Descriptive characteristics of eukomis, recommendations for growing "pineapple lily" in the backyard, breeding rules, difficulties in leaving and ways to solve them, types. Eukomis (Eucomis) is also often called Eukomis and according to various sources it belongs to the family Hyacinthaceae or Asparagaceae. This representative of the flora was first discovered in southern Africa, where the subtropical or tropical climate prevails.
The first description was given to eukomis by a French botanist Charles Louis Lhéritier de Brutelle (1746-1800) in 1788. All thanks to the colorful inflorescence, which resembles a whirlwind of flowers, the ancient Greek word "efkomis" was used, the translation of which was "beautiful whirlwind" or "beautiful-haired". However, due to the fact that the inflorescence itself resembled a bird's tuft or the top of an exotic fruit, the plant growers call the plant "crest lily" or "pineapple lily".
Eukomis has a long-term growth period and its roots are represented by large bulbs. Their outlines are egg-shaped, with a shiny surface. The shape of the "beautiful vortex" is grassy. In height, such a plant can reach 0.7 m. Leaves originate from the bulbs, which are distinguished by a belt-like, ribbon-like, ovoid shape. Their edge is often wavy, which gives the leaf blades a more attractive appearance, and even without flowers, Eucomis stands out with succulent foliage among garden plants. The leaves are painted in rich shades of green. Often, varieties have mottling on the back of the leaf. Its color scheme can be burgundy, purple, brown or even black. The length of the sheet does not exceed 0.6 m.
But it is the flowering that attracts the eye to the “pineapple lily”. From the leaf rosette, the flower arrow of cylindrical outlines begins to lengthen rather quickly. It can reach almost a meter in height, but most often its values vary in the range of 70–90 cm. At the top, an inflorescence of flowers and bracts is formed. This last circumstance is the difference between eukomis and daylilies. The number of bracts is very large and it can reach one hundred pieces. They are formed at the top of the inflorescence and are somewhat reminiscent of a tuft or the top of a pineapple. The length of the inflorescence is 0.3 m. The color of flowers and bracts, depending on the variety, takes on different colors: whitish, cream, light green, purple, purple and even two-color.
The perianth has 6 pieces of lobes, which have a lighter tone, at the base they have splicing. Usually, after flowering ends, the perianths fall off. In the corolla there are three pairs of filamentous stamens, which have a cleavage at the base. Anthers, swinging, are crowned with stamens. The ovary has three nests; it is obovate or round in shape. Eukomis usually bloom from early to mid-summer, but some species bloom on August days.
The fruits of the "crested lily" are three-ribbed boxes, which, even when the foliage dries up, decorate the peduncle. Parts of the capsule resemble blades. The ribs are separated by seams, along which the fruit, when ripe, begins to open. Eukomis seeds can be round or ovoid. Their color changes from dark brown to black.
Growing a plant is not difficult, it is important to adhere to the rules of its cultivation.
Growing eukomis - planting in the open field
- Drop off location. It is best if the flowerbed on which the seedlings or bulbs are planted, or the container with the plant, will be placed in a sunny place. It is important that it is protected from wind or draft.
- Planting a pineapple lily. When the soil has already warmed up enough in the spring, you can plant Eucomis in open ground. It is also necessary to take into account that there are no return frosts, since some varieties do not have frost resistance properties. This time begins already from the end of May, but often due to weather conditions it is shifted to June. Before this process, it is desirable to carry out some "hardening" of the seedlings. To do this, it is recommended to lower the thermometer values by 6-8 hours for 2-3 weeks. Eukomis seedlings must be placed at a sufficient distance when planting. Between them should be about 20-25 cm, and the row spacing will be about 40-50 cm. As the root system of a plant is powerful and well-branched, the depth of the hole for planting should not be shallow. The bulbs are placed at a depth of about 2, 5–3, 5 cm, but so that their top is flush with the ground or slightly higher. If you live in the southern region, then you do not need to germinate the “beautiful vortex” bulbs, they are immediately planted in a permanent place in the garden or in a flower bed.
- The soil for Eucomis. The plant in nature grows on rich and loose substrates, therefore it is recommended to extract the garden soil when digging a hole and mix it with coarse sand - this will make the substrate lighter and more permeable to water and air. The ratio of the components is 4: 1. If there is a desire to make the soil mixture more fertile, then it is made up of turf, river washed sand (you can take agroperlite), humus (replace with wet peat). This proportion is maintained at 3: 1: 1. On the bottom of the hole, before laying the soil, if the groundwater in the area is too close, it is necessary to pour medium-fraction expanded clay or pieces of brick of the same size.
- Watering. After planting, on spring days, watering should be moderate and gentle, the substrate is kept slightly moist. When the bulb begins to accelerate in growth, then watering is increased, but if flowers are formed on the eukomis, then the moisture of the substrate becomes more frequent and they become abundant. The soil should always be well moistened. However, if the owner overdoes it with watering, then this will lead to rotting of the bulbs. It is advisable to warm up the water a little. As soon as the flowering ends, the watering is reduced and by September they are no longer carried out. A signal for this is the yellowing of the foliage and its drying out. It is at this time that it is recommended to get the mother's bulb out of the soil and separate the young babies. Watering is not needed until spring.
- Fertilizers for a "beautiful vortex" are introduced only when the active growth of the bulb is well manifested. It is recommended to fertilize eukomis with complex mineral preparations once every two weeks. The plant also needs organic feeding, for example, mullein solution. Fertilizers should be alternated, and this will help to activate not only the growth of leaf plates, but also increase the duration and splendor of flowering.
- The use of "pineapple lily" in landscape design. The plant looks quite decorative because of its high peduncle and brightly colored inflorescence, so it is often used to decorate flower beds and flower beds. If you grow Eucomis in a container that can be moved from place to place, then there is the possibility of creating such a "mobile decoration" of a veranda, terrace, garden, balcony or gazebo. Since this representative of the flora has a rather clear structural form, it looks attractive as a tapeworm. If a decision is made to use the "crest lily" in group plantings, then it is not bad to plant perennial conifers, gerberas or ground cover crops nearby, the growing season of which takes up to one year. When eukomis is planted in a rose garden, phytodesiners create a bright accent from it that attracts the eye during its flowering period. But after the flowers wither, the decorativeness of the plant will decrease slightly, but the bush will not lose it due to the beautiful outlines of shiny leaves. And not only this will then attract the eye - on the peduncle, if it is not cut off, the fruit-boxes filled with seeds will ripen. However, flowering arrows are often cut off and used to decorate bouquets and stationary phytocompositions. Despite the ease of cultivation, such exotic plants are rarely found in flower gardens in our latitudes.
- Eukomis wintering. If the growing areas are southern, without harsh and snowy winters, then the "crested lily" can be grown without digging in the open ground, you only need to provide a light cover, for example, fallen leaves, spruce branches or agrofibre will do. Eucomis is quite similar in this respect to gladioli. In areas located to the north, it will be necessary to remove the bulbs from the soil with wilting foliage and store them indoors.
- Rest period and storage of bulbs. At the end of September, the foliage begins to dry out at the eukomis, and when it completely dies off, with the help of a pitchfork, the bulbs must be dug up and pulled out of the ground. Then they are examined and cleaned of soil residues, dried a little and placed in containers filled with river dry sand. It is recommended to keep such containers with bulbs in the cool and dark conditions of the cellar, basement or, in extreme cases, on the lower shelf of the refrigerator. In this case, the temperature should be in the range of 4-6 degrees Celsius. Such preservation will be the key to a lush subsequent flowering. However, you should not count on the formation of a large number of daughter bulbs in this case.
Eukomis breeding rules
Planting of daughter bulbs, sowing seeds or cuttings is used.
All bulbs of the maternal eukomis during their growth "acquire" daughter processes that are immediately suitable for planting. It is this method that guarantees the preservation of all the properties of the mother's "pineapple lily". As soon as the leaves wilt and the bulbs are removed from the soil, it is recommended to examine them and if there are children, then they are carefully separated. They can be preserved, like adult bulbs, or by planting them in pots filled with dry sand. In any case, you will need to wait for the spring days to see the beginning of the development of young roots on the bulbs. Then they are planted in seedling boxes, if the climate does not allow them to be immediately placed on a flower bed.
A peat-sand mixture is poured into the boxes, into which the bulbs are buried. When germinating, the temperature should be room temperature (20-24 degrees), and the lighting should be bright, but diffused. To increase the humidity during rooting of the bulbs, a piece of glass is placed on the box or the container is covered with a plastic transparent film. As soon as the young eukomis develop and the weather conditions are suitable, the seedlings are planted in open ground.
You can get a new plant "crested lily" by sowing the seeds collected after ripening of the capsules. They are placed in loose and moist soil (for example, peat with sand or garden soil with sand). As with bulbs, you will need ample amount of light, moisture and heat. Due to the shelter, it is necessary to ventilate daily to remove condensation drops. As soon as the first shoots appear, you can remove the film (glass) and accustom the Eucomis seedlings to room conditions. Only now, such plants will delight in flowering at least three years from the moment of planting, but sometimes this period extends to five years. Varietal traits of such “pineapple lilies” may be lost.
If the method of grafting is chosen, then a healthy and well-developed leaf plate is selected for an adult specimen. After that, using a blade, it must be divided into longitudinal parts, the length of which will be approximately 4-6 cm. The upper and lower edges are marked in advance so as not to confuse them during transplantation. Leaf segments are planted in pots filled with a substrate of peat and sand mixed in equal parts. Planting depth is 2.5 cm. Containers with seedlings should be covered with plastic wrap or placed under a glass jar. The lighting during germination should be bright, but not in direct sunlight. The temperature is maintained at about 20 degrees. Airings are arranged every 3 days. When 1, 5–2, 5 months have passed, bulbs will grow on the lower part of the segments. They, like the children of eukomis, are planted in pots so that when they grow up they are moved to open ground.
Difficulties in caring for eukomis and ways to solve them
If the rules of cultivation are violated, especially when the soil is waterlogged, the “pineapple lily” bulbs begin to rot. If watering was not disturbed, in all likelihood, when the bulbs were preserved, the temperature of the content was not low enough, or they were sprayed and rotting began long before planting. Also, disturbance of dormancy and failure to withstand low temperatures can affect the formation of inflorescences. In this case, they appear in an ugly shape, and often flowering may not even come. The same reason arises when the light level has been too low since the beginning of the growth of the bulb.
Spider mites, mealybugs, aphids, whiteflies act as pests of eukomis. Symptoms of the appearance of insects are yellowing and deformation of the foliage, the formation of cobwebs and whitish cotton-like lumps on the back of the leaves, white specks and midges, many green bugs, and leaf plates can be covered with a sugary sticky bloom - pad. If such signs are detected, it is recommended to immediately carry out the treatment with insecticidal-acaricidal preparations, with repeated spraying after 7 days, until the pests are completely destroyed.
Types and photos of eukomis
- Eukomis bicolor (Eucomis bicolor) or Eukomis bicolor. Homeland - South Africa. Height is about 0.6 meters. Bulbs are ovoid, with a glossy surface. The color of the leaves is green, on the back there is a pattern of burgundy spots. The peduncle is crowned with an inflorescence with a length of about 0.3 m. The surface of the peduncle is painted in a green tint, but there are streaks of purple on it. Small-sized, star-shaped flowers are collected in cluster inflorescences, their arrangement is very dense. Both bracts and flowers are painted in a light green color, but the border is purple, the stamens and ovaries are burgundy. The inflorescence has a cap of bracts resembling the top of a pineapple. This variety blooms in August. The capsule fruits are purple in color. There is a form "Alba", bred by Tuberg, in which flowers are whitish-green, on the flower arrow and leaves there are no burgundy spots and strokes.
- Eukomis punctate (Eucomis punctate). The synonym for this variety is Eucomis comosa hort. or Ornithogalum punctatum Thunb. In Europe, this species has become known since the late 70s of the 18th century. The homeland is also the southern lands of Africa. In height, this perennial can reach 0, 3–0, 6 meters. The sheet flat plates have grooves. The shape of the leaves is lanceolate or ruled. The edge of the leaf is wavy. The length of the leaf is approximately 0.6 meters with a width of no more than 6–7 cm. The leaves are colored green, with a brown to black speck on the back. A flower arrow is crowned with a loose inflorescence that takes a racemose shape. The number of flowers in it varies in the range of 40-100 pieces. The petals in the flowers are also painted on the back with a dotted pattern of dark color. Bracts (12–20 pieces) grow in a bunch at the top of the inflorescence. The color of the flowers is green, their width reaches 2.5 cm.
