This elegant and delicate flower is called sorrel for the presence of oxalic acid in the leaves, “Good morning” - for the interesting feature of greeting household members in the morning with open flowers and delighting with the pleasant color of the petals all day, until 7 o’clock in the evening or until sunset. The plant folds its petals into buds and leaves, like umbrellas after a rainstorm, reminding people to get ready for the night.
If the weather is cloudy in the morning, then these “umbrellas” or “morning flowers” will remain unopened. People of many countries believe that the flower brings good luck to its new owner, so they call it nothing more than “Clover of Happiness” and use it as a gift to loved ones and friends.
We will talk about what morning flowers are, how to grow and propagate them, and how to care for them.
Description
The plant has small flowers, but in combination with colorful foliage it looks lovely. Flowers come in white, pink or yellow tones. One flower is replaced by another, and it seems that the sorrel blooms endlessly. She shoots an arrow that goes the length of the leaves, and on the top of her head there is an umbrella with tiny flowers. About 3-4 buds bloom together, fading over time, and then new flowers begin to bloom behind them.
In certain countries, such a culture is a symbol of goodness and good luck in the home. It will also be presented as a New Year's gift. In the countries of Russia, the plant acquired the name “Butterfly Flower”, since its leaves curl up, like an insect’s, if the light changes.
How to plant correctly in open ground
Proper planting of a plant in open ground will ensure:
- Good shoot formation.
- Abundant flowering.
- Resistance to pathogenic microorganisms.
To do this, you need to decide on the choice of planting site and properly prepare the soil.
Select landing time
The optimal time for planting is spring, before the flowering period of oxalis. Timely planting or replanting a flower will ensure its beautiful appearance throughout the summer.
By the time of flowering, the plant will have completely recovered from the stress to which it was subjected as a result of planting work.
Site selection and soil preparation
When growing wood sorrel at home, you should choose a place to place the flower pot in such a way that the plant is provided with diffused lighting during the day.
In summer, it is recommended to remove sorrel from window sills, and in winter, the flower is not afraid of any lighting, including exposure to direct sunlight.
Direct rays of the sun in the summer can leave burns on the tender leaves and flowers of wood sorrel.
When planting a flower in a garden or flowerbed, you can choose a place that is in partial shade from nearby trees. It should be noted that sorrel can die due to sudden temperature changes or under the influence of drafts.
To increase the resistance of a flower to various unfavorable factors, it should be gradually hardened.
After choosing the optimal place for a flower to grow, you should pay special attention to the quality of the soil. Oxalis loves loose and light soils; when planting a flower at home, you can buy a special soil mixture for ornamental plants.
In garden conditions, in order to lighten the soil, you can add to it:
- River sand.
- Brick chips.
- Rotten last year's leaves.
- Rotted manure.
Soil treatment and preparation
The flower prefers loose and light soil, which must be prepared before planting lucky clover.
Soil preparation consists of:
- Digging up the soil at the planned planting site.
- Lightening the soil by adding river sand, rotted humus and last year's leaves.
- In the application of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers.
The process of planting in open ground
- Digging a hole with a diameter larger than the roots of the flower in a straightened state.
- Equipment with a drainage system in the form of brick shards or expanded clay.
- Place the plant in the prepared hole.
- Burying the root system without deepening it.
- Abundant watering and spraying of leaves.
Humidity and ideal temperature
The acceptable environmental temperature for the crop in the summer season should not be higher than 20 degrees. In winter, the temperature should not be lowered below +7. Indoor violet oxalis likes to stay in cold conditions, but can withstand high air temperatures well.
The environmental humidity for the plant should be moderate. If the room is cool (15-18 degrees), you don’t have to worry too much about the moisture level - the flower can easily withstand dry air. As the temperature increases, you need to worry about increasing humidity: you can spray the leaves or store the crop in a container filled with wet expanded clay.
Watering
In spring and summer, especially when it is hot, purple sorrel requires a considerable amount of moisture. The crop in the home environment should be watered abundantly, but under no circumstances should water stagnate in the soil. To do this, after irrigation, after 2-3 minutes, it is necessary to drain the water that has flowed into the pan. In winter, the plant should be watered at a frequency that ensures the soil is kept slightly moist.
How to care for sorrel while it is dormant
If the crop begins to noticeably wither and lose its foliage, and it is just winter outside, then the plant enters a dormant stage. Caring for purple sorrel will also be necessary at this time. The first thing to do is shorten the cuttings by 1-2 cm and put the pot in a dry, dark room. Great places for this would be a basement or cellar. Fertilizer and watering will need to be stopped, and only then, after 1-2 months, with the emergence of the first shoots, it will be resumed again. Even during this period, an invasion of pests is possible, so you need to carefully monitor the flower.
Good Morning Pictures - Flowers
Send a card with a beautiful bouquet and good morning wishes to your loved one. For example, a delicate bouquet for a young girl!
Or a bright message with a butterfly for a friend!
A wonderful picture with a bicycle and a bouquet in the French style. Send it to your mom, friend, lover...
A gentle and passionate rose for sensitive natures...
A picturesque rural landscape for lovers of natural beauty!
Mom will love this cozy still life. Wish her good morning - send a picture :)
Download pictures with flowers and wishes from the huge collection of our website!
Sometimes feelings are like a flower - it takes time to bloom. Jane Austen.
A man will never say “I was wrong”, he will simply send flowers.
No matter how much we talk about the emptiness of life, sometimes just one flower is enough to dissuade us. Anatole France.
Let's go to the garden, I'll show you the roses.
Marriage is when a young man stops buying flowers and starts buying vegetables :)
In the morning nothing will happen In the morning everything will be like yesterday Dreams - migratory birds Melt and fly away in the morning. Nepara.
You should never listen to what flowers say. You just have to look at them and breathe in their scent.
Transfer
The need to replant oxalis occurs when it becomes clearly thickened. The best time to replant the crop is the first half of spring. This is the most positive moment when the plant comes to life. For replanting a flower, the best option would be a ceramic pot with a diameter 3 cm larger than the volume of the previous container, with a suitable container for removing moisture. This is all done so that the purple sorrel does not dry out, and its leaves do not turn yellow or fade.
Then you will need to pour a generous amount of drainage onto the bottom so that moisture does not retain and green algae does not grow. You can use broken brick or expanded clay as a drainage layer (they are also suitable for this purpose). After this, you should carefully remove the crop from the old flowerpot, slightly soften the soil lump with your hands, find and separate the young tubers from the determining mass of the rhizome and place them in a pre-prepared container with a light substrate.
The more carefully you remove the flower, the faster and freer the rooting procedure will be. For replanting, you can use a ready-made and packaged earthen solution from the store as a substrate, or you can prepare it yourself. What purple sorrel looks like, the photo posted in the article will demonstrate this.
Varieties
In nature, there are more than 700 variants of this plant, the most popular of which are Depp's oxalis, common oxalis, ferruginous oxalis, carob, nasturtium, triangular, and lucky clover.
- Common oxalis grows everywhere in Europe, in almost all forests. In Russia it is often called “hare cabbage” or sour cabbage.
- Ferruginous oxalis is the most popular species; it is a compact, low (up to 8 cm) bush. The gray-green leaves are collected from many oval parts, large silvery-pink flowers bloom in June - early July. The species is frost-resistant, so it is actively used in flower beds.
- Carob sorrel is a weed that clogs not only flower beds, but also beds. The proliferation of numerous shoots with cherry-colored leaves and tiny yellow flowers must be carefully controlled.
- Kislitsa deppa distinguished by green leaves decorated with reddish-brown spots. Raspberry flowers are collected in an elegant inflorescence. The plant is not frost-resistant; it must be dug up for the winter.
Common oxalis
Oxalis ferruginosa Oxalis carob
Oxalis Depp
Clover of happiness
Oxalis triangularis - Oxalis nasturtium is a miniature bush with purple leaves and yellow flowers that bloom gradually throughout the summer season. Ideal for carpeted lawns and as a border decoration.
- Happy clover blooms profusely until late autumn. Long flexible shoots with delicate bright green leaves alternate with peduncles topped with flowers up to 3 cm in diameter. Looks great as an hanging plant for small spaces.
- Oxalis triangularis is of Brazilian origin. The leaves are triangular and dark purple in color. Small flowers have different shades: snow-white, pink or lilac. It does not tolerate frost and cold weather well, so it is often used as a houseplant or container plant.
The soil
Preparing a substrate for a houseplant proceeds in the following order: you need to take one part each of leaf and turf soil, add two portions of peat and equal parts each of sand and soil. In this case, the soil should be neutral (6.0-7.0) and slightly acidic (5.0-6.0).
Due to the different replanting periods, it is possible to control the flowering time of the crop. You can also resort to the help of a biostimulator of plant growth "Epina". But it is better to do this in extreme cases, since with a favorable environment, after a certain stage, the sorrel actively grows and puts out flower stalks.
Flower propagation
The crop is propagated by seeds, division of rhizomes, daughter bulbs or tubers. In the second and third cases, the divisions are planted in the ground in large flowerpots of 5-10 pieces at intervals of 10 cm, filled with a thin layer of soil, watered sparingly and stored in a cool room.
Violet wood sorrel is also propagated using cuttings with leaves, which are placed in a container with water, and when the first shoots appear, they are planted in the sand - there the cuttings take root.
Seeds must be sown in the spring season (after frosts), without covering them with soil and preserving moisture. To do this, after seating, they should be covered with glass. It is also necessary to maintain reduced lighting and ventilate the sowing area every day. The temperature should be 16-18 degrees. The growing season can be expected after a month.
In fact, cultivating seeds is considered a very difficult undertaking, so it is often advised, especially to inexperienced gardeners, to practice the above methods of plant propagation.
Answers to frequently asked questions
Question: How to propagate the “Good Morning” flower from seeds?
Answer: Oxalis seeds are very small and therefore they need to be planted on the surface of the ground without falling asleep. You need to water the seedlings by spraying water from a spray bottle.
Question: The plant is affected by spider mites. How to get rid of it?
Spider mites are sensitive to treatment with the insecticide Attelik. When performing the procedure, it is necessary to cover the ground with napkins to prevent the drug from getting on the soil.
Question: What are the medicinal properties of sorrel?
Answer: The plant has an antidote effect against mercury and arsenic. It is an excellent cure for scurvy. The above-ground part is used to treat wounds and ulcers.
Purple sorrel: beneficial properties
In folk medicine, all components of the crop are used - leaves, flowers and peduncles. The plant has all organic acids (citric, oxalic and malic). The raw materials are prepared in the spring or from the beginning of summer (May-June) and dried at a temperature of 40-50 degrees. An extract made from such material is used for diseases of the liver, stomach and scurvy. This is an excellent antiseptic. Violet sorrel juice is also used to treat scabies and the flower is used in homeopathy.
The plant is used for loss of appetite and to normalize metabolism. It also has a hemostatic, wound-healing, diuretic, anthelmintic and choleretic effect. Helps neutralize heartburn and vomiting, lowers blood pressure, and is used for mercury or arsenic intoxication. Decoctions and tinctures are used for therapy:
- stomatitis;
- gastritis;
- bleeding;
- cardiovascular ailments;
- kidney;
- Bladder;
- liver.
If you correctly follow all the above rules and tips, then purple sorrel will always invariably delight your household not only with a lush crown of patterned leaves, but also with the endless blooming of white and pink flowers throughout the year. A fragile plant, like a butterfly, will open its leaves every morning and fold them in the evening. And in the company of other varieties of oxalis, the culture will look very impressive both in the room and on the balcony.
