General characteristics of buzulnik, agricultural technology during cultivation, recommendations for transplantation and reproduction, diseases and pests, interesting facts, species. There are many plants that are able to get along in our garden plots, displacing the flowers we are already familiar with, such as peonies and phlox. These are not only beautiful representatives of the flora of the planet, but also "green healers" who have long been popular with folk healers. It will be about such an example of the green world as Buzulnik (Ligularia) or as it is also called, directly translating the Latin name - Ligularia.
This plant has a herbaceous form of growth and a long life cycle. It is part of the Astraceae family, which also brings together about 150 species of green "inhabitants of the planet", mainly settled in Europe, but you can also find them in Asian and African lands. Only in the territory of the former USSR there are up to 40 species of buzulnik. Most often, ligularia is used as a garden culture.
The plant got its name from the Latin word "ligularis", which translates as "tongue". This emphasizes the shape of certain flowers in the buzulnik. Under the name "Ligularia", this bush with flowers can most often be seen when sold at fairs or in flower shops, the same name is often found in the society of gardeners.
The plant has a developed rhizome. The stems grow straight, stretching one to two meters to the height indicators. Large leaf plates, can reach 50-60 cm in diameter. They are arranged in the next order or can be collected in a root rosette. The edge of the leaves may be serrated. The foliage is heart-shaped or triangular in shape. The color of the leaves is green, sometimes it is greenish-purple or reddish-brown. The leaves are attached to the stem with long petioles. There are some varieties in which the leaf on the upper side is painted in a violet-green color, and the bottom is tinted with purple. In some cases, only the veins and petioles of the leaf plates paint a reddish or purple tone, and the entire surface below and above the leaf is saturated green.
Flowering stems are capable of growing up to 2 meters in height. From multiple nondescript tubular flowers, inflorescences in the form of baskets are collected, reaching 10 cm in diameter. At the same time, flowers located in the inflorescence-basket along the edges are painted in bright yellow, bright orange or reddish shades, but in rare cases marginal flowers are whitish. From these baskets, common inflorescence groups are formed in the form of brushes, spikelets or corymbose panicles. Flowers included in such inflorescences begin to bloom from the lowest to the top buds. The flowering process stretches from June to mid-August, but sometimes longer, in total reaching 2 months.
When ripe, the fruit appears in the form of a crested achene. It is oblong and is a non-opening fruit with one dry seed. Its cover is leathery. Above there is a crest (corydalis), with the help of which the seeds can be easily spread by the wind. With its bright orange flowers, ligularia attracts the eyes of the flower beds in the summer, and stands out pleasantly from other plants. When there is no specific place for planting a buzulnik, a separate flower bed or a place near a pond, it is best to stir this plant in the background of other garden plantings. When combined with other colors, landscape designers recommend combining it with daylilies, a soft cuff or ligularia perfectly sets off the hosts or snake mountaineer. You can plant these monumental shrubs at the foot of old garden trees, decorating their trunks or forming phytowalls.
Tips for growing a buzulnik, planting and care
- Lighting and site selection. This plant tolerates shade or partial shade well, and also loves moist soil. However, if regular and abundant watering is carried out, then in this case you can plant the bushes in the sun.
- Soil for planting Buzulnika must have nutritional properties and good moisture penetration. However, if the plant is planted in heavy soil or undrained clay soil, then this will not be a big problem. In rare cases, the ligularia can even withstand some flooding.
- Fertilizers bring in with the arrival of spring days. If humus was introduced into the hole during planting, then you should not fertilize the buzulnik in the first year. In the following years, it is recommended that before the flowering process begins, a diluted solution from a mullein is introduced under each bush (1 liter can of noticed cow cakes are diluted in 10 liters of water). Such dressings must be applied every 2 weeks. Up to 3 liters of the preparation are poured under each bush. However, if there is a very large temperature difference between day and night, then it is recommended to refrain from fertilizing. In the month of October, it will be necessary to mulch each buzulnik bush with humus. And as soon as the snow melts, it is necessary to mix this layer with the upper soil under the bush while loosening the soil. Sometimes a certain amount of wood ash should be applied under the bushes.
- General care of the buzulnik carried out during the entire growing season: in the spring, it will be necessary to loosen the substrate and mulch it, and in the summer it will have to tie up the inflorescences. For the winter, some varieties are recommended to be covered. On too hot summer days, the obligatory watering of the ligularia is carried out if it grows in an open place. According to the recommendations of flower growers, pruning is carried out while removing all flowering stems after flowering.
Recommendations for self-propagation of ligularia
You can get a new buzulnik bush by dividing an existing bush or by sowing seeds.
Since the plant grows well in one place up to 20 years, it is recommended to divide the mother bush every 5–7 years. As soon as spring days come, and the buzulnik has not yet begun to actively develop, it will be necessary to cut off part of the ligularia bush with the help of a sharp shovel, and then dig it out. The hole that remains after digging out part of the bush is filled with mixed garden soil with humus. After that, the mother plant is watered.
The rhizome of the misfired part will need to be washed well and, using a sharpened knife, divided into several more divisions. It is recommended when dividing to ensure that each part of the flower has a fertile bud. After that, holes are prepared with dimensions of 40x40x40 cm and they are filled with a mixture of humus and fertile soil. At the bottom of the hole, it is immediately necessary to add a small amount of mineral fertilizer (superphosphate) and a little wood ash. Then a buzulnik cut is placed there and sprinkled with a substrate, slightly pressing down. The distance when planting parts of the ligularia should be maintained within the range from 50 cm to a meter, since the future bush will take up considerable space.
If there is a desire to propagate the buzulnik with the help of seeds, then it will be possible to expect the flowering of such plants only 3-4 years after planting. To get quality seed material, you need it to ripen on the plant itself. Then the achenes are collected in a bag and dried thoroughly. With the arrival of autumn, you will need to plant seeds in a separate place on the site. The depth to which the seeds are planted is 2 cm. Naturally, after this, the seed material remains for the winter, and the so-called natural stratification takes place. And with the onset of spring heat, the seedlings will begin to develop. As soon as the young buzulniks are strong enough, they can be transplanted to a permanent place for further growth.
Buzulnik pests and diseases
Ligularia is quite resistant to various diseases or harmful insects, but in the garden, in flower beds, it can suffer from slugs. These disgusting pests love to eat young, and even thick leathery adult leaf plates. Most often, granular superphosphate is used to protect the buzulnik. They do not tolerate coffee and beer. And if you choose chemicals, then you should pay attention to Ferramol, Thunderstorm, Slug-Eater and the like.
However, in very rare cases, this mighty bush can be affected by powdery mildew. At its first manifestations, the leaves seem to be dusted with flour, but if you do not take any measures, then soon all parts of the plant will become as if doused with lime mortar. For treatment, it will be necessary to wash the leaf plates with a solution of potassium permanganate, based on a 10-liter bucket, 2.5 g is diluted. powder.
Interesting facts about Buzulnik
Buzulnik is often used as a traditional medicine. For example, such a variety as Buzulnik gray is often used for poorly healing wounds on the skin, as an antidepressant, or for general recovery of the body after childbirth. Leaf plates are applied as applications that relieve inflammation in cuts, wounds and furunculosis. And if the stems are boiled, then they can be eaten.
Types of buzulnik
Buzulnik toothed (Ligularia dentata) considers the Chinese and Japanese lands to be its homeland. The plant has quite spectacular outlines and grows to a height of 1 meter. Large leaf plates, kidney-shaped, from which a basal rosette is assembled. The flowers are shaped like baskets, whose diameter reaches 7–8 cm, from which paniculate inflorescences are collected. The buds with tongues are colored in a light yellow shade, while the tubular buds have a light brownish color. The flowering process begins in August or early September and lasts about 30 days, then the fruit ripens. It has been grown in culture since the beginning of the 20th century. The variety is winter-hardy, however, in severe winters, shelter will be required, since there is a possibility of freezing.
There are the following varietal varieties of this species:
- Desdemona, with lilac-brown leaf plates and flowers with fiery orange petals.
- Othello, can grow to indicators in height of 90 cm, its leaves are intensely purple in color, measured in diameter up to half a meter, inflorescences have tangerine-orange shades, their diameter does not exceed 13 cm. Flowering occurs at the very beginning of autumn and lasts up to 40 days.
There are also other types of ligularia:
- Buzulnik Vorobiev (Ligularia vorobievii). The native area of growth falls on the lands of the Far East. Perennial. Which has a shrub shape, and the diameter of its bushes can reach 1, 2 meters, and the flower-bearing stems are extended to a height of 2 meters. The leaf plates are thick and their surface is leathery. Their shape is rounded, rich dark emerald color. The size of the flowers is large, the petals are painted in bright yellow tones, from which inflorescences are collected in the form of brushes. Flowering begins in late summer. Seeds can germinate from 2 weeks to 42 days if the temperature during germination is maintained at about 15 degrees. Seed material will require a lot of light, so it is not embedded in the soil, but sown on the surface of the substrate.
- Wilson Buzulnik (Ligularia wilsoniana) most often found in the territories of Central China. The bush can reach a height of one and a half meters. Its stems are upright, with slight branching. The leaves in the root rosette are large, kidney-shaped, with long petioles. Inflorescences-baskets are painted in yellow color, in diameter they can reach 2.5 cm. Their number is large and common erect inflorescences are collected from them. Flowering occurs in early summer and lasts 35–40 days. The species is quite winter-hardy, but it will be necessary to carry out mulching for preventive purposes and cover the plant in case of harsh winter conditions. It has been grown in culture since the beginning of the 20th century.
- Buzulnik Vicha (Ligularia veitchiana) considers the territories of Western China to be his homeland. The plant is a perennial, and its bushes grow up to 2 meters in height. The leaf plates, from which the basal rosette is assembled, have heart-shaped outlines and measure 40 cm in length, their edge is sharp-toothed. Flower baskets are yellow-colored and form a spikelet-shaped inflorescence. Flowering begins in late summer and lasts up to 35-40 days. The species is quite winter-hardy, but requires shelter in case of harsh winter conditions. In culture, this variety has been present since 1905.
- Buzulnik Kumpfer (Ligularia kaempferi) most often found in Japan. A plant with a herbaceous form of growth, which is a rhizome perennial. The leaf plates, collected in a basal rosette, are multiple, their shapes are rounded or oval. Sizes in diameter reach 25 cm. The edge of them is unevenly serrated, the color is rich green. The leaves are attached to the pubescent petioles. Inflorescences-baskets are light yellow, their diameter does not exceed 5 cm. Common inflorescences in the form of scutes from inflorescences-baskets are located on branched flowering stems, the length of which reaches half a meter. There is a variation of this variety Var. aureo-maculata hort., which has a golden color. It is cultivated on the Black Sea coast of Russia. It grows there in the open field. It is a herbaceous perennial with beautiful and spectacular rounded-angular leaf plates. The color of the surface of the leaves is bright green, with a golden spot. The leaves are attached to long petioles. Inflorescences are small in size, their color is yellow. Flowering begins in late spring.
- Buzulnik large-leaved (Ligularia macrophylla) naturally grows on the lands of Western Siberia, Central Asia and the Far East. Likes to settle on wet meadows and on the banks of waterways. The basal leaf rosette consists of leaves with long petioles and an elliptical shape and a bluish color. The length of the leaf reaches 30–45 cm. Flowering begins in the month of July. Inflorescences-baskets are often painted in yellow tones. Their number in the general inflorescence is large, and its shape is in the form of a racemose panicle. The peduncle can reach a height of one and a half meters. The species perfectly tolerates the winter months without shelter, it is often planted to give a beautiful rear view of the phytocomposition in the mixborder.
- Buzulnik Przewalski (Ligularia przewalskii). The homeland of this plant is the lands of Mongolia and North China. A herbaceous representative of the flora, which has a long life cycle. Height indicators can reach one and a half meters. This variety differs from others in the elegance of its leaf plates, the surface of which has a strong irregularity with sharp-fingered outlines. They are attached to rather thin petioles, painted in a red-brown tone. Inflorescences-baskets with a yellow color, and from them spike-shaped common large inflorescences are collected, they are narrow with a height of up to 50-70 cm. The tops of these inflorescence groups hang somewhat to the ground. This variety blooms earlier than all of the Buzulnik genus: flowering begins from the end of June days and lasts almost a month. This variety looks best next to water bodies or on large flower-bed compositions.
Learn more about growing a buzulnik from this video:
[media =
