Snowdrop (flower): description, photo

Everyone knows the flower of the snowdrop, the photo of which is even in the children's letter. This small beautiful plant is the first to come alive after winter. First, it releases a couple of leaves, and very soon blooms white bells with drooping heads. He is not afraid of winter frosts or snow. And if numerous white bells cover the garden with a carpet, this is a sure sign that the spring is already close. After all, the snowdrop flower warns us about the approach of warm days.

Description

In a scientific way this plant is called galanthus. It belongs to the genus of perennial grasses from the family of Amaryllis, which combines eighteen subspecies. The plant is most common in southern Europe, the Crimea, the Caucasus and Asia Minor. Most of the species - about sixteen - are found in the Caucasus.

No one calls the exact number of varieties of this plant. So much the flower of the snowdrop, a photo of which even the children recognize, is a low herbaceous culture with two linear leaves up to twenty centimeters long. They come out at once, simultaneously with the peduncles.

Single, drooping bells have a white perianth, consisting of six leaves. Three of them are external elliptical or obovate, whereas the inner ones have a wedge shape and a green spot on top. The snowdrop is a flower with a pleasant but very faint smell. He has rounded fleshy fruits in the form of a box with three compartments. There are a few black seeds in them. The latter have a juicy appendage to attract ants, pulling them and thus spreading plants.

The flower of the snowdrop has ovoid or conical bulbs, which are a compact group of modified leaves planted on one common base.

Landing

The best time to plant this plant is the time period from July to September. With a prolonged warm autumn planting can be stretched until early November. Today, the flower of a snowdrop flower is often sold in the market for blooming flowers, but this is not entirely correct, because as soon as the planting material is in the ground, the leaves wilt and turn yellow, and soon die completely. And although the bulb remains alive, it is weakened. However, the next year such a plant is weak or does not bloom at all, although it does not die.

Features

Bulbs galanthus do not tolerate drying. They can not be kept in the air for more than a month, but if there is no possibility to drop them into the ground, they must be filled with sawdust or shavings and put in a plastic bag. The planting of bulbs is carried out according to the following rule: put in loose soil at a depth equal to two bulbs, and in heavy soil to a depth equal to one onion. But in any case, you can not plant a snowdrop deeper than five centimeters.

The snowdrop is a flower that regulates the depth of the germination of its root system. If it is dropped too deep, it forms a new bulb on the peduncle, but at the right depth.

Cultivation

The first spring flower - the snowdrop likes shaded but warmed by the sun and places the soil with good drainage. When transplanting wild species, you need to choose a more lit area. This culture is winter-hardy, which is not surprising. After all, the first snowdrop is a flower that breaks straight from under the snow. Autumn galanthus need to cover a small layer of loose compost.

With the feeding of this culture, you need to be careful. Snowdrop does not tolerate fresh manure, so it is most suitable for complex mineral fertilizers.

These plants are bred for floral decoration of sites. They look very beautiful in large groups both in rock gardens and in the form of carpets - under bushes and trees in light shade. Some landscape designers use snowdrops to create white lawns in the middle of the lawn.

Kinds

The Amaryllis family includes eighteen species. The most common of these is the snowdrop snowdrop. His native land is the forests of the Carpathians. In height, the flower reaches fifteen centimeters. This species also includes Wiridapis, which blossoms in February, Lutescens, which has an identification mark - a yellow spot, as well as terry Flora Pleno, Pusi Green Type, Ophelia and many others.

Another species - the snowdrop Elvesa comes from Asia. It, unlike the previous varieties, is higher - up to twenty-five centimeters. He has bluish-green broad leaves, large globular flowers of white color. This is the very first snowdrop. His flower appears in early February. To date, many Elves hybrid hybrids have been identified, which distinguish between decorative and great endurance. The most popular is the Arnott variety with large flowers that have a fragrant aroma.

Other species, such as Galanthus plicatus or Folded, which gave rise to many interesting garden forms, Ikaria, who came to us from Greece and is now beautifully growing on Krasnaya Polyana in Sochi, as well as snowdrops of Forster, Voronova and many others are widely distributed in the botanical gardens of our country .

The uncontrolled collection of these beautiful representatives of the plant world led to the fact that many varieties had to be listed in the Red Book. And this means that every year it becomes increasingly difficult to meet them in a natural environment.

Home care

These flowers can be grown not only in the yard, but also at home - in a pot or in a bowl. The snowdrop, blooming the very first of all bulbous, gives buds in the middle of winter. To do this, it must be taken out of the room.

Since it is a very hardy and cold plant, which can survive at temperatures up to ten degrees below zero, it is not difficult to guess that he will die in a warm room. Therefore, during flowering you need to keep the snowdrop in a very cold room.

Conditions for growing a house

Two months after planting the bulb, the plant should be kept in total darkness. Then he needs natural light. It is necessary to exclude completely direct sunlight on it.

The optimum temperature for a bulb in the dark is about zero degrees, and during flowering - maximum 10 ° C, otherwise the plant will die.

After the bulb is planted, the soil must be thoroughly moistened, and then left alone, without watering until the pot is transferred to the light. After this, it is necessary to maintain the moisture of the soil, performing irrigation twice a week.

Sprinkle snowdrops can not. At the same time, during flowering, they need good ventilation, and when it is over, you need to cut off the withered heads, and let the leaves die naturally. If plants are fed, they need to be transplanted into the open ground. Otherwise, they will not bloom again in the same pot.

The best kind for growing at home is Galantus nivalis - an ordinary snowdrop, blossoming from the middle of winter to April. Today, unfortunately, it is rare to find this flower in an apartment or even in a garden. And in vain! After all, even when the world is still dominated by the winter, one can be sure that its days are numbered, when a snowdrop flower appears on the site from the snow, creeping out through the fallen tree, and when it grows at home in a pot, then a good "weather" and mood in the family Are provided.