Features of planting and growing Horny Goat Weed in the open field

Some interesting ornamental plants are undeservedly bypassed by fans of street flowers, although planting mountain goat weed in open ground in the garden could radically change their opinion. The advantages of this ground cover crop are mass. It is better to place it under trees or bushes. The plantings will grow rapidly, covering the ground with a solid carpet of spectacular dense foliage. The scientific name of the mountain woman - Epimedium (translated as "flower of the elves") - emphasizes the touching tenderness and weightless trembling of its buds. They were as if created by magic fairies, they possess such an unreal, fabulous beauty.

Growing conditions

Horny Goat Weed is one of those plants that never fail. She is surprisingly unpretentious and, despite her external fragility, simply amazes with the abundance of life force inherent in her. Epimedium easily adapts to different lighting, but its lack or excess affects the formation of buds and decorativeness of plants. It is best to plant it in partial shade, then you can count on long and abundant flowering. But even if you place the Horny Goat Weed in an open sunny area, its foliage will remain the same beautiful and thick and will change its shade depending on the season.

Light, loose, well-drained soils mixed with sand or clay are ideal for crops. Horny Goat Weed is not particularly demanding on the quality of the soil, but it is better to plant it in fertile soil containing a lot of manure. It can be enriched with any other organic fertilizers. Her reaction should be neutral.

Excessively dry soil is not suitable for the plant, but it does not tolerate dampness either. Waterlogging often leads to decay of the delicate roots of the epimedium and its death. Therefore, in heavy, dense soils, in which water is retained after melting snow, rains and watering, it is not worth planting the mountain goat goat. When deciding to grow a crop, you need to pay attention to the level of groundwater. If they come close to the surface, it is better to place the epimedium on natural heights or make a high flower bed for it.

Breeding features

The mountain woman planted on the site will tightly cover the ground already in the second year of life. By this time, the root system of the perennial will develop well, and it can be safely divided if it is planned to propagate the epimedium or if it is old and there is a need to rejuvenate the plantings. The procedure is carried out at the end of summer, when the flowering period of the plant has ended, and seed pods have already ripened in the place of wilted buds. You can complete it in the first week of September.

Dividing the rhizome is the most common breeding method for the Horny Goat Weed. Its segments take root best of all if they have 2-3 kidneys. Planting parts of the epimedium rhizome need not be too deep, the soil layer above them should be 5 cm. Since the Horny Goat Weed grows rapidly, at least 35-40 cm of free space is left between the holes. After placing the rhizomes in the ground, the beds are mulched. It is advisable to use dry leaves and rotted compost for this. A layer of such mulch will protect the plantings from freezing and provide them with nutrients. In the spring, the rhizomes will sprout, which will immediately begin to actively develop.

Less commonly, the seed method of reproduction of the epimedium is used. He is not very popular with gardeners, because it takes more time to care for plants. Another disadvantage is that you can expect flowering from seedlings planted on a flower bed only after 3-4 years. Seeds are pre-stratified for almost 2 months according to the following scheme:

1. For the first 3 weeks, they need to maintain a constant temperature of 15-20˚C.
2. Then the temperature is lowered to 2-5˚C. In such conditions, the seeds must spend another 30 days.

Seedlings are placed on a flower bed, leaving an interval of 40 cm between young epimediums.

Agricultural rules

Taking care of the mountain goat in the open field will not take much time. Watering frequency depends on weather conditions. In a rainy summer, it is not necessary to specially moisten the soil; the epimedium, and especially its drought-resistant species, will have enough natural precipitation. If the days are clear and hot, it is better to water the plantings. In order for the mountain goat to retain high decorativeness and bloom magnificently, the soil must constantly be slightly damp. Drying out the soil will make the flower bed less effective, and waterlogging can lead to the death of plants.

With regard to feeding, the mountain goat is very convenient - if the rules of planting and care are followed, they are practically not required for it. The epimedium is fed once a season, in early spring. It reacts equally well to organic fertilizers and complex mineral compositions. Of the latter, experienced gardeners recommend using nitrophoska. In the first year of life in a permanent place, the epimedium will have enough nutrients that were introduced into the soil during planting. In the future, the plant elements they need will be obtained from compost, which need to mulch the beds on the eve of winter. The procedure is carried out annually.

Advice

Horny Goat Weed can be used not only for garden decoration. Its leaves and stems contain many nutrients. This feature is typical for all varieties of culture: both deciduous and evergreen.

When the aerial parts of the epimedium die off, they can be left as fertilizer under the trees or shrubs where the plantings were located, or they can be mulched over beds with other plants. Mountain women hibernate in open ground well, they are not afraid of frosts, but only under a thick layer of snow. Autumn care in the form of mulching will help plants to endure sudden temperature fluctuations without consequences. The protective layer of compost should be made thicker, it will protect the roots of the epimedium from freezing. Young mountain women (aged 1-3 years) are additionally sprinkled with withered foliage, not forgetting in early spring, as soon as the snow melts, to release the beds from the shelter. It is especially important to provide them with additional protection if planting material was purchased for cultivation that was not adapted to the local climate. This recommendation also applies to those varieties that do not shed their foliage for the winter.

Secrets to Getting a Healthy Epimedium

When grown in the middle lane, the decorativeness of evergreen varieties of Horny Goat Weed decreases in spring. In early May, they begin to gradually get rid of old foliage. In its natural form, this process is delayed for a long time, delaying the formation and opening of new buds. The evergreen mountain goat will thank with abundant flowering and rapid growth of green mass, if you speed it up by manually removing the leaves that have wintered under the snow. The cut is made as close to the soil as possible. It is important not to be late with the procedure. The optimal time for her is when the snow melts. A layer of mulch is left on the beds until the threat of spring frosts is minimal.

There will be no problems with pests and diseases when growing an epimedium. Horny Goat Weed is unattractive to most insects, which are the worst enemies of horticultural crops, and has increased resistance to fungal diseases. The only danger to her is slugs. They love to feast on the delicate young foliage of the plant. It's easy to deal with them.You just need to regularly inspect the plantings and, when the first signs of a pest invasion are detected, take active steps: arrange special traps, collect slugs by hand, mulch the beds with straw.

The mountain woman is an amazing creation of nature. You can endlessly admire its magnificent flowering, each time as if being transported into the world of mystical dreams and mysterious fantasies. But even after its completion, it will not lose its decorative effect, decorating the garden with an abundance of fancifully colored foliage until late autumn. Epimedium is widely used in landscape design. It creates spectacular thickets under large shrubs and spreading trees, is good in natural flower arrays, in the northern parts of the alpine hills. It can be used to complete the decorative composition by filling in empty spaces, or to create contrasting spots on the lawn.

The beauty and versatility of the plant are not its only advantages. Mountain women are amazingly unpretentious, caring for them is extremely simple. It is enough to plant the epimedium in partial shade, occasionally water it, cover it with a layer of mulch for the winter, and it will enchant with its elegant grace for many years.