Lupine in the flower garden and haymaking

Send

Lupine refers to those colors that play the first violin on the flowerbed. Like, here I am, a giant, with luxurious, leafy openwork leaves on long stalks and bright inflorescences of different colors. I cannot be ignored, I cannot be overshadowed! And indeed it is. It is near such powerful, with bright flowers like lupins, that other inhabitants of the flower garden are grouped - not so magnificent.

Lupine (Lupinus) - a genus of plants of the legume family (Fabaceae), numbering more than 600 species of annual and perennial herbaceous plants, shrubs, shrubs.

Lupine Care

In floriculture often use perennial multilayer lupine (Lupinus polyphyllus) The height of this plant can reach 120 cm in height. Lupins go well with irises, hosts, dolphiniums and other large flowers. Great for cutting.

Lupins throw their inflorescences 30–50 cm high for the first time in June – July, and in August – September, and up to frosts, it blooms again. The flowers are white, yellow, blue, lilac, purple, blue, pink and even two-tone.

Faded inflorescences of lupine must be removed. Plants older than 4-5 years, it is advisable to replace with new ones, since they bloom is not as lush as young. So that the bushes do not lose their decorative effect for a long time, it is recommended that they be cultivated annually with fertile soil, since in old plants the root neck begins to rise above the surface of the earth.

Growing lupine

Propagation of lupins by seeds and cuttings

Lupine is propagated mainly by seeds. However, with this method it is impossible to predict what color the flowers will be. Therefore, especially valuable varieties are propagated in early spring by vegetative-stem cuttings with a “heel”, that is, a bud of renewal, which is formed at the base of the stem. Cuttings are planted in sandy soil, and already 20-30 days after planting, young roots appear in them. Seeds are sown in open soil in early spring or before winter. Planting depth - 2-3 cm. In spring sowing, lupine blooms in the 2nd year after planting.

Soil preparation

The soil for growing lupins should be fertile, loose, not acidic, with a high content of calcium. Landings do not fertilize with fresh manure. During the growing season, you can feed phosphorus and potash fertilizers. But nitrogen does not need to be introduced, since it absorbs this element from the air.

Lupine root penetrates the soil to a depth of 1 m, making it easy to tolerate prolonged drought. At the same time, adult plants are difficult to transplant due to this.

Lupine as a siderat

Lupine is famous not only for its decorative properties. After all, it is a valuable fodder crop and green fertilizer. Lupine biomass after decomposition in the soil becomes an easily digestible fertilizer. In its nutritional properties, green fertilizer from lupine is not inferior to manure. Among all legumes, lupine is the best nitrogen fixer.

Thanks to the branched and long root system, lupine loosens and drains the soil well. In addition, possessing high assimilable qualities, it facilitates the movement from the lower layers of the soil to the upper phosphorus, calcium, potassium and other mineral elements.

The green mass of lupine contains many macro and micro elements, protein, vitamins A, C and others. Fodder lupine, grown for green fodder or hay, is mowed in the phase of budding or flowering at a height of 12–13 cm. After this, the bushes grow back and give a good yield of green mass. Lupines are collected in silage in the phase of shiny beans.