PLATICODON: FLOWER PHOTO, PLANTING AND CARE, SEED CULTIVATION

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Platicodon (Greek: "platys" - "wide" and "kodon" - "bell)" is the only genus of the Kolokolchikov family, which includes the Shirokolokololok large-flowered or Platikodon grandiflora.

Description

Perennial grows in Korea on stony soils, Eastern Siberia in the meadow, in the Land of the Rising Sun and China. Flowers in the form of large, large bells, hence the name. It gained fame from the middle of the XIX century, but gained popularity at the beginning of the XX century.

In height, it can reach up to 1.2 m, the rhizome is a large bulb with shoots-roots. The leaves are light green, stretched to the ends, may have denticles along the edges. The bell flowers are large up to 8 cm, can be single or up to 5 pieces on the stem, colors from blue to white. Streaks (thin lines) of a darker color are clearly visible on the bell flower itself.

Flowering begins in July and lasts 2 months. During this time, an egg-shaped box is formed, where the seeds are located.

Large-flowered platicodon: known varieties with a description

Grade	Height	Flowers
Album	Erect, from 60 to 80 cm. Bloom all summer.	Large, in circumference 8 cm	Thin lines are dark blue.
Shell pink			Pale pink, with thin dark crimson lines.
Mariesii blue	Only 35 cm.	Blue with lavender shimmer.
Fairy snow	About 80 cm.	Light lilac single, can be white with very thin blue lines.
Apoyama	Low-growing plant no more than 20 cm.	Blue-violet, they are often grown on alpine hills and rockeries.
Snowflakes	Up to 50 cm.	White with dark veins, semi-double.
Mother of pearl	Up to 60 cm	Pale pink.
Fuji pink	It is considered undersized, up to 70 cm. It blooms all summer.	White, but due to the many dark pink veins, the effect is created, as if the flowers were pink.
Fuji blue		Blue, with distinct fine lines (veins).
Astra Blue, AstraWhite	This plant is as if in miniature, not higher than 25 cm.	Inflorescences resemble the head of an aster, hence the name, flowers, despite the undersized plant are large, up to 8 cm.
Hakone blue Hakone white	Compact spherical bush up to 50 cm.	With a double whisk - white and blue.

Planting platicodone in the garden

Planting in the country should be at the end of May or in the first summer month, when there will no longer be night frosts.

The best place is a soil of neutral acidity with sand, charcoal and mineral fertilizer are added to the hole, as for ordinary garden flowers.

Loosen the soil before planting the sprout, the wide bell coexists well in a constant place for up to 10 years, preferably on the sunny side, but can be planted at partial shade. The main thing is that ground water does not lie close to the site, the roots of this plant reach 20-80 cm in length, it is not recommended to transplant the bell.

On the selected site, holes are dug, larger in diameter than the pot with seedlings, at a distance of 25 cm from each other. Before planting, seedlings should be well watered, some advise to completely immerse the pot in water, then pull out the sprout along with the soil and place it in the dug hole, ramming the soil around. After planting all the plants, the flowers are watered.

Care for platicodone in a summer cottage

To grow this plant in open ground, you need to water the planted sprouts 7 times a week for 2 weeks, in the future you can do this 2 times a week. After watering, it is imperative to loosen the soil and remove weeds, it is better to mulch this area.

Once a month, it is necessary to feed with fertilizer for ordinary flowering plants. The wide bell quickly reaches up, so in the spring of the third year it should be sprayed with an Athlete to slow growth or pinch.

If, however, platicodone has become high, then be sure to tie it. To prolong flowering, it is necessary to remove wilted inflorescences in time.

Preparing for winter after flowering

In September, when the bell fades, the box begins to crack, you can collect seeds that are useful for growing new plants.

For the winter, platicodone is closed, after cutting the stems to the base, leaving 10 cm from the ground, with spruce branches, dry foliage, sprinkled with peat or sand. In spring, they enclose a place with a wide bell so that when digging up, they do not damage the roots.

Growing a house

The wide-bell can be grown not only in the summer cottage, but also at home on the windowsill.

The procedure is the same as for the preparation of seedlings from seeds, but the following factors should be considered:

Put on the windowsill, not quite on the sunny side, so as not to burn the leaves.
Periodically loosen the earth in a pot.
Water only when the ground is dry.
Feed in early July before flowering.
In winter, water less often and rearrange the pot in a room where the temperature is + 13 ... +15 ° C.

Breeding

Platicodon is propagated by seed, cuttings or dividing the bush.

Cuttings

This plant poorly takes root by cuttings. Cuttings are cut with a length of 10 cm with internodes (up to two), then planted in the soil for flowering plants, or you can prepare the soil yourself by mixing the humus, sand and peat equally. Then cover with a plastic bag or plastic bottle.

Open periodically for ventilation, as soon as the cuttings take root, the cellophane can be removed. Water and take care, as an adult plant.

Seeds

Propagation by seeds in its effectiveness (number of seedlings) is considered the best way. They can simply be sown in the ground without covering under winter or spring, but if seedlings are needed, it is better to grow it in late February or in the first month of spring.

First, the seeds are placed in gauze or bandage, and for two days it is soaked in water. Then, in boxes or in wide pots, earth is prepared from humus, mixed in equal proportions with peat and sand. Seeds are placed on top of the soil, which are slightly sandy, someone prefers to deepen into the ground. Then the sprayer should be humidified. Cover with cellophane, put in a warm place, and wait until the first shoots appear in 1-2 weeks.

Watering and caring for platicodone should be the same as for any other seedlings of blooming garden flowers. Water when the ground is dry, slightly loosen the ground. As soon as the first sprouts appear, it is worth removing the cellophane and moving the pot or box to a cooler place with an air temperature of +18 ... +20 ° C.

When 3-4 leaflets appear on the sprouts, they can be planted in small pots, in which they should be left until planting in the ground.

Bush division

Platicodon does not like to be transplanted, so it can die from the separation of the bush. First, it is abundantly watered with water, then carefully removed from the ground, divided into several parts (a growth bud should be present on each root), sprinkled cuttings of the rhizome with either ash or crushed activated charcoal, then planted.

Diseases and pests of platicodone

Title	Signs	Repair methods
Gray rot	It spreads throughout the plant due to a fungus that loves dampness (overflow and incessant rains).	2 times after 10 days, the bush is treated with copper sulfate or Fundazole. Infected specimens are discarded.
Moles and mice	Rodents are capable of damaging the roots of platicodone.	You can put poison for rodents on the site. Moles are more difficult to fight, you need to insert a hose into their hole, connecting the other end to the exhaust pipe of the car and turn on the chainsaw, only then this animal will run out of the hole. Another way to deal with moles is to make a rattle and put it on the site. It should also be remembered that they do not dig their burrows in the ground, where marigolds, garlic, and euphorbia grow, and also if the land is dry.
Slug	Eat leaves.	It is best to sprinkle ash or eggshells on the soil, on which slugs will not be able to move. You can also bury a glass of milk or beer in the ground, or use a slice of grapefruit, which will take the slugs.