Veinik — the architectural vertical of the garden
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The first autumn frosts — and the garden meets the morning with frosty and slightly mysterious silhouettes of its «inhabitants». Some of them will remain «winter», decorating the snowy landscape.
One of such representatives of the frosty decor is the familiar reed grass, often found in meadows, fields and environs.
There is probably more than one species of this plant in your area. For example, in my abandoned areas of the garden, a reed grows with thick fluffy, but narrow panicles of gold color, and along the roadsides its “brother” with sprawling pinkish inflorescences.
This ornamental cereal is a dried flower. It is perfectly preserved in winter bouquets, and in the garden, thanks to a tough stem, it will stand until the very spring. Therefore, do not rush to cut the reed in the fall, if you do not plan to send it to a bouquet or vase.
POPULAR VIEWS
In nature, there are about 260 species of reed grass, in the Middle lane there are about 20 of them.
Reed grass (Calamagrostis acutiflora)
- Growth area: widespread in Europe.
- Flowering period: July.
- Color spectrum: the leaves are green, some species with white veins, the panicles are whitish, red, pinkish — depending on the variety.
- Height: 1-1.5 m.
- Growing conditions: loves the sun, tolerates partial shade and drought, can grow on heavy soils
- Peculiarities: perennial ornamental grass, non-aggressive, frost-resistant, but in snowless harsh winters it requires shelter, forms a beautiful slow-growing tussock.
The most famous variety isKarl Foester«. Height up to 2 m, leaves beautifully curved, erect stem, panicles up to 30 cm. Also known as «Stricta» and «Hortorum«.
Does not self-seed.
Forms an ideal vertical in the garden, goes well with tall late flowering flowers (oaks, echinacea, rudbeckia).
Another beautiful varietyOverdam«. Height up to 1.5 m, leaves with white stripes, panicles first pinkish — then red.
The stem is not as rigid as that of the previous variety, therefore it is not recommended for planting in areas open to all winds.
Reed grass (Calamagrostis epigeios).
- Growth area: Eurasia.
- Flowering period: July.
- Color spectrum: hard green leaves, pinkish inflorescences, acquiring a golden color by autumn.
- Height: up to 1 m.
- Growing conditions: absolutely unpretentious, propagated by self-sowing and dividing the bush.
- Peculiarities: one of the most common species, suitable for garden plantings, subject to rhizome restriction, used to strengthen slopes.
Veinik purple (FROMalamagrostis purpurea, syn. C. Langsdorffii)
- Growth area: more common in Siberia and the Far East, although it also occurs in other regions of Eurasia.
- Flowering period: end of July-August.
- Color spectrum: purple color panicles, beautiful long leaves
- Height: up to 1m.
- Growing conditions: moist drained soils, sunny places, light partial shade.
- Peculiarities: some species freeze in winter.
Reed grass is absolutely unpretentious to soils, it grows on black soil, and on light sandy, and on heavy clay soils. But the comfortable temperature for it does not exceed +250C. As soon as the thermometer begins to «creep» higher, the biological processes in the plant freeze and resume again only when it gets colder.
Some species of reed grass grow in tall, erect, dense clumps. They were taken as the basis for the development of new varieties.
In the garden, this grass creates a beautiful vertical and is a great addition to plants that form round curtains.
He is also good at planting in small beds that imitate a “wave” in windy weather.
Reed grass in dense rectangular flower beds is a spectacular decoration of the site in the style of modernism. True, only species that can grow in dense dense curtains are suitable for such compositions.
Upright clumps of reed grass are perfectly combined with plants that form rounded outlines of clumps and ground covers.
A tall reed grass vertical blends well with another vertical, provided that this ornamental grass is in the foreground or to the side.
The shorter and more spreading reed grass curtains are in perfect harmony with tall erect plants, they act as the middle tier of mixborders.
Reed grass in nature reproduces by self-sowing, but growing it from seeds is a troublesome and thankless task. Firstly, reed seeds do not differ in keeping quality, and secondly, they require preliminary stratification.
Well, if you did grow seedlings, then it is necessary not to replant it, but to transfer it: carefully removing it from the pot, transfer it to the hole so as not to hurt or damage the thin roots. It is necessary to take it out of the pot after soaking it with an earthen lump with water, it is impossible to straighten the roots.
But this cereal is perfectly propagated by root processes. The root system spreads out rather quickly. You just need to chop off a piece of sod with a shovel, dig it up and transplant it to a new place. It is better to perform this operation in early spring, while the plant has not yet begun to grow.
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