of the Compositae family. It includes about twenty species. Under natural conditions, chamomile grows in Eurasia, America, Australia and South Africa. An interesting fact: once these flowers also grew in Central Africa, but they were destroyed by local tribes, who considered that they attracted evil spirits.
The most famous species of this genus is considered to be chamomile, which has long been used for medicinal and cosmetic purposes. From Latin, the name of the genus is translated as "womb". This is probably due to the fact that this type of chamomile has long been used to treat gynecological diseases. The Russian name of this plant came to us from the Polish language. The word romana is translated as "Roman".
Today for suburban areas is a mandatory attribute of a rock garden, a large flower bed, a lawn with ornamental bushes, herbs, flowers. Among this variety, large garden daisies are very common. Caring for these flowers is simple, and beautiful baskets in the backgroundgarden greens look very attractive.
General characteristics of plants
Daisies are shrubs, the height of which varies from 15 to 60 cm. The plant has a short root, an upright faceted stem. It has crenate, spatulate, basal leaves on long petioles, as well as oblong, serrated stem leaves along the edges. Two of them are at the top of the stem. They are significantly reduced in size compared to the others.
Chamomile flowers are hemispherical inflorescences-baskets, the diameter of which is from 2.5 to 6 cm (in cultivated varieties up to 20 cm). Baskets consist of yellow median bisexual flowers and long barren marginal flowers, usually white, less often yellowish. The fruit of the plant is an achene.
Popular varieties
To enjoy the beauty of this plant, you need to choose from a huge number of varieties of garden chamomile, the right one, only for your site. And given that these flowers look great in the cut, regardless of the variety chosen, stand for a long time, it will not be difficult to decorate your home with a beautiful bouquet throughout the summer. We present you the most attractive and popular varieties.
Nivyanik
Large perennial garden chamomile. With proper care and observance of simple agrotechnical rules, the size of the flowers can reach 20 cm. The bushes are quite high - almost 70 cm. The plant loves sunny places without drafts. Looks great cut, keeps a fresh look for a long time.
Princess
A low plant that blooms from early July until frost. The height of the bush does not exceed 40 cm. With regular watering, it blooms very actively. Seeds sown in autumn germinate in spring and delight with beautiful flowers already in the same season. The flowers are small, no more than 10 cm in diameter, but there are several of them on one shoot.
Alaska
The garden chamomile flowers of this variety are very large (up to 20 cm in diameter). The plant has tall stems. The indisputable advantage of this variety is flowering throughout the summer season. This variety is planted in early spring with seedlings or winter sowing of seeds.
Color varieties
These include red and pink pyrethrum, yellow doronicum. Pink feverfew grows up to 60 cm, and red fever up to 150 cm in height. It tolerates partial shade well. Doronicum tolerates a short drought well, is unpretentious in care, develops normally on any soil.
Sowing seeds
Garden chamomile is grown in seedling and seedless way. Seeds are also sown in open ground, although many flower growers consider the seedling method more reliable.
For seedlings, garden chamomile seeds are sown in March. To do this, it is necessary to fill the trays with cells with a light, moist, breathable substrate. It is made up of sand and peat in equal parts. 2-3 seeds are laid out in each cell and a thin layer of substrate is sprinkled on top of them. Then you should cover the container with a transparent film and put it near the window. Not worth itput it on a windowsill, as the light coming through the window glass is too intense and can harm the germination of the seeds.
Carefully monitor the condition of the soil, do not let it dry out. Once the top coat is dry, moisten it using a spray bottle.
Growing seedlings
After the first shoots appear, and this happens at room temperature after about two weeks, the film can be removed and the container moved closer to the window, but remember that the shoots must be protected from drafts. If this is not possible for any reason, install a fluorescent lamp over the container with seedlings. She has to work 14 hours a day.
When seedlings of garden chamomile grow up to 5 cm, leave one, the most powerful seedling, in each cell. Do not pull out unnecessary shoots - they are carefully pinched off above the surface of the substrate. This will preserve the roots of the remaining plant.
Seedlings of garden chamomile are planted in the soil in a month and a half, when the risk of return frosts has passed. Chamomile loves well-lit sunny areas with neutral or calcareous soil.
Planting garden chamomile
Before planting seedlings (or seeds), prepare the site well. The soil is dug up and a complex fertilizer for flowering plants is added to it. Dig holes about thirty centimeters deep at a distance of half a meter from each other. As a rule, this distance may vary depending on the variety of chamomile.
Seedlings are taken out of the cells together with an earthen clod and planted in the holes. Lightly pack the soil around the stems and water the plant well.
How to care for chamomile?
This is not a capricious plant - garden chamomile. Caring for her is not difficult even for a beginner in floriculture. Until the moment when the chamomile seedlings are settled in the ground and their growth begins, they need frequent and plentiful watering. But as soon as the plant takes root, watering is carried out only in dry weather. To keep moisture in the soil longer, mulch the surface around the bush with peat.
Otherwise, caring for garden chamomile consists in regularly loosening the soil, carefully weeding the site, feeding and preparing perennial varieties for winter. As top dressing, peat, compost and humus are introduced into the soil every year. In the middle of spring, it is recommended to scatter ammonium nitrate (20 g/m) between rows. The soil is not watered afterwards.
During budding under bushes with pale leaves and stems, it is necessary to add a solution of urea. Dolomite flour or slaked lime is recommended to be applied in autumn to acidic soil.
Chamomile reproduction
Garden daisies (we posted a photo in this article) reproduce by seed and by dividing the bush. Although perennial bushes can grow up to five years in one place, after three years they become very dense, and in the center of the bush the shoots begin to die off, the size of the inflorescences decreases, and the plant loses its formerattractiveness.
This can be avoided if strong young shoots are planted from the bush in a timely manner. At the end of September or in early October, be sure to separate a part from the bush on a cool cloudy day and plant it in a previously prepared hole well spilled with settled water, and fill all the voids with fertile soil. If you want to get the largest flowers on powerful stems, you should divide the daisy bushes every year.
Chamomile and seeds reproduce
We talked about how daisies are grown from seedlings, but seeds can be sown in winter directly into the ground. They undergo natural stratification in cold soil and emerge together in early spring.
Diseases
We talked about how landing and care is carried out. Garden daisies with irregular care are susceptible to certain diseases, and flower growers should be aware of this. Plants can be affected by gray mold, powdery mildew, rust and Fusarium.
Powdery mildew is easy to identify by the whitish bloom on the stems and leaves of the shrub. Over time, they turn brown. Rust appears as dark red spots on the upper part of the leaves, and pads with spores of the fungus can be seen on the lower part.
Another fungal disease is Fusarium, in which the roots of young plants rot, the tissues turn brown, the leaves turn yellow and the stem becomes thinner. With gray rot, rapidly increasing brown necrotic spots appear on shoots and leaves.
Do not allow excess moisture in the soil, regularlyremove weeds and loosen the soil more often. This will protect the plant from fungal diseases. A plant infected with gray rot is best removed so that the disease does not affect neighboring shoots. To destroy the fungal microflora, fungicides are used - Topaz, Fundazol, Oxyhom, Kuproksat and other drugs. Processing should be done two or three times after 10 days.
Pests
Of the pests for garden chamomile, thrips, aphids, wireworms, star-winged fly are a serious danger. Aphids and thrips are sucking insects that feed on the cell sap of plant stems and leaves. Yellow or discolored spots, stripes and strokes appear on the leaves, damaged tissues die off quickly, the leaves fall off, the flowers lose their decorative effect. In the fight against these insects, insectoacaricides are used - Actellik, Karbofos or Agravertin.
The star-winged fly gets its name from the tiny star-shaped spot on its wing. Insect larvae destroy the garden chamomile, located at the base of the median flowers. You can protect the plant by regularly destroying weeds.
The wireworm is a larva of the click beetle that lives in the soil for almost four years and feeds on plant roots. To get rid of them, traps are created in the soil: holes are dug into which pieces of beets, carrots or potatoes are placed. From above, such traps must be covered with a sheet of metal. After 3 days, it is necessary to open the traps and destroy the accumulated wireworms. This should be done regularly. Wireworms most often appearif there is a plot with potatoes in the neighborhood.
Preparing for winter
Perennial garden daisies should be covered for the winter. Before the onset of the first frost, cut the stems, leaving no more than three centimeters above the soil surface. After that, fill the area with sawdust, dry foliage, or cover with non-woven material.
