Russian hazel grouse: what a flower looks like

Every gardener dreams that his flower beds bloom from the beginning of spring and fade only in late autumn. It is not difficult to pick up beautiful and easy-to-care specimens for the summer period, but in the off-season, the flower garden often loses its brightness. You can fill in the gaps in spring with those species that bloom immediately after the snow melts. One of these early flowers is fritillaria.

Appearance

Fritillaria, popularly a hazel grouse, blooms among the forest edges and in the flower beds of gardeners in the spring. Its bell-shaped flowers stand out sharply against the background in some places of not completely melted snow and the first bright green blades of grass.

One variety of this plant is especially noticeable among the awakening nature - Russian hazel grouse. Its flowers are painted in dark shades, but, despite this, they dazzle among the spring meadows.

A variety of fritillaria

Botanical description

Grouse Russian belongs to the perennial herbaceous plants of the Liliaceae family, the class of monocotyledons. The plant reaches a height of 20-50 cm, has smooth thin stems and long leaves, sharp to the ends. The upper leaves are shorter than the lower ones, often twist into spirals at the ends.

Its flowers are collected in racemose inflorescences of 1-5 pcs. either in the axils of the upper leaves, or at the very top of the stem. The perianth has the shape of a bell, from the outside it is painted in a maroon color with barely noticeable specks. From the inside, the petals have a more yellow tint, a green strip is drawn on each lobe.

Inside the bud are stamens and a pistil, the column of which is divided into three stigmas with pollen. Russian hazel grouse seeds ripen in small hexagonal capsules (up to 4 cm in length).

The upper leaves of this flower often form tendrils.

Distribution and ecology

This flower is found naturally in the European part of Russia, at the foothills of the Caucasus, in Western Siberia. You can also find it in Ukraine and Kazakhstan. Grouse grows in meadows, among bushes, along rivers and in rocky areas.

Active urbanization and the development of fertile lands hit hard on the population of this plant in nature. In addition, spring fires (due to human fault or due to natural circumstances) often destroy the already rare fields of hazel grouse.

Status and rarity category

Russian hazel grouse is considered a rare category III plant. Refers to ornamental species, endemics of the flora of the CIS. In 1988 he was included in the Red Book of Russia. Also, this plant is protected by the Red Book of Ukraine.

Necessary security measures

According to the law, there are restrictions on the collection of Russian hazel grouse for bouquets, its deliberate and unintentional trampling, mowing of the meadow with the plant until seeds form, digging out the bulbs.

Seeing such an unusual flower in nature, you should not pick it.

Seed propagation

There are several ways to breed hazel grouses. The first is from the bottom of the seed. It is carried out as follows:

1. Seed material is collected after the bolls have dried.
2. Seeds are planted immediately in the prepared soil.
3. Furrows are made 10 cm wide and 1 cm deep, the distance between them is kept equal to the width of the bed.
4. After planting, the seeds are watered, then sprinkled with peat 2 cm. Seedlings appear next spring.

Reproduction by dividing the bulbs

Vegetative propagation methods for fritillaria are more effective. One is dividing one large onion into two parts. This is done like this:

1. An adult flower is dug up, its bulb is cut into two parts.
2. Sections are treated with a disinfectant solution, dried and sprinkled with ash.
3. Each bulb is planted in separate containers with soil.

The flowering of a new plant may begin as early as the next season, that is, in a year.

Storage of planting material

Grouse are planted in the autumn, which means that the planting material must be properly stored during the summer.

Plant bulbs should be kept in a dry and well ventilated area. The air temperature should not exceed 30 ° C. Under the right storage conditions, the chances of germination of the bulbs are increased.

What do flower bulbs look like?

Landing technology

Russian hazel grouse is a frost-resistant and drought-resistant plant. It is quite easy to care for it, since in natural conditions it copes on its own. But it is important to create such conditions on the site for growing hazel grouse, which will be as close as possible to its natural habitat.

The landing site should be:

• dry - spring floods and groundwater should not create stagnation of water in the soil;
• illuminated - the more natural light for a plant, the better it will grow;
• fertilized - properly selected top dressing will help to achieve active flowering.

The main enemy of hazel grouses is water stagnant in the soil. Under such conditions, the bulbs of the plant quickly rot, and the flowers die.

Soil preparation

The soil for Russian hazel grouses should be fertile enough, but light. A drainage layer may be needed to better saturate the roots of the plant with water and air. The pH of the soil should be neutral or alkaline. An acidic environment is not suitable for growing plants of this species.

Growing difficulties

In addition to too wet soil, other factors can also disrupt the flowering process and lead to the death of hazel grouse. For example, drafts or north wind. It is worth taking care in advance of choosing a site where there will be a calm atmosphere (for example, behind the wall of a building or a gazebo, near dense bushes).

Another reason for the lack of flowering in Russian hazel grouses is the too small size of the bulb. The roots should be firmly entrenched in the soil, and the plant should gain strength. For this, it may take 1-2 years after planting.

This is what the boxes with fritillaria seeds look like.

Care

As part of the care for hazel grouse, you will need periodic weeding of the soil, watering and fertilizing.

Watering the plant is necessary only in the hot summer period so that the soil does not dry out too much. After the growing season, you need to moisten the soil 1-2 times a month, depending on the rate of drying of the soil.

Top dressing should be started in the second half of April. Dry nutritional mixtures are used. You can compose the fertilizer yourself:

• 1 bucket of humus;
• 1 tbsp. spoon of nitrophoska;
• 1 tbsp. a spoonful of agriculture.

About 5 kg of this mixture is distributed over 1 m² of the plot.

Diseases and pests

With the right planting conditions and timely fertilization, diseases and pests can be avoided. But sometimes hazel grouses can be amazed:

• A fungus that spreads on the bulbs. You can avoid the disease only by sorting through all the planting material and separating the infected from the healthy. For prevention purposes, such plants are planted separately from the rest.
• Lily beetles and rattlers. They are destroyed by insecticides. But most often there are few beetles on the flowers, so they can be collected by hand and then destroyed.

During agrotechnical measures, it is important to inspect each flower for the presence of certain pests. Lesions may not appear immediately, a signal will be a color change in buds or leaves.

Use in landscape design

Such a flower will look great in a rock garden or rock garden. It is combined with periwinkles, pachisandras, stonecrops. It will look good against the background of lush and brightly flowering shrubs, under trees.

For classic flower beds, other types of hazel grouses are most often used, for example, imperial or chess. The Russian species is well suited for creating natural flower gardens. Having planted it, the florist will not regret it.