When there is still snow in April, the blue snowdrop flower opens its delicate petals, which is often mistakenly called the blue snowdrop. This beautiful and graceful flower has long been loved by gardeners in many countries, widely using it in the decoration of rock gardens, rocky gardens, flower beds and flower groups.
Scilla (flower): description
Blossoming in the very first spring, the blues have another name - scylla. All the variety of species of this flower, which botanists have counted more than 80, belong, according to the latest scientific data, to the Asparagus family, and not Liliaceae or Hyacinths, as previously thought. This is a perennial herbaceous bulbous plant with several basal narrow leaves. The blueberry flower produces one leafless peduncle. It has small star-shaped or bell-shaped flowers.
They can be either single or grouped into brushes. The color of flowers can be different: blue, blue, pink, lilac and white. Scilla flowers - scylla -bushes form low, their maximum height in rare cases exceeds 13-15 cm.
Botanical Features
All sprouts that bloom both in spring and autumn are ephemeroids. This means that in a very short period of time, less than a month, they manage not only to build up the aerial part and bloom, but also to form seeds. Then the plant goes into a dormant phase, and the blueberry flower sheds its leaves, and its bulb falls asleep underground until the next season.
Diversity of species
There are more than 80 different species in the genus Scilla, found mainly in areas of Asia, Europe and North Africa with a temperate and cool climate. Not all species known to scientists are used in horticulture. In the conditions of our middle zone, it is quite possible to choose the types and varieties of scylla so that they please with their flowering from early spring to autumn.
Proleska Mishchenko
In the garden, still empty after winter, the spring flowers of Mishchenko's blueberry are the first to appear. This miniature scylla, only 10 cm tall, blooms white with a light blue veil of flowers. It produces from 2 to 4 peduncles, the height of which varies within 8-12 cm. In each inflorescence there are from 3 to 5 bluish-white flowers with a diameter of 2–2.5 cm. mid to late April. It blooms for 15-20 days. This species is one of the earliest and large-flowered, was described in 1927. His homeland is northwestern Iran. In horticulture, it has been used in Holland since 1936. Thisthe view is unpretentious and is widely used in European gardens. Prefers sunny areas with loose, but not very light soil.
Siberia single flower
At about the same time, a taller, about 15 cm, elegant single-flowered Scylla also blooms.
Only opening, its flowers are painted in pale blue and brighten with time. Each petal is adorned with a blue central vein and bright blue anthers.
Siberia two-leaved
At the very beginning of May, the spectacular Scilla bifolia blooms even before flowering. From the foliage of a rich burgundy color, a racemose inflorescence grows, as if braided into a braid. Over time, the peduncle stretches upward, and the scythe turns into a shield, consisting of 6–9 medium-sized, wide-open flowers of a deep blue color. They can keep fresh for up to ten days. For more than five centuries, this type of blueberry has been known. Flowers, the cultivation of which does not cause much trouble, have been cultivated in European gardens since the 16th century. Today there are forms with delicate pinks, as well as white flowers.
Siberian Scilla
Following Scilla bifolia, the most common and unpretentious Scilla sibirica (Siberian blueberry) blooms in gardens. It produces flower stalks up to 15 cm high, on which there are two or three flowers with a diameter of 2 cm. They are usually painted in azure or blue-blue. In gardens, this type of blueberry has been grown since the 18th century. Modern breeders have created several varieties of Siberian Scylla,favorably differing from the original form with larger flowers and brightly colored petals:
- purple blue multicolored Spring Beauty;
- rich azure Vazlav;
- bright cornflower blue Sapphire;
- Alba - this blueberry has white flowers.
Invisible Cannon Scilla
This species pleases the gardener's eye with its flowering at about the same time as Siberian Scilla. Scilla puschkinioides is native to the Pamir and Tien Shan mountain ranges. On its racemose peduncle there are from 5 to 7 pale blue flowers up to two centimeters in diameter.
Rosen's Scilla
At the very beginning of May, the latest blueberry blooms - Rosen. Wide dark green leaves are funnel-shaped around powerful peduncles, each of which has 1-2 large, up to 4 cm in diameter, flowers resembling cyclamens. The tepals are painted in a delicate, lilac-blue hue, almost white at the base, and are decorated with long stamens with bright blue anthers.
Other species
As mentioned above, in addition to the forests that delight us with their flowering in spring, there are species that bloom in summer and even in autumn.
In June, it opens its small purple-blue flowers, collected in the spike-shaped inflorescence of Scylla Italiana. A little later, the multi-flowered, bluish-lilac scilla of Litardie blooms. In late July - early August, the time comes for the flowering of the Scythian blueberry, often called autumn.
Creating conditions
Regardless of what type of woodland you are going to grow on your site, you need to create at least minimal conditions for the growth and flowering of this unpretentious perennial. Scylla exhibits its decorative qualities best on soil well enriched with humus with an average acidity, but most species of this plant are so unpretentious that they also feel great on heavy clay soils, slightly “seasoned” with leaf humus or rotted compost. Scillas can grow both in the sun and in the shade. To obtain spectacular flowering, experts recommend adding one or two tablespoons of nitrophoska and 3–4 kg of peat-humus mixture to each square meter before planting. Fertilizers should be laid at a depth of 10-12 cm.
How to propagate?
In one place, the blueberry can grow for 4–5 years, forming dense thickets with proper care. This plant can be propagated both by planting seeds and by daughter baby bulbs. The problem of seed propagation is that good germination of seeds lasts only a few days, and then decreases significantly. Seedlings obtained in this way will bloom in 2 to 3 years. In this regard, a simpler, and most importantly, faster way of reproduction is children. As a rule, each adult bulb forms several daughters annually.
When and how to plant?
It is necessary to plant purchased bulbs or children obtained from their own plants at the very beginning of autumn.
At this time the plant isat rest and painlessly endures all manipulations with it. Planting material is planted in pre-prepared soil, to a depth of 10-15 cm, maintaining a distance between plants of 5 cm., will die. When properly planted on warm autumn days, the planted bulbs will take root well.
