This herbaceous plant has ancient roots, and the fame of its useful properties ah comes from our ancestors. The first positive impression can be obtained from appearance flax. Blue, beige and blue shades of flowers look amazing in the wind. They, like a sea wave, continuously sway from side to side. This delicate and fragile plant simply amazes and impresses with its beauty and lightness.
Flax is useful plant... Its stem consists of many fibers, and the seeds are squeezed out rich in vitamins and various substances butter. At all times, a strong cloth was made from flax, from which clothes and many useful things for home use were then sewn. Every housewife will surely have linen towels and tablecloths, and linen clothes on the hottest days are considered one of the most comfortable.
The plant has numerous useful and healing properties... Linen is applied in folk medicine and in cosmetology as a rejuvenating agent. It is easy to grow and does not require much maintenance. The plant is considered unpretentious to weather conditions, climate, planting site and conditions of detention.
Different types and varieties of flax differ in color and shades. They can be not only blue and blue. You can find flowers and bright red, and lilac, and almost white. Active flowering begins in May, lasts all summer and ends only in late autumn (around November). It is rare to find plants that will give beauty and fragrance for so long. Flowering continues uninterruptedly - to replace the wilted flower, new ones immediately open up.
In order for the plants to show all their decorative possibilities, they must be thinned out after germination. Leave a distance of about ten centimeters between the plants. They will quickly gain strength and begin to dissolve their numerous buds.
Flax is planted in a well-lit sunny place... The soil can be any, except swampy. Planting is carried out in the fall or spring. Seeds sown before winter keep well. Having survived the cold, they will only get stronger. Seeds are sown in holes no more than two centimeters deep, watered moderately. The plant does not like moist soils and tolerates drought well. If in summer season there is a large amount of precipitation, then flax does not require additional watering.
The first sprouts of germinated seeds will appear in two to three weeks, and after another couple of weeks, do not forget to thin them out. Before the formation of flax buds, it is advisable to feed with fertilizer. Any plant is suitable for this plant. organic fertilizer or mineral (with complex additives).
Flax application
Decorative linen is a great decoration for your garden. Original shades of flowers and amazing beauty - this is what not only the owners, but also guests, neighbors, passers-by will stare at. Flax can take its rightful place in every flower garden.
Traditional medicine, homeopathy - these are the areas in which flax feels like one of its own. Flax seeds are a healing power for the whole organism. They contain a large number of nutrients that can significantly improve health.
Flax seeds:
- Increase and strengthen the immune system
- Normalize hormonal disorders during menopause
- Normalize impaired metabolism, removes toxins and toxins
- Have a rejuvenating effect
If you want to add vitality and "lose" a few years, then try every morning on an empty stomach to eat one teaspoon of seeds, washed down with water (at least one glass). After about thirty days, you will feel a surge of vivacity and energy. The body will, as it were, get a second wind - vision, skin and hair condition may improve. Flax seeds are actively used for weight loss.
Flaxseed oil is recommended to be used as a remedy that will help the intestines and normalize the liver. It is also considered a choleretic agent. It is also known about its external use: during massage, during cosmetic procedures.
Flax seeds and linseed oil sold in every pharmacy. detailed instructions will help to properly prepare the broth and use everything in the correct dosage.
Self-grown flax seeds are an environmentally friendly product. Do not spare your efforts and free time and then you will receive not only indescribable beauty, but also replenishment of your home first aid kit.
Long-term linen, so familiar to most of us, is often overshadowed when choosing suitable decorative flowers for a garden plot. But in vain. After all, this plant has long been considered a real decoration of any home and its protector. Flax is a completely unpretentious plant, but at the same time it is capable of blooming with incredible luxurious flowers. By the way, contrary to popular belief, flax does not have to be blue. Today you will learn about all the features of growing perennial blue flax in the open field: planting, care, use in landscape design(photo materials are attached).
Perennial blue flax: description, main varieties and varieties
Flax belongs to the genus herbaceous plants, numbering about 200 plants of various appearance and properties. Most often, flax is presented small size a plant reaching a height of about 0.5 m, with fairly thin, but at the same time strong stems and different sizes flowers (they are both small and quite large) of a pale blue, white or pink-red hue.
It is actively cultivated in mid-latitudes. The plant prefers a temperate climate, so most often blue flax can be found in North America, Africa, parts of Europe and Asia.
Among existing species and flax varieties, the following can be distinguished (photo below):
- Oilseed. This ornamental flax variety is grown at home, often with the goal of producing nutritious and incredibly healthy flax seeds. The plant usually reaches a height of no more than 30 cm. The flowers are relatively small. Their color can be pale blue, yellow and even red.
Oil flax
- Decorative. One of the most picky flax varieties: growing it is a pleasure even for a novice gardener. Moreover, it is from decorative varieties linen, durable natural clothing is produced.
- Large-flowered. This variety of flax appeared in domestic gardening not so long ago and immediately became one of the "favorites" among gardeners - lovers of home flora. The plant can be called medium-sized - it usually reaches a height of 0.5 m. The flowers of decorative flax are very large, represented by a rich gamut of shades. Decorative flax is considered a perennial: when favorable conditions in one place he can live up to 5 years.
Large-flowered flax
- Flax perennial. This type of flax is considered the most common among all existing. Perennial flax is used to decorate flower walls, borders, etc.
Planting plants in open ground
The plant cannot be called particularly picky about growing conditions, but still flax, regardless of the variety or variety, needs a sufficient amount sunlight, therefore, the site for planting it must be chosen completely not shaded by either houses or trees.
Advice. If you are a resident of a region where the sun is considered a rather rare phenomenon, unfortunately, it is better for you to refuse to grow perennial flax.
The soil for planting flax can be almost any, but you will hardly be able to grow flax in a swampy area. The soil must be light, with a sufficiently deep bedding ground water... Perennial flax will perfectly take root even on slopes (but not too steep).
Planting perennial varieties of flax is best done indoors, but if the climate is warm enough, you can sow them directly into the open ground, and it is advisable not to deepen the seeds into the ground, but simply spread them on the ground and spray with water from a spray bottle.
Flax bush
Growing in open ground is possible both in spring (when the temperature reaches a stable 20 degrees) and in autumn (when the temperature has not yet dropped below 20 degrees).
Advice. When growing perennial flax in the open field, be sure to take into account the cold factor: planting cannot be carried out in wet or rainy weather, and after this process, the seeds must be covered with a small layer of soil, then insulated as an ordinary flower crop.
Plant propagation
Perennial flax is propagated in several ways:
- Seeds. As we already know, seed reproduction is possible both in spring and autumn (when seed is sown in winter). The seeds are carefully laid out on the ground (without deepening into the soil) and slightly moistened with water. By the way, perennial varieties you can safely start growing even in summer period... When grown in containers (meaning permanent place, insofar as seedling method cultivation of flax with subsequent transplantation is ineffective) removal to an open place is carried out immediately after sowing.
- By dividing the bush. This propagation method is relevant for biennial plants. The process of separating several parts from the mother bush is usually carried out in mid-spring, or after the end of the flowering period - in August. Parts of the bush are usually planted at a distance of about 20 cm from each other. They require constant watering and protection from direct sunlight.
Blue flax care: watering and feeding regime, pest control
So that in the summer the plant will delight you with a luxurious, albeit not too long flowering, be sure to make sure that it receives full care. Further, what kind of care will be required for perennial flax when grown in the open field.
In order for the plant to remain healthy and "live" a full life, it is necessary to provide it with periodic watering, which, by the way, should not turn the soil surface into a swampy area.
Avoid stagnant water near flax roots
Remember that flax does not like stagnant water. A sufficient frequency of watering can be about 1-2 times a week (depending on the dryness of the period and the temperature characteristics of the region). Keep the soil moist at all times. But with the onset of autumn, it is advisable to reduce watering to a minimum, and then stop altogether.
In addition to watering, flax will also need periodic weeding, since weeds and excessive thickening of the plant will not the best way affect the appearance of flax.
Top dressing - you cannot call the weak point of perennial flax, so you can forget about the constant preparation of nutrient mixtures for the soil. It is mandatory to make organic feeding a few days before sowing the seed and add a little potash fertilizer there. Throughout the season, it is advisable to add liquid dressings at least a couple of times. It is advisable to carry out the process of feeding the plants immediately after watering.
As for diseases, then flax has something to boast about, because the plant is not susceptible to any diseases. Unless a flax flea can sometimes attack him. Unfortunately, folk remedies they are powerless in the fight against it, therefore, immediately when a small pest appears, it is necessary to treat the area with growing flax with a special chemical.
Combination with other plants
So that flax takes root well on garden plot and became worthy of his adornment, remember that best combination plants are observed mainly with crops that have a similar development pattern and growing conditions.
Linen in landscape design
Since antiquity in Russia, cultivated flax (Linum usitatissimum), the use of which in household was very varied. Today you will hardly be fiddling with linen to get yarn out of it and weave linen with your own hands. But this plant has both medicinal and decorative properties, which are worth taking note of the modern gardener. Wise ancestors said: "You sow flax - you reap gold."
And it seems that these simple flowers have accompanied a person throughout his history. In any case, archaeologists claim that flax seeds and linseed oil were already known in the Bronze and Iron Ages. The ancient Egyptians cultivated flax to weave linen from it, and the Romans considered this plant a symbol of purity, light and fidelity.
What is flax
Sowing flax - annual family of flax. It does not occur in the wild, but is cultivated in different forms... V industrial purposes usually distinguish longs- tall (from 90 to 150 cm) plants, grown mainly on fiber; curls- undersized (from 30 to 60 cm) varieties; mezheumki- medium-sized plants.
Flax habitual to us is inconspicuous in appearance: it has a thin stalk, on which there are numerous narrow leaves and small flowers pale blue or light blue, collected in loose umbrella-shaped inflorescences. But breeders have bred many varieties, among which there are decorative ones - with rather large and expressive flowers.
How to grow flax
Flax is sown in the spring; usually randomly. The crops are harrowed by embedding seeds in the soil to a depth of 1.5–2 cm. When sowing in rows, the distance between them is about 20 cm.
Flax is not afraid of cold weather, young seedlings are resistant to frost down to -3 ° C, so it can be sown already in the end of April... After 1.5 - 2 months, flowers will appear, and then - rounded seed pods. Flax seed, which is a medicinal raw material, ripens in July - September, depending on the variety and sowing time.
For planting, it is advisable to choose an area where the soil is well-drained and fertilized. Despite its unpretentiousness, flax develops better on fertile soil... When the buds are tied and the first flowers appear, you need to make sure that the soil does not dry out - at this time the plant is very moisture sensitive... In addition, you will only need to weed and loosen crops once or twice a season. 
The healing properties of flax
At home, flaxseed (whole or crushed) is most often prepared slimy decoctions and infusions using them for diseases gastrointestinal tract... Crushed or ground into flour seeds are used for poultice or compresses; dry seeds, falling asleep in a linen bag, are warmed up and applied to a sore lower back with sciatica.
A decoction of seeds in folk medicine is used for various kidney diseases and Bladder; in dental practice, it is used for stomatitis and inflammatory diseases of the oral mucosa - as an enveloping agent.
Used and linseed oil- it is prescribed for violation of fat metabolism, in the treatment and for the prevention of atherosclerosis. It also has a mild laxative effect; externally used in the treatment of burns. Linetol is produced from linseed oil.
Useful properties of seeds last 3 - 4 years(if stored in a dry place away from moisture).
Flax is also worth sowing simply because it is beautiful. Low varieties can be placed as a curb in the pharmaceutical garden or along garden paths; delicate flax flowers on graceful stems will look good in a mixborder.
Despite the fact that flax, in terms of its survival characteristics, is a plant that, when growing, is capable of capturing large territory having drowned out other representatives of home flora, amateur gardeners cannot resist its beauty.
Long flowering for three summer months attracts summer residents, for whom growing flax at home is becoming more and more popular.
Growing features
In the old days, people were guided folk signs, which made it possible to choose the right time for planting flax - a plant that in Russia was considered the main agricultural crop, because linen was woven from linen for clothes, beaten oil, made flour, insulated linseed tow at home.
The sages said: "Sow flax - reap gold" and they were right.
Flax has been a strategic crop for many centuries, so its cultivation was treated in a special way. As soon as the mountain ash blossomed, the cuckoo barked and buds began to open on the oak trees, which means it was time to sow flax.
Agricultural flax - cultivation and care of which, in families, took place according to certain rules, but planting and harvesting were unchanged for each peasant:
- Flax was sown in the second half of May, while keeping an eye on the condition of the land - the soil should be sufficiently moist and warm well.
- Until June 3 - on the day of the celebration of Saints Helena and Constantine, the planting of flax was to be fully completed.
- Today it is very convenient to plant this crop, according to lunar calendar, in which all favorable periods for its sowing are spelled out. Modern meteorological conditions already allow planting flax even in late April or early May, depending on the state of the weather and soil.
- The plant is not frost-resistant, it cannot withstand temperatures below 3 degrees, so it should be uprooted during the harvest period.
- Flax does not like strong waterlogging of the soil.
- In the fight against fungal diseases, gardeners treat the plant with fungicides.
- The soil for this crop must be loose enough to allow the root system to be enriched with oxygen.
- When growing flax, special attention is also paid to weeding. Weeds should not be allowed to drown out young shoots of this culture.
- In early September, in warm and dry weather, the flax is pulled out and laid in sheaves to dry. At home, it is easier to notice the readiness of flax for harvesting. You should pay attention to the fact that the stems do not dry out - they should have a light yellow color.
Types of flax and their cultivation
Flax is of several types - oilseed, decorative, large-flowered. Its height can vary from 30 cm and more to one and a half meters in height. In appearance, its flowers are narrow leaves, small and large, depending on the type, the flowers are pale blue, blue, yellow and even red. Modern collectors boast new decorative species, in many ways different from the usual flax.
At home, the cultivation of oil flax has long been in demand due to its particularly useful properties of the seed composition, which is processed into flaxseed oil. The seeds of this type of flax contain 42% fatty oil. In industry, this particular type is used for the production of drying oil, paints, soap, artificial leather.
Those who are focused on growing oilseed flax at home on their site need to know that this crop has a more developed root system than other types of it, so it must be planted in a separate spacious area. Flax loves moderate watering, but is thermophilic. The height of a plant ready for harvest reaches 20-70 cm. For sowing on a personal plot, such varieties of oil flax as "Novinka-198", "Lubensky - 7", "Start" and others are suitable.
You should not plant flax in a place where its predecessor was corn or flax - this reduces the yield, it is better if it was melons or winter crops.
Sowing of oil flax is carried out in an inter-row method at a distance of 15 cm between rows, with a planting depth of up to 7 cm. Before planting seeds, they are disinfected with protective and stimulating drugs according to the instructions for them.
During the growing period, weeds must be weeded. The emergence of the first shoots begins on the 7-10th day, from this moment the plant requires careful protection from weeds and pests.
From mineral fertilizers nitrogen, phosphate and potassium are suitable: nitrogen is used from sunrise to flowering, phosphorus - the entire growing season, potassium - during the budding period. Spraying with herbicide compositions is used against pests.
Oil flax is harvested in a separate way - first, the head is removed, cleaned and dried, then the stems are removed from the roots, the ground must be plowed or dug up. When storing flax seed, the humidity in the room should not exceed 10%.
Large-flowered flax
More recently, large-flowered flax has appeared in the domestic decorative floriculture, growing from the seeds of which attracts lovers of home flora. The main factor that testifies to the demand for this plant is its rich color range - from pale pink to bright blue. This type reaches a height of 60 cm, has flowers that may not fade for several days. This type of flax blooms from June to October, provided it is planted in the month of May.
Large-flowered flax can grow in one place without losing its appearance for up to 5 years. With poor external quality of leaves and flowers, it should be planted in another place.
This species loves well-lit areas, preferably on slopes, so that water does not stagnate in the soil. For early flowering, seeds can be planted in April in a greenhouse or on a windowsill. At warm weather seedlings can be planted in open ground in May.
In the soil under favorable conditions, seeds are planted at a temperature of at least 12 degrees Celsius. After 10-14 days, flax sprouts can be observed.
Sometimes, in order for flax to bloom up to six months, the seeds are transplanted to a new place in the summer after two weeks.
Flax is not afraid of transplanting, so it can be transplanted by separating it from the bush. On the damaged root, soil with compost can be poured and flowering will resume. Pits are dug no more than 50 cm, a solution of water and phosphate-nitrogen fertilizers are poured. The bushes are laid and covered with earth.
Decorative types of flax
For beautiful and durable fabrics and beautiful clothes made of them should be thanked for decorative flax, the cultivation of which is the most simple process in comparison with other types of flax. Thanks to the beautiful color palette shades of this plant, the personal plot acquires beautiful view, which prompts summer residents to plant decorative flax on alpine slides, yard beds and as an addition to already formed flower beds with other flowers.
Decorative flax is planted only in places with moderate soil moisture, in a brightly lit area, not darkened by trees and bushes.
The method of growing decorative flax is seed. If the soil warms up well at the end of May or the beginning of June, the seeds can be safely laid in the ground if weather do not allow you to do this, you can land flax in greenhouse conditions, and then plant the seedlings in the open ground in a favorable period.
The soil should be with sufficient drainage and humus, you can add organic matter. When planting seedlings, the distance between them should not be less than 5 cm, and also no more than 7 cm deep.
Decorative flax should be taken care of constantly:
- watch out for weeds, weed them in time;
- in dry weather, water;
- do not water the plant in the fall - it should dry out naturally;
- fertilize should be done 2-3 times a season;
- it is imperative that when a flax flea appears, the number one pest for flax, use the appropriate chemical protection by spraying.
It is advisable to plant flax only with those plants in the same flower garden that are similar in terms of growing conditions, not moisture-loving and with a moderate root system.
Perennial flax
The most popular type of flax for decorating flower walls, lawns and borders is perennial flax, growing from the seeds of which is the most convenient and fast way reproduction. These types include Rudbeckia, Gaillardia, blue perennial flax, Aquilegia, Terry Kaspeya, Lupine and others. Simple recommendations of professional gardeners will help grow perennial types of flax at home:
- It is better to plant perennials indoors, then plant them in the ground at temperatures above 20 degrees.
- Flax seeds should not be planted in wet ground in rainy weather.
- In the warm climate zone, seeds of perennial flax species are planted in the fall.
- Perennial seeds can not be laid out in the ground, but simply sown. This will help them establish contact with the soil faster.
- In a warm climate zone, plants reproduce by self-sowing.
- Some types of perennial flax (Rudbeckia, Aquilegia) can simply be spread on the soil surface for the first time and watered.
- the first year, perennials sown in spring bloom, in the second year - in the fall.
- Seeds sown in autumn must be covered with soil and insulated for the winter like any flower crop.
- when flax germinates about 5 cm in height, the sprouts should be thinned out, leaving a distance of 10 cm.
- Among perennials, there are species that do not like transplanting, this should be discussed with the seller immediately before buying seeds.
- Perennial flax should be accustomed to cold soil gradually if the seeds are planted in the fall. To do this, the seed is placed in a damp paper towel. Wrap in a bag and put in the refrigerator for a week.
Germinating seeds
Sprouted flax seeds have long been considered a product with a healing effect, therefore, sprouting flax at home for planting, you can combine the useful with the pleasant.
A flax seed sprout is a green shoot, which, under the influence of the process of photosynthesis, receives energy for growth, as well as everything useful vitamins and minerals. At the moment of seed germination, its adaptation begins, therefore, in order to get strong shoots that give in the future good harvest, you need to know how to germinate flax seeds correctly:
- When carrying out the germination process, you will need potassium permanganate for disinfection, as well as a jar with a wide neck, water, and a sieve.
- Before the disinfection process, flax seeds should be poured into a jar and poured cold water... Floated dry seeds should be removed. Thus, it will be possible to weed out the bad grains.
- During the soaking process, flaxseeds produce mucus that must be removed by repeatedly washing the seeds.
- Selected seeds should be dipped in a pale pink solution of potassium permanganate for 20 minutes.
- Rinse the seeds under water and pour hot (60 degrees).
- After the water has cooled, add 1 tbsp. l. complex of minerals. Soak in the composition for 1 hour.
- Now you can start the germination process: take a small grate, put a cloth on it, seeds on top thin layer... Spill with water. The water will gradually drain from the grate.
- Keep the container with a wire rack on the sunny side at a temperature of 24 degrees.
- Germination takes place within 4 days. Overnight, the container is left in the refrigerator to harden the seed. This will make it possible to already plant seeds in the ground, which has only warmed up to 2 degrees.
- Laying in the ground is carried out at a depth of 3 cm.
Such sowing measures will help to enhance frost resistance and perennial flax species.
Linen is not only useful culture widely used in textile industry. Perennial flax, as well as Narbonne and Alpine species of this crop have highly decorative qualities and are successfully grown on household plots middle crack. Its blue, white or yellowish flowers can decorate any flower bed, and are also ideal for rock gardens.
What does a flax plant of different types look like?
Of the 25 types, only two are most often used in flower decoration: perennial and Narbon. You will find a description of the flax plant of these species on this page.
Plants with erect, strong, thin stems, narrow opposite leaves and beautiful five-petal flowers that open on sunny days.
Look at the photo - the flax plant has flowers of blue, white, yellow or red colors, all of them are collected in half-umbrellas or brushes:
Perennial, or Siberian, up to 80 cm in height, stems are naked, thin, rod-shaped, usually branched at the top. The leaves are small, linear, alternate, green or bluish.
As you can see in the photo, perennial flax flowers are pale blue or blue, 2 cm in diameter, collected in a loose corymbose panicle:
Sepals are ovate, easily falling off. The capsule is spherical, 8 mm in diameter, the seeds are brown, flat, 5 mm in length. Perennial flax tolerates light shading, but grows better and blooms more abundantly on open places well warmed up by the sun.
Narbonne- a plant about 30 cm tall with thin graceful, slightly twisted shoots. It blooms in June-July with sky-blue flowers, 2.0-2.5 cm in diameter, collected in low-flowered inflorescences on the tops of leafy stems.
But also alpine flax is found. A 40 cm high pin-root plant. The plant grows from mid-April to October. Blooms in May-June, seeds in June-July.
Below you can see what a flax plant of all these types looks like:
Growing of perennial, Narbonne and Alpine flax
Flax is easily propagated by seeds. When sown in March in a greenhouse, they bloom in the same year, but you can sow directly to a permanent place in the fall, before winter or in spring.
Flax grown from seeds blooms more abundantly and plants are more viable than when dividing bushes.
When growing perennial flax, as well as when growing flax of other types, 5 kg of compost or humus per 1 m2 are introduced into ordinary garden soil, if the soil is heavy, clayey, add 1-2 buckets of sand. Damp soils are not suitable for flax.
Landing distance 15 x 20 cm. The best time planting seedlings late May - early June. Landings are weeded in a timely manner, watered only in dry times. Although each flower lives for a little more than a day, in general, the flowering is long - more than two months, from June to August.
Seeds of perennial, Narbon and Alpine flax ripen in August-September in abundance. It reproduces easily by self-sowing; in the spring, seedlings can be transferred to new places.
Flax of all types is planted in rock gardens, on rocky areas among the undersized.
