0 19895
Garden mallow is one of the favorite plants of many summer residents and gardeners. Thanks to the beauty of these flowers and the size of the plant, you can decorate country fences or hide the unattractive appearance of any outbuildings. In addition, caring for it is quite simple.
Malva belongs to the Malvaceae family. Also called Mallow or Stock Rose. There are more than 30 species of mallow. Although it is mainly a tall plant, there are also low growing varieties. It is an annual, but sometimes the plant can be biennial or perennial. Bright colors can brighten up any unsightly area, pink, white, red, yellow, purple, burgundy.
The ancestor of all varieties is wood mallow. The rhizome is long and highly branched. The stem is straight, lying or ascending, from 30 to 120 cm in height. From the base the stem is fluffy and hairy, and above it is bare. The leaves of the mallow are heart-shaped, round, five to seven lobed, incised, pubescent, petiolate. Mallow flowers are large, in the form of a large wide bell. The petals are heart-shaped. The plant blooms from the second half of summer (July) to the beginning of autumn (September). Wood mallow begins to bloom in the second year after planting.
The ancestor of all types of mallow is the wood mallow.
How to grow mallow?
This task is not at all difficult, it is only important to correctly follow some recommendations, for example: when to plant mallow, when to use seeds correctly when planting, how to care for the plant. It is also important to know about the diseases that the plant may be exposed to and take action in time. Knowing all these points, growing mallow will not cause much trouble, but the result will delight the gardener’s eye.
Description
Mallow has several names: mallow, rose stem and kalachik. The flower belongs to the Malvaceae family , and the genus unites about 30 varieties, among which there are not only tall ones, but also double and short ones.
In its natural environment, mallow can be found in temperate climates in North America, Europe, Asia and the northern regions of Africa.
The height of plant shoots can vary from 0.3 to 1.2 m. Mallow shoots can be creeping, vertically oriented or ascending. The stems of young mallows are covered with a distinct down, which disappears over time.
Large leaf plates have a round shape, reminiscent of a heart. They are attached to the stem on a small petiole and covered with short fluff.
The color of the leaves is rich green, the leaves can have from 5 to 7 lobes; There are also leaves with a notched edge.
The corollas of the mallow are large, their outlines reminiscent of a bell . The diameter of fully opened buds can reach 120 mm.
The color of the petals is completely dictated by the varietal characteristics of the plant. The variety of colors covers the palette from white to deep purple, almost black tones. The petals have an oval, inversely curved shape.
Mallow has a well-developed spindle-shaped root that goes into the ground to a decent depth.
Interesting! Mallow is resistant to temperature changes and can withstand both severe droughts and frosts with equal resistance. The flowering of the crop, starting in the first half of summer, lasts until the onset of autumn frosts.
Beneficial features
Mallow has long been used in folk medicine. Various medicines are made from it for both internal and external use. This plant is a storehouse of vitamins A and C. It also contains carotene, iron, zinc, and mucilage, which has unique medicinal properties. The seeds themselves contain 17% fatty oils.
In folk medicine, mallow is used for:
- getting rid of diarrhea;
- healing of wounds and burns of the skin;
- treatment of cough and bronchitis;
- slowing down age-related changes;
- removing excess fluid from the body;
- relieving inflammatory processes;
- treatment of conjunctivitis;
- restoration of liver and kidney functions;
- safe weight loss;
- getting rid of chickenpox and measles.
Mallow is suitable for treating not only adults, but also children. With its help, you can strengthen your child’s immunity, get rid of skin rashes, and cure colds. It is important to consider that the culture is a medicinal plant, so you should be extremely careful when using it. Before taking it, it would be a good idea to consult with your pediatrician.
Annual mallow with photo
More than 50 varieties are available for cultivation . This quantity was achieved thanks to the efforts of breeders.
The ancestor of modern varieties is wood mallow, an annual plant, while the hybrid and wrinkled varieties bred on its basis are cultivated as perennials.
Forest (Malva sylvestris)
The height of the plant does not exceed 120 cm. Its distinctive feature is its large, rich pink, bell-like corollas with thin longitudinal stripes of deep purple color along the petals.
Popular varieties of wood mallow are lilac zebrina and black mother of pearl.
Purple annual
A variety with purple-pink petals. Plant height is about 100 cm.
Varieties and varieties of stock roses
Perennial musky mallow - planting and care
Despite the fact that in nature there are a large number of different types of mallow, only a few of them are common among gardeners. The most popular is the Yellow Queen mallow. This is a perennial plant, reaching 2-2.5 meters in height, covered with large, double, golden-yellow buds up to 12 centimeters in diameter. This variety of mallow is light-loving and tolerates dry weather well. During the cold season, it is recommended to cover yellow mallow with spruce branches or other material that allows air to pass through.
Flower growers also know the varieties listed below.
Yellow Queen
Terry perennial mallow is an elegant, ornamental plant, a hybrid obtained as a result of long and painstaking work of breeders. A plant up to 2 meters tall with voluminous, lush peony-like flowers in pink and purple shades. Terry mallow is a favorite flower of landscape designers, and it looks great in both group and single plantings.
Terry perennial
White perfection is a low-growing plant, the height of which does not exceed 60 centimeters, strewn with small, snow-white flowers.
White Tower Mallow is another variety of white, musky mallow. A low-growing shrub reaching 70 centimeters in height. This plant looks attractive not only in a flowerbed, but also in a bouquet or flower arrangement.
White Tower
Rose Tower is a musky variety of rose mallow. A plant of average height of 70-100 centimeters with the most delicate pink flowers, which looks great in a flowerbed in combination with the White Tower.
Pink Tower
Bush is a spectacular garden plant that grows up to 2.5 meters. Mallow bushes are dense, spreading, completely strewn with large, bright flowers with a delicate aroma. The bush holly rose is completely easy to care for and tolerates both frost and drought. To plant bush mallow, you must choose a sunny place, since it will bloom much worse in the shade.
Bush
Arboreal is a small tree with large, double flowers. Most often in landscape design there are white and pink colors of buds, but breeders never cease to amaze and are developing new varieties of unusual shades - red, peach, turquoise. The height of the tree is 3-3.5 meters. The plant is resistant to diseases and frost.
Tree-like
Wrinkled - this plant, conventionally called mallow, reaches 2 meters in height and is strewn with large, funnel-shaped flowers of various colors, the color blue may predominate.
Wrinkled
Growing annual and perennial mallow from seeds
Mallow can be grown from seeds, and the technology for perennial plants does not differ from the technique for germinating seeds of annuals.
How to grow mallow
Planting seeds of annual mallow to obtain flowering is carried out quite early this year: at the end of January - at the very beginning of February . The strengthened seedlings are transferred to the ground in mid-May.
For perennials, the sowing time for seedlings is shifted to May, and seedlings will be planted in a flowerbed no earlier than August.
Seedling
Before sowing, it is recommended to soak the seeds in warm water . This procedure will soften the hard seed coat and increase seed germination.
Mallow seeds remain viable for 3 years, and by the end of this period the percentage of germination increases noticeably.
To germinate seeds for seedlings, it is better to refuse to use a common container; give preference to individual medium-sized peat pots .
The fact is that the root system of the plant is quite delicate, it is easy to damage it when picking or transplanting seedlings into the ground. The use of peat cups eliminates this possibility.
The optimal temperature for the emergence of mallow seedlings is in the range from 18 to 22 ° C; at this temperature, the first leaves can be seen after 15–17 days.
By the time three true leaves are formed on the grown sprouts, the seedlings must be thinned out, leaving only the strongest specimens.
Planting and care in open ground
Transferring seedlings to the ground is not difficult; the main thing is to choose the right place for planting and carefully place the plants in a permanent place .
Landing place
Try to choose well-lit areas protected from the wind. The fact is that despite their impressive growth, the stems of the mallow are quite fragile, and strong gusts of wind can damage them.
It is worth paying attention to the drainage qualities of the site - moisture should not be allowed to stagnate in the soil, this will lead to the development of rot and death of the flower .
Attention! In light shade, mallow also develops well, but the intensity of flowering will be noticeably lower than that of plants located in a well-lit place.
Soil requirements
There are no special requirements for soil quality, but on loose, nutritious soils with good air permeability, the flower develops much better than on poor, heavy substrates.
Rules for planting in open ground
It should be borne in mind that mallow is a rather tall plant. When planning a flower bed, it is planted in such a way that it does not shade lower crops .
The spacing between mallow plantings should be at least half a meter: this distance is quite enough so that the shoots do not conflict and do not shade each other.
Seeds are planted in the ground in mid-May, when the threat of return frosts has completely passed . Before planting the seeds, dig up the soil, remove the roots of weeds and make small holes about 1 cm deep.
Place 2-3 seeds in each hole and cover the plantings with soil. The flowerbed is watered. For faster emergence of seedlings, the ground can be covered with covering material.
Subsequent care for mallow will not cause any particular difficulties even for a novice gardener.
Watering
Plantings need to be watered regularly, but not too much, so as not to cause moisture to accumulate in the soil.
Loosening
After watering, when the moisture has been completely absorbed, the soil must be loosened to prevent the formation of a hard crust on the surface.
To avoid this procedure and reduce the number of weeds, the soil between flowers can be mulched .
Top dressing
Before budding, mallow can be fed with a mineral nitrogen-containing complex . Fertilizers are applied along with watering. The composition is diluted strictly according to the instructions.
Removing faded inflorescences
To preserve the decorative appearance of the flower and extend the flowering period, wilted inflorescences must be regularly removed .
Autumn and winter care
After flowering has completed, you need to remove the seeds. Then the shoots are cut to ground level, and the soil around is generously mulched with humus or peat; leaf litter can be sprinkled on top. Such shelter is quite enough for the mallow to successfully overwinter.
Transfer
Transplantation is carried out only in extreme cases . If an urgent need arises, then you need to try to remove the plant without disturbing its roots. Transplantation is carried out only by transshipment.
