Veronica Is A Beautiful Ornamental Plant: Varieties And Cultivation

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Veronica - for rocky gardens retaining walls and curbs

The origin of the name of the plant Veronica is explained in different ways, some believe that they named it in honor of Saint Veronica, others that it comes from the Latin "vera unica", meaning - a real medicine.

The genus Veronica includes about 300 species, which are distributed in almost all parts of the world, but most widely in Europe (mainly in the Mediterranean) and Asia.

In Russia and neighboring countries, there are about 150 species. These species are represented as annual, biennial and perennial grasses, and sometimes dwarf shrubs.

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Veronika austriyskaya

Veronica's stems are straight, sometimes outstretched with opposite leaves, less often the arrangement is alternate or whorled.

The flowers are medium-sized, often white, less often blue or blue, sometimes pink, collected in lateral or apical carpal or spike-shaped inflorescences.

The most common Veronica is often found in the forest or in the meadow, and it is easy to recognize it by its delicate thin and bluish petals, sometimes marked with a white spot in the center.

Veronica is a plant very often used in garden design as an element of alpine slides. Here are the most common types of Veronica:

Veronica Armenian

Veronica Austrian - comes from the edges of forests and semi-arid meadows in Europe, the Caucasus, Asia Minor and Siberia. It is a perennial that reaches half a meter in height. The form of the plant is a bush growing from the rhizome. Interesting leaves - elongated, oval, jagged along the edges, juicy green color. The flowers are collected in dense ears, pleasing to the eye in May-June. The only drawback is that it does not tolerate damp areas and can withstand low temperatures only up to - 23 ° C degrees.

Veronica Armenian - originally from Asia Minor. Reaches a height of 10 centimeters, forming dense thickets of densely leafy creeping stems. The leaves are pubescent. During the flowering period, the plant is literally covered with purple flowers that bloom in May-June. They are used in rock gardens for planting in large areas, in flower rocky walls, on terraces and dry places. Veronica Armenian is very decorative in areas where there are corners of wildlife or natural scenery.

Veronica large - naturally grows in the European part of our country, in the Caucasus, in Western Siberia, Central Asia, Western Europe, the Mediterranean. It is a perennial plant with erect or ascending stems. Adult plants often form dense spherical bushes, reaching 25 centimeters in height. During flowering, plants can grow up to 60 centimeters tall. The leaves are whole, glabrous above, hairy below. The flowers are bright blue, pinkish and white, collected in dense racemose inflorescences, reaching a length of seven centimeters. Blooms from late May for 40-45 days. It hibernates without shelter; plants look best in scattered plantings.

Branching Veronica - grows on rocky and stony places, especially loves the limestone slopes of the mountains of Europe, where it forms low and sometimes high cushion thickets. Its flowers, located on long pedicels and collected in racemose inflorescences, look very decorative, usually they are painted in bright blue color and have a reddish belt at the base of the calyx, sometimes plants with pinkish flowers are also found.

Veronica virginskaya - originally from the east of North America, where plants reach a height of 130 centimeters, the bush is quite stable with juicy green, whorled leaves and white or blue flowers collected in a paniculate inflorescence. This species is most decorative during the flowering period from June to August.

Gentian Veronica - naturally grows in the middle and southern regions of the European part of Russia, in the Crimea, in the Caucasus and in Asia Minor. Veronica gentian is a low, herbaceous plant that forms cushion-like bushes, reaching 45 centimeters in height. The rosette leaves are lanceolate, leathery and green, reaching a length of five centimeters. The flowers are pale blue or whitish with dark blue veins, they reach one centimeter in diameter and are located in multi-flowered, loose, spike-shaped inflorescences. This Veronica blooms in June and pleases the eye for 2-3 weeks. Quite winter-hardy species, withstands a drop in temperature to -29 ° C.

Veronica spikelet

Woody Veronica is a perennial plant, reaching a height of 4-5 centimeters, covered with gray pubescence and has pink flowers and creeping strongly leafy stems, all together they form a beautiful gray-green carpet that blooms in May-July.

Veronica long-leaved - found in the European part of Russia, Siberia, the Far East, Central Asia and China, is a perennial plant reaching a height of 50 centimeters with opposite or whorled linear-lanceolate leaves. The flowers are bright blue, collected in terminal racemose inflorescences, reaching a length of 25 centimeters, blooming in June and pleasing to the eye for 50 days.

Veronica spikelet grows wild in the European part of Russia, the Caucasus, Siberia and Central Asia, Western Europe and the Mediterranean. The plant reaches a height of 40 centimeters and has few or single stems and apical, racemose and dense inflorescences, reaching a length of 10 centimeters, with bright blue, pinkish, purple or white flowers located in them. Flowering begins in mid-June and lasts 35-40 days. This Veronica is quite winter-hardy (withstands up to -35o ° C) and is decorative even in a single planting.

Veronica filamentous is a short perennial plant with thin, long creeping shoots covered with light green rounded leaves. The flowers are blue, solitary with dark veins, rising on long stalks from axillary leaves. This species of Veronica blooms from April to June.

Veronica gray-haired - in the wild, it is distributed throughout the European part of Russia, Siberia, the Far East, Western Europe, Japan and Korea. The plant reaches a height of 40 centimeters. During flowering, the bushes are spreading, later cushion-shaped. The leaves are broadly lanceolate, white-tomentose on both sides and opposite. Inflorescences are dense, apical, racemose, reaching a length of five centimeters. The flowers are very decorative, bright blue. Flowering begins in late July and lasts 35 days. It winters freely and is successfully combined with primroses, as well as low and tall perennials.

Veronica broadleaf - grows naturally in the mountains of Southern and Central Europe. The plant reaches a height of 50 centimeters, has small, whole, bare on top and pubescent below the leaves and flowers of various colors (from blue to white), collected in dense racemose inflorescences reaching a length of 7 centimeters. Flowering is long, starting from May this plant pleases the eye for 40-45 days.

Veronica Schmidta - grows on Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands and Japan. The flower-bearing stems rise to a height of 7-12 centimeters, they are covered with large, bright blue flowers, collected in axillary inflorescences. This species blooms from the end of May for 3-4 weeks.

Veronica is crushed. A distinctive feature of the species is the presence of a long rhizome, with the help of which the plant is kept on gravelly soil. The plant is not tall, the height of the rising stems is 20-25 centimeters. The flowers are pale blue, collected in long brushes, bloom in June-July and bloom until autumn.

So, we examined the most common types of Veronica, now let's talk about choosing a place for planting them, about the technology of cultivation and reproduction, and also about the use of this plant.

Location

Veronica is not very demanding on the conditions of existence, but they are photophilous. In addition, some species are also moisture-loving, for example, Veronica Virginia long-leaved, gentian, and mountain species, such as Veronica spikelet, crushed stone and Austrian, are also drought-resistant.

Soil requirements

All types of Veronica are absolutely not picky about the type, composition and quality of the soil, so ordinary garden soil is suitable for them. As for Veronica spikelet and crushed stone, for their better rooting and a long full life, crushed stone must be added to the soil.

Plant care

Immediately after flowering, the shoots must be cut off, and the bush will be renewed due to the new growth of leaves. As for caring for plants in winter, there is nothing to worry about, all types of Veronica covered for the winter are not required.

Reproduction

Veronica, like most plants, is propagated by dividing the bush, stem cuttings and seeds.

Reproduction by dividing the bush is perhaps the easiest way of vegetative propagation, since it has a fibrous root system and a large number of shoots, an adult bush can be cut into several divisions, depending on desire. It is better to do this in early spring, when the leaves are just beginning to unfold, but it is possible in August, however, there is a risk of losing the plant. When transplanting to a permanent place, part of the plant is cut off. The final distance between plants depends on their size.

The most difficult is the method of propagation by green cuttings. It consists in the following: in June-July, young, but rather elastic shoots are chosen, of which cuttings 4-6 centimeters long with one or two internodes are cut. Then they are planted in a greenhouse under a film in a substrate of fertile soil, on top of which sand is poured with a layer of 5-7 centimeters. When planted in June, roots form in September. The resulting rooted cuttings should be immediately transplanted into the ground, and only next fall you will receive full-fledged planting material.

Seeds are sown in the fall in the ground, and in the second year the seedlings bloom.

Plant use

Veronica is used for a variety of rocky gardens, retaining walls, curbs, and so on. Many species, among other things, are also very good ground cover plants, as they form very dense turf. For example, Veronica gentian looks very good in small reservoirs located next to rockery, and Veronica entrusted is used to mask the edge of the pond.

Veronica's partners

Almost all of its types look great both in group and in specimen plantings. But there are also some differences. For example, Veronica gentian looks very good together with various primroses, gravilat, bells; veronica spikelet and crushed stone is successfully combined with saxifrages, stonecrops, carnations, as well as Dalmatian geraniums. As for the big Veronica, it is most convenient to plant it next to a white cornflower, a pinkish-lilac letter, a peach-leaved bell and a red-orange gravilat.