Heliotrope

Heliotrope description

Heliotrope / Heliotropium / - perennials from the Borage family, this plant can be herbaceous or shrub. In general, Borage plants have about three hundred different plant species. Their favorite habitat is subtropics, tropics, temperate American and Mediterranean belts.

The property of a plant to turn for the sun is directly related to its name, which consists of two Greek words, which in translation mean "sun" and "rotation" (or "turn." somehow in its own way: "dye litmus" or "lichaeva grass" (Russia), "cherry pie" (England), "grass of love" (France), "grass of God" (Germany).

A pleasant vanilla aroma is a visiting card of heliotrope, therefore, in addition to its use in gardening, it is actively used in the field of perfumery, sometimes in medicine.

To get a spectacular and fragrant bush on your site for heliotrope, you need to learn how to take good care of it. This is what our article is about.

On the features of the flowering of heliotrope

Any kind of heliotrope - with dark green pubescent oval leaves, alternately spaced. Leaves - with short petioles, wrinkled or wavy.

The heliotrope flowers are collected in bunches, mostly dark blue or purple in color. Thanks to the essential oil collected in them, heliotrope exudes a pleasant aroma, which is actively used by the perfume industry.

It should be borne in mind that some species of this culture are poisonous: the shoots contain poisonous alkaloids - cynoglossins, and the seeds - laziocarpines, which have a dangerous effect on the central nervous system of not only humans, but also animals. It is clear that these types of crops are not used as garden crops.

Each flower stalk has a flowering duration of one month. At the end, you can find the resulting fruits - coenobia. When ripe, they are divided into four erems, each of which is a "box" with tiny seeds.

If climate conditions are favorable for heliotrope, then it can be grown as a perennial plant. It becomes an annual in places with a harsh winter period.

Heliotrope growing from seeds

The main thing in this business is the planting material, to be more precise, its quality. Choose your seeds responsibly. A specialized gardening store, only reliable brands, and then good germination and flowering in 3.5 months (on average, from the time of seedling germination) are guaranteed to you.

Unfortunately, your seeds, which you collected yourself, will not please with germination, and you will see flowering at best at the end of summer. Bushes in this case will have different heights and small inflorescences.

How to get heliotrope seedlings

Seeds of heliotrope are sown in late February (early March). They take peat (4 parts) and sand (1 part) and steam this mixture well to prevent various fungal infections.

Next, the prepared soil mixture is filled in containers for planting and compacted with a board. Now you can sow. The distribution of seeds on the soil surface should be uniform. At the end, sprinkle with the same soil (layer thickness - no more than 2 mm). Cover the landing with a glass plane or polyethylene and put it in heat (18-20 ° C). The first shoots can be seen about 5-20 days after sowing. Remove glass and polyethylene and move containers to the window. The temperature regime should now be slightly higher - 20-22 ° С.The windowsill does not have to be sunny, in a shaded place the shoots of heliotrope will also grow and develop well.

The dive should be carried out when each sprout has two leaves. They should be planted in separate pots with a diameter of about 10 cm, filled with the same peat soil mixture. Next is watering. In two weeks, fertilizer will be required for seedlings: for these purposes, a universal seedling feed is suitable.

Heliotrope landing

This plant is transplanted into open soil in June, when the danger of low night temperatures has passed. Heliotrope will be grateful for a sunny side with loose, nutrient-rich and humus-rich, moisture-permeable soil.

The prepared hole is filled with leaf and manure humus, a plant is placed in it and sprinkled with universal soil. Next, the soil is pressed with hands and watered.

Heliotrope care

For the normal growth and development of heliotrope, first of all, competent watering is necessary. Watering should be carried out only if necessary, in drought - the most frequent and abundant. After watering, the soil is loosened between the bushes, while getting rid of weeds.

It is useful to carry out mulching, but in this case the plant is watered, weeded and loosened much less often.

Heliotrope is fed every two weeks and they do it constantly until the moment of active flowering of the plant. For these purposes, one cannot do without a complex fertilizer.

Diseases and pests

Heliotrope can, for various reasons, become the home of aphids, spider mites and whiteflies. To get rid of these unpleasant and harmful inhabitants, they use a special agent "Aktellik". Often it is necessary to treat the plant with it a couple of times at intervals of a week in order to completely rid the plant of these harmful insects.

It is almost impossible to rid the plant of gray rot, if only at the very beginning of the disease. If you find the slightest signs of this disease, urgently treat the plant with one of the fungicides.

Properties

Along with the use of heliotrope in perfumery, due to its wonderful aroma, it is widely used in the treatment of PKD (kidney stones) and as an antihelminthic agent.

Heliotrope, among other things, perfectly fights against warts and lichen.

Recently it became known that Germany stopped using heliotrope in pharmaceuticals in view of the dangerous alkaloid contained in it. This is definitely worth keeping in mind for those who use it for medicinal purposes or plan to do so. Be careful, we recommend that you consult a specialist.

Seed collection

Even for an inexperienced grower, there will be no problems in planting and caring for this plant. But generative reproduction is already more difficult, especially if you also have your own seeds. Reproduction of heliotrope in our latitudes is not an occupation for beginners, and all because the climate of the middle zone is not particularly favorable for heliotrope seeds (it is impossible to bring it to maturity).

It is hardly worth collecting seeds that fail to germinate or end up producing a beautiful plant. It makes more sense to purchase seeds from the store and spend more productive time planting and tending. As a result, you will consistently get beautiful plants for your site.

For the most stubborn and willing to collect their seeds, it should be said: be patient to wait until the inflorescences wither, dry and turn black. Then they must be plucked with care and the tiny seeds removed. We select only the best ones for drying, then we pour the dried seeds into a cardboard box and store in it.

On heliotrope in winter

This is an annual plant, so it is dug up and thrown away in the fall in order to prepare the land for further planting.

Alternatively, you can grow heliotrope at home in winter. To do this, it is necessary to dig up the uterine part of the plant in late autumn (it is important to prevent the first frosts).Next, you should place the plant in a pot and place it at home, providing it with additional lighting. A temperature regime within 15-18C will allow the plant to feel comfortable and provide long flowering and a wonderful aroma in the room. In spring, the plant can be grafted, and the sprouts can be rooted.

Heliotrope: varieties

Against the background of the colossal variety of forms and types of heliotrope, there are only 3 that can be grown at home:

• we are talking about Peruvian (or tree-like), this species has only a shrub form;
• stalk-embracing, has a stunted shape;
• corymbose, species with rather large flowers and very wide leaves.

The most common Peruvian heliotrope, so let's talk about it in more detail.

The Peruvian heliotrope or treelike heliotrope has a height of up to 0.6 m. There is a fluff on its short petiolate wrinkled oval leaves.

Its rich purple or blue flowers gather in a multitude of panicle inflorescences up to 0.15 m in diameter. It is worth mentioning separately the very popular Marin variety with dense green leaves and lilac and dark purple flowers. It is known about many varieties of Peruvian heliotrope: Mini Marine, Dwarf Marine, Princess Marine, Marine Blue, etc.

There are quite compact varieties - Regal dwarf, White lady with pink buds, but when opened, they turn into snow-white fragrant creatures.