The name evening primrose is probably heard only by advanced gardeners who are interested in floriculture and know what and how to plant. There are also those who tried to plant it on the advice of friends. Basically, many do not know this name or know the second name of this flower - night candle. This plant is not popular in our area, which is an omission, since with its properties and qualities, evening primrose is capable of striking the hearts of everyone who has ever decided to shelter it on their site.
Night sorceress (video)
Evening primrose Night candle is also called evening primrose
This flower is amazing because its time is night. As soon as the sun sets behind the horizon and the stars light up in the dark sky, evening primrose opens its beautiful buds. There are many of them, the whole bush is strewn with them. The spectacle is unforgettable. One has only to snatch these flowers with a flashlight in the darkness of the night, and they illuminate with their light everything that grows next to them. Indeed, like candles. Yes, so fragrant!
A little information about the heroine of the story. This messenger from America, where there are about 20 species, has shown itself well in our latitudes. It has creeping stems growing 30-90cm in height. By winter the shoots die off, and in the spring new ones appear. Night candle is a perennial and can live in one place for ten years. The beauty begins to bloom in June and continues to do so until the onset of frost. That is, almost all summer you can enjoy this fabulous charm on your site. Believe me, there is something to see here. Each flower reaches a diameter of about 10cm.
A pleasant feature of evening primrose is that each subsequent year it blooms even thicker and more actively than the previous year.
Indoor purple flowers
The purple color balances perfectly on the line between red and blue. Purple flowers can miraculously create a feeling of freshness and lightness, as well as warmth and homeliness!
Himalayan geranium
It differs from other varieties of geranium in the larger diameter of its flowers. Lilac and violet with unusual red veins, they bloom up to 5 cm.
Photo: ivd.ru
Dendrobium
Dendrobium not only looks like an orchid, but also belongs to the same family. On a straight stem there are several large butterfly flowers up to 7 cm in diameter.
Photo: vse.kz
Primrose
A charming flower bush will delight you at the beginning of spring. The leaves are collected in a compact rosette, above which rises a voluminous umbrella inflorescence.
Photo: tr.pinterest.com
Achimenes Ehrenberg
The compact flower grows no more than 50 cm and delights with large purple buds for several months a year. The outer side of the petals is pink, and in the center there is a reddish center.
Photo: id.tricornmedals.com
Shaggy slipway
The first succulent on our list of purple indoor flowers! The bush is very compact, takes up almost no space and is densely covered with fleecy star-shaped flowers of a rich eggplant shade.
Photo: yesofcorsa.com
Violet
She is also Saintpaulia. Of the hundreds of varieties of violets, there are at least several dozen purple ones. Moreover, the buds can be anything: not only simple and terry, but also the most bizarre shapes.
Photo: allo-cveti.ru
Passionflower
Passionflower belongs to the vines, and at first glance it is not very noticeable. But everything changes when it blooms with spectacular purple flowers of a very complex exotic structure.
Photo: livelib.ru
Gloxinia
The tuberous perennial blooms with large purple bells against a background of velvety green leaves. Gloxinia flowering under favorable conditions lasts up to 2 months.
Photo: pinterest.ca
Fuchsia
The selection would be incomplete without the charming fuchsia. Among the variety of pink and raspberry varieties, there are also spectacular purple ones. Fuchsia is good because it blooms very wildly and for a long time.
Photo: cvetyphoto.blogspot.com
Purple calla
Purple calla is a rather rare and exotic variety of this flower. But its luxurious appearance makes up for all the difficulties in finding and caring for it.
Photo: greenhousevillage.ru
Ruellia
A charming tropical flower, very delicate and airy. The petals may be blue or blue. Ruellia blooms for a long time and does not cause any trouble if you choose a sunny corner for it.
Photo: prorastet.ru
Streptocarpus
Externally, the flower with a fancy name is very reminiscent of a violet with its jagged leaves and a flower crown on top. But streptocarpus flowers are funnel-shaped, with very complex colors.
Photo: ginger-slim.ru
Cyclamen
Cyclamen's powerful rhizome makes it resistant to adverse conditions and ideal for beginners. Drooping purple flowers on long thin stalks look like fantasy boxes.
Photo: pixabay.com
Hemigraphis
And for variety, let’s add an unusual indoor plant with purple leaves to the selection. Basically you want exotic, colored, interleaved or wide-notched hemigraphis.
Photo: tsveto.ru
Features of cultivation
The night queen evening primrose is a truly unpretentious plant that does well in a variety of soils and in almost any type of light, be it open sun or a shady place. Another advantage of evening primrose is that it is resistant to various diseases and is not attacked by pests.
Evening primrose will look great together with lobelia, lisianthus or petunia
Evening primrose begins its life on the site from seeds. If your site is located in the southern region, the seeds can be planted directly in open ground. It is possible that everything will grow together in cooler latitudes. However, in this case, it is safer to purchase healthy seedlings or ask those who grow them. It is enough to separate small bushes from the mother bush around which they grow or divide the mother bush itself in May or late summer.
With timely planting and successful cultivation, evening primrose will produce seeds in August-September, providing you with planting material for the next year.
You can also grow evening primrose through seedlings. But in this case, given the growth rate of the plant, the seeds need to be planted in mini-greenhouses already in February. Then in May the evening primrose can be planted in open ground. With this growing method, if the care rules are followed, evening primrose can bloom in the first year.
Evening primrose tolerates our winters well. Before the onset of cold weather, you need to cut off all the stems almost to the base and let Mother Nature cover the remaining underground parts of the plant with snow. You don't need to do anything else.
Evening primrose roots overwinter well even in the absence of shelter
Pruning pachystachys
Without regular formation, pachystachys grows greatly, elongates and loses its attractiveness. Before replanting, plants must remove all dead or damaged shoots and remove damaged leaves. After flowering is completed, the faded tips of the shoots are cut off down to the first pair of leaves, stimulating the preservation of decorativeness by the remaining inflorescences and the plant as a whole.
Regular shortening of pachistachis shoots to 1/3 of the height contributes to the formation of a thick, dense and profusely flowering crown. On young bushes, it is better to do the first pruning quite radically, up to a height of 10-15 cm to obtain a denser crown and a basis for further formation. For each side shoot on the plant, it is necessary to pluck out the third pair of leaves, tier by tier, forming a dense and fairly compact crown.
On adult pachystachys, annual pruning is usually limited to pinching the tops, which allows you to get a larger number of inflorescences. But if the pachistachis needs to be formed, the branches are pruned more strongly.
Pachistachys pruning is traditionally carried out before or together with replanting.
Evening primrose care
As mentioned above, evening primrose is very unpretentious to the type of soil and lighting. Of course, she will show her best qualities in the sun. The flower is not demanding on moisture. The main thing here is not to go to extremes. In dry weather, when the soil around the roots becomes completely dry, you cannot do without watering, but you cannot overwater the plant, much less plant it where groundwater is close to the surface. Evening primrose will not tolerate stagnant moisture. Therefore, ensure good drainage and you won’t have to worry about anything.
Of course, weeding the land is also necessary. Without weeds, things will go much better for the night candle, and the loose, oxygen-rich soil has never bothered anyone.
Pachistachis transplantation and substrate
It is advisable to replant this plant not as needed (after the roots completely fill the substrate in the pot), but annually. Transplantation after or simultaneously with pruning is carried out for this plant, regardless of age. The classic transplantation period for pachistachis is February-March.
For pachistachis, any universal substrates, purchased or made independently, are suitable. For it, sand, peat, humus and leaf soil are mixed in equal parts with a double portion of turf soil. It is advisable to additionally add crushed charcoal or bone meal to the soil.
The procedure itself is quite simple. A fresh layer of drainage, at least 5 cm high, must be laid at the bottom of the container. The plants are not replanted, but transferred, trying to avoid contact with the roots.
Use in landscape design
Evening primrose is incredibly decorative and looks good both planted alone and in company with other plantings in the form of a climbing rose, stachys or physiostegia. It is enough to plant three to five plant bushes in order to obtain an extraordinary light and color effect.
Evening primrose flowers are a real garland that, in the rays of the sun or a flashlight, can create a stunning play of light. If you plant marigolds, petunia, lisianthus or mirabilis next to it, the effect will be greatly enhanced.
Photo gallery of evening primrose in landscape design
Evening primrose can be used as a plant for the middle and back row
She perfectly decorates a tall flower garden
And it looks just as good when planted alone.
Diseases and pests of pachistachis
Among the pests of pastachis, the greatest harm is caused by aphids and whiteflies, but they are also quite rare on this plant. Pachistachis can be considered a resistant plant, problems with which are possible only in a very neglected state. If pastachis are healthy, then they are practically invulnerable. When signs of pest damage appear, it is worth starting the fight immediately with insecticidal preparations.
Common problems in growing Pachistachis:
- falling inflorescences and dropping leaves when the substrate in the pot is too dry;
- leaf curling when temperatures are too cold;
- dropping leaves during drafts;
- drying of leaf tips in dry air;
- exposure of the lower part of the shoots as a result of natural processes and the need for rejuvenation;
- stretching of shoots and shrinking of leaves in too much shade.
Pachystachys lutea
Reproduction of Pachistachis
This plant is propagated only by vegetative methods. You can start propagating pachistachis during the period of most active growth and preparation for flowering, from pruning until the beginning of June. For summer cuttings, only shoots that do not form inflorescences are selected, but more often they use branches remaining after spring pruning (if they have at least two internodes). And the cutting process itself is quite standard.
Pachistachis cuttings from 10 to 15 cm long are cut only from the tops of the shoots, making sure to cut at an angle of 45 degrees and treating the bottom of the cuttings for several hours with a solution of growth accelerators. Rooting is carried out under a hood in any universal substrate or a mixture of sand and peat. For rooting of pachistachis shoots, a stable temperature of 20 to 22 degrees Celsius with daily spraying and ventilation is considered optimal.
On average, the rooting process takes 2-3 weeks. As soon as signs of rooting appear, it is necessary to pinch the tops of the shoots and transfer the plants to fairly large pots with a diameter of about 12 cm, planting one or more seedlings in one pot to obtain a denser bush. Already from the very beginning on pachystachys, they begin to carry out mandatory pinching of side shoots and tops, up to 4 prunings per year, forming a base plant of compact size with no less than 12 - 15 tops.
Types of Liatris
There are about 20 species of liatris, which differ in the shape of the flowers and their color. In Russian latitudes it is customary to grow only three of them:
| Types of Liatris | Characteristics |
| Spicate | Up to 50 cm high, with small baskets of 8-13 flowers, collected in an inflorescence up to 35 cm long; |
| Filmy | It is distinguished by wider leaves and pink-lilac inflorescences; |
| Rough | A rare plant species up to 1 m high with very small flowers that are lavender-pink in color. |
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