Aconite Is An Unpretentious Beautiful Perennial For The Northern Garden

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

Solo part for aconite

Choosing plants for our flower garden, we, first of all, are interested in their decorativeness, and then everyone sets priorities in their own way. For someone, it is important that the plant blooms for a long time, for someone - albeit not for long, but in order to "get bigger and thicker", it is important for others to get a rare exotic.

For me, in the first, second and third places is ordinary unpretentiousness. Sadly, I am a terrible lazy person, and I do not intend to perform any ritual dances around my flower garden.

We do not live in Sochi, but in wet Petersburg, sunny days for us are a common holiday. Therefore, I choose plants only resistant to our difficult weather and belonging to the fourth climatic zone.

Even my roses only grow shrubs and Canadians, i.e. winter-hardy and non-sheltering. May all quivering and diligent gardeners who love tinkering with covering materials forgive me. Currently, the choice of unpretentious, stable, abundantly flowering perennials is quite large, but I would like to tell you about my favorites - the majestic aconites.

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People often call Aconites simply “shoes”, their ultramarine thickets turn blue near many fences of our country. Aconites are successfully fighting for their piece of garden land with the invasion of any malicious weeds, as in the song - "… you can't strangle, you can't kill." Maybe that's why aconite is also called a wrestler.

I have several varieties of aconite growing and, really, all of them are worthy of Natasha Rostova's enthusiastic exclamation "… what a charm!" The widespread variety Bicolor is a tall and lush handsome man with many lateral flowering twigs. The elegant Steinless Steel variety is elongated vertically, with large, light purple shoes, which are densely and tightly pressed to the stems. The charming Pink Sensen variety has delicate, light pink inflorescences. Stylish, tall grade Album pleases my flower garden with its snow-white cloud in July and August. The compact, low variety Ivorin blooms in June with its extraordinary, elongated spurs, the whole plant looks neat, cheerful bouquet.

Aconite yellow

Recently a new inhabitant has appeared in my garden - this is yellow aconite. Its unusual lemon-yellow flowers make it look quite exotic.

It differs from its unpretentious counterparts not only in color, but also in preferences: it loves higher and drier places, with the addition of sand. There is even a liana among the aconites - aconite curly, growing up to 2-2.5 m, blooming profusely from the end of July with dark blue shoes.

Like many vines, curly aconite loves shading. With me, he feels great next to the lilac and wraps around it gently, but persistently. At the end of July, a new "species" of lilac appears on our site, blooming with bright blue shoes and only on one side.

Aconites will grow in the sun and in the shade, and they will survive the drought, but if you give them a little attention and care, then their gratitude will be very generous.

There are no care secrets, the usual weeding, watering, fertilizing the earth, add a handful of ash, if not a pity. My only secret is that at the moment of flowering of the first high peduncles, I cut them off, and later I cut off all the late flowering branches.

Aconite varieties Bicolor

The reaction of the Aconites to my unceremonious actions is immediate: new flower shoots are thrown out. And how could it be otherwise - everyone wants to leave their offspring on earth. If you use this pruning technique, aconites will enliven and fill your flower gardens with bright colors from June-July to September. They look majestic as a vertical accent and perform their solo part, towering above the combined choir of other colors.

For the sake of your personal taste, the composite choir can be composed of any plants 30-70 cm high so that they cover the not always pretty lower part of the aconite, and so that they are not taller than its height. Daylilies, astilbe, aquilegia, peonies, irises are quite suitable for this purpose. For me, for example, aconites grow in a flower garden in a company with many different phloxes. They are remarkably combined with each other in color, bloom almost at the same time, and most importantly, in the midday heat, aconites serve as an excellent screen for delicate phlox flowers.

Well, now we have to talk about the unpleasant property of aconite and put a fly in the ointment in a barrel of honey. All sources indicate that the plant is poisonous.

This is a very serious property, and I do not dare to assert anything on my own, therefore I am citing the data of the "Encyclopedia of Ornamental Garden Plants". It says the following: “The toxicity of the plant is caused by the content of alkaloids (primarily aconitine) in it, which affect the central nervous system and cause convulsions and paralysis of the respiratory center. The toxicity of aconite depends on the geographical location (soil, climate), on the age of the plant - in the southern latitudes it is most poisonous, and in Norway, for example, animals are fed with it.

Konit Album

Cultivated in a culture on fertile garden soil, aconite loses its poisonous properties after several generations. The medicinal uses of this plant are very diverse; in Tibet he is called "the king of medicine", he was treated with anthrax, pneumonia; in Russian folk medicine, it was used as an external pain reliever. To date, some types of aconite are listed in the Red Book."

In order to avoid any existing or non-existing problems with toxicity, I plant aconites in the center of the flower garden, surrounded by dense thickets of phlox, so that it is not easy for children to reach it. So, my dear flower growers, I have shared with you a piece of my love for a wonderful, decorative perennial.

Perhaps some of you will take a new, more interested look at aconite. Those florists who are interested in this wonderful flower, I invite you to visit my website www.poli-sad5.narod.ru or call +7 (921) 301-79-73.