Lupine

Lupine is a wonderful bean plant that can change the acidic reaction of the soil to a neutral one. His cohabitants - nodule bacteria, living on its roots, provide the earth with nitrogen, which is fixed in the soil, extracting it from the air. Beautiful, palm-shaped, large leaves make the lupine bush elegant, and various in color, cone-like inflorescences of numerous flowers give it some solemnity. Lupus in Latin means "wolf".And the plant is as hardy, unpretentious and resilient as this beast.

Lupine will grow on any land, anywhere. Without transplantation, 5-6 years can grow. This period can be increased if periodically in autumn to pour the soil to the rhizome, because in old plants it bare with time. Blossom lupines in June-July, long and luxurious. Blooming peduncles should be cut to the root, leaving no stumps, since they are hollow and water falling in them can cause decay of the rhizome. If you do not let the plant inseminate, it will bloom again in August. Lupine has a root root, so it does not multiply by dividing the rhizome, and transplants only at a very early age.

Lupine can be propagated vegetatively( in order to preserve the hue or color you like).To do this, in early spring, the shoots that have appeared are separated together with a piece of rhizome and planted. In summer, you can take on the cuttings growing lateral shoots, formed in the axillary leaf( stepchildren).Perfectly propagated by seeds sown at any time from May to August or winter in November. But since the plant is cross-pollinated, the splitting of color occurs in the offspring. Shoots usually appear in 15-18 days( sown in November, spring, naturally).In stage 5-6 of these leaflets, they can be transplanted into place. Lupine spreads, as a rule, self-seeded. Plants on which blue inflorescences appear from time to time should be removed, because the wild blue lupine is the ancestor of all the multicolored hybrids and, by overdoing the cultivars, he will certainly take the top off in the offspring, and consequently in the future all varietal lupines gradually become wild.

The plant has practically no pests, and from its diseases it is affected by powdery mildew in a rainy cold summer, and very rarely lupine becomes infected with a viral disease - a mosaic. Such a plant should be destroyed along with roots and a clod of earth. And against powdery mildew, you can use "Fitosporin" or do nothing at all. Usually, powdery mildew appears after flowering, at the end of summer, and so you can simply cut the plant according to the soil level, leaving no hemp. But most often leaves and stems do not clean.

Lupines can be planted on the back or middle plan of mixborders or flower beds, on flower beds, individual plants or groups, along the boundaries of the site. The planting pattern is 70 x 70 cm. There is a funny way of planting them - very close to the fern German oyster. Then the flower-nosed lupines are in the "funnel" of the leaves of the fern, and its leaves are below the leaves of the ostrich. Lupines can be cut into bouquets, but in water they do not last long, not more than a week.