Description of the brimer plant, advice on growing in a summer cottage and in room conditions, methods of reproduction, the fight against possible diseases and pests, species. Brimera (Brimeura) belongs to the Asparagaceae family, but according to some obsolete data it is a member of the Liliaceae family. The native habitat of natural growth falls on the territory of the Pyrenees, where it covers rocky slopes or grassy plains. It can be found in the northeastern regions of Spain, the plant is not uncommon in the lands of Slovenia and Croatia. Often, the growth height can reach 2000 meters above sea level. This genus unites only four species in itself. The most famous is the variety - Brimeura amethystina (Brimeura amethystina).
| Family name | Asparagus |
| Life cycle | Perennial |
| Growth features | Herbaceous |
| Reproduction | Seed and vegetative (cuttings or division of the rhizome) |
| Landing period in open ground | Rooted seedlings are planted in spring, bulbs in autumn |
| Disembarkation scheme | Distance between plants 10 cm |
| Substrate | Light, sandy, loams are also suitable |
| Soil acidity, pH | 6, 5-7, 8 (neutral or slightly alkaline) |
| Illumination | Open area with bright lighting |
| Moisture indicators | Stagnant moisture is destructive, watering is moderate, a drainage layer is needed when planting |
| Special Requirements | Unpretentious |
| Plant height | 0.01-0.3 m |
| Color of flowers | Light blue, blue, pink or white |
| Type of flowers, inflorescences | Loose racemose |
| Flowering time | June |
| Decorative time | Spring-summer |
| Place of application | Rock gardens, rocky slides, rockery mixborders, as a houseplant |
| USDA zone | 5–9 |
This representative of the flora bears its name in honor of an amateur botanist from Spain, who lived in the 16th century, Marie Briemer, who was assigned in 1866 by a British naturalist who decided to immortalize the name of his colleague, R. Salisbury. After the work done, this scientist singled out the Brimeura plant into a separate genus, since it was originally in both the Liliaceae family and the Hyacinthaceae family. But today both of these plant associations are included in the large Asparagaceae family. Because of natural growth, Karl Linnaeus (1707-1778), the founder of the taxonomy of all flora and fauna, named one of the varieties of Brimer in 1753 "Spanish hyacinth" or "Imethyst hyacinth".
These herbaceous plants are perennials and have a bulbous rhizome. The brimer bulb has a convex bottom, which is formed by means of one closed and rather juicy scales. Outside, there is also one dried, closed and membranous scales. Bulb weight ranges from 20-25 grams. Plant height can vary in the range of 10-30 cm.
Foliage grows mainly in the root zone, gathering in a rosette. The leaf blades have narrow-linear outlines, their bases are covered by a single fused vaginal scales, filmy appearance. The color of the leaves is a rich dark or light green, bluish-green color scheme. Until the time of flowering has come, the leaves are recumbent, but then they rise to their flowers, stretching along the growing peduncle. The number of leaves is 6–12 units.
During flowering, which begins with the arrival of summer, the buds form a loose racemose inflorescence that rises above the leaf rosette. Inflorescences are crowned with flowering stalks with a bare surface. The length of the peduncle can reach 20 cm. Flowers drooping in the inflorescence, there are up to 15-20 of them. They originate in the bracts membranous sinuses. The flower is 1.5 cm long, with a diameter of 1.8 mm. The perianth is distinguished by a bell-shaped or bell-funnel-shaped form. Perianth lobes have a weak limb, this part takes only 1/3. The remaining 2/3 of the petals grow together to form a tube. The lobes are colored blue, blue, pinkish or white. If the form of amethyst hyacinth has a blue tint of flowers, then in the central part of each perianth lobe (they are confused with petals in Brimers), there is a stripe of a distinct dark tone in the form of decoration. There is a delicate aroma exuded by the flowers of amethyst hyacinth. Flowering takes from a little over a week to a month.
After pollination, the brimer fruits ripen, which have the form of a rounded box with a reverse-conical shape, which is distinguished by a pointed tip at the top. Multiple seeds ripen inside this pod. The latter are distinguished by rounded triangular outlines and a black shade. After the end of flowering (in the middle of summer), the entire aboveground part dies off.
Thanks to the delicate beauty of this plant, gardeners of many European countries, following the example of their British colleagues, who since 1759 began to cultivate the breemer, appreciated all the decorativeness and unpretentiousness of this representative of the flora. It is recommended to grow Spanish hyacinth in rocky slides, plant trees in rock gardens and mixborders, or use it as a room crop.
Brimer: tips for outdoor and indoor care
- Choosing a landing site. Since in nature, amethyst hyacinth prefers to grow on the slopes of the mountains, a well-lit open place is selected for it in the garden. You can arrange a flower bed in the southern, eastern or western locations. It is desirable that partial shade be provided in the hot summer noon hours. When grown indoors, it is better to place the pot on the sill of the east or west window. In order not to burn the leaves with direct sunlight, in the south, it should be shaded with thin curtains.
- Soil for Spanish hyacinth suitable with neutral acidity or slightly alkaline, well-drained and nutrient-rich, calcareous. If the bulbs are planted in pots for room maintenance, then the substrate needs a deciduous-sandy one, and then any universal soil can be used.
- Planting brimers amethyst in open ground seeds or seedlings is carried out in mid-spring. The distance should be at least 10 cm between the plants. A layer of river sand must be placed on the bottom of the hole, which will provide drainage. The planting depth is 5–8 cm. When forcing plants for seedlings in room conditions, planting is carried out in February.
- Transfer. When the bulbs of amethyst hyacinth are placed in a pot, a wide container is selected, with the possibility of laying on the bottom of the drainage layer. The next pot change is performed after a three-year period, especially if the pot has become small for the mother's bulbous nest. Although, according to the recommendations of some gardeners, after flowering, the bulbs should be removed and kept cool until February-March.
- Watering. The plant, when grown outdoors, copes well with a slight drought, but if the soil begins to dry out from above, it is recommended to carry out abundant moisture, especially during the flowering period. When growing Spanish hyacinth indoors, it is important to avoid flooding the soil. When the moisture of the glass is in the pot holder, it is recommended to drain it immediately so that the bulbs do not rot.
- Fertilizers for brimer amethyst it is recommended to apply when grown in the garden with the onset of spring. Complex mineral preparations with a predominance of nitrogen (for example, ammonium nitrate) are used at the stage of growing green deciduous mass, when flower stalks appear, then such dressings are replaced with potassium ones to ensure lush flowering (for example, nitrophoska or nitroammofosk). When grown indoors, top dressing is carried out using a complex mineral fertilizer for flowering indoor plants. This can be the drug "Kemira Universal", "Bona Forte". It is required that the frequency of application of the drug is twice a month. It is better to choose a product in liquid form, as this will make it possible to dilute it in water for irrigation.
- Wintering. Although the Spanish hyacinth can withstand a drop in temperature in the winter months to 27 degrees of frost, in order not to lose plantings, it is recommended to remove the dried remaining leaf plates of brimers in the fall and cover (mulching) not only with compost (manure) or spruce branches, but also with agromaterial (for example, spunbond). A layer of mulching material is needed 15 cm. As soon as the snow melts, it is removed so that the bushes do not dry out. The plant is quite resistant to spring frosts.
But flower growers recommend, after the entire aerial part dies off in July, to dig up the bulbs and store them in containers with dry sand. With the onset of autumn or early spring, the bulbs are planted in flower beds, using river coarse-grained sand as a drainage material.
Breeding methods of herbaceous plant breamers
This herbaceous plant can be obtained both by sowing seeds and vegetatively (jigging children or grafting).
For seed propagation, amethyst seed brimers should be harvested and used as soon as they are ripe. Planting is carried out in a container filled with loose nutrient soil (river sand mixed with leafy soil or peat in equal proportions). Seeding is carried out to a depth of 2 cm. Then the soil is sprayed from a spray bottle. The place in which the seeds will germinate should be well lit and with heat indicators within the range of 18-22 degrees. A piece of glass is placed on top of the seed pot or covered with a plastic transparent film - this will be the key to maintaining high humidity. When caring for crops, you will have to carry out daily ventilation and make sure that the substrate does not dry out.
Seeds germinate within one to two, and sometimes up to three months. When the seedlings grow up a little, they are thinned out, leaving the strongest specimens. Only after a year from the moment of germination can young brimers be planted in a permanent place in the garden. The distance between the seedlings is maintained at least 10 cm. Such plants will bloom only after three years. Occasionally, seeds are planted directly in open ground in mid-spring. Usually this method is recommended for breeding purposes only.
The simplest and fastest is the method of planting "children" - daughter bulbous formations. With the arrival of autumn or at the end of summer, the bulbous nest of the mother plant, which has grown greatly, can be divided into parts. This renewal of light brown bulbs takes place annually and they are easily separated. This operation is necessary not only for reproduction, but also so that the mother bush of the Spanish hyacinth does not weaken. At the same time, the diameter of the ovoid bulbs is already almost 2 cm. After the nest of bulbs is removed from the soil, it is divided into groups and immediately planted. The planting depth of the bulbs should be 8–10 cm, while they try to leave a distance of 5–6 cm between the plants. Here, planting can be carried out not in straight lines, then the flower arrangement will be more like a natural one. Brimers obtained in this way by flowering will delight already 2 years after jigging.
Brimer amethyst can be propagated by cuttings. In this case, you should choose fresh leaf plates with adventitious buds. Then the selected parts are carefully cut and planted in open ground, in a place with an openwork shadow, or even in full shade. Leave the number of bulbous "babies" in the amount of only 2-3 pieces. They also leave 10 cm between the seedlings and build a shelter from cut plastic bottles. Care consists in airing and watering carefully. However, this method is not particularly effective and is used little.
Fight against possible diseases and pests brimers
When grown outdoors, slugs or bulb fly larvae become a problem for amethyst hyacinth. To solve problems with the last pest, which begins to activate at the end of May, spraying with a solution of sodium chloride is used. The slugs that gnaw the leaves of the brimers are harvested by hand or using Meta Thunder-type preparations.
Also observed when growing Spanish hyacinth is affected by thrips, aphids, whitefly and spider mites. To combat these pests, it is recommended to spray with insecticidal agents with a wide spectrum of action, for example, Aktara, Aktellik or Fitoverm.
Diseases for the breamer cultivated in the garden practically do not pose a threat, but if the plant is grown indoors, then due to waterlogging of the soil, various bulb rot is possible. In this case, a transplant with preliminary treatment with fungicides is required. When the bulbs are kept in storage during the winter, but the humidity conditions are increased, coupled with a low temperature, then in this case, it is possible that they rot.
To flower growers a note about the breemer
If in landscape design it is decided to use a herbaceous plant breemer, then it is best to plant it in rock gardens or rockeries with such "neighbors" as dwarf irises (low irises), subulate phloxes (Phlox subulata) or milky white crumbs (Draba lactea).
Types of breamers
Brimer amethyst (Brimeura amethystina). The native habitat is the Mediterranean. The most popular species with a light brown bulb. Its shape is ovoid, reaching 2 cm in diameter. The leaf plates have narrow outlines, gather in a basal rosette and grow horizontally before flowering. Plant height varies from 10 to 30 cm. The flowering process begins in June. From 15–20 buds, rare one-sided inflorescences with a racemose contour are collected. Inflorescences are located on a bare but strong flowering stem. Usually its height exceeds the length of the leaf plates (about 20 cm). As soon as the buds open, the perianth lobes have a bright blue color, which over time (and the brimerea blooms for a little more than a week) turn blue. The length of the flower is 1.5 cm. The perianth segments have a slight bend at the apex, and the main part is spliced into a tube. The corolla resembles a drooping bell.
A more elegant form among flower growers is considered to be the Brimeura amethystina f.alba form, in which the flowers have a snow-white color, while the plant is more hardy. There is a little-known garden form with a pinkish inflorescence tinge.
Apical brimer (Brimeura fastignata). This variety is very rare, its distribution area falls on the mountainous regions of Sardinia and Corsica, it is found in the Balearic Islands. It can reproduce vegetatively. The plant is dwarf in size, flowers with a snow-white or whitish-pinkish tint.
Brimeura duvigneaudii. Identification of this species was carried out in 1992. The plant is endemic to the territory of Mallorca (that is, it is not found anywhere else in nature) and, moreover, it can be seen only near three inhabited towns. It prefers shrub thickets on rocky shores, where it creates clumps with its plantings. The color of the flowers is pale pinkish. It bears the name in honor of the botanist-florist and ecologist from Belgium Paul Duvignot (1913-1991).
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