Someone calls this plant ficus or begonia, and someone calls a cactus. Euphorbia garden belongs to succulents, these plants accumulate a certain supply of moisture in their own photosynthetic tissues: leaves and stems.
A distinctive feature of garden milk or scientifically euphorbia is the milky juice secreted when the leaves are broken, which looks like milk. He is quite eater and in large doses poses a toxic threat to humans and animals. Nevertheless, euphorbia is a perennial quite popular garden plant - it is valued for its unsurpassed beauty and unpretentiousness to the conditions of cultivation and care.
Convergent signs of milkweed (when plants belonging to the same biological group of succulents are not related to each other by the same origin of species) despite some remoteness, have a common similarity in structure with cacti. So, African spurge and American cactus are very similar to each other.
Varieties of garden milkweed
The assets of garden euphorbia have a wide variety of different species: with kidney scales, thorns, flower buds or a hard fleshy sprout. They can have a smooth, faceted or ribbed structure of the stem and leaves. The most popular and favorite among gardeners are milkweeds:
- Fringed.
- Belozhilkovy.
- Cypress.
- Trihedral.
- Obergonia.
- Tirukalli.
- Combed.
- Mile, Palace.
But perhaps the most interesting will be the euphorbia multiflorum - in demand among landscape designers and flower growers. The plant is a bush up to 70 cm in size, a large spherical shape capable of growing in diameter up to 140 cm. The leaves are small oval in shape, about 7 cm wide. It is characterized by long flowering, combining shades and overflows of yellow, green, orange and creating a decorative beauty decorative flash effect of amazing beauty.
Euphorbia Obergonia De Negri is a small spherical plant about 12 cm in diameter. Has a gray or dark green fleshy stem, covered with small trihedral leaves 1 cm long and 2.5 cm wide. Their tops are framed by areoles with 3 or 4 light yellow spines. Blossoms in white and pink flowers.
Comb Euphorbia is an evergreen comb-shaped euphorbia. It blooms in white or pink, starting from the first year. Its stalk is saturated dark green in a penta shape without branches. The bunch arrangement of large elongated leaves is 13 cm long and 5 cm wide with reddish petioles about 1.5 cm long. Plant height no more than 1 m 20 cm.
Euphorbia krasnolistny - reaches more than 65 cm in height. Evergreen bush decorated with red-purple foliage. The leaves are elongated up to 20 cm in length. A rather spectacular plant, especially at the beginning of summer, when its flowering begins.
Myrtle leaf euphorbia is a low shrub flora up to 25 centimeters with creeping stems. It is densely dotted with small from 1.5 to 3 cm long double leaves of a rhomboid shape, gray-blue in color. It blooms twice a year - in April and July, small (up to 1.5 cm in diameter) pale yellow flowers.
Euphorbia is white-veined - its stalk is dense and thin has 5 ribs with a gradual thickening to the top. In height can reach two meters. The leaves are dark yellow with veins of white color attached to the trunk with thin stalks and have a length of more than 25 cm. This species does not have beautiful flowers - after flowering, a dense box with seeds inside remains.
There are a lot of varieties and varieties of garden milkweed, and with all their splendor, without proper proper care, the beauty of the plant fades and loses its original greatness and shape.
Garden Milkweed Care
Garden euphorbia is tolerant of dry summers and needs moderate watering only in the event of a rainless hot summer. However, excessive hydration is contraindicated for him, it negatively affects the oxygen respiration of the root system - it rots and dies. The plant in this case cannot be saved.
Euphorbia should be fertilized several times a season with complex mineral fertilizers. The greatest need for feeding occurs in milkweed during the period of active vegetative growth. At this time, the recommended feeding rate is once every fourteen days. As organic fertilizer, you can use rotted compost or wood ash mulching them with moistened soil.
Mineral fertilizers with a large amount of nitrogenous substances should be avoided - the plants will cease to bloom, become vulnerable to fungal diseases and subsequently will not tolerate the cold season.
Autumn care for garden milkweed involves mulching it with peat or sawdust.
Milkweed Reproduction
Reproduction of garden euphorbia occurs in three possible ways.
Seeds
Prepare a mixture of sand and earth in a pot, moisten it and plant the seed in this soil to a depth of 1.5 cm. To improve germination, observe the temperature regime within + 18 ... + 19 ° C. Perform picking when the first shoots appear at 1 cm.
Bush division
Shrub propagation is possible if the euphorbia already grows in the garden. At the beginning of soil formation (April-May), carefully dig up the plant and divide it into small bushes. Make sure that when dividing each had at least two or three kidneys. After planting them in pre-prepared places in the garden.
Cuttings
Breeding and planting milkweed with cuttings to produce in early June. Select healthy young shoots and cut obliquely with a sharp knife. Rinse off the milky juice with warm boiled water, and sprinkle fresh slices (both on the cuttings and on the maternal branch) with finely powdered activated carbon powder. Leave the prepared cuttings for several days in a warm place for drying, and then plant them for further rooting.
Diseases and Pests
Euphorbia is quite resistant to pathogens and various insect pests. Her caustic milky juice helps her in this. However, if the plant is improperly looked after, you can cause irreparable harm to it.
At low temperatures and excessive soil moisture, garden spurge is affected by fungal diseases:
- Powdery Mildew
- Spotting.
- Root rot.
- Fusarium
Fungicides or cutting and disposal of affected plants can help in the treatment.
Insufficient lighting can lead to disruption of photosynthesis and the dropping of leaves and flowers. In this case, euphorbia is dug up and transplanted to the illuminated area of the garden.
Pests that infect euphorbia:
- Spider mite.
- Shield.
- Aphid.
- Nematodes.
The plant acquires such pests, as a rule, with obviously poor-quality planting material or planting thickened. You can get rid of the problem with the help of insecticides and thinning.
Mr. Dachnik explains: the combination of milkweed with other plants
Milkweed care is simple: moderate watering if necessary, weeding and top dressing. With excessive growth, it loses its shape - the retaining wire frame or the correct location in the landscape composition will help here.
Euphorbia loves warm, sunny places with little shading. In nature, it grows on the rocky slopes of mountains and rocks. A good place in the composition for milkweed will be alpine slides or a landscape that mimics a desert oasis. The beauty of euphorbia most clearly stands out among solid flowers, plants, stone compositions or rockeries. Individual specimens, such as euphorbia multiflorum, look spectacular in a single planting on a flower bed and in a mixborder - a limited growing area.
In the vicinity of milkweed, thawed, undersized juniper, antennaria, and dolphin are planted. He is good next to irises, bells, forget-me-nots, tulips and weaving roses.
When leaving and transplanting for milkweed, gloves should be worn so that the milky juice of the plant accidentally caught does not provoke an allergic reaction.
