Monarda is a flower from the Labial family. It belongs to the category of perennial and annual herbaceous crops. The ornamental plant was named after the Spanish doctor and botanist Nicholas Monardes. In 1574, he published a book describing the culture and called it a Virgin soul-maker. The plant is endowed with useful properties and has an attractive appearance.
Monarda Characteristics
There are more than 20 varieties of monarda. Almost every species can be grown in the garden. Popular varieties of decorative culture:
- Lemon or citrus monarda. The annual height is 15-95 cm. Lanceolate leaf plates. The inflorescence consists of 5-7 whorls with small lilac flowers. The flower can be used as a decorative or spicy plant.
- Lambada. Hybrid bred by Dutch scientists. From the leaf plates of the plant comes a pronounced lemon flavor.
- Dot Monarda (horse mint). It features amazing bright colors of leaf plates that are painted in salmon shades. Plant height reaches 80 cm.
- Double monard. Perennial growing up to 75-80 cm. Has a horizontally growing rhizome. The stems are tetrahedral. Green leaf plates are pointed at the tip and downy. The length of the foliage is up to 12 cm. The color of the stipules is red. Inflorescences are lilac or purple.
Perennial Lemon Variety
- Duochny monard. In Europe, grown as a spice. The height of the stems is 65-120 cm. The foliage is covered with thin hairs. The flowers are like straws and painted in lilac color. Inflorescences are spherical, 5-7 cm in diameter.
- Hybrid monarda (monarda hybrida). Combines various varieties, bred in Germany from the monad of double and duobed. The height of the bushes is 100 cm. The inflorescences are painted in violet-purple (Mona Lisa variety), red, white, pink (Pink Lace), burgundy or lavender tones. Popular varieties: red monarda, monard Bee Pue and monard Cambridge Scarlet. No less spectacular look monard Terry Tale, Gadenvie Scarlet and Spice.
- Monarda Fireball. A perennial herb grows to 75-80 cm in height. The rhizome of the variety grows horizontally. Inflorescences are burgundy.
Monarda: planting and care in the open ground
At home, the culture can be grown from seed material, or by planting pre-purchased seedlings in the ground.
Planting seeds
The time for planting seed in open ground depends on the monarda growing region. In southern countries this is done in early spring, and in colder countries in mid-May. Procedure:
- Choose a suitable area, dig and loosen the soil.
- Plant seeds in dug grooves.
- Sprinkled with a small layer of soil.
- Moisturize the soil liberally.
- Cover the landing site with a piece of film until shoots appear.
- Systematically remove the film for 5-10 minutes for ventilation, and moisten the soil as the top layer dries.
Plants grown in this way are transplanted to another place in a year. Flowering should be expected in 12 months.
Planting seedlings
- Having chosen a zone for planting flowers, dig the soil.
- After loosening the soil, dig holes for seedlings.
- In each well, pour the settled rain water.
- Put the roots of the seedling in the hole, fill the resulting voids with fertile soil.
- Moisten the soil at the landing site. In the same year, abundant flowering can be expected.
Watering and loosening the soil
Monarda needs moderate and fairly frequent watering. In the dry period, the soil is moistened every evening. In April and May, decorative culture is watered with warm water.
Double grade
After each humidification procedure, it is necessary to loosen the earth. It is important not to damage the root system. Weed grass should be removed from the flower bed so that it does not interfere with the full growth and development of the crop.
Note! To prevent excessive evaporation of moisture from the ground and the growth of weed grass, experts recommend mulching the soil.
Breeding methods
Monarda is propagated in many ways. Most often, flower growers use the seed method described above, but you can plant a crop by dividing the bush, cuttings, or pieces of roots.
The method of dividing the bush
The process is best carried out in the spring, before the plant has time to wake up after a period of rest. Procedure:
- Moisten the plant abundantly and carefully dig out.
- Using a sharp knife, divide the root system so that several shoots and part of the root remain from the plant.
- Treat the area of cuts with wood ash to speed up the healing process.
- In the prepared landing holes place the delenki. The root neck should be at ground level.
Propagation by root segments
This is one of the most effective ways to breed monarda. The procedure is best carried out in March, until active growth of shoots has begun. Step-by-step instruction:
- Using a sharp shovel, cut off part of the shoots along with the root system.
- The area of cuts is treated with wood ash.
- Dig holes with an interval of 40-50 cm.
- To plant young plants in the recesses, fill the wells with a soil mixture.
- Planted bushes to moisten abundantly.
Cuttings
Harvesting cuttings engaged in early summer. For this, young green shoots 10-20 cm long are selected, the sections are treated with Kornevin. The cuttings planted in the ground are covered with plastic containers. You can put them in a greenhouse.
Note! 30-60 days after rooting, the seedlings are moved to a permanent place.
Hybrid view of Lambada
Fertilizers and fertilizers
Top dressing is applied during the growing season and during flowering. In spring, complex mineral fertilizers are used. For each square meter, 40-45 g of fertilizing is consumed.
At the end of summer and during the flowering period, monarda needs supplementary foods containing phosphorus and potassium. Dry granules close up in the soil. The dressing gradually dissolves and when irrigated it enters the root system. Fertilizers help stimulate flowering.
During the growing season and flowering time, the bushes should be sprayed with water with mineral fertilizers.
Advice! So that in the sultry period the plant does not experience stress, the leaf plates are treated with Epin's solution.
Monarda duduk
Plant transplant
In one place, a decorative culture can grow for about 5 years. Then the bushes are transplanted. To rejuvenate the flower, dividing the bushes is used.
For transplanting, the bush is carefully dug up and transferred to a new hole. The root system of the old clod of earth is not cleaned. In order not to injure and accelerate the survival of the plant, it is transplanted by transshipment. Landed in a new place monard abundantly watered. The soil is carefully loosened and mulched.
Pests and diseases
Monarda is not affected by pests because its essential oils repel insects. However, against the background of improper care, the culture may suffer from powdery mildew that occurs against the background of waterlogging of the soil, and rust.
To get rid of powdery mildew, it is enough to adjust the irrigation mode. When the bushes are rusted, the soil around the flowers is treated with preparations containing copper.
Perennial in landscape design
Flowering and care during this period
The monarda flowering period lasts from mid-summer to September. At this time, flowers with funnel-shaped petals blooming in the bush-like inflorescences bloom on the bushes. The color of the monarda flowers depends on the variety.
After flowering, inflorescences form fruits that look like nuts. This gives additional decorativeness to plants even in the cold season. After the formation of the fruits, you can start collecting seeds. Their germination lasts up to 36 months.
Important! During the flowering period, the plant needs abundant watering and the application of phosphorus-potassium fertilizing.
Winter preparations
If a single bush of monarda grew on a flowerbed, in the autumn it can be dug up, and the soil can be dug up and prepared for planting other flowers. Perennial varieties are frost-resistant, so they do not need to be dug up. It is enough to cover each bush with a layer of spruce 10 cm thick.
Use in landscape design
Culture is planted on flower beds, discounts or on the lawn. Growing a monard flower in mixborders looks quite impressive.
The plant goes well with rudbeckia, perennial phlox, bluebells and large daisies. You can supplement the spreading bushes of the monarda with cereal plants.
Advice! Monard bushes can be designed fences and hedges.
Perennial looks good on lawns
Useful properties of the monarda plant
The composition of the flower includes essential oil, vitamins of groups B and C. The culture is widely used in homeopathy. Monarda essential oil has anti-stress, antianemic and antioxidant properties. Its systematic use cleanses the aorta of atherosclerotic plaques, helps to cure radiation sickness, cope with flu symptoms and strengthen the immune system.
Monarda is used in the treatment of:
- otitis media;
- cystitis;
- sinusitis;
- pneumonia;
- digestive system disorders.
Monarda essential oil helps to cope with headaches, foot and nail fungus, and ailments of the oral cavity. Beauticians use monarda to make masks and creams for blackheads on the skin.
Monarda is a plant that can decorate any garden plot. Caring for a crop is easy enough. Providing the plant with conditions suitable for growth and development, you can systematically admire its abundant flowering.
