Snapdragon - annual and perennial flowering herbaceous plants, formerly classified as the Norichnikov family, now - Podorozhnik. The scientific name of the genus is Antirrinum, it includes about 50 species, including perennial ampelous thermophilic species. The main representative of the genus is the Great snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus L.). World breeding has hundreds of varieties and hybrids, 10 varieties are entered in the state register of the Russian Federation. In English, snapdragon is called Snapdragon.
The origin and appearance of the plant
Perennial flowering forms in the wild were found on the American continent, and then distributed in Europe and Russia.
These are semi-shrubs of a pyramidal shape with simple or double flowers of irregular shape, collected in inflorescences-brushes and located on high peduncles.
A large snapdragon species is an annual growing in southern Europe (France, Spain, Malta), North Africa (Libya, Tunisia, Morocco) and East Asia (Turkey, Cyprus). In these countries, culture is widely used for landscaping parklands and city streets.
Garden snapdragons in street gardening
Wild snapdragon (field)
Wild snapdragon (Wild flax, Flax flax) is a perennial herb, reaching a height of up to 60 centimeters, with a direct simple or slightly branched stem, on which lanceolate-linear leaves are very densely planted.
Stems of various shapes can have grooves on their surface. In this antirrinum of the large top of the shoots, they are densely covered with glandular hairs. Flowers open simultaneously. Usually the upper flowers in the brush open when the lower ones have already withered.
Wildflowers can be yellow, red, blue, violet mainly with a simple perianth. Fruits - capsules up to 2 cm long with small wrinkled seeds.
The plant is found quite often throughout the territory of Russia. Often grows like a weed on abandoned wastelands, fields, slopes, cliffs, along roads, in deciduous and birch forests. Also, it can be found in personal plots.
Important! Common flax flax is considered a poisonous plant, in particular for cattle.
How the snapdragon blooms
In early summer, bushes form sturdy peduncles with bud brushes. In domestic varieties of antirrinum, buds in the brush, as a rule, open simultaneously. On one plant, 20-40 inflorescences can be formed - spikelets, on each spikelet from 5 to 50 or more flowers, depending on the variety type.
Note! The more flower-bearing shoots a plant has, the shorter and less buds in them, and vice versa - tall bushes have few long flower stalks with a large number of flowers.
The flowers have one axis of symmetry (zygomorphic), with a length of 2 to 5 cm. From the bottom, a tube of various lengths, ending in open petals, is distinguished. Short petals are called the “upper lip,” longer ones are called the “lower lip.” The antirrinum has a large number of stamens - 4. Petals can have a simple or corrugated edge, monotonous or heterogeneous color, have spots of various shapes. Flowers have a delicate aroma.
Snapdragon flower
When snapdragon blooms
Varieties and hybrids are divided by flowering dates:
- early - bloom 60-70 days after the start of the growing season - dwarf antirrinums, varieties Machaon, Sakura Blossom;
- medium - bloom 70-90 days after the start of the growing season - most tall varieties;
- late - their flowering is observed more than 90 days after the start of the growing season.
The flowering time for each variety is individual and varies greatly even for varieties from the same varietal groups. Therefore, during the design of flower beds and mixborders, it is necessary to carefully study the description of varieties of snapdragon and its accompanying plants. According to the duration of flowering, antirrinums are divided into:
- varieties with a short flowering period - up to 50 days (Cinderella hyacinthaceous);
- varieties with an average flowering period - from 50 to 100 days (Phoenix);
- varieties with a long flowering period - from 100 to 150 days (Arthur, Machaon);
- varieties with a very long flowering period - over 150 days (dwarf forms and perennials).
Dwarf antirrinum in combination with Lobelia and Petunias
Snapdragon refers to cold-resistant plants, but annuals are selected so that their vegetation period ends before the onset of stable frosts, otherwise the plants will look unaesthetic with withered peduncles. Perennial forms should be grown in container culture and transferred to the premises when cold weather sets in.
Snapdragon: plant height
Depending on the height of the decorative culture, the following varieties of snapdragon are distinguished:
- dwarf (compact) - plant height 20-35 cm, diameter 20-30 cm, best suited for growing in pots, combined with all flower crops;
- medium - bushes height from 35 to 60 cm, diameter 25-40 cm, in park flower beds are a solo culture;
- high - bushes 60-80 cm high, 25-40 cm in diameter;
- gigantic - above 80 cm, in park compositions appear in the background or in the form of a hedge.
Antirrinums in the background
Types and varieties of snapdragon perennial
Perennial varieties are in high demand among amateur gardeners. Consider the most popular.
Tween snapdragon
The Twini variety refers to compact terry forms with a plant height of up to 30 cm. These are first-generation F1 hybrids - beautifully colored plants, suitable for growing in borders and pots:
Tween Rose F1
- dark pink - Violet;
- delicate pink and white - roses;
- peach - Peach;
- orange - Bronze Shades.
Twini Bronze Shades F1
Terry snapdragon
Terry dwarf variety - Floral rain (Floral showers) is a multi-colored mix of hybrid one-, two- and three-color forms.
Flower rain
Snapdragon yellow
In the Rain Flower variety, the yellow variety of the same name stands out. This hybrid can be safely combined with other plants of any species and colors. It begins to bloom 55-60 days after sowing and is characterized by long flowering until frost.
Seed companies such as Aelita, Altai Seeds and others offer a series of tall one-year-olds called the Brazilian Carnival. These plants are easy to grow, stalks are dense, suitable for cutting into bouquets.
Brazilian Carnival
Landing snapdragons in open ground
The success of growing snapdragons in open ground is the proper preparation of the soil mixture. What other tricks do experienced gardeners use when growing crops? This will be described later.
Note! Relative to environmental factors of open ground, snapdragon makes high demands on soil fertility and moisture.
Growing snapdragons from seeds
The earliest varieties go on to bloom no earlier than 55-60 days after germination. Therefore, it is advisable to grow them seedling method. When determining the timing of sowing seeds for seedlings, they are guided by the timing of planting tomatoes in the region. The age of seedlings and preferences of antirrinum and tomatoes for air temperature during planting also coincide.
For sowing take shallow containers or plastic greenhouses with a transparent cover. The bottom of the container must be perforated to drain excess irrigation water. Universal soil is selected with a fine-grained structure, it is poured into a container with a layer of 3.5-4 cm, moistened from a spray bottle.
Seeds are gently laid out on the surface without being buried in the ground. Since they are very small, the movement of the hands during sowing is similar to how to pour salt. The container is covered with glass or cellophane film and left in the light at a temperature of 18-22 ° C. Germination duration is 7-10 days. When the first shoots appear, the film is removed.
Important! Seeds of snapdragon cannot be buried - they will not break through the layer of earth.
The seedlings quickly stretch, at this moment they need to be lightly sprinkled with loose soil and watered, avoiding overmoistening of the soil. When young shoots reach a length of 4-5 cm, they begin to dive seedlings. Compact varieties are planted in boxes at a distance of 5 × 5 cm, and tall and gigantic ones are planted in individual pots of 8 × 8 or 10 × 10 cm.
Outdoor planting seedlings
Before planting flowers in flower beds, seedlings are tempered for 10-14 days in a constant place. The boxes are left right there in the openwork shade of the trees, first for 30-40 minutes, bringing the exposure to full days in three to four days.
Soil in the flowerbed is prepared in the fall. A deep digging is carried out, many organic components are brought in: ground plant residues are crushed to the bottom, humus and peat are closer to the surface. The soil is filled with complex mineral fertilizer at the rate of 40-60 g / m2.
Plants are planted in flower beds at a distance of 30 cm from each other, watered and mulch the soil with needles or mowed grass.
Snapdragon: propagation by cuttings
Cuttings refers to vegetative methods of reproduction. You can resort to it if you need to quickly propagate the plant you like.
Cuttings are cut 1 cm below the internodes, incubated for 1-3 hours in a Kornevin solution and put in water for rooting, which lasts 2-3 weeks.
Note! When the roots appear, they are transplanted into a container or open ground.
How to grow a plant on the site
After transplanting seedlings, caring for the snapdragons consists of regular watering, weeding and light loosening of the soil. As the peduncles age, they are cut as low as possible to the ground using a pruner.
During the summer, plants will need 3-4 fertilizing, especially varieties with a long flowering period.
Choosing the best place
In regions with hot summers, antirrinums can be planted in partial shade. A good planting option is next to the lawn, which is watered by sprinkling. This measure increases air humidity.
In the Central region and to the north, snapdragon will feel better in the sun. The soil on the site should be well drained.
Feeding the snapdragon
A signal to dressing may be that the plants cease to form new peduncles, the color of the flowers becomes pale, the leaves turn yellow.
In this case, 40 g of urea is diluted in 10 l of water and the flower bed is watered. At the end of the season, fertilizing with phosphorus and potassium fertilizers will be needed: 20 g of superphosphate and potassium sulfate are dissolved in 10 l of water and the bushes are watered with this solution.
Do I have to pinch snapdragons and when
Pinching tall varieties will allow you to get more sturdy peduncles. It is carried out at a young plant height of 10-15 cm. The climbing and dwarf varieties can be pinched several times during the summer - this measure promotes the formation of lush bushes.
How to collect snapdragon seeds at home
To collect seeds, flower stalks should be allowed to mature well.
If rainy and cool weather sets in late summer or early autumn, flowers are unlikely to ripen in the flowerbed. In this case, the plant is carefully dug up with the root, released from the ground and suspended in a dry room, such as a drying shed.
Note! Dry flowers are rubbed between the palms, pre-spreading paper for collecting seeds, pack and sign.
Winter preparations
Despite the cold resistance, perennial and long-flowering forms are transferred to the house well in advance of cool weather. Otherwise, some of the flowers will lose their aesthetic appearance. Bushes of annual varieties are laid in compost pits.
Growing snapdragons on the balcony
The rainbow mix of flowers in a cache-pot will be a magnificent decoration of any balcony or loggia. With this plant, you can definitely surprise your neighbors, guests, casual viewers. The subtleties of growing snapdragons in hanging containers are described below.
Snapdragon flower shower in flower pots
Snapdragon: dwarf undersized varieties
For cultivation in a pot, it is advisable to plant several varieties of the Flower Rain variety at once to obtain a mixture of colorings of flowers. For example, monophonic hybrids look great together: bright red Crimson, Yellow and white-pink Sakura.
For more exotic mixtures, flowers with an unusual combination of colors are selected.
The secret of the agronomist! A mixture of varieties should be planted in a pot with thickening, at a distance of 4-5 cm from each other.
How to sow seeds for growing in pots
Sowing seeds is no different from sowing seedlings for open ground. The difference is that when growing in pots, diving seedlings is carried out immediately in a constant container. At the time of transplantation, the tops of the shoots and the tips of the root are pinched to the plants to restrain the growth of the root system under conditions of a heavily thickened planting.
During the growing season, the soil in the pots is fertilized with humate complexes every 10-12 days. With crowding of plants, the development of fungal diseases is possible on them. For prevention, they are sprayed with Topaz. Bright flower pots on the balcony will not leave anyone indifferent if properly looked after.
The amazing beauty of the flower snapdragon is the main reason why it should be planted on its site or here nearby in a pot. As experience shows, gardeners who begin to grow antirrinums can no longer plant this flower, each year experimenting with new varieties and hybrids.
