Gypsophila

Family. Caryophyllaceae.

Origin, where it grows. Eastern Europe, Western Siberia. Plants are found in Africa, Australia and New Zealand. 

Description. Gypsophila are herbaceous or semi-shrub flowering annual or perennial plants with a very graceful appearance.

The bushes have thin, tough, abundantly branched shoots. Depending on the type, the stems can be erect or lodging.

The leaves are green, silvery green, sessile, narrowly linear. Some species have leaves that are dark green and round in shape. The leaf blades are entire, arranged in opposite pairs.

At the tops of the shoots at the end of May or beginning of June, airy, multi-branched peduncles with small delicate flowers appear.

The buds are simple or double, white or pink, and reach 1 cm in diameter. Bushes with red inflorescences are rare.

After flowering, round seed pods are formed, which dry out and turn brown when ripe.

Florists love gypsophila and often use it to create a variety of bouquets. The genus has about 100 species.

Height. Depending on the specific variety, the height can vary from 20 to 120 cm.

When it blooms

The flowering period is very long - buds can form throughout the summer months. With timely pruning of peduncles with fading buds, a second wave of flowering is possible in perennial species in the autumn months. The most abundant flowering of seedlings will be observed in the 3rd - 4th year of life. The first buds adorn very young specimens, which have only 12 - 14 pairs of leaves.

Planting and care

For planting, you should choose a place protected from strong gusts of wind. Gypsophila does not like direct sun during the daytime - for the flower it is worth choosing an area that is well lit in the morning, but in partial shade during the day.

When grown on heavy soil with a lot of melt or rain water, the bush easily rots - plant it on a hill. Before planting, it is worth mixing a fairly large amount of sand or small stones into the soil to quickly remove excess moisture. It is very good to plant plants on the rocky slopes of alpine slides.

How and when to plant

Seedlings are planted in open ground in May, when night frosts have passed. A garden plot with loose soil that easily allows moisture and air to pass through is first prepared for planting.

They dig up the ground and select weeds with roots, add sand and crushed chalk. Prepare planting holes, the distance between which should be approximately equal to the height of adult plants, but not less than 40 - 50 cm. For tall flowers - for example, gypsophila paniculata - leave 90 - 120 cm between the holes.

The depth and width of the holes should exceed the root ball by several centimeters. Before planting, it is worth making a drainage layer in the form of river sand 2-3 cm high at the bottom of the holes.

If the seedlings were grown in plastic containers, then a day before planting, they are watered abundantly to soften the earthen clod. If the flowers were grown in peat pots, then they are planted with them.

It is necessary to observe the planting depth - the bushes are positioned so that the root collar is level with the soil surface. After planting, the soil around the root system is slightly compacted and the gypsophila is watered.

To prevent rapid evaporation of moisture, the base of the plant is mulched with mown grass or straw, sawdust or pieces of pine bark. The mulch layer can reach 4-5 cm in height.

As the tall species grows, it is provided with support. Since the plants will acquire impressive sizes with age, they are replanted or excess bushes are simply pulled out, leaving only 1 specimen per square meter.

Soil

Gypsophila prefers very loose soils that easily allow moisture and air to pass through, with a high content of river sand. They easily tolerate substrates that are quite poor in nutrients. Plants do not like acidic soils, preferring alkaline or neutral soils with a pH level of 6.5 to 7.5.

The flower responds positively to the presence of lime in the soil - before planting, you should mix crushed chalk, slaked lime in the soil and add wood ash as an additional fertilizer. The name "gypsophila" itself suggests that the bush grows in gypsum soil.

Watering and fertilizing

Representatives of the genus do not require abundant and frequent watering - watering is carried out only if the weather is dry and warm for a long time. Adult specimens easily tolerate drought and do not tolerate flooding. Only planted young bushes will need regular watering. Water the flower in the morning or evening with warm water, from a watering can with a long spout, under the root.

Do not water during the day - the moisture can evaporate without having time to be absorbed into the soil. Add up to 5 liters of moisture to each seedling. After watering, the soil surface is loosened, and the area is weeded.

Gypsophila does not like a large amount of nutrients in the soil - it blooms less abundantly and forms a large number of leaves. Such plants are easily susceptible to fungal diseases. In the first summer, perennials do not need additional feeding at all.

Only when growing on very poor soils can mineral fertilizers be applied in very low concentrations 2-3 times per season. The flower responds positively to the use of well-rotted organic matter - humus, manure.

Transplant

Gypsophila can grow in the same place for 20 years or more, forming a lush and abundantly flowering bush with age. Perennial species often react negatively to transplantation - it is better to immediately choose a permanent place for them. The fact is that plants have a fairly large bark system, which is easily damaged during transplantation, after which the bushes begin to get sick for a long time.

If absolutely necessary, they carry out transshipment - they transfer the flower to a new place along with the old lump of earth, trying not to destroy it. For transshipment, planting holes are prepared, the depth and height of which will slightly exceed the size of the earthen lump.

The flower is dug up, removed from the ground and transferred to a new place. The plants are planted so that they remain at the same depth as before. After planting, the bushes are abundantly watered and protected from direct sunlight for 5 - 6 days.

If possible, it is better to postpone the transshipment until cloudy weather sets in. It is not worth replanting flowering specimens - it is better to replant them in the spring, before the formation of buds, or at the beginning of autumn, so that the bushes have time to grow a root system and adapt to a new place before the onset of cold weather.

Shelter for the winter

Many species do not tolerate frost and are grown as annuals. In harsh climates, mainly young plants planted this year are covered. In more northern regions, adult specimens should also be covered.

In mid-autumn, when the temperature at night begins to drop below zero, almost all shoots are cut almost to the ground and the bushes are covered with a high layer of mulch. Only 3-4 of the strongest shoots are left on adult bushes.

At this time, sawdust or dry fallen leaves can be used as mulch. You can also additionally insulate with spruce or pine branches and cover with the first fallen snow. The cover is removed in the spring when the snow cover melts.

How to prune 

After the buds begin to fade, the flower stalks are cut off almost at the very base. Pruning is carried out with a sharpened sterile instrument - a garden knife or pruning shears. When used for cutting, shoots are cut when only less than half of the buds have opened - the rest will bloom in a vase with water.

Home care

For growing in pots, choose low-growing varieties and species with creeping shoots, which are used as ground cover or ampelous.

For a house flower, choose a south-eastern or south-western window sill with direct sunlight in the morning and evening for at least 3-4 hours. When grown in partial shade, flowering will become sparse, and the shoots will stretch out.

Gypsophila tolerates the dry atmosphere of living spaces well and does not need additional air humidity. The substrate should be watered as the top layer of soil dries to a depth of 2 - 3 cm. For watering, use water at room temperature, settled for 24 hours. Excess moisture from the pan is drained a few minutes after watering.

Since the feeding area is too small when grown in a pot, the bush is regularly fed with liquid mineral fertilizers or organic matter. Top dressing is carried out from spring to autumn 2 - 3 times a month after watering.

Transplanting perennials into fresh substrate is done annually. The transplant is carried out in early spring, when new, young shoots have appeared.

For abundant flowering, a period of rest is provided in autumn and winter. The temperature is reduced to 5 - 7 degrees, watering is limited and fertilizing is stopped. In spring, regular care is resumed.

Reproduction

Most often, propagation is done by stem cuttings or sowing seeds. Propagation by seeds is quite simple and when grown in the garden, self-seeding can often be found under adult specimens. Cuttings are quite difficult and not always successful, so this method of propagation is less common.

Growing from seeds

Perennial gypsophila easily reproduces by sowing seeds at the end of March - the first half of April. You can grow a flower from seeds you collect yourself. To collect seeds, choose a dry and warm day. Fully ripe, dry seed pods are separated from the plant.

Seeds are selected and laid out on a hard surface in a warm place with good ventilation to dry for 2 - 3 days. After drying, the planting material is collected in paper bags and stored in a cool and dry room, sowing for 1 - 2 years. In the third year, seed germination significantly decreases.

For planting, prepare seedling boxes with a plastic lid and drainage holes in the bottom. A drainage layer in the form of expanded clay, pieces of foam plastic, or river pebbles is placed at the bottom of the boxes. Fill the boxes with flower soil with the addition of up to half the volume of river sand. Also, up to a third of the mixture can be a mineral substrate for cacti and succulent plants.

The soil surface is moistened by spraying with warm water from a spray bottle and the seeds are sown. On top, the seeds are only lightly sprinkled with soil or a layer of river sand 2-3 mm thick.

Place the box in a warm place with an air temperature of about 20 degrees and good lighting, but without access to direct sun. If there is a lack of natural light, use additional lighting with LED or fluorescent lamps, increasing the duration of daylight hours to 13 - 14 hours.

To create a greenhouse effect, the box is covered with transparent plastic film or covered with a plastic lid. The cover is removed daily, the seedlings are ventilated, and the soil is sprayed as needed, keeping it evenly moist.

With the appearance of the first shoots (usually this happens within 1 - 2 weeks), you can get rid of the shelter completely. The sprouts are thinned out, leaving only the strongest specimens and pulling out weak bushes with tweezers.

After thinning, the distance between the bushes should be about 12 - 15 cm. As they grow, you can carefully add soil around the seedlings.

When each bush can cover 4 - 5 true leaf blades, you can plant the seedlings outside.

For sowing seeds, it is advisable to use peat pots - in this case, when planting in the garden, you can place the plants in the holes directly together with the pots.

You can plant perennial seeds in early May directly in open ground, but in this case, flowering will occur later. The area is loosened and weeds are removed, shallow furrows are made and seeds are sown in them.

Annual species, whose lifespan can be only 2 months, are planted in batches - every 3 weeks, some of the seeds are sown to get bushes that will bloom abundantly for a long period of time.

Winter sowing of seeds is possible - it is carried out in late October - November, so that young shoots do not have time to appear before the onset of frost.

Cuttings

Cuttings are often used for varietal gypsophila that do not produce seeds after flowering. Using this method, you can get daughter plants that completely retain the appearance of the mother bushes.

Stem cuttings can be separated when cutting in early summer. The length of the cuttings can reach 8-10 cm and consist of 2-3 internodes.

Before planting, the lower end of the cutting is dipped in powder containing growth hormones. For rooting, take small flower pots with loose sandy soil. The bases of the cuttings are immersed in the substrate to a depth of 1 - 2 cm at a slight angle.

To maintain high air humidity, provide shelter in the form of a plastic bag or transparent plastic.

Place the pots on a well-lit window sill, but protected from direct sunlight. The duration of daylight should be 12-14 hours per day.

The room temperature should be around 20 degrees Celsius, and the daylight hours should be at least 12 hours.

After 2-4 weeks, young shoots and leaves can be seen at the base, which means that the first roots have appeared under the surface of the earth.

Vaccinations

To preserve the external characteristics, varietal plants are grafted onto regular rootstocks using the splitting method. Grafting is done in mid-spring, during the period of active sap flow. The cut is made at the base of the rootstock at a right angle.

The middle of the shoot is split with a sharp garden knife to a depth of about 5-7 mm. The scion cuttings with 2-3 internodes are cut with a sharp pruner and sharpened on both sides with a knife, like a screwdriver.

The scion is inserted into the gap of the rootstock and the parts are fastened with a special tape or stretch film. If the diameter of the rootstock is several times larger than the diameter of the scion, then several scion cuttings can be placed on one rootstock.

Bushes that have buds of different colors as a result of grafting different species look interesting.

Dividing the bush

An extremely rarely used method of propagation, which often ends with the death of all divisions. The fact is that the root system of gypsophila is taproot and during division it receives serious damage.

In emergency cases, the bushes are dug up in early spring, before the buds appear, and the roots are shaken off the remains of the earth. The root is divided lengthwise, cutting with a sharp knife. The cut sites are sprinkled with coal powder or wood ash for drying and disinfection, and then left in the open air for 1-2 hours.

The divisions are planted in a permanent place and watered very moderately in the first month, so that excess moisture does not lead to rotting of the wound surface.

Use in bouquets

Gypsophila is universal - it can decorate a garden plot and does not require special care; it is used in floristry and in the interior of homes as dried flowers. When cut, the flower does not lose its attractiveness for a long time in a vase with water.

Application in landscape design

Depending on the specific species, the purpose of the flower will change. Tall varieties are given a place in the center of a flower bed or alpine hill - over time they will form large air clouds.

Ground cover specimens are planted in the foreground as border plants - such gypsophila will simply get lost among other tall bushes.

Diseases and pests

With too much moisture and insufficient drainage, rot appears. Rust. When grown in the garden, the flower can be attacked by harmful insects such as slugs and snails, and nematodes.

Varieties and types:

Gypsophila paniculata

An attractive flowering annual with impressive dimensions - mature bushes easily exceed 1 m in height. Based on this species, numerous cultivated varieties have been bred, used both in horticulture and floristry. Mature plants form round air clouds of pink or white hue. Gypsophila paniculata can bloom in May and will decorate itself with buds throughout the summer.

Gypsophila muralis

A perennial plant with a compact size and reaching a height of 30 cm. Long-lasting and abundant flowering and low height make it possible to keep bushes of this species at home. Lilac, pink or white buds appear on plants in the second half of summer and reach a diameter of 3 - 5 cm.

Gypsophila cerastioides

Perhaps the smallest ground cover, perennial species - many specimens do not exceed 10 - 20 cm in height. The plants are ideal for growing as borders or for decorating alpine slides. The leaf blades are spoon-shaped, green, covered with slight pubescence. Attractive, wide-open flowers in white and pink tones reach a diameter of 3 - 4 cm. Flowering occurs in late spring - early summer.

Gypsophila elegans

Annual bushes 30 - 40 cm high have a delicate, airy appearance. The flowers are small, white, pink or purple, reaching 1 - 1.5 cm in diameter. The first buds bloom in the spring, and flowering may end only in August.

Gypsophila pacifica

Tall plants, whose size exceeds 90 - 120 cm. Very attractive appearance and impressive height make it possible to use plants of this type for cutting and decorate flower bouquets with them. In the summer months, the rounded bushes of this species are literally strewn with small white or pink flowers. The buds can be simple or double.

Gypsophila aretioides

The height of this grass mat does not exceed a few centimeters. Living on rocky slopes, these plants from a distance resemble small grassy hummocks. The shoots are creeping, abundantly branched, densely covered with lanceolate, entire-edged leaves. During the flowering period, flower stalks with white buds form. An extremely attractive plant for indoor cultivation or for an alpine garden.

Gypsophila fastigiata

Loose bushes of this variety are rarely found in floriculture. They are perennial plants with branched, rigid, thin stems up to 30 - 40 cm high. The leaves are dark green, entire, narrowly lanceolate. During the flowering period, fluffy umbrellas with small white flowers appear on the tops of the shoots.