Unfortunately, only a small numberOur florists grow on their sites such a wonderful plant as a lemon. Planting and caring for it should be conducted annually, so many people do not want to cultivate this flower, preferring perennials. Levka (matthiola), belonging to the family of crucifers, is an annual. There are about fifty species of this plant.
The greatest value for flower growers aremodern varieties of terry levkoy groups. The beauty of this flower is not only in its long and abundant flowering, but also in the fact that it can be used as a cutter culture. Levkoy flowers are single-stem and branched. Different varieties have different stem height (30-100 cm). Fragrant, large flowers are collected in spike-shaped inflorescences of various density. Levka, planting and caring for which are not difficult, pleases their owners with an insane number of colors. They are white, pink, lilac, purple, blue, yellow, burgundy, red, etc. This plant is particularly cold resistant, so it blooms until the autumn frosts.
Leo (landing and care)
This flower is propagated by seeds.Levka, the cultivation of which through seedlings gives an excellent result, many experienced growers prefer to seed by seed directly into the ground. For novice gardeners it is preferable to seedling method. Seedlings are grown in peat pots with a nutrient substrate, so that when transplanting less damage to the root system and the plant does not tolerate unnecessary stress, because the left wing poorly tolerate transplant. The first shoots at a favorable temperature appear in a week. Plants of different varieties bloom in a fairly wide range of time (70-110 days), therefore, to create a continuously blooming "carpet", it is necessary to grow several different groups of levkoev. This flower is light-requiring. It prefers sandy and loamy nutrient soils. They should be well hydrated and drained. This plant is responsive to mineral supplements.
Levkoev groups
Domestic growers distinguish the two mostcommon in our latitudes of these colors. Levkoy, planting and care for which do not depend on the variety, differ significantly in appearance. The group of single-stem plants (“Quedlinburg single-stem”) includes plants with a strong, thin stem 60-70 cm tall. These left-wing flowers have loose inflorescences that make up 1/3 of the plants. These include the following varieties: "azurblau", "brilliantroza", "rubitron". Other left-wing ("diamond") have a height of 30-50 cm. They are distinguished by a strong thick stem and dense inflorescences that make up ½ plant. These include such varieties: "Gelb", "Weiss", "Garnet", "Dunkelrosis", "Carmesin". Branching varieties are divided into subgroups, taking into account the structure of the plant and the shape of the inflorescence. In this group, short-branched (“Erfurt”), bouquets (“Victoria”), and pyramidal levkoy are distinguished. Branched varieties, as a rule, more stunted than single-stem. According to the peculiarities of the growing season of Levkoy, planting and caring for which are almost the same for all groups, they are divided into winter, summer, autumn. Breeders bred more than 400 summer varieties.
