Distinctive features of adlumia, advice on care, recommendations for transplanting, selection of soil and fertilizers, independent reproduction, difficulties in growing, species. Adlumia (Adlumia) is a representative of the Dymyankov family (Fumariaceae), which differs in development with a two-year cycle. This graceful liana-like plant can call its homeland the territories of East Asia, as well as the eastern regions of the North American continent. But adlumia is also found in the lands of Korea, China and Manchuria, and even in the southern regions of the Khabarovsk Territory. As it can be seen from the above, the distribution area is broken and the reason for this is a very distant connection between the territories of North America and North Asian lands. In Russia, she is a rare visitor, but still the plant can be found on burnt-out areas or on the edges of coniferous forests. It has such a low vitality and high vulnerability that it can often be clogged by other green inhabitants of the planet. Because of this, adlumia was listed in the Red Book as an extremely rare and unstable species.
The plant got its name in honor of the gardener and lover of botany from America (Washington) - John Adlum, who lived in the 17th-19th centuries. He led robots to cultivate grapes and was even called "the father of American viticulture." In order to perpetuate the memory of this outstanding breeder, botanist Constantin Samuel Rafinesque named the climbing plant Adlumia at the beginning of the 19th century (in 1809). Its popular name is also "curly smoke" or "mountain fringe".
To date, in the taxonomy of plants, only one species is distinguished, called Adlumia fungosa, and sometimes a special type of Asian Adlumia (Adlumia asiatica) is also ranked there. Adlumia is a two-year-old vine full of grace, which at the same time is a fairly powerful plant. In the first year of her life, she releases only one single rosette of leaf plates with openwork outlines, which is very similar to a fern. It can reach a height of 20 to 50 cm. During this period of its growth, adlumia is very similar to the species of crested beetles, related plants from the same smoky family. Especially on varieties - gray-yellow (Corydalis ochroleuca) or yellow (Corydalis lutea).
When the second growing season comes, the vines begin to develop shoots completely covered with alternate leaves, they are long and weaving, but very fragile. For normal growth, you will need supports of at least 2–2, 5 meters in height. The petioles of the leaf plates cling to any suitable protrusion and will tend everything up and up, strengthening, on top of each other.
If the stems no longer find support for themselves, then they begin to hang down picturesquely to the soil surface, forming something like a mushroom. Branches grow throughout the season until the first frost. The growth rate of the “mountain fringe” is so high that during the season the shoots can reach 4 meters.
The branches of Adlumia are painted in a bluish-green hue, which is dotted with highly decorative anthracite stripes. Leaf blades of a light green tone, odd-pinnate, with short petioles. The surface of the leaf is three times tripartite, and consists of separate segments, which also have petioles. The one in the center with a curly shape has a slight elongation that is similar to a tendril.
The flowering process takes place from early June to early autumn. With the arrival of the summer months, clusters of inflorescences, shaded in pinkish-purple, blue, pinkish or whitish colors, appear in the leaf axils on adlumia. Each of these flower groupings contains up to 40 flowers. In shape, they are flattened with a narrow-tubular shape, in which the anthers protrude forward, somewhat resembling the flowers of the exceptional dicentra (Dicentra eximia). Because of this, adlumia is sometimes called "curly dicenter". Only in this vine, the petals of the bud do not have complete freedom, they are spliced 2/3 in height from the bottom.
Somewhere in the middle of the summer period, new buds appear in the adlumia, and seed material begins to form in those that are below. Fruits are small, glossy, black-colored pods. And since flowering continues until the arrival of the first frost, on one plant you can see ripe boxes with seeds, blossoming flowers and buds. And in the second half of the month of October, the plant begins to die off, its shoots darken, and all decorative beauty disappears - the plant dies.
On the territory of central Russia, adlumia forms full-fledged ripe seeds and can be spread by self-sowing.
Types of adlumia
Asian adlumia (Adlumia asiatica). The area of growth of this plant falls on the lands of Manchuria, the regions of the Far East and Korea, where it grows wild.
This variety is a vine with climbing shoots and a highly sinuous, but very thin stem. Its performance can reach up to 4 meters in height. The leaf blades are attached with short petioles to the branches. Their form is triply dissected three times. Each of the segments also has its own petiole, and the middle segment looks very much like a curly whisker. The flowers that appear on the plant are painted in white-pink shades with a purple tint. Their shape is pitcher-shaped, drooping. From numerous buds, flower inflorescences are collected in the form of a brush. After flowering enters the second phase, fruitlets ripen from the faded buds in the form of a linear box filled with small seeds of black color.
"Asian" loves to settle at the foot of coniferous giants, with which they look quite organic. A variety is used for decorating light fences or thin supports.
Adlumia spongy (Adlumia fungosa). It is what the people call it "mountain fringe" or "curly smoke". If we consider this species in the wild, then it is possible to meet it only in the lands of North America. Adlumium spongy began to grow as a garden plant only in 1778.
This plant has monocarpic properties - it can multiply (flower or bear fruit) only once in its entire life. The variety is distinguished by a herbal form of growth and a two-year life cycle. In the first year, this liana, full of grace, throws out a leaf rosette, which is so similar to fern fronds (feathery maidenhair leaves). Due to the abundant leaves, it looks like openwork lace. Although at first glance, the shoots seem very fragile, but this is a rather powerful vine. Only by the second year of life, the stems become more fragile and weaving, which, with the help of leaf petioles, begin to cling to all kinds of irregularities in their path, most often to the support provided to them.
The color of flowers can be either pinkish-whitish or violet-white shades. The shape of the buds is pitcher-shaped, drooping to the ground, flattened in the form of a narrow tube. At the tip of the bud there is a cut into two halves through which the anthers are visible. The inflorescences formed from them are racemose and in them the number of buds can reach 40 units.
The fruit is represented by a linear capsule that contains a mass of seed material.
Interesting facts about adlumiya
Most often, when creating decorations for hedges or various elements of garden structures, maiden grapes are replaced with adumium. In contrast, the "mountain fringe" looks more graceful and lightweight, and under it the light support may not break. Maiden grapes are suitable only for fundamental buildings that can withstand the weight of a mighty liana. The most interesting thing is that until 1917, it was often customary to decorate city balconies with adlumium, and with the arrival of the middle of the 20th century, for some reason, the plant was undeservedly forgotten and was no longer cultivated on the territory of the former Soviet Union.
It was accepted that the plant braided in the process of its growth not only the balconies, but also the pillars of open verandas, railings and support posts. If you annually plant "young" at the base of the support, then the composition of adlumia will constantly delight the eye with its delicate beauty.
If you cut off the peduncle branches, as well as the leaves of adlumia, then with their help you can create phytocompositions, florists like to use them for arrangement in bouquets or ikebana.
There is another subspecies of Adlumia fungosa, or as it is also called Fumaria. It is a medicinal plant that is used as a choleretic, diaphoretic, diuretic, tonic and metabolism-improving folk remedy. Also, tincture of the leaves helps in the treatment of stomach catarrh, jaundice, hemorrhoids and malaria. Powdered dried grass "smoke" is prescribed for gastritis, cholelithiasis, to strengthen the body after serious illnesses.
Growing a plant is averagely difficult, but having this delicate beauty in your garden area, you are unlikely to part with her.
Growing adlumia in a personal plot, watering
- Lighting and location selection … Since in natural nature adlumia settle in semi-shady areas, rather humid, but not wet, such a feature has been noticed - the lower the humidity, the less intensively the overground mass of the creeper grows. Therefore, the plant tolerates sunny areas well, but can show excellent growth in semi-shaded areas. It is important that the midday scorching rays of the sun do not fall on the leaves of the plant.
- Content temperature. The vine can be damaged by spring frosts, so the seedlings are planted in open ground when this threat has already passed. But the early autumn frosts, which can lead to the death of the above-ground part of the one-year adlumiya, are also terrible for the "mountain fringe". In the event that autumn is warm, then the leaf rosette of the first year of the vine's life can preserve its greenery under the snow cover until the spring thaw comes.
- Landing adlumiya. It is necessary to select a landing site that is well open or located next to supports, fences or walls so that the tendrils of the shoots have something to cling to. It must be remembered that the seedlings of the plant are planted in open ground only in the spring or autumn months.
- Selection of the substrate. Adlumia can tolerate slight aridity, is unpretentious to growing conditions, accepts any cultivated soils (if the substrate is clay or sandy, then it is recommended to mix low-lying (semi-decomposed) peat soil or compost soil into it). But the plant still has preferences - the substrate should be fertile, loose and humus, and, what is important, constantly moisturized.
- Liana fertilizers. Adlumia responds well to the introduction of mineral dressings. If the gardener is not too lazy to carefully prepare the site for planting the "mountain fringe", then the plant will demonstrate all the beauty of its decorative effect.
- General care. The shoots of adlumia must be constantly guided and tied up. If the soil has been thoroughly fertilized beforehand, the vines will have more foliage than flowers. When leaving, you will need to constantly feed and water the liana-like plant. If the period of drought has dragged on for a long time, then you will have to independently moisten the soil under adlumium. In this case, it is necessary to use only settled and filtered water. Can be watered with collected rain or river liquid. It is assumed that moisture should be moderate throughout the growing season. As soon as the adlumia blooms in the autumn, it is necessary to carefully cut the bush.
- The use of adlumia. An unusual application for the plant was invented by the inhabitants of foggy Albion. There it is customary to plant liana next to coniferous or evergreen trees. When adlumia grows and envelops the dark needles of its neighbors with its lace shoots, their appearance becomes truly impressive. After the Second World War, this graceful vine was often used in gardening, but then for some reason its cultivation was abandoned. In those post-war years, it was customary to plant adlumia along with large-flowered clematis along the walls. The arches above the paths in the garden were also decorated with "mountain fringes" or summer arbors were twisted around it with shoots.
If you plant a vine next to other green inhabitants of gardens, then sweet peas, or bean stalks with fiery red flowers, are most suitable for neighbors. It is often customary to form fountains with multiple steps from these plant cultures.
Of these neighboring plants, you can also name:
- imopeia, which has colors of blue, pinkish, purple and violet shades;
- climbing rose, here the shades and sizes of buds are very diverse;
- honeysuckle, which will delight the owners with tasty and healthy fruits;
- tree-nose pliers - decorative liana;
- wisteria, with magnificent hanging inflorescences of delicate shades;
- cobia, with highly decorative flowers of various tones, with petals twisted upwards;
- large-leaved kirkazan - with green-brown tubular flowers.
Recommendations for self-propagation of adlumia
It is possible to get a new lace liana only by planting seeds. The time is selected either in autumn, so that the seedlings are wrapped in snow, or with the arrival of spring, but the summer period is also suitable. If the planting was carried out in the fall, then the containers with seeds must be taken outside or buried in the snow. When sowing occurs in spring and summer, you can wait for sprouts for 15–20 days. When several leaflets appear on the plants, it is necessary to transplant to a permanent place of growth (but this must be done extremely carefully, since the roots are very fragile and weak).
The distance between young adlumia is maintained at least 15–20 cm. The planting hole is pulled out with dimensions of 15x15 cm and a teaspoon of the complete mineral complex of dressings is laid there. After the plants are planted, they must be regularly moistened, not allowing the substrate to dry out. For the winter months, the root collars of seedlings must be mulched with a compost layer of 1–2 cm and wrapped in non-woven covering material (agrofibre: agrospan, spantex, lutrasil, etc.).
If the seeds are planted in mid or late June, then either cool greenhouses or exploration ridges are used.
Also, the "openwork liana" has the properties of self-seeding, only the shoots that subsequently grow are very weak. Their roots are so weak that the earth does not hold in them. Therefore, transplanting such plants is very difficult. The "mountain fringe" usually has a lot of seed material and its germination capacity does not disappear for several years. If you need a beautiful and delicate climbing plant with a long flowering period, then there is no better adlumia plant!
Diseases and difficulties in growing "mountain fringe"
Most often, the plant is not attacked by harmful insects, but if the weather is cool and damp, then adlumia can be damaged by putrefactive processes. To cure, it is necessary to remove the spoiled parts and carry out the treatment with a fungicide.
See how adlumia looks like here:
