Description of the tansy plant, the rules of planting and care in the open field, how to reproduce, possible difficulties in growing, interesting notes and applications, types.
Tansy (Tanacetum) belongs to the genus, which includes both herbaceous and shrubby flora. All of them are part of the Asteraceae family, which bears another synonymous name - Compositae. Varieties of this genus are mainly distributed in the Northern Hemisphere of the planet, on lands with a temperate climate, namely Eurasia and the northern regions of Africa and North America. The genus unites about 167 different species, but on the Russian territory there is an opportunity to meet only 30 of them.
| Family name | Astral or Compositae |
| Growing period | Perennials |
| Vegetation form | Herbaceous or shrub |
| Breeding method | Seed or vegetatively (dividing the bush) |
| Landing period in open ground | October or late April-early May |
| Landing rules | The distance between the divisions is 40 cm, the row spacing will be 50-60 cm |
| Priming | Any garden |
| Soil acidity values, pH | 6, 5-7 (neutral) |
| Lighting degree | Sunny and open location, partial shade or even shade |
| Humidity parameters | Water as needed |
| Special care rules | Fertilization in early spring and after flowering |
| Height values | 0, 6-1, 2m |
| Inflorescence shape or type of flowers | Shield-shaped basket inflorescences, occasionally single baskets |
| Flower color | Bright yellow |
| Flowering time | July-September |
| Decorative period | Summer |
| Fruit type | Oblong achenes |
| The timing of fruit ripening | Aug. Sept |
| Application in landscape design | Flower gardens, border planting, cultivated as a medicinal crop |
| USDA zone | 4–6 |
The scientific name of the genus converges to two, in some characteristics, similar, but at the same time opposite versions. The first mentions the Greek words "tanaos" and "ceomai", which translate as "long" or "long" and "live" or "exist", respectively. This suggests that the plant can remain in its original and juicy form for a long time after it is plucked, and if we talk about a synonym, it literally means "forever alive." According to the second version, the term "Tanacetum" comes from a modified pronunciation of the Greek word "Athanasia", which refers to "a" and "thanaos", translated as "not" and "death". That is, in fact, tansy was compared to an immortelle, although these are completely different representatives of the same family.
Due to the numerous medicinal properties of this plant, as well as its external outlines, people can hear how tansy is called chamomile and field mountain ash, hump and mother liquor, worm and gourd, bireota and yellow nine-leaf and others.
All representatives of the genus are perennials, characterized by both herbaceous and shrub forms of growth and possessing a rhizome. The latter is short, with weak branching, creeping and wintering. If the species is southern, then even the above-ground part, which usually lignifies in the lower part, can winter. But the northern varieties are often distinguished by woody stems in the root zone at the end of the growing season. Tansy stems are upright with branches. The surface is grooved or smooth. The color of the shoots is from light to deep green. The height that is inherent in chamomile stems can vary from 60 cm to 1.2 m.
The leaf plates grow on the stems in the next order, their general shape is oval, but the leaf is distinguished by pinnately dissected outlines, while the lobes of the leaflets have an oblong-lanceolate shape and a serrated edge. This is somewhat similar to rowan leaves, which is why the people have a nickname - field rowan. The foliage of the tansy on the upper side is dark green, and the reverse is grayish-green in color. On the lower surface, glands in the form of dots are distinguishable. The leaves are characterized by odor, due to the sticky substance secreted by the glands. It happens that there is a strong pubescence.
During flowering, which falls on the period from July to September, in the field mountain ash, inflorescences are formed in the form of rounded baskets. The shape of the inflorescences is flat and at the same time corymbose. They are made up of small tubular flowers of a yellow hue. There are varieties of tansy that also have marginal flowers, recognized as pseudo-reed. In rare cases, flower baskets grow singly. The size of the inflorescences is small or takes on average parameters.
After the flowers of the tansy are pollinated by insects, the fruits ripening in the form of achenes. The ripening time of fruits is extended from the end of June, including September. The outlines of the achenes are oblong, the edge is serrated, they reach 1, 2–1, 8 mm in length.
The genus, even today, is not considered fully established and it often includes plants that belong to the Pyrethrum genus (and sometimes the entire genus in its entirety), some varieties of Chrysanthemums or Yarrows. Growing such a useful plant, as well as propagating, is not at all difficult, you just have to heed our advice.
Planting and caring for tansy outdoors
- Landing place It is not difficult to choose a field mountain ash, since the plant will feel great, both on a sunny lawn and in thick shade. However, in an open place, illuminated from all sides by the sun's rays, flowering will be more magnificent. But then watering will need to be done more often. Since tansy juice is poisonous, you should not plant bushes in places where small children or pets have access to them, although the latter can be frightened off by a rather pungent aroma.
- Soil for tansy does not play a special role, since the chamomile is not capricious. Therefore, you can select any part of the garden for such plantings. The acidity of the soil is preferable to be neutral, with a pH of 6, 5–7.
- Planting tansy is held at the end of May, before the heat hits. Even though young plants can withstand slight frosts, it takes time for them to adapt, so it is better to wait until the return frosts have passed. Adult specimens are not afraid of a decrease in heat to -4 frost. If delenki are planted, then they try to maintain the distance between them about 40 cm, and when planting is in rows, then the aisles should not be less than half a meter. A seedling hole is dug in such a way that the root system can easily fit into it. When the mother liquor is installed in the hole, the soil is poured into it to the top and squeezed a little. After that, abundant watering is carried out. The bushes can be mulched around with peat chips or humus, which will help the soil not dry out so quickly, and the weeds will stop growing. The plant is often dug out in the field and brought to the site for planting, but first you must clean the earthen lump surrounding the root system of the field rowan from weeds. The depth of the planting hole is dug at about 15 cm.
- Watering when caring for tansy, it is practically not required, but this applies only to those periods when the amount of precipitation is normal. If the plant does not have enough moisture, it will begin to wither, and the stems with foliage will quickly dry out. After each moistening of the soil, it is recommended to loosen it and weed out the weeds that have appeared.
- Fertilizers when growing tansy, it must be applied twice during the growing season. For the first time, fertilizing is applied, as soon as the snow cover has melted, the second time, fertilizers are applied at the end of flowering. It is recommended to use ammonium nitrate to give a boost to the growth of green mass, as well as superphosphate to stimulate the growth of the root system, flowering and slow down aging. For 1 m2, you need to use 10-15 grams of the first drug and about 20 grams of the second.
- Collecting tansy. Since inflorescences-baskets are used for medicinal purposes, they should be collected at the very beginning of flowering - from mid-summer to September. Flowers should be cut from the stems and laid out on a clean cloth under a canopy outdoors to dry. Some dry tansy by cutting off the inflorescences along with the stems, collecting them in bunches and hanging them with their heads down in a dry room with good ventilation. After the inflorescences are completely dry, they are separated from the stems and folded into paper bags or glass jars. You can store such material for no more than two years. If the inflorescences have become brown, then they can no longer be used. Often, for the preparation of medicines, folk healers use tansy stems and foliage.
- The use of tansy in landscape design. Despite its bright inflorescences, field mountain ash is grown mainly as a medicinal crop in the beds, but with such bushes it is possible to decorate flower beds, protecting them from pests. You can also plant them along garden curbs or paths to give them a cheerful look.
Read also about growing a daisy in the open field.
Features of reproduction of tansy
Usually, to obtain new bushes of field mountain ash, it is recommended to use both generative (seed) and vegetative methods. The latter involves the separation of the bush and stems growing above the ground.
- Reproduction of tansy using seeds. In open ground, seed is placed in the last week of April or at the very beginning of May. Another good time would be mid-fall. For this, the scheme is applied - 20x40 cm. The depth of the seed bed will be about 20-30 cm. If sowing is carried out in rows, then the size of the row spacing will be about 60 cm. Thus, decorative borders are formed. Such reproduction will make it possible to bloom only in the second year of growing chamomile bushes.
- Reproduction of tansy by dividing the bush. The best period for this operation will be May or the end of summer. Usually shrubs that have reached two or three years of age are shared. Such a bush is dug in with a shovel around the perimeter and removed from the soil with a garden pitchfork, then all soil and weeds are carefully removed from its root system. After that, the mother plant bush is divided into parts, which are immediately subject to planting. The depth of the pit should not exceed 15 cm.
See also guidelines for breeding feverfew.
Possible difficulties in growing tansy in the garden
The plant is characterized by a special resistance to diseases and, moreover, to pests. By distributing tansy bushes between plantings in the garden and vegetable garden, you can even protect your garden plot with this fragrant flower from harmful insects. If it happened that the foliage of the field chamomile looks affected by fungal diseases, then you will not have to fight the disease especially. Such leaves are simply cut off, and insecticide treatment can even be omitted. Such diseases are gray rot or powdery mildew, in which the leaf plates become covered with spots of a yellowish or brown hue, grayish or whitish bloom, deformation and drying of the foliage begins.
Also, when growing tansy, the following problems may arise:
- the stems began to wither and dry out. This is due to a lack of moisture, an increase in watering is recommended;
- in the central part, the dying off of the bush began - it is necessary to rejuvenate the plantings every few years (usually once every 2-3 years).
Read also about the difficulties in growing wormwood.
Interesting notes about the plant, the use of tansy
The most common among all the diversity of the genus is the common tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) species, it is with this plant that associations are made when the term "tansy" is mentioned. This representative of the flora has been known to mankind for a long time and not only as a medicinal or ornamental plant, but also as a spicy-aromatic culture. Its distribution is so ubiquitous that even in some places it is considered a weed. Tansy is used for the manufacture of both medicinal drugs, for the production of essential oil, but also as an ingredient in insecticides.
Important
The plant can be used to scare off the following pests from the site: Colorado potato beetle, flies and moths, earthen fleas and cabbage butterflies and its caterpillars. It is simply recommended to plant tansy bushes between garden plants.
The second most popular is balsam tansy (Tanacetum balsamita), which has long been used by people in the above directions. But, despite the same use of it (medicinal, food or spice-aromatic), fame over the past 150 years has noticeably declined.
In ancient Russia, mountain ash was used for storing meat products, since the substances found in tansy helped to block the spread and reproduction of bacteria. Bunches from the mother liquor were hung out next to doors and windows to scare away insects (flies, mosquitoes and others) trying to fly into the house. It is curious that the Egyptians knew about tansy and actively used this plant to embalm their dead. Chamomile roots were used to obtain a green dye. From Egypt this knowledge migrated to the Persians and Greeks. Tansy thickets are an excellent food for marals and marmots, deer, gophers and sheep love the plant. However, if the animal eats a lot of such grass, then there is a possibility of poisoning.
In many developed countries today, tansy is grown for industrial use, namely in the chemical, food and pharmaceutical industries. All due to the fact that in the foliage, and especially in the inflorescences, there are active substances with multiple beneficial properties. So, for example, tannin components contribute to the healing of the skin, and acids help to inhibit the aging of epidermal cells. Due to the rather poisonous tansy juice, the plant is applicable as an anthelmintic, while the oil obtained from flowers will have a positive effect on the choleretic system. Drugs made on the basis of greens and flowers of field mountain ash help to eliminate manifestations of rheumatism and headaches, help normalize the digestive tract, and also help remove bile from the body and have a beneficial effect on the liver.
Contraindications for the use of tansy are:
- period of childbearing and breastfeeding;
- children under 12 years of age;
- heart diseases;
- high blood pressure.
It is important not to exceed the dosage of herbal preparations and consult your doctor before taking them. But at the same time, one should remember about the symptoms of poisoning that occurs with an overdose: vomiting, convulsions and intestinal upset.
Types of tansy
Since the genus contains a large number of varieties, here are only the most famous ones:
Silver tansy (Tanacetum argenteum)
is an ornamental-deciduous crop for cultivation in personal plots. An evergreen perennial plant with woody stems at the base. Its height is 20 cm with a bush width of about 30 cm. Shoots are characterized by whitish tomentose pubescence. There is the ability to form curtains that resemble rugs. The foliage grows erect, oval in outline, double-pinnate, composed of 10-18 leaflets, characterized by separation or narrowed-lanceolate outlines. The color of the leaflets is whitish-silver, rather bright. The length of the leaf plate is 2–7 cm. When flowering, inflorescences-baskets of a whitish color are formed, reaching 40 mm in diameter. They can singly crown the tops of the stems or grow, grouping into scutes.
Balsamic tansy (Tanacetum balsamita)
is also called Canooper or Kalufer. It is customary to grow the species in almost all European gardens. It is used as a spice-aromatic and food culture. Often, experts attribute it to the genus Chrysanthemum. Herbaceous or shrub perennial. The creeping rhizome may have more or less branching, woody. The stems are formed slightly, they grow upright, there is not too distinct ribbing on their surface. The height of the shoots can vary in the range of 30–120 cm, but if conditions are favorable, then this figure can be large. The stems are branched at the top. Foliage mainly grows from the bottom of the shoots, forming a large basal rosette.
The leaf plates are solid, have the shape of an oval or ellipse. Fine-toothed edge. The leaves are colored grayish green or dull greenish. There is a fine pubescence, reminiscent of velvet to the touch. Petioles are found only in the lower leaves, those that are higher grow sessile and smaller in size. Garden forms have more fragrant foliage than wild species.
When flowering, inflorescences are formed in the form of baskets, including from 10 to 60 buds. The diameter of the flower is small, only 1 cm. Their pedicels are short. The inflorescences adorn the tops of the stems, grouped into compacted shields. Baskets are made of purely tubular flowers, there are no marginal petals. The color of the flower is bright canary yellow or pale yellowish. In a wild species, inflorescences can grow singly, with marginal flowers, whitish color, reaching a length of 0.5-1 cm.
The achene is the fruit, measuring 2.5 mm. It has 5-8 ribs along the length and a crown. However, seed is very rarely tied.
Shield tansy (Tanacetum corymbosum)
often referred to as Caucasian chamomile or Pyrethrum corymbose … The plant is listed in the Red Book of Belarus, distributed in Western European areas, in the Crimea and the Caucasus, as well as in the regions of Central Asia. Prefers forests and mountainous regions. A perennial plant with a herbaceous form of growth, reaching a height of 30–120 cm. Shortened rhizome. Stems grow singly or several, but the number is small. Erect, there is slight branching at the apex, leaves are present in small numbers. On the surface there is a pubescence of long hairs adjacent to the stem. Very rarely, shoots have a bare surface.
The foliage is pinnately dissected. The leaf lobes have ovate-lanceolate outlines. Leaves growing next to the soil (in the root zone) are characterized by petioles, their plates can be elongated or linearly elongated. Their segmental parts are characterized by feathery lobed or separated outlines. On the stems, leaf plates resemble basal ones, but their size is smaller. All leaves have slight pubescence, but the upper side is completely bare.
Blooms in baskets, which gather 3-15 pieces in corymbose inflorescences. They are crowned with elongated peduncles, characterized by pubescence in the upper part. The baskets are bare. In the middle, tubular yellow flowers grow, surrounded by marginal white flowers. The flowering process takes time from June to July.
When the flowers are pollinated, from the end of summer to September elongated achenes ripen, measuring in the range of 2–2.5 mm.
Maiden tansy (Tanacetum parthenium)
may be named Feverfew … A fairly common plant among florists. Herbaceous perennial, common in the Balkans, in the countries of Asia Minor, as well as in the Caucasus and the Caucasus. Introduced (introduced by man) to the territory of European countries and the Mediterranean, also found in Chile and in the area of North America. Perennial with highly branched stems, not exceeding a height of half a meter. Leaves have pinnately dissected or very cut outlines, soft pubescence is present. The color of the foliage is light or yellow-green.
During the summer flowering period (from mid to late summer), inflorescences-baskets are formed, measuring in the range of 1.5-3 cm in diameter. There are many forms with a lush structure of inflorescences, which are usually located at the tops of the stems. The color of the flowers in the inflorescences is white or yellowish. Abundant flowering can be expected after 2, 5–3, 5 months from the date of sowing.
The seeds are located in the fruits of the achenes; after harvesting, they do not lose their germination for a three-year period. The seeds are rather small, resembling the outlines of a cream-colored stick. There are up to 4500-5000 of them in 1 gram.
Armenian tansy (Pyrethrum armenum
) can be referred to as Tanacetum aureum … The height of this perennial is 10–35 cm. Many stems are formed, in rare cases the stem grows single. It is characterized by direct growth or it can be upward from the base. The color of the foliage is grayish-green, with pubescence of short hairs. The leaves have elongated petioles in the root zone. The outlines of such foliage are double-pinnate, often oblong or broad-linear. The length of the leaf plate is 10 cm with a width of about 2.5 cm. The leaves on the stems do not have petioles, their size is smaller and there is almost no dissection. Baskets are represented by yellow flower heads. Compacted corymbose inflorescences on the tops of the stems are collected from 3-10 such flowers.
Related article: Rules for planting rudbeckia and care in open ground
Video about growing tansy outdoors:
