Planting and caring for calistegia in open ground, cultivation features

Calistegia can become a real pride for every gardener. With its help, you can implement many interesting solutions when creating landscape design for your personal plot and enjoy the beautiful flowering of the crop throughout the summer season. To do this, it is important to know how to plant calistegia and become familiar with all the nuances of caring for the plant.

Characteristics of the calistegia plant

Calistegia belongs to the genus of plants of the Convolvulaceae family. It is presented in the form of a herbaceous liana-like perennial with a branched creeping rhizome and climbing stems reaching up to 4 m in length. The triangle-shaped leaves, pointed at the end, are alternately held on the stems with the help of long petioles.

The flowers are solitary, painted white or pink, 2-9 cm in length. They delight with flowering from June or July until the coldest weather. After which the fruit is formed in the form of a dry capsule, which consists of 4 valves.

Use in landscape design

Calistegia is suitable for vertical gardening of arches, gazebos, benches. It harmonizes with climbing crops such as clematis and kampsis. You can decorate the background of flower beds with a liana by placing it on a fence or wall. Good companions are low-growing summer perennials: roses, conifers, petunias, marigolds. Climbing plants can decorate any unsightly buildings or fences, giving the site originality.

Beneficial features

Representatives of the genus Calistegia are actively used by traditional healers from China for the manufacture of medicinal potions. In their opinion, the foliage and stems of the plant have beneficial properties, and tinctures and decoctions based on them help:

• normalize body temperature;
• get rid of long-term constipation;
• quickly heal wounds on the skin;
• restore quality and healthy sleep;
• quickly remove excess fluid from the body.

Calistegia is a poisonous plant and is used only for decorative purposes; its ingestion is strictly contraindicated. It is not used in official medicine, as well as other industrial sectors.

Popular varieties for growing in the garden

This culture has 25 varieties, some of which have long taken root in areas, delighting gardeners with the beauty of their flowering.

Fluffy

The perennial plant reaches a height of up to 4 m. The stems are covered with elongated foliage, which has a leathery surface, colored bright green. Flowers 4-9 cm in diameter, which can be simple or double, attract attention. Their petals are pink in color with a darkish base.

Calistegia blooms at the end of June, beginning of July.

Flora Plena

Pink flowers, 9 cm in diameter, look great against the background of green leaves covered with fluff.

Flowering lasts from July to September.

Multiplex

An ornamental perennial shrub with a stem length of more than 3 m. This charming temptress has gained popularity thanks to its large double pink flowers.

Flowering pleases from July until frost.

Fence

A beautiful perennial plant with branches growing up to 3 m in length. It is considered a malicious weed due to its highly branched rhizome, which extends more than 1 meter deep into the ground. The type of calistegia is popular due to its triangular leaves with a sharp tip, single, simple flowers, painted white and light pink.

It fascinates with the beauty of its flowering in early summer.

Ivy or Japanese

The main feature of this perennial is its three-lobed leaves, thanks to which the variety received the name ivy-leaved.Calistegia flowers have a pale pink color and a diameter of up to 9 cm.

Hairy

The calistegia species is a hairy perennial that has a long, cord-like rhizome and stems up to 80 cm long, which are covered with oblong, broadly lanceolate, pointed leaves and simple pink flowers up to 5 cm in diameter.

Blooms in June-July.

Conditions for growth and flowering

Calistegia is not a capricious plant that grows under any conditions. But for successful growth and flowering, it is recommended to take care of sufficient lighting, optimal temperature conditions and soil fertility.

Lighting

It is better to grow Calistegia in illuminated areas. The culture thrives in partial shade, but in open areas flowering occurs 2-3 weeks earlier and is abundant.

Calistegia grows well and blooms profusely in areas that are illuminated by the sun in the morning and shaded in the afternoon.

Temperature

Temperatures ranging from 22 to 25 degrees are considered favorable for development and flowering.

If the temperature rises above 30, the leaves of the plant may wither, so when planting it is important to choose the right place, providing the flowers not only with bright diffused lighting, but also with optimal temperature conditions.

Required soil composition

Calistegia is unpretentious to the composition of the soil. Peaty, deciduous, loamy soil is suitable for it. The proximity of groundwater can be dangerous for the plant, so it is necessary to organize high-quality drainage.

How to plant a crop in open ground

Before planting a plant in open ground, you need to prepare the chosen place for these purposes, preferably in the fall, by loosening and adding nutrients such as mineral fertilizers, compost, and ash.

Deadlines

It is recommended to plant in open soil in the spring, in early May.

Technology

To plant calistegia correctly, you need to follow the following procedure:

1. Make shallow holes in the prepared area and moisten them.
2. Plant the seedlings, keeping a distance of 5-30 cm between them. If you need to disguise an unsightly wall or building, then the calistegia should be placed more densely.
3. Water.
4. Take care of the fence, as the rhizome can grow greatly.
5. Install a reliable support around which the plant can curl freely.

Further care will promote normal growth and development of calistegia, as well as abundant flowering.

We organize proper flower care

For the full development of calistegia and the correct formation of the shrub, you need to take care of it, and then, feeling attention, it will respond with magnificent flowering and become a luxurious green decoration in the garden.

Watering and fertilizing

The liana requires regular, moderate watering. The plant can tolerate short-term drought.

Calistegia needs nutrients, so from May to September it needs to be fed 2 times a month, using mineral fertilizers, spending 1 tablespoon per 1 m² landings. The culture also reacts well to organic matter and ash.

Support

The plant needs support, which can be provided by such available materials as wire, lattice, posts. The main thing is that the diameter of the supports should be no more than 10 cm. Otherwise, the stems will have difficulty curling along this structure. You can plant calistegia close to a gazebo or fence, which will serve as a reliable support for it.

Shaping and trimming

One of the important measures for caring for calistegia is shaping and pruning.To increase decorativeness and stimulate the formation of new buds, faded flowers should be removed. In the autumn, before the onset of frost, cut off the entire above-ground part of the plant.

Transfer

Calistegia can grow in one place for 10 years. It is recommended to replant the plant in the fall, since in the summer it develops intensively and may die during replanting.

According to gardeners, the crop does not react well to transplantation, so it is advisable not to disturb it again.

Wintering

All types of crops, except Calistegia fluffy, successfully winter without additional shelter. In severe and snowless winters, it is recommended to cover this species before the onset of frost using peat and fallen leaves.

Pests and diseases: prevention and treatment

Constantly waterlogged soil provokes the development of various fungal diseases. In cool, rainy weather, the crop may suffer from powdery mildew. In this case, it is necessary to treat the calistegia using fungicidal preparations. And for preventive purposes, collect and destroy fallen leaves, weed, ventilate plants, water in the morning and disinfect garden tools.

Also, such weather conditions lead to the massive proliferation of pests such as slugs and snails, which feed on the foliage of the plant and gnaw out the buds. To combat them you need to use insecticides.

Reproduction methods

Calistegia reproduces only vegetatively and generatively.

Propagation by seeds is ineffective, since the seeds of hybrid varieties do not inherit all the characteristics of the mother plant.

Root shoots

During the growth period, Calistegia produces a large number of root shoots, which can be carefully dug up and planted in the right place at a distance of 20 cm and a depth of up to 5 cm, having previously treated the rhizomes with fungicides and the cut areas with charcoal. Then water generously.

By dividing the rhizome

Propagation by dividing the rhizome should be carried out in the spring. In March, remove the roots of the mother plant from the soil and divide. Plant the sections, the size of which is 5-7 cm, horizontally in peat pots filled with soil to a depth of 3-5 cm. It is important to treat the sections before planting using crushed charcoal or ash. At the end of planting, moisten the soil in the pots. When the height of the seedlings is 5 cm, they need to be pinched to increase bushiness. In May, plant seedlings in a flowerbed, having previously hardened them.

Cuttings

You can also propagate calistegia using cuttings. To do this, in the spring, trim the stems with several buds, remove all leaves, leaving 2-3 top ones and place them in a solution with a stimulator for root growth. Then root the cuttings at a temperature of 20-24 degrees, and then the appearance of roots can be expected within 5-7 weeks.

Growing problems

The main problem in the process of growing calistegia is that it tends to grow, forming young stems at a great distance from the mother plant. To prevent the uncontrolled spread of the flower, you need to build a barrier. To do this, plant the plant in a container that does not have a bottom, dug into the soil. You can also take sheets of slate or plastic and bury them vertically into the soil, deepening them no less than 40 cm.

Another serious problem when cultivating calistegia is the invasion of snails and slugs, so you need to regularly inspect the plants and promptly treat the bushes with pesticides at the first sign.

Calistegia is a perennial liana that has captivated many gardeners with its ease of care and lush flowering. And its intensive growth can quickly realize any design ideas for landscaping a site.