Liatris        

Family. Asteraceae or Compositae.

Origin. The natural habitat includes a large area of ​​America - from the southern regions of Canada to northern Mexico.

Description. Liatris is a flowering herbaceous perennial with a small brownish underground tuber and long, thin roots. The larger the tuber, the more magnificent and colorful the flowering will be. Tubers of adult plants reach 8 - 10 cm in diameter.

In spring, an erect, strong shoot with long, alternately arranged green leaves appears from an underground tuber. In some species, the shoots may be branched, and the leaves may be collected in whorls.

The leaf blades are green, entire, linear, sessile with a pronounced central vein. Interestingly, the higher the leaves are located on the stem, the smaller they are.

During the flowering period, a paniculate or candle-shaped inflorescence with white, lilac or pink flowers is formed. The length of the inflorescences can reach 50 - 60 cm. The buds are tubular, opening sequentially - from the top to the base of the peduncle, which prolongs the overall flowering time.

During flowering, the liatris bushes resemble sparklers and often emit a pleasant aroma, reminiscent of a mixture of sweet notes of vanilla and hay.

In the autumn months, the color of the leaves can change to a bronze hue. After the buds wither, fluffy brown achenes are formed, which become an additional decoration of the garden.

The genus has 37 herbaceous perennials. About 13 species are grown as garden flowers.

People noticed the unusual attractive flowering and gave the flower a second name - "flaming star".

Height. Depending on the species and external conditions, the height can range from 60 to 120 cm. Some dwarf varieties can reach only 30 cm in height, while the tallest ones easily exceed the 1 m mark.

Flowering time

Flowering occurs in the second half of summer and continues until autumn. In more southern regions, buds form earlier - at the end of June - July.

The first buds open approximately 3 months after planting the tuber. Unlike most flowering species, the opening buds descend from the tops of the peduncles to their bases. The flowering period lasts approximately 3-4 weeks.

Planting and care

Representatives of the genus prefer places open to sunlight. When grown in the shade, the bushes will become loose and tall, the distance between the leaf nodes will increase, and the flower stalks will form fewer buds.

The flower tolerates the hottest weather very easily, so even strong sun during the day is not a problem. Do not plant in lowlands and places where moisture stagnates after rain - the tubers in such conditions can rot.

How and when to plant  

The best time to plant tubers is considered to be the second half of April or the beginning of May. You can also plant tubers in the fall, but for this you should choose a period when there are still about 2 - 3 weeks left before the first frost.

To speed up the onset of flowering, the tubers can be pre-germinated at home in February - March.

For germination, use seedling boxes with loose and nutritious soil. The tubers are planted to a depth of about 5 - 7 cm, leaving the same distance between them. Keep the boxes at normal room temperature in a bright place without direct sunlight. Such specimens are carefully planted in the garden, without damaging the sprout.

To plant in a suitable area, loosen and weed the soil, remove weeds and level the surface with a rake. Since liatris looks great in group plantings, several tubers can be placed in each hole.

The tubers should be placed with the convex side down - roots will appear from it. In the part where the sprout begins to form, there will be a small depression or plane.

The distance between the holes will depend on the planting scheme, but it should be at least 2/3 of the height of the plants (usually 30 - 40 cm). As a rule, the larger the diameter of the tuber, the deeper it should be planted. On average, a depth of 5 - 10 cm will be sufficient for tubers.

A drainage layer of river sand should be laid at the bottom of the holes 12 - 15 cm deep, the layer height can reach 3 - 4 cm.

The tubers are placed in the holes and sprinkled with earth, which is then lightly tamped to remove air pockets. The area is watered.

As they grow, it is worth adding a layer of mulch from small pieces of tree bark, straw or sawdust to the base of the bushes. Mulch will help retain moisture in the soil after watering and will cover the soil from sunlight, protecting the plants from weeds.

Some species may require additional support, as even a light wind can break shoots with lush flower stalks at the top.

Soil

The flower prefers nutritious and loose soils that easily allow moisture to pass through and allow the root system to absorb oxygen from the air. The pH level should be neutral or slightly acidic and range from 5.5 to 7.5.

The nutrient content of the soil is not so important - liatris can be grown even on poor sandy or rocky soils.

You should not plant the flower in heavy loams - in such conditions the plants will quickly die from rot. To improve moisture permeability, river sand or even small pebbles are mixed into such soils.

A little leaf or turf humus, as well as a small amount of well-rotted horse or cow manure, can be added to sandy and rocky soil.

Watering and fertilizing

In general, liatris will rather endure a small drought than a constant flood. After planting, the area is watered abundantly, and subsequent watering is postponed until the first shoots appear.

Mature specimens require less moisture, and they are watered only when dry and hot weather lasts for a long time.

Watering is carried out in the morning or evening, when the sun's activity weakens. The fact is that when watering during the day, moisture evaporates too quickly from the surface of the earth, without having time to be absorbed into the depths. Also, sun rays can cause burns when they hit wet leaf blades after watering.

It is advisable to water at the root, excluding moisture from getting on the shoots and leaves.

After watering, the soil is usually loosened at a distance of about 15 cm from the shoots, since it is very easy to damage the superficial root system. After loosening, remove the weeds and add soil to the roots, as over time they often become bare and protrude above the surface.

Liatris does not like a large amount of fertilizer - the bushes can become loose and grow a large number of leaves to the detriment of flowering. Plants will need only 2-3 feedings per season.

After planting, as soon as the first shoots appear, you can apply mineral fertilizers with a high nitrogen content. The second feeding is carried out at the beginning of summer, using mineral compositions with a high content of phosphorus and potassium. During the flowering period, you can apply a third feeding with the same fertilizers.

Do not use fresh organic matter for feeding - their use will weaken the bushes and make them less resistant to fungal diseases.

Care in autumn, wintering

Even in a harsh climate, tubers can be left in the garden for the winter. To prepare the plants for the winter cold, in the autumn months, after flowering, cut off the entire above-ground part.

The area is sprinkled with a thick layer of mulch consisting of humus or peat. The layer height can reach 12-15 cm.

You can sprinkle with dry fallen leaves or cover the bushes with spruce branches. In southern regions, shelter for the winter may not be required. The layer of mulch and spruce branches should be removed after the snow cover in the area has melted.

When to dig up the bulbs

After drying and trimming, the tubers are stored in a cool, dark place, such as a basement or refrigerator.

To prevent the tubers from losing moisture during storage, they are sprinkled with river sand or peat, which are periodically sprayed, keeping them slightly damp.

Small boxes with holes for air circulation are suitable for storage. Every 7 to 10 days, the tubers are sorted, getting rid of rotten specimens.

Storage of bulbs

After drying and trimming, the tubers must be stored. A cool, dark place, such as a basement or refrigerator, is suitable for storing the plant.

To ensure that the nodules do not lose moisture during storage, they are sprinkled with river sand or peat, which are periodically sprayed, keeping them barely damp.

Small boxes with holes for air circulation are suitable for storage. Every 7 - 10 days, the tubers are sorted, getting rid of rotten specimens. 

How and when to prune 

To maintain an attractive appearance and prevent the spread of plants by self-seeding, flower stalks with fading buds are cut off, leaving 5 - 6 cm of growth. Pruning is carried out with a sharpened and sterile garden tool. Some gardeners deliberately leave the inflorescences on the plants so that they decorate the garden and remain dry until the first snowfall.

Liatris shoots can be used for cutting - for this, tall ones are cut with a sharp garden knife in the morning or evening. In a vase with water, the flower stalks retain a fresh and pleasant appearance for 10 days or more.

The best time for pruning is when about a third of the buds on the flower stalk have blossomed. Do not use pruning shears for pruning - they can squeeze the conducting vessels, and the flower in the vase will quickly lose its attractiveness. The cut is made with a knife at an acute angle so that the area of ​​moisture absorption is larger.

You can use this plant as a dried flower, which will decorate your living space for several years. In this case, it is worth cutting the flower stalk when half of the buds have opened. The cut shoots are hung upside down in a dry and warm place.

Make sure that the sun's rays do not fall on the flower stalks during drying - they can make them faded and unattractive.

Application in landscape design

Flowers are often planted in small groups in the center of flower beds or flower beds - this way they will look more impressive. When grown in the garden, liatris will require minimal care, and its long and abundant flowering will attract many beneficial insects to the site.

Since the bushes can thrive even in soils that are very poor in nutrients, they can decorate the slopes of an alpine slide.

Small varieties can be used as a border, edging flower beds or highlighting garden paths.

Reproduction

There are several ways to propagate the flower: you can grow it from seeds or get seedlings by dividing it.

Growing from seeds

Liatris can be grown from seeds; this method will take a significant amount of time, but will save money on purchasing planting material. From one packet of seeds, you can get several dozen bushes at once. The first buds will decorate seedlings grown from seeds only in the second or even third year.

It is not recommended to use self-collected seeds for propagation - with this method of propagation, varietal characteristics may not be preserved, and flowering may not be as abundant and long.

It is interesting that if there are already liatris bushes on the site, then self-seeding plants can be found under them, from which it is enough to select and plant the strongest specimens.

Sowing seeds

Seeds can be sown indoors for seedlings or in open ground immediately after the snow melts, in early March. The seeds tolerate cool temperatures well and are not afraid of night frosts.

Sowing seeds in open ground before winter also gives good results. This method allows the seeds to undergo cool stratification naturally. The sowing time should be chosen so that the first shoots do not have time to appear before the onset of frost - approximately in the second half of October.

Germination is quite long, and the first shoots may appear only a month after sowing. Fresh seeds germinate the fastest - they need only about 3 weeks to germinate; the last shoots can appear from the ground 1.5 months after sowing. If you keep the seedlings cool, at a temperature of about 5 - 7 degrees Celsius, the germination period can be reduced to 2 weeks.

To increase germination, the planting material should be kept for 1 - 1.5 months in cool conditions - stratified. The first to appear are oblong-oval cotyledon leaves, then linear true leaf blades are formed.

Most often, the seeds are sown directly into the garden, since even when planting seedlings, flowering will still occur only in the second year. For planting, a small area is cleared and loosened, and at night the planting material is soaked in warm water with the addition of growth hormones.

The seeds are sown in shallow furrows and covered with a layer of soil about 0.5 cm thick. Water the area with seedlings with warm water.

If sowing is done for seedlings, then a drainage layer is poured into special boxes and filled with nutritious soil based on peat and river sand. The seeds are laid out on the surface of well-moistened soil and simply pressed into it.

Keep the seedlings at a temperature of about 20 degrees in a place with diffused light, without direct sunlight, covering them with a transparent lid. When the shoots appear, remove the cover and lower the room temperature to 16 - 18 degrees, hardening the bushes.

Caring for seedlings

When grown in open ground, as the seedlings appear, they are thinned out, leaving only the strongest specimens. The weaker ones can be carefully selected along with the root ball and planted in a new place.

The distance between seedlings can be 7 - 10 cm. When the plants get stronger closer to autumn, they are planted in a permanent place.

If the seedlings are grown indoors, the bushes are picked from boxes into separate pots when the first 2-3 true leaves appear.

7-10 days after picking, they are first fed with a very weak solution of nitrogen fertilizers.

Since there is often not enough light in the premises, and for good development of seedlings a 14-hour daylight is required, it is worth organizing artificial additional lighting using LED or fluorescent lamps.

You can plant in small peat pots - in this case, the seedlings are planted in the garden directly in them.

Transplantation and division

Transplantation and division should be carried out every 4 years, since with age the center of the plants can become bare, the bushes will fall apart and acquire an unsightly appearance. Division will help rejuvenate such specimens.

Transplantation is carried out in early autumn - by this time the bush should have completely bloomed and at the same time the transplanted plants will have time to adapt to the new place before the onset of winter. Division and transplantation are carried out in early spring, when the first signs of new growth appear.

The bushes are dug up and shaken off the remains of the earth. Division can be done by simply pulling the shoots in different directions. It is worth remembering that in each received part there should be several tubers and well-developed shoots. The cuttings are planted in the garden, leaving a distance of about 35 cm between them, sprinkled with earth and watered abundantly.

Flowering specimens should not be disturbed by transplants and division - they spend a lot of energy on the formation of buds and after transplantation they can suffer for a long time.

Separation of daughter tubers

The most common and easiest method of reproduction. When digging up bushes in the autumn months, several small daughter nodules can be found around each mother tuber. The nodules are separated, cleared of soil and dried. Store the tubers in a cool and dry place until spring. 

Home care

Liatris is easy to use for forcing, this way you can get a flowering bush by any desired date. Depending on the species, from planting the tubers to the appearance of the first buds, it takes from 70 to 90 days.

For growing, choose small flower pots with drainage holes. A layer of expanded clay or broken brick is placed on the bottom of the pots to remove moisture.

Fill the pots a third of the way with nutrient soil and place the tuber on the surface with the flat side up. There should be about 2-3 cm of free space between the tuber and the walls of the pot.

Fill the pot with substrate, lightly tamping it. The soil surface should be 1 - 2 cm below the level of the pot. Place the pot in a warm and well-lit place. South-west or south-east windowsills are suitable for permanent cultivation.

After planting, the soil is watered moderately, waiting for the first signs of growth. As the green mass develops, the frequency of watering is increased, drying the soil by 1 - 2 cm between waterings. For watering, use well-settled water at room temperature, and drain excess moisture that appears in the tray immediately after watering.

In order for the bushes to remain strong and healthy and have lush flowering, they must be fed with mineral potassium-phosphorus compounds 2-3 times a month. Fertilize immediately after watering, adding fertilizer to moist soil.

The first feeding is carried out when young shoots appear from under the ground; after flowering, stop feeding.

Since during the forcing process, the plants will still experience a lack of nutrients, it is advisable to plant the tubers in open ground in the second year. They can be used for forcing again in 2-3 years.

The healing properties

In addition to its external attractiveness, liatris is also used in folk medicine. It is believed that the plant can relieve colic, as it relieves spasms in the intestines.

Previously, decoctions were used for snake bites, now they make lotions from it for insect bites. The decoction can reduce discomfort and itching.

Anti-inflammatory properties are used for sore throat - gargle with a decoction. Rhizomes are used for various skin diseases. The green mass has a diuretic effect and is used for diseases of the kidneys and bladder.

The aroma of the buds repels moths and it is enough to put a few sprigs of dried flowers in the closet to scare away these insects for a long time.

Diseases and pests

Leaf spotting. Rust. When planted in poorly drained soil, tubers may rot. Constant exposure of shoots and leaves to moisture during watering can cause stem rot.

If the weather is cool and humid for a long period of time and the plants are too crowded, powdery mildew may develop.

Harmful insects rarely bother the flower. Sometimes, when grown in open ground, shoots and leaves can be attacked by slugs and snails, as well as nematodes. The root system can be tasted by mole crickets and small rodents.

Varieties and types:

Liatris spicata

 The most common type of flower, on the basis of which the vast majority of modern varieties and hybrids are bred. Perennial plants reach a height of 60 - 120 cm and have strong, erect shoots that are abundantly branched at the base. The stems are densely covered with green, linear leaves arranged alternately. The flowering period begins in July - August and lasts about 4 weeks. Flower colors include white, lilac, pink or even purple.

Liatris spicata Kobold

 Compact flowering perennials 45 - 60 cm high with shoots branched at the base. A distinctive feature of the variety is its long and lush flowering. The buds form in the second half of summer and are colored pinkish-lilac.

Liatris aspera

 Attractive bushes of this species reach a height of 60 - 90 cm and have fairly thick, tough shoots covered with small white pubescence. The leaves are green, linear, sessile. The inflorescences are loose, thin, and consist of alternately arranged flower baskets of lilac or pink hue. Flowering occurs late - often already in mid-August.

Liatris scariosa

Tall perennials, reaching 120 cm and forming rigid shoots. The leaves are light green, sessile, slightly bent along the central vein. Flower baskets are large, round in shape, collected in loose inflorescences at the tops of the shoots. The flowering period occurs in late summer or even early autumn.