Flower heather at home: cultivation, care, reproduction and healing properties

Heather - an evergreen wild shrub up to 60-70 cm high with small dark green needle-shaped leaves and brown bark. Blossoms at different times (depending on the species) with elegant clusters of small bells. Color - mostly white, pale lilac or bluish. Heather has become quite widespread throughout the world. In Russia, these flowers are often found in peat bogs and pine forests of Siberia and the European part.

Heather is wild and cultivated, of which much fewer people know. Basically it's decorators and home-grown growers. Breeding a decorative flower - it's pretty troublesome, because it's an extremely capricious shrub. But, despite all the difficulties, this occupation is very fascinating and quite useful. If anyone has ever grown a heather at home, he becomes his admirer for life.

Types of heather

At home, as a rule, three main plant species are grown:

• Heather slender (Erica gracillis).
• Heather wintering (Erica huemalis).
• Mix.

Despite the fact that these three species are united by the general concept of "heather", they all have obvious differences.

Heather slender

This very beautiful low shrub (maximum up to 40 cm), leafy with light green leaves. During the flowering period, garlands of pink-red or purple bells similar to pomegranate seeds hang densely.

Heather wintering

The growth is slightly higher. The leaves are larger, blossoming occurs with magnificent white flowers.

Heather Mix

Refers to the most popular species in Russia. Its height reaches 40-50 cm. The plant is covered with small scales-like leaves and is extremely branchy. During flowering, which takes place in July, the heather is overgrown with luxurious brushes made of pink, white and purple flowers.

Heather at home

The lifespan of heather in nature can be several decades. In the gardens or on the alpine hill, the cultivated shrub lives up to 5 years. Heather at home grows much less - no more than 2 years, and then only with the proper care and maintenance of the plant.

Features of care

At home, the principle of care for any of the types of decorative heather is approximately the same, although some still require special conditions for themselves.

What should a gardener do and remember? How to care for heather at home?

• First of all, you need a well ventilated room, in which the temperature in winter does not exceed + 7-12 ° C (for the life of the plant and its flowering in winter, this condition is mandatory).
• Heather very badly tolerates heat.
• The plant should have enough light.
• Growing heather at home requires timely watering. Soil should always be moderately moist, and water can be used for watering and spraying plants only with a constant and containing a minimum number of chlorine. Very suitable for rain or melt. When watering, you should try not to fall on the leaves of the bush, otherwise it may start to suffer from a disease such as gray rot.
• As a nutrient medium for growing a plant, it is recommended to take a mixture of bog and coniferous earth, as well as sand and peat (ratio of parts 3: 1: ½: 1).
• Heather, care at home is a troublesome business, but fascinating, very sensitive to fertilizing, so it should be fertilized very carefully, in order not to overdo it. A full complex of mineral fertilizers for heather is introduced in the spring immediately after the pruning. The calculation of fertilizer is the following - from 20 to 30 milligrams per one square meter of soil.
• To stimulate growth and shape shaping, the bush should be cut off, while avoiding stiff shoots, because it is from these that new branches begin to grow.

It should be noted that the heather ordinary at home behaves unassumingly - it is absolutely unpretentious in planting and care of the plant.

Diseases

Like all plants, heather is prone to certain diseases. The bush can be affected by aphids, spider mite and fungal parasites. For any of the diseases to cure the plant, appropriate specialist advice is needed. But it should be remembered: if all the conditions for proper care of heather are observed, the risk of the disease will be reduced to zero.

Reproduction

You can reproduce heather:

• Seeds (they are very small in the plant);
• Cuttings;
• Way of dividing the bush.

And at home, the plant is preferably propagated with seeds, since the planting of this herb can be carried out practically at all seasons. The process of cultivation in this way is rather long and laborious, but the degree of seed germination is very high - about 90%. The soil should be shed with a small amount of heated water, then put seeds on it, lightly press down and sprinkle a little on the ground. Then, to avoid the drying of the soil and seeds, the pot must be sealed with a film. About 30 days after sowing, the seeds will ascend. With the onset of heat, the seedlings are taken out to the street so that it grows up. On a permanent place planted about a year later at 1.5-2.

If you do not have the desire to wait so long, reproduction can be done by cuttings. To do this, carefully select shoots, which should be flexible and have vegetative buds at the ends. In this case, it must be remembered that it is best to plant one-year-old seedlings. It is recommended to plant the plant in special decorative pots with a peat-sand mixture. Cuttings are cut in the beginning of autumn, and only from the upper parts of the plant. Branches of flowering shrubs are not recommended for rooting.

When the plant multiplies by dividing the bush (after flowering), it is removed from the pot, then the rhizomes are divided into several parts and then planted in new containers.

As for the transplantation of plants, it is most favorable to produce it in the spring, 1-2 years after the initial planting (but not during the flowering period). Old bushes do not need to touch.

In any case, it must be remembered that the heather, planting and care at home which does not take much time, is cultivated for not more than one year, after which it must be transplanted into the garden. However, if the desire to part with an enchanting plant that delivers daily joy, no, you can continue to keep the heath indoors and beyond, but after 6-10 days after flowering, cut the shoots and take them out to fresh air. Do not forget to immediately fertilize the bush with mineral fertilizers.

Application

Heather at home will be a wonderful adornment of the loggia, attic or terrace. Harmoniously, it looks and in the apartment. Due to the fact that the flowering time lasts for almost the whole year, the evergreen plant is an excellent decoration of almost any interior.

Flower heather, care at home for which - quite an entertaining business, very impressive looks and in the ensemble, consisting of several different plants. For example, he particularly emphasizes his decorative and deciduous neighbors. A beautiful combination is obtained by combining with a juniper, a polecat, a fern. ...

Heather application in folk medicine

Heather, planting and care at home which is fairly simple, has medicinal properties.

In folk medicine, the plant is usually applied in the form of infusion. It is used as an antibacterial and anti-inflammatory drug, especially for colds, gout, cystitis and many other ailments.

We offer some of the most common and effective recipes.

Heather Bath

For its preparation, take 50 grams of heather grass and soak in 7 liters of boiling water. After half an hour, infuse the infusion. At reception of a bath to fill in it the received broth.

Such procedures are a good remedy for swelling of the legs, radiculitis and bone fracture.

Tincture of heather

Pour 100 grams of roots of this plant 300 ml of alcohol. The resulting solution to insist in a dark place for 2 weeks. Then strain - the tincture is ready! Take daily before meals 30-40 drops 3 times a day.

After undergoing 1-2 courses of treatment, many people completely forget about gout, cystitis, and even sometimes about pulmonary tuberculosis.

Broth prepared from leaves and flowers

To make it, you need to take 100 grams of crushed leaves and flowers of the plant, all together pour 1 liter of boiling water. Next, the broth to infuse for 15 minutes in a water bath, cool, and then strain. Take 3 times a day for 70 ml before meals.

This is an excellent tool for the dissolution of kidney stones, as well as for diseases of the gallbladder and liver.

How to see the heather, planting and care at home for which described above - is not only an amazingly beautiful plant that pleases the heart, but also quite useful. And the article listed is not a complete list of his qualities.