Phacelia is a herbaceous flowering plant from the Aquatic family. South and North America are considered his homeland, but they cultivate it all over the planet. The reason for this is the decorative appearance and the mass of useful properties. Even the dense, poor soil of phacelia will quickly turn into loose and fertile. Fragrant flowers contain a lot of nectar, and honey phacelia has many useful properties. The structure of the inflorescence gave the name to the whole genus. From the Greek language "phacelia" is translated as "bunch". At the same time, even a beginner can master the care of the plant.
Plant description
Phacelia is an annual, biennial, and perennial grass 0.5-1 m high. The root rhizome with thin lateral processes grows into the soil to a depth of 20 cm. The sturdy stem is located directly and has many lateral processes, therefore, under favorable conditions, phacelia looks more like a bush . The shoots are covered with ribbed skin with bristles or nap and are painted in bright green color.
Ash-green foliage can grow alternately or oppositely and is located on short petioles. Leaflets are close enough to each other. The leaf plate takes a lobed or cirrus-dissected shape. The vein relief is visible on a leathery surface. The edges of the leaves are often serrate, but there are also whole ones.
Flowering begins in early summer and lasts continuously until mid-autumn. In this case, a single flower is revealed only for 1-2 days. Small buds are collected in dense bundles at the ends of the stems of 40-100 pieces. They have very short pedicels or sit on a peduncle. Small corollas are painted blue or purple and have the shape of a bell. Long thin stamens peek out from the center of the flower with five fused petals.
Pollination occurs with the help of insects. After this, seed boxes ripen with many small seeds. In 1 g of sowing material there are 1800-2000 units.
Popular views
According to various sources, the genus of phacelia includes from 57 to 80 plant species. In our country, most often you can find only a few.
Phacelia tansy. Annual grass up to 1 m high forms a lush bush, because up to 20 woolly fibrous processes depart from the main shoot. Already in May, small bluish-blue flowers bloom over the jagged oval leaves. They are collected in a one-sided spike-shaped inflorescence in the form of a curl. The correct cups of 5 petals in diameter are only 2 cm. Flowering is accompanied by a bewitching honey aroma.
Phacelia is bell-shaped. The plant consists of branched upright stems up to 25 cm high. They are quite fleshy and fragile. The surface is covered with a fleecy reddish skin. Regular ovoid leaves with uneven teeth along the edge grow 6 cm in length. They are painted in a bluish-green color. Bright blue or purple flowers in diameter reach 3 cm. They bloom in June. The center of the funnel is almost white. Dark stamens with large anthers peep out from it. Flowers are collected in curls, which in turn are in racemes. Varieties:
- California bell - blue flowers with a diameter of up to 25 mm rise above the gray-green fleecy vegetation;
- Blue Bonnet - on a bush up to 40 cm high, bright blue bells open.
Phacelia twisted. Shoots up to 0.5 m high are covered with light green toothed leaves with soft nap. At the top in June-September there are beautiful curls from tiny (up to 5 mm in diameter) blue bells.
Phacelia as a siderat
Siderata are plants that are sowed by poor, problematic lands to improve their characteristics. Phacelia is a leader in this sense. The roots of the plant, as they develop, loosen the substrate well, turn heavy clay into a loose, loose substance. The stems quickly decompose and turn into humus. It perfectly enriches the earth with nutritious minerals and organic matter. After such sowing, vegetables and root crops can be grown on the plot for 2-3 years without any fertilizing at all.
Phacelia blooms 1.5 months after sowing. By this time, the volume of green mass reaches 300 kg per hundred square meters. With the onset of flowering, the crop can be mowed. After mowing, the shoots stop growing and the roots decompose. In this case, the soil is enriched with nutrients. With a sufficient amount of moisture in the soil and precipitation, additional manipulations are not needed. Such a short development period allows you to make several crops per season or to grow phacelia after harvesting.
The plant is a garden nurse. In the process of growth, the acidity of the soil changes from acidic to neutral. Such a change contributes to the suppression of weeds, viral and fungal infections. Attracted by the aroma of phacelia, predatory insects (entomophages) destroy parasites (nematodes, leafworms, locusts, codling moth).
Breeding
Phacelia is grown from seeds immediately in open ground. Even young plants withstand frosts of -9 ° C. The first sowing is carried out in late autumn before winter. Shoots appear very early in the thaw. Spring sowing can begin in March-April, when not all the snow has left yet. After harvesting from garden crops, this useful plant is sown again. This is best done in July.
Phacelia adapts to any living conditions, but it is best to build green mass in ventilated, well-lit areas. The plant does not tolerate transplantation, so the intended areas are immediately sown to them. Since the seeds are very small, they are mixed with sand or sawdust. The sowing rate for 100 g of seeds is 50-80 m². Planting material can be distributed without preliminary tillage directly on the surface. Some gardeners still prepare holes with a depth of 1.5-2 cm. Seeds are planted in the soil and lightly rolled for better contact. Such manipulation will improve contact and make seedlings more massive.
The earth must be wet. If there is no precipitation, you need to water the site. The first sprouts appear 7-12 days after sowing. With the advent of 3-4 true leaves, the plantings are thinned out. The distance between seedlings should be 5-7 cm. At a height of 6-8 cm, the distance is increased to 10-15 cm.
Fazelia Care
Phacelia is a very tenacious and unpretentious culture. It belongs to drought tolerant plants. Watering is required only in case of prolonged absence of precipitation, when the soil surface is cracked.
While the seedlings are small (up to 2-3 weeks), they are not able to independently control weeds. The beds should be weeded and loosened. Fortified plants do not need this procedure.
In order for the shoots to grow faster and flowering to be plentiful, you should feed the phacelia with a universal mineral complex twice a month. Fertilizers also make flowers larger. The first buds open in a month. Within 1-2 weeks, only a few flowers open, and then comes a long and plentiful flowering.
If phacelia is grown as a forage crop, mowing is performed at the budding stage. Later, the nutrient content of vegetation decreases.
Seed collection is carried out when more than half of the seeds are brown. Use seeds from the lower boxes in inflorescences. It is important not to hesitate, because fully ripened achenes crack and empty.
Pests and diseases affect phacelia in extremely rare cases. Usually, annuals are not treated, they simply isolate the affected plant.
Garden use
When planning planting in several stages, you can achieve continuous flowering "from snow to snow." Decorative forms are planted on a mixed flower bed, along the curb, among stones and boulders. They can be planted between fruit plants to decorate and protect the garden. Phacelia in flowerpots looks very nice, like an ampel plant for a balcony and a veranda. It is combined with calendula, flax, rudbeckia, lavender, eshsoltsia, atrium. The seeds of this beauty are added to the mixture for the Moorish lawn.
