Ageratum is a perennial herb from the Asters family. In nature, it is found in East India, Mexico, Peru. Attract plants with abundant green mass and many flowers. Charming fluffy balls of purple, blue or cream colors form a continuous carpet. They exude a very delicate honey aroma. The heat-loving ageratum does not like frost, so they grow it in the garden as an annual. But under the right conditions, it’s easy to care for him. Ageratum is often used for landscaping balconies, verandas or to create a dense flowering carpet on relief slopes.
Botanical Description
Ageratum - perennial grasses or shrubs. They have soft branched stems that grow straight or fall to the ground. The length of the shoots is 10-60 cm. The plant is fed by fibrous rhizomes. Upon contact with the ground, roots can also form in internodes. They are covered with bright green or brownish bark with a short, barely noticeable pubescence.
In the internodes, opposite petiole leaves of an oval, heart-shaped or rhomboid form grow. The edges of the leaves are serrated, and the surface is swollen between the veins. Small soft leaves grow in length by 2-5 cm.
From May-June, the ageratum blooms profusely. Inflorescences in the shape of baskets resemble fluffy pompons with a diameter of 1-1.5 cm. They are painted in white, pink, purple, blue or lilac color and consist of many small tubular flowers. Flowers consist of long, soft needle-like petals. Inflorescences bloom at the tops of the shoots, and also form in the axils of the leaves. They exude a pleasant sweetish aroma that attracts beneficial insects.
After pollination, elongated wedge-shaped achenes with five faces ripen. Inside are very small, rounded seeds of dark brown or black color. They retain the ability to germinate for 3-4 years.
Types of Ageratum
About 40 plant species are registered in the ageratum genus. In culture, most often only one of them is grown, and many decorative varieties are already bred on its basis.
Houston Ageratum (Mexican). Erect, branched stems form a spherical bush 15-60 cm high. Lush corymbose inflorescences of various colors reach a diameter of 8 cm. They adorn the top of the plant and, in turn, consist of small baskets with a diameter of about 1-1.5 cm. Varieties:
- Alba - dissolves many white fluffy flowers;
- Ageratum blue mink (blue). The dense shrub 20-25 cm high is covered with dark green pubescent leaves. The top is decorated with blue inflorescences, which form a soft hat, similar to mink fur or a blue sleeve;
- Bavaria - a bush up to 30 cm high is covered with an almost continuous cap of inflorescences. The center of each ball is white, and on the edges there is a bright blue border;
- Blue bouquet - upright or lodging stems 45 cm high carry large bright blue inflorescences;
- White ball - long creeping stems at the apex and in the internodes are covered with spherical snow-white inflorescences that bloom by the end of June;
- Pink fire - compact bushes with small leaves and large bright pink inflorescences;
- North Sea - a short plant (about 15 cm) blooms beautiful dark purple flowers.
Seed cultivation
Since in our latitudes the thermophilic ageratum is often grown as annuals, it is convenient to propagate it by seeds. In late March, seedlings are planted. For sowing, use shallow and wide boxes, which are filled with a sand-peat mixture with the addition of humus. Seeds are distributed on the surface, sprayed with water and covered with a film. They are kept in a bright place at a temperature of + 15 ... + 20 ° C. It is necessary to ventilate and remove condensate daily, and, if necessary, to spray the soil.
Sprouts will appear in 10-15 days. After that, the shelter is removed. It is necessary to moisten the earth with great care, since seedlings are sensitive to fungal diseases. When 2 real leaflets form on the plants, it is dived for the first time into another box with a distance of 3-5 cm. After 2 weeks, a second dive is carried out in separate pots or cups. Seedlings are grown in a well-lit, warm room, where there is no dampness, and the soil is moderately moistened.
The appropriate time when an ageratum is planted in open ground is determined by region. It is necessary that the night frosts are completely gone, and the average daily temperature is set at + 15 ° C and above.
For planting, they select well-lit, draft-protected areas with loose, nutritious soil. Soil acidity should be neutral or slightly alkaline. Plants are planted to a depth of the root system with a distance of 10-15 cm. Flowering of seedlings is expected after 2 months.
Vegetative propagation
Ageratum can be propagated by cuttings and layering, but at the same time it needs to be grown in pots, which are brought into a warm room for the winter. When spring pruning, cuttings with 2-3 internodes are cut from the bush. The slice is treated with “Kornevin” and planted in a container with loose garden soil to a depth of 1-1.5 cm. Before rooting, the cuttings are covered with a transparent cap. After 15-20 days, the shelter is removed and the plants are transplanted into a separate pot. At the end of spring, seedlings can be transferred to open ground.
If the stem contacts the ground, roots form on it. It is enough to cut off such a layering and transplant separately. Often there are already flowers on it. With an accurate transplant, they will persist and multiply.
Home Care
Regardless of the cultivated ageratum in a container or in open ground, it is not difficult to take care of it. Plants definitely need bright lighting. On a hot afternoon, the shoots protect against direct sunlight. With a lack of light, the stems are very long, and there will be very few flowers. Ageratum can withstand even extreme heat, but when the temperature drops to + 1 ... + 5 ° C, it dies. Before such cold snap, you can dig up bushes and transplant into pots or bring flowerpots into the room.
Watering the agratum is often necessary so that the soil dries only on the surface. In this case, plants are sensitive to stagnation of water. They immediately slow down growth and stop flowering. It is especially important not to flood young flowers.
Three times per season (in spring, during flowering and in September), the ageratum is fed with a mineral complex for flowering plants. Organic dressing for him is undesirable.
It is very important that the soil is light and the air penetrates to the roots. Therefore, it must be loosened several times a month and remove weeds. Since the rhizome is close to the surface, it is not worth it to be too zealous for weeding.
As the shoots grow and the flowers wilt, pruning is performed. This allows you to save compact decorative bushes and extend flowering.
Possible difficulties
Ageratum is quite sensitive to plant diseases. On heavy soil and with regular flooding, the roots suffer from rot. Perhaps the development of bacterial diseases and leaf chlorosis. Sometimes the leaves become covered with a mosaic pattern with yellow spots ("cucumber mosaic virus").
Manages to save plants damaged only slightly. To do this, the bushes are replanted with soil replacement and treated with fungicide. You can spray the plants with infusion of wormwood, bird cherry or tansy.
Often, plants in open ground are affected by spider mites and whiteflies, so the first treatment with insecticides is carried out as a preventive measure in the spring. In the future, it is necessary to regularly examine the shoots and leaves for parasites.
Garden use
Delicate soft greens and plentiful fluffy inflorescences of ageratum give romantic charm to the flower garden. Plants do not differ in height, because even long stems lean toward the ground. Therefore, in the flower garden they are planted in the foreground. You can use ageratum for planting in containers or pots. It is great for landscaping the veranda and balcony of masonry and curbs. Partners for the ageratum can be calendula, zinnia, marigolds and other brightly flowering plants.
