Autumn cottage: description, planting and care at home

The advent of spring makes many think about the design of their plots of various ornamental plants. Someone prefers to plant flowerbeds, snowmobiles and alpine hills every year with so-called flying machines, and some people consider themselves master of breeding perennial flowers. Be that as it may, at the moment few people do not know about such a plant as a autumn autumnal, whose photo amazes with its tenderness. How to plant this perennial? What conditions need to be created on the site so that the flowering is lush? All this you will learn right now.

Description of the plant

Autumn crocus (colchicum) for a combination of biological characteristics refers to perennial herbaceous plants. Its stem is modified into a corm, covered with dead leaves vaginas. The aerial part of the plant is represented by broadly lanceolate leaves, which do not lose their brightness during the whole vegetative period. The autumn autumn flower has a light pink with a violet tinge; Its pedicel is a thin tube that emerges directly from the corms. This culture blooms in autumn, while the leaves grow after the wintering of the plant. In the same period fruits begin to form: leathery wrinkled boxes with seeds of black color.

In nature, autumn autumnal grows in dry and open places, overgrown with grass: forest glades, meadows (including mountain ones). Until now, it is found in an uncultivated form in the Krasnodar Territory, the Caucasus, Stavropol and Transcaucasia.

Why is the "cel-de-camp"

The plant received its name for a specific alternation of leaf growth and flowering. As is known, most herbaceous plants first release a rosette of leaves, and only then a flower spike. Autumn crocus autumnal is arranged differently: in the beginning of spring leaves grow, but by the beginning of autumn they die with the bulb formed in the previous season. And only after that a flower stalk appears from the corms. Seed box, which is located in the tube-peduncle, "hides" there until next spring. With the onset of heat along with the leaves, it appears above the surface of the earth and ripens in the first half of summer.

Selecting a location for planting

Despite the fact that autumn autumnal belongs to very unpretentious plants, for best development it is recommended to plant it in the sun. Since at the end of summer the plant fades, you can plant it among other perennials that blossom in the second half of July.

Colchicum autumn (photo presented in the article) looks great like a curb plant. In addition, it will decorate a flowerbed, surrounded by a lawn, the shore of a small pond, as well as a stony garden or an alpine hill. In a word, this flower can be considered universal. Incidentally, the special blossom of autumn blossoming autumn crescents acquires when planted in small vessels made of glass or ceramics. Such peculiar pots can be placed on terraces and balconies.

Planting autumn seedlings with autumn bulbs and seeds

Let's look at several ways of propagation of the plant, known as autumn autumnal. Landing and maintenance in the open ground, as mentioned above, do not require the use of large forces. The flower can safely grow in one place for several years. Propagation of this culture can be two ways: corms and seeds.

In the first case, it will be necessary to dig bulbs out of the soil at the time of the complete withering of the aboveground part, to dry them and leave "to rest" until the end of August. By the way, if you bought a bulb of a autumn crocus of autumn and planted it in late summer, the bloom may come after 3 years. However, this method has its drawbacks. The fact is that the diseases that are present in the mother plant are transmitted to the daughter corms. Planting material from a sick colchicum is better still to destroy.

Reproduction by seeds of autumn crocus of autumn allows to get absolutely healthy plants. Collect the seeds immediately after they are ripe (from the first half of June to the end of July). Sow them in the pre-prepared soil immediately after harvesting. The seeds will germinate the next spring, but flowering will not occur until 5-7 years later.

Plant care: watering, top dressing

In the care of autumn autumn is not too complicated. For active growth and lush flowering, it is enough to transplant plants every 7-10 years to a new location. Abundant irrigation autumn autumnal, the transplant which was carried out in the current season, does not tolerate. He has enough moisture, which comes to the corms in the period of precipitation. If plants are planted too often, you can thin out. In this case, it is recommended that a small amount of fertile soil be poured into the loosened intervals.

The main measures of plant care are weeding and pest control. Harm slumbers autumn can slugs, the methods of combating which are in their timely collection, loosening the soil and entering the beds of granular superphosphate.

Precautions for planting and care for autumn crocus

To gardeners, growing autumn autumnal crocodile, it is always worth remembering that this plant contains colchicine - a strong alkaloid, which is capable of provoking severe skin irritation and even burns. Contrary to popular belief, this compound is found not only in corms, but also in leaves and flowers. You can even get poisoned by water, in which there were cut flowers of autumn autumn. When ingested, colchicine causes poisoning, the symptoms of which are perspiration or burning in the throat, dizziness and nausea, colic. In particularly severe cases, the alkaloid causes paralysis and collapse.

To protect yourself from the toxic effects of plants, it is important to observe precautions: wear gloves when weeding, transplanting and caring for plants. In addition, these measures should be applied to cut buds.

Medicinal properties of autumn autumnal

Despite the content of poisonous substances, many know about the medicinal properties of autumn autumnal plants. Curative properties, oddly enough, are present in him due to the high content of colchicine. The fact is that in small amounts this compound helps to expand the smallest blood vessels - capillaries. It is this property that allows the use of corms and plant seeds as a medicine for gout, rheumatism and neuralgia. It should be noted immediately that the difference between the therapeutic and lethal dose is very small, therefore preparations based on colchicine are used under the direct supervision of specialists. In addition, colchicine is widely used in the treatment of skin cancers . This became possible due to the property of the compound to influence the process of cell division.

In conclusion, we remind you that it is not safe to use any parts of the autumn autumnal plant to treat various diseases at home!