Eremurus is a perennial plant with powerful bright inflorescences. It belongs to the Xanthorrhoea family. Its homeland is the steppe and desert regions of Eurasia. In our country, eremurus is better known as "shiryash". The first name can be translated from Greek as "desert tail". It reflects the habitat and shape of the inflorescences. The plant is very unpretentious, already at the end of spring it pleases gardeners with bright and fragrant inflorescences. Eremurus will perfectly decorate the spring garden and will attract the attention of not only households, but also passers-by.
Botanical Description
Eremurus is a perennial herb. It has a massive rhizome with a spherical thickening in the center, from which powerful thick roots depart. Each year, the processes die off, forming another thickening or “bottom” in the central part. The height of the flower is on average 100-150 cm, but there are specimens up to 2.5 m high.
At the base of the earth is a large basal rosette of leaves. Dark green trihedral foliage grows up to 100 cm in length. Smooth, rigid sheet plates have a keeled shape. Sometimes they bend outward. In the middle of spring, a bare fleshy stem appears from the center of the leaf rosette. Its top is decorated with a racemose inflorescence about 1 m long.
Whitish, gray-red, yellow, pink or brown-brown flowers are located close to each other. Corollas in the shape of bells begin to open at the base of the peduncle in a spiral. Each flower lives no more than a day. In total, the flowering period of one plant lasts up to 40 days. At this time, eremurus attracts many bees and other beneficial insects, therefore it is an excellent honey plant.
After pollination, the fruits ripen - round, fleshy seed capsules. Inside are partitions that divide the space into 3 compartments. They contain small trihedral seeds with a wrinkled brown surface.
The life cycle of an eremurus is peculiar. The first leaves appear in snowy hollows. In the middle of spring, a thick stalk begins to grow, and in May, flowers bloom. Sometimes they can suffer from spring frosts. In mid-June, flowering ends and the fruits begin to ripen. By the end of the month they dry out, like other parts of the plant. Eremurus goes into hibernation, the entire ground part dies. This must be taken into account when drawing up a flower composition, so that the site is not empty.
Types and varieties of eremurus
The genus of eremurus has 60 species of plants. All of them are perfectly pollinated, therefore, in addition to the main varieties, there are many hybrids. In Russia, only a few species are most common.
Eremurus Echison. The plant is found on the stony plateaus of southeast Asia. It blooms one of the first in April, but the variety also has a very short growing season. The leaf rosette has up to 27 long bright green leaves. On a dense peduncle up to 1 m long, a racemose inflorescence blooms. Its diameter reaches 17 cm. 120-300 buds can form on one plant. There are varieties with white, purple and bright pink flowers.
Eremurus Alberta grows in mountain valleys and reaches a height of 120 cm. Bare, upright leaves are painted in dark green. In the center is a large stalk with a grayish bloom. Its top is decorated with a loose racemose inflorescence 60 cm long. White corollas are bordered by meat-red perianths.
Eremurus powerful grows in the highlands. It has brown fusiform roots and bare keeled leaves. The dark green linear foliage is covered with a bluish bloom. A smooth bluish-green stem grows 1.2 m in height. It is decorated with a cylindrical inflorescence. On one stalk there are up to 1000 small pale pink buds with brown or whitish perianths.
Eremurus Olga. The plant does not exceed 1.5 m in height. A dense spike-shaped inflorescence is painted white. It consists of fairly large bell-shaped buds.
Eremurus Cleopatra. The plant is particularly beautiful due to the bright color of the flowers. On a stem up to 120 cm tall, fiery pink small flowers bloom. They are located very close to each other and form a continuous burning veil around the peduncle.
Breeding methods
Eremurus is propagated by sowing seeds and rhizome division. To collect the seeds, it is necessary to cut off the drying flower stalk with seed boxes and dry it in the open air under a canopy. Then the seeds must be freed from the shell. In October, they are sown immediately in open ground. To do this, dig the soil, level and make grooves with a depth of 1.5 cm. Seeds are distributed evenly in the holes, and then sprinkled with earth. In the spring, the first shoots appear, they need more thorough care. Young plants should be carefully watered and weed regularly from weeds. Flowering is possible for 4-5 years of life.
In regions with severe winters, it is recommended to first grow seedlings. Seeds are sown in containers with loose sand and peat soil in October. It is necessary to place them at a depth of 1-1.5 cm. The container is kept at a temperature of + 15 ° C until spring. In March, the first shoots appear. Plants with two real leaves are planted in separate small pots. In the summer they are kept on the street. When the ground part dries, the pots are transferred to a dark place. In autumn, seedlings are left on the street, but covered with spruce branches and fallen leaves to a height of 20 cm. Planting in open ground is carried out only next fall.
The division of rhizomes is carried out at the end of summer, when the ground part is completely dead. In August, they completely dig out a root with a large lump of earth, so as not to damage the lateral processes. It is soaked in water and freed from the soil. Then the rhizome is dried and divided into several parts. Places of cuts are treated with crushed charcoal. Segments of the root are stored for several weeks in a cool, dry place. Landing in the open ground is made at the end of September or in October. By the next spring, each dividend forms its own leaf outlet.
Landing and care
For an eremurus, you need to find a sunny, open place in the garden. The flower is not afraid of drafts and strong gusts of wind. Although its stems are quite high, only a hurricane is capable of knocking them to the ground. All planting and transplant procedures are carried out in August-September. The soil should be well-drained. The proximity of groundwater or water bodies is undesirable, because the roots are sensitive to stagnation of moisture and can rot. Alkaline or neutral soils should be selected.
Eremurus does not have any special requirements for the fertility of the earth. However, it was noted that the more fertile the soil, the later the young seedling will bloom (it will grow the root mass for several years), but on poor soils, flowering begins 1-2 years earlier. When landing at the bottom of the pit, it is recommended to pour a layer of rubble or pebbles. This will provide good drainage. To optimize the composition of the soil, leaf humus, turfy soil and sand should be added to it. The distance between plantings depends on the type of plant. Large specimens are planted at a distance of 40-50 cm from each other, small enough 25-30 cm of free space.
During the period of active vegetation, eremurus needs abundant and regular watering. However, it is important not to overdo it. If the spring is rainy enough, irrigation is not needed. Otherwise, stagnation of water cannot be avoided. When the blooming of eremurus comes to an end, watering should be reduced or stopped completely. In the plant’s homeland, drought begins during this period, so excessive soil moisture can destroy the rhizome.
For abundant flowering, fertilizer is indispensable. Organic top dressing is introduced in early spring. Before winter, the soil surface is fertilized with superphosphate powder, and mulch the soil with compost or rotted manure. It is important to limit the proportion of nitrogen salts, since their excess reduces the winter hardiness of plants.
Soil under the primus should be regularly weeded so that the air penetrates better to the roots, and weeds do not inhibit the flowers.
In central Russia, eremurus normally winter without shelter. When growing heat-loving varieties for the winter, the soil is mulched with peat. It makes no sense to dig out roots and keep them warm until spring, as seedlings wake up long before planting.
In the middle of summer, when the vegetation dries up, it is necessary to prune the flower stalks and then the leaves first. This will help preserve the decorative look of the flowerbed.
Diseases and Pests
The most common pests of eremurus are slugs and snails. They gladly gnaw a fleshy stem and feed on the juice of the plant. Roots and overgrowth can also suffer from attacks by mice and moles. With improper care of the eremurus and frequent flooding of the soil, root rot can develop. Affected areas must be carefully trimmed and treated with ash or fungicides.
Sometimes a viral infection develops on foliage and shoots. Its main features are pale yellow tubercles shallow from the surface. It is impossible to save diseased plants. It is necessary to cut them off and destroy them as soon as possible in order to prevent further infection of the flower garden.
Eremurus in landscape design
Tall and dense inflorescences of eremurus are good in group and single plantings. They can perform zoning of the site, decorate fences and outbuildings, as well as plant a flower garden in the background. Fawn and snow-white, yellow and pink dense panicles are used to design a natural or desert landscape.
In flower arrangements, the best neighbors for eremurus are tulips, peonies, irises, mallow, yuccas and cereals. When choosing flowers for a flower bed, it is necessary to focus on similar conditions of detention. It is also important to choose plants that will bloom in turn. So it will be possible to achieve continuous flowering from early spring to autumn frosts.
