Cypress spurge - how to care at home

Cypress spurge is widely used to fill voids in flower beds. The dense and lush deciduous plant creates a beautiful edging, giving the flower bed a more elegant look. Another significant advantage is the easy care of the flower.

What does the Cypress spurge look like, which family it belongs to

Cypress euphorbia is a perennial plant belonging to the Euphorbia family. The compact bush grows up to 20-30 cm. It has an erect stem and a branched crown, consisting of bluish elongated, but narrow dark green leaf plates. Inflorescences have an unusual color - they are painted yellow-green.

Euphorbia is widely used to decorate flower beds.

Common varieties

Cypress spurge cannot boast of a variety of varieties. The most famous is Euphorbia Cyparissias. In natural conditions, it can be found in Ukraine. The flower loves hilly areas or forest edges. Its needle-like leaf plates are painted in a gray-green hue, are more densely located on the upper part of the flower, and the stem is bare at the bottom.

Healing properties

Cypress spurge is famous for its diuretic effect, so it is useful to cook tinctures from it and harvest leaves and stems for the winter. The tincture from the plant is used externally to get rid of warts and lichen. It is known to use its decoction for poisoning and other problems associated with the work of the digestive tract.

Briefly about the history of appearance

In the wild, the shrub grows on the territory of Eurasia, it is especially common in Russia and the countries of Eastern Europe. It is known that euphorbia grew in prehistoric times in the Bronze Age.

Features of caring for cypress milkweed at home

Euphorbia cypress is more demanding on growing conditions than on care procedures. Therefore, it is worth paying special attention to temperature, lighting and humidity indicators. In general, planting and caring for cypress milkweed is not particularly difficult to implement.

Euphorbia loves a lot of light

Temperature

A heat-loving plant does not tolerate temperature extremes during the growing season, but during dormancy it can withstand frosts down to -27 degrees.

Lighting

To grow a lush milkweed bush in your garden area, you need to provide it with good lighting. Do not plant it in the shade or near tall shrubs and trees.

Watering

You need to take care of the bush with the help of proper watering, which should not be abundant. In rainy periods, the procedure is stopped altogether. At the beginning of the growing season, the bush is watered once every two weeks, but towards the end of summer, you can stop watering altogether.

Spraying

There is no need to spray the bush, as it reacts poorly to high humidity levels.This can only be done when absolutely necessary in a particularly dry summer.

Humidity

For normal growth, the bush needs medium moisture. With dry air, the leaves begin to dry out, and with excessive humidity, the spurge stops blooming.

Priming

To grow milkweed, a slightly acidic soil is needed. To acidify alkaline soil, it is enough to add humus or manure to it.

Top dressing

Milkweed does not need frequent feeding. In spring and autumn, it is enough to add organic matter. During the growing season, the plant is fed with granular mineral fertilizers, diluted in water, and sprayed with them on the soil under the bush.

For feeding during the growing season, you can use granular fertilizers.

Features of care in winter, dormant period

Closer to August, you need to gradually limit watering and feeding the flower. During this period, sanitary pruning is carried out and the bush is prepared for wintering. Euphorbia can survive the winter without shelter if it grows in the southern or middle latitudes. But it is better to cover it with spruce branches or cover it with earth and dry foliage.

When and how it blooms

The flowering of the milkweed is not very noticeable against the general background of the bush, but it is very abundant. The main characteristic feature of cypress milkweed is the yellow-green hue of the flowers. They are only a few tones lighter than their lush crown. The inflorescences are located at the very top of the stem and are in the shape of an umbrella. Small flowers consist of two large and more pronounced petals. They are shaped like a bow tie, but with pointed ends.

Flowering period

The bush begins to bloom in the second half of May, but if the year turned out to be warmer, then the spurge will begin to dissolve the buds earlier. This process lasts about 1.5 months; with proper care, the bush can bloom again.

The flowering of the bush begins in May

Pruning

After complete flowering, it is imperative to carry out sanitary pruning, this procedure is repeated annually at the same time. All bare and dried shoots are removed.

How Euphorbia cypress reproduces

Euphorbia caper can be propagated by vegetative and seed methods.

Germinating seeds

To harden seeds and increase the likelihood of germination, they are recommended to be planted in the fall in open ground. You need to deepen the seeds a little deeper, about 3-5 cm, so that they do not freeze in winter. In spring, spurge will give healthy shoots.

Rooting cuttings

Reproduction using cuttings is carried out in late spring or summer. They are cut from healthy adult stems, each must be at least 10 cm long. Cuttings can be planted immediately in the garden, but it is better to grow them in a box with a nutritious substrate and in greenhouse conditions. After about a month, the scraps will have stable roots, and they can be planted outside.

Rooting of cuttings occurs a month after planting them in the substrate.

Air layering

In this way, the shrub is practically not propagated. To carry out this procedure, the milkweed must have a long, stable and elastic shoot. The stem is bent to the ground and buried in soil. If necessary, secure it with an iron bracket or hairpin. Periodically, the layering is watered and, as soon as it takes root, is separated from the main bush.

Transfer

There is no need to transplant a shrub unless it becomes seriously ill, but this happens very rarely. In this case, the euphorbia is dug out together with the root and rotted and affected roots and stems are removed, and the cut sites are treated with disinfecting solutions. A hole is dug in a new area and a bush is transplanted into it.

Possible growing problems and diseases

During the cultivation of cypress milkweed, various problems often arise, but they are not serious and do not cause much harm.

The flower sheds buds and leaves

This problem arises due to a lack of phosphorus in the soil, so it is worth starting to fertilize the bush with Superphosphate.

Leaves turn pale

Tarnished leaves indicate a lack of sunlight. You need to be more responsible when choosing a place for a shrub. If absolutely necessary, you will have to dig up the plant and transplant it to a more suitable site.

The tips of the leaves dry

Drying of the edges of the leaves is a sign of a decrease in air humidity and an increase in temperature. This happens only in a particularly hot summer. At the same time, it is recommended to increase watering and spray the bush.

The lower leaves fall

If the lower leaves fall, it means that the shrub has suffered from a rare drop in temperature. Another reason could be watering with cold water.

Pests

It cannot be said that euphorbia suffers from insect pests. He fights with them himself, since he has a substance in his tissues that repels various insects with its smell.

Of the pests, cypress euphorbia can be attacked by:

• spider mite;
• mealybug;
• shield;
• root worms.

Other problems

Sometimes darkening of foliage is observed in milkweed. This sign indicates a long-term presence of the bush in the shade or abundant watering. The result of overflow is also rotting of the stems and the root system.

Signs and superstitions

There is a belief that if a spurge grows near a house, then sick household members, their relatives or friends will soon be cured of all ailments. The cypress species has always been considered a symbol of health, as evidenced by its many medicinal properties.

The shrub fits beautifully into the landscape of personal plots

Cypress spurge is perhaps the most unpretentious garden plant. All procedures for caring for it are so simple that sometimes flower growers forget about this plant altogether. However, this does not greatly disturb the flower, because its main task is to be the finishing touch of the flower arrangement.