Eremurus — a noticeable landscape accent
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Luxurious vertical garden…
This is surprising, but eremurus combines all the best qualities of a garden plant: beauty, architecture, long flowering, unpretentiousness.
«The tail of the desert» — this is how the name of this perennial sounds in translation. The name speaks for itself: the tail is the shape of a flower, the desert is the habitat.
However, for a long time and successfully, eremurus has been grown in our area. Moreover, he is adored by gardeners for his drought resistance and high decorative effect.
Eremurus can be safely called the architectural plant of the garden. It has large inflorescence sizes and monumental height (some species up to 2.5 meters!)
And with all this, this giant is wind-resistant: its thin, hard stem does not break from gusts of wind, but only bends slightly. At such moments, eremurus is more like flames fluttering over the steppe.
Most species have a height of 1-1.5 m, however, this is enough for the flower to stand out from the rest and be visible from a long distance.
Young green rosettes of eremurus appear on the surface even under snow, in April, with warming, the plant throws out an arrow with a high stem, and already at the end of May-June it blooms.
Small funnel-shaped flowers in the inflorescence in some species, there are up to a thousand.
Each blooms only one day, flowering starts from the bottom and gradually moves to the top.
Given the number of flowers, the flowering period can stretch up to 40 days. The larger the peduncle, the longer the flowering. In the largest specimens, the diameter of the inflorescence reaches 17 cm, and the length is 70. The average is 40 cm.
Flowering ends by the end of June, fruits ripen in place of flowers and … the entire above-ground part of the plant dies off to wake up next spring. Therefore, plants that bloom in the second half of summer or decorative and deciduous perennials are necessarily added to the eremurus.
It is remarkable that this inhabitant of the deserts is quite supportive of the conditions of the Middle Strip and winters here quite safely, however, in order to avoid freezing in snowless winters, it is still worth covering it with wormwood (from rodents) and spruce branches.
Based on the foregoing, it follows: the best place for eremurus on the site is well-lit, drained (raised, on a slope, etc.). On poor soils, a transplanted young eremurus will bloom in a year.
If you plant it on rich humus soils, then you will wait for flowering only after two or three years, because the plant, using the nutrient soil, will increase the root mass. But the plant will grow more powerful.
In any case, the soil for this perennial should be slightly alkaline or neutral.
A suitable climatic zone for eremurus is 5-6, but this does not mean that it cannot be grown in the 4th zone. The plant withstands frosts down to -25, but may be damaged by May frosts.
POPULAR VIEWS
In total, eremurus has about 60 species, which differ among themselves, mainly in color and height. Only a few are used most actively in floriculture, and new varieties and hybrids are created on their basis.
Eremurus Himalayan (Eremurus Himalaicus)
- Growth area: Kashmir (northeastern Himalayas).
- Flowering period: May.
- Color spectrum: white.
- Height: peduncles up to 2 m, inflorescences not less than half a meter.
- Growing conditions: drained soils, warm, illuminated slopes.
- Peculiarities: rhizomatous perennial, one of the tallest, ideal vertical for a moon garden. A very handsome giant.
Eremurus powerful (Eremurus robustus)
- Growth area: Tien Shan and Pamir mountains.
- Flowering period: June, lasts up to 40 days.
- Color spectrum: pastel pink
- Height: up to 2.5 m.
- Growing conditions: very hardy species, however, does not tolerate flooding.
- Peculiarities: rhizomatous perennial, architectural plant for the garden in any style.
Eremurus narrow-leaved, foxtail lily (Eremurus Stenophyllus)
- Growth area: Central Asia, Iran, West Pakistan.
- Flowering period: May-July
- Color spectrum: yellow, vitamin yellow.
- Height: 80-120 cm
- Growing conditions: well-drained soil, sunny places, relatively hardy.
- Peculiarities: rhizomatous perennial, relatively low (as for eremurus), but with a bright color, an excellent specimen for a garden in any style, especially effective in group plantings.
Hybrid Romance delicate and refined, it is ideal for a natural garden style.
Creamy pink flowers.
The inflorescence is almost the same width over the entire height.
Blooms for a long time, from late May to July.
Height 100 -120 cm.
Hybrid Cleopatra distinguished by pink-orange coloring.
This is the most famous variety of Eremurus, often referred to as Cleopatra’s needle.
Stem height up to 120 cm.
Hybrid Pinnochio captivates with juicy vitamin-yellow color of inflorescences.
Its distinctive feature is the shape of the inflorescences, sharply tapering towards the top and resembling the nose of a well-known fairy tale hero.
Blooms from late May to July.
The entire height of the plant is 120 cm.
This position is very advantageous, because Pinocchio will never go unnoticed by a visitor to your garden.
Blooms from May to July.
Plant height up to 150 cm.
All eremurus suffer from recurrent frosts. Therefore, before wintering, they are covered with spruce branches and wood mulch (only deciduous plants). Shelter is removed only after spring frosts.
Eremurus does not tolerate stagnant moisture, so do not plant it in places of spring accumulation of melt water. The place of this brilliant giant is on the slopes and elevated places of the site.
However, during the period of active growth, the plant still needs moisture to build up green mass. Therefore, the landing site is chosen not at the highest place, but 30 centimeters above the flood line (determined visually in the spring after winters generous with snow).
The gigantic size of the eremurus suggests its architectural approach to planting, namely, single curtains.
The higher the plant, the stronger its height should be emphasized, and this can only be done by planting it next to a noticeable detail of the garden, for example, a house, a gazebo, a bench, etc.
In this case, the number of plants in the planting is also regulated in direct accordance with the size of the architectural element: near the house — an array, near the gazebo — several curtains, and a smaller element — one.
COMBINATION IN SHAPE AND COLOR
Absolutely any perennials can be planted in the company with eremurus, whose species analogues are called field and growing not on acidic soil. Its candle shape is combined with all others: single verticals, large and small curtains, «rugs» at the foot.
Eremurus is especially good against the background of hedges, purple shrubs, walls and fences in a contrasting color.
REPRODUCTION AND TRANSPLANT
The seed method of propagation of eremurus is long, difficult and ineffective.
The best way to quickly get a new plant of guaranteed varietal traits is to divide the rhizome.
The rhizome itself has the shape of a rounded rosette, from which powerful roots radiate.
The division process is fundamentally different from the traditional one.
Rosettes separated from the mother bush, like all plants, can be carefully cut off, but it will take more than one season for them to «ripen».
If, having carefully excavated the base, you did not see the separated children, then the process can be accelerated. As soon as the aerial part of the eremurus fades, the socket is cut without digging out of the ground with a sharp and clean knife along the separation lines (they are clearly visible in the photo above). Sections are opened and sprinkled with ash. Further, all the rhizomes are again sprinkled with earth.
Alas, only next year will individual plants form, which can be dug up, dried (about a month) and planted again.
The division of rhizomes and transplantation is best done in the period from mid-August to mid-September.
You can divide the rhizome no more than once every six years.
The composition of the soil for planting eremurus: sod layer, a little humus, ash and sand. You should not abuse organic matter and nitrogen fertilizers, because the plant will «get carried away» by gaining green mass and completely forget about flowering.
Planting step: 60 cm. The plant will develop over time and the curtain will occupy a sufficient area.
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