This royal flower will decorate your backyard in late April and May. From the article you will learn the basic rules of agricultural technology, reproduction of Imperial hazel grouses. The Imperial hazel grouse lives up to its name. Its peduncles rise majestically above the ground. The common people sometimes say that this is a royal hazel grouse. After all, its inflorescences seem to form a crown, so these names are justified.
Description, habitat of Grouse Imperial
This is a bulbous perennial plant, the peduncle of which can soar up to 1.5 meters. Its rounded bulbs have a maximum diameter of 10 cm. The leaves are lanceolate. On one peduncle there are many bracts, maximum 20.
Grouse Imperial comes from warm regions. Previously, it grew only in the territory from the southwest of Turkey to the northwest of India. But then the beautiful flower was grown in North America and Europe.
Grouse Imperial, whose photo makes it possible to see its magnificence, even received special awards. So, in 1993, the variety "Maxima Lutea" with yellow flowers became the winner of the Award of Garden Merit - the English Royal Horticultural Society, and in 2012 this award was awarded to all species of imperial hazel grouses - Fritillaria imperialis.
Imperial hazel grouse varieties
Grouse varieties differ only in color. Their representatives can be yellow, orange or red.
- "Aurora" is distinguished by very large orange-red flowers.
- The varieties "Lutea Maxima" and "Lutea" have bright yellow flowers.
- Rubra will delight the reds.
- "Imperial Raddeana" is distinguished by increased endurance to adverse environmental conditions. This plant has creamy yellow large bell-shaped drooping flowers, collected in a racemose inflorescence of 2-7. Blooms for about half a month.
- "Strip Beauty" blooms from late April or early May. It is long lasting - a whole month. At this time, you can watch how huge golden bell-shaped flowers with red stripes inside and outside the petals bloom.
- "Imperial Rubra" is the smallest of all types of imperial hazel grouses. It grows up to 60 cm. Its blossoming part is red-brick shade with crimson strokes.
- "Imperial Lutea" will appeal to lovers of yellow flowers. There are 5-8 of them in the inflorescence.
- Garland Star has a firm, sturdy stem, at the top of which very large flowers form, forming a chic bright orange crown.
Reproduction of Grouse Imperial
We continue the conversation about the hazel grouse. This flower is grown from seeds or bulbs. The first method is not very popular, since the flowering of hazel grouses grown in this way will have to wait 7 years. This method is acceptable for those who are professionally involved in the development of new varieties and commercial distribution of planting material. Here's how you can propagate hazel grouse seeds.
They are harvested after drying the capsule in which they ripen. If the summer is rainy, the box is broken off earlier, then when its walls begin to brighten and are allowed to mature in a dry place. It is better to sow seeds immediately after harvesting and ripening. The site should be with good soil composition, since seedlings will grow in this place for several years and they should have enough food for these years. However, organic fertilizers should be applied periodically: at the beginning of growth and when the bulb is formed. Seeds are sown on raised ridges in grooves, the width of which is 8 × 10 cm, and the row spacing is 15 cm. It is necessary to close it up to a depth of 1 cm. After sowing, it is necessary to mulch the surface of the bed with peat.
Seedlings will appear next spring, at first only one leaf will grow. And only in the seventh year a full-fledged flowering plant will form. The second breeding method is the most popular among gardeners. Almost every year, large bulbs are divided into two. They are carefully dug out at the end of summer and seated. And children of hazel grouse bulbs are rarely given and in small quantities. They separate well from the mother bulb by themselves, so the gardener will not always be able to find them in the soil. But this area with hazel grouses does not need to be dug up, since next year sprouts will appear here that have emerged from the children, and over time they will become full-fledged plants.
It is better to designate the area where the hazel grouse grow from babies or bulbs. To do this, when planting the bulbs, a peg with a height of 50 cm is placed in the hole.
Planting hazel grouses
It is produced from late summer to mid-October. The best time for planting hazel grouses is from mid-August to mid-September. Then they will certainly bloom next year.
Grouse bulbs are covered with juicy, unprotected scales. Their damage, improper storage conditions lead to drying out of the bulbs or the appearance of mold, which can cause them to die. This likelihood increases even more if the planting of hazel grouses is done incorrectly, for example, too wet cold soil can cause rotting of the bulbs. Therefore, it is better to plant them on a small hill, where there is no stagnant water. You can make such an artificial embankment yourself.
Prepare a place for hazel grouse in advance - half a month before planting. Dig up the soil, add ripe organic matter, some mineral fertilizers. Next, for each hazel grouse bulb, dig a hole 30 cm deep and wide. Mix the excavated soil with compost and horn shavings, add to the holes. Fill the bottom with coarse sand. As a result, the hole for a large bulb of low-growing hazel grouses should become 12 cm deep, and for tall ones - about 20 cm. Make the distance between the holes 30 cm.
Before planting the hazel grouse bulbs, disinfect (for example, in a solution of potassium permanganate), then dust with crushed charcoal. Place them sideways in the planting hole to avoid moisture build-up between the flakes of the bulbs and sprinkle them with sand. Then fill the grooves with a lightweight substrate. Mulch the ground over the bulbs for the winter with peat and cover with leaves.
If the hazel grouse bulbs need to be stored for some time after purchase so that they do not dry out, place them in slightly moistened peat or sphagnum moss and place them in the refrigerator in the fruit compartment. This is how you need to prepare and plant the Imperial hazel grouse. Its flower - similar to a crown, you can see already at the end of April. Do not forget to remove the foliage and some of the peat in the middle of this month from the place where the hazel grouse bulbs were planted so that its stem can grow unhindered.
Grouse care
Grouse is watered infrequently - once or twice a month.
They look after him, as well as for lilies. In total, you need to give 2 dressings. The first time, depending on the weather, how early the snow melted, was in mid to late April. Pour humus into a 10-liter bucket almost to the top, add 1 tbsp. l. nitrophosphate and "Agricola" for flowering plants "are scattered on 1 sq.m. 4 kg each in a layer of 3-4 cm. During flowering, you can sprinkle wood ash under royal hazel grouses, and why mulch with humus or peat.
The second feeding is given after flowering has ended. On the same site, make 1 tbsp. l. potassium sulfate and superphosphate and carefully, using a hoe, embedded in the soil. When the hazel grouses have faded, until the first decade of July, the plant will be decorative thanks to its beautiful leaves, but then you need to cut off its ground part.
Next year, beautiful hazel grouses will reappear in this place. Planting and caring for them, as we can see, is not very burdensome and even beginner growers can do it.
Pests and diseases of Ryabchikov
Hazel grouses have good disease resistance; with proper agricultural technology, they practically do not undergo whitening. It is important not to plant them in damp places, observe crop rotation - periodically change the site and plant bulbs, hazel grouse seeds where bulbous did not grow before.
If part of the bulb of the Imperial hazel grouse has rotted, you can try to save the plant. To do this, you need to cut the affected area to healthy tissue, treat this section and the tissue around it with a fungicide.
How to plant the Grouse Imperial and how to care for it, see this video:
