Thanks to beauty, relative unpretentiousness and a long decorative effect, rhizome perennials - Geiger, as well as Tiaarka and Geicherla, close to it, gained an unusual popularity among ornamental folk. In the thirties, the peak of their fame experienced the beautifully flowering sorts of geicher, and more recently they became fashionable and became highly popular ornamentalist. Although beautiful flowering continue to improve, there are amazing new items.
Geicher (Heuchera) and tiarka (Tiarella) belong to the family of saxifrage (Saxifragaceae). Their homeland is North America. Geichella (X Neicherella) is an artificially derived hybrid between the first two.
Geichers have dense, leathery, long-petioled leaves in their rosette rosettes. Growing up, bushes reach in diameter up to 60 cm. Flowers are small, in loose panicles on peduncles 40-60 cm high, in some varieties almost to a meter. Flowering in June, geycheers remain ornamental all season - their beautiful leaves with rounded or pointed lobes go live under the snow and remain until the spring. Then gradually they are replaced by new ones.
By the way, novelties of this season are extremely attractive. The geochemists of Amethyst Mist Coral Bells are full of violet shiny glossy foliage, which seems to be permeated with a bright silver cobweb. The height of the plant is 20-25 cm.
In the Lime Riki variety, beautiful glossy dark green leaves are crowned with lace cream-white flowers. Flowering - in the first half of summer for several weeks. Peduncles reach a height of 60-65 cm.
Geichers Peach Flamb and Obsidian have a bright yellow pattern with a red pattern.
Now hybridizers pursue one more goal - the compactness and splendor of the bush. A series of so-called "space" geyher - Venus, Mars, Neptune, Mercury, Saturn - large leaf blades on short petioles.
One of the most popular groups is Geiger American hybrids (N. x americana). They are distinguished by unusually spectacular foliage - purple, brown, yellow and even orange, concentrically colored, velvety, with silvery claws, with wavy and strongly corrugated edges.
Recently, newer species of geicher have been used in hybridization: large-flowered N. pubescens, drought-resistant and cold-resistant, very winter-hardy N. ichardsonii, dwarf N. pulchella H. hallii, slightly winter-hardy, but very beautifully flowering H. maxima.
A variety of varieties, mainly with green leaves, with flowers of white, pink coral color, and also with more decorative leaves - with white and cream-colored crabs, was obtained from the geysher blood-red (H.sanguinea). It has very beautiful bright red flowers, but the flowering period is much shorter than that of hybrids.
Tiaraki (Tiarella)
These close relatives of Geicher are still little known to our amateur growers, but their graceful beauty leaves no one indifferent. Decorative their tiarkas are preserved throughout the summer - in the spring they are abundantly decorated with fluffy white or pinkish inflorescence columns, and then until the winter - with a variety of leaves in the form and color, which in some tiaroks resemble the leaves of Geicher, and in others - finger-cut maple. For tiaroks in general, there is a red, brown or even almost black pattern across the veins against the background of a green leaf. In many varieties, flowers have a very pleasant, strong enough aroma. Some leaves change their color from frost and become purple, crimson, dark red, it looks spectacular in the early spring. There are many garden forms and hybrids:
Geichella (X Heucherella)
Flowering begins in May and sometimes continues until the fall, as the flowers are sterile. Height - 20-45 cm. There are already quite a few high-grade varieties. This season a new one appeared - Stolopite with a magnificent golden-yellow-green foliage, permeated with bright ruby-red spots. The height of the plant is 60-65 cm.
Care is simple - no whims
Geicher, tiarki and geichella are winter-hardy plants. Most of them normally feel themselves in the middle band, some new varieties carry frost under snow to - 40 deg. After the first frosts, when a crust forms on the soil surface, it is necessary to mulch the planting to prevent spring bulging, which often kills young plants. Most varieties are drought-resistant and shade-tolerant. Geicher, tiarki, and geichellae are undemanding to soils, but they prefer neutral or weakly-moisture and well drained. The best option is clay and sand with humus.
In wet areas in the penumbra bushes grow faster. In the sun, plants require abundant watering in arid periods. All geyhery thankfully respond to fertilizing with complex fertilizers, for example "Kemira universal". This, in particular, prolongs the flowering period.
These crops are propagated in the second half of the summer by the division of rhizomes and by the rooting of lateral cuttings-rosettes, which quickly give roots in a fairly moist soil. Some varieties of tiarok and geichellae form aerial shoots with root rosettes.
It should be taken into account
The disadvantage of many varieties of geicher and geichell is the need for frequent division and rejuvenation. Without this, usually in the third or fourth year the stems are strongly stretched, the upper leaves lack food, the tops are bare and dry up, the bushes "grow bald," and sometimes seem dead. In such cases, it is necessary to excavate the whole plant, cut off the upper, dried parts of the shoots and bury the rhizome with small living kidneys so that they are completely covered by the soil.
Do not mind eating
The larvae of the sulcus weevil eat the subtle suction roots of the geicher, which can cause the tops of the plant to dry out.
The beetles are brownish-black, 8-10 mm long, with deep punctate grooves on the elytra, feed at night, biting the leaves along the edges, and hiding in the soil during the day. Larvae are milky-white, with a brown head. In order to fight in small areas, beetles are recommended to collect manually before laying eggs. In open ground, this occurs once a year in July-August. In addition, when buying plants with a closed root system, it is necessary to thoroughly wash the roots and in no case use a potted substrate.
Geicher and geichella can be affected by bacterial patches (brown spots on the leaves) and in mild conditions - fungal diseases (young leaves are discolored). On too open areas, the leaves may suffer from sunburn: in this case, uneven bleached spots appear.
Tiarki is much more unpretentious and simpler in culture, they can remain in one place for several years, since new buds are formed below the surface of the soil and the bushes grow in breadth.
The best place in the garden
Tiarki can be used as a ground cover culture. They look especially beautiful during flowering, forming lush carpets under the trees. This is one of the classic components for forest gardens, which serves as an excellent substitute for a lawn, so problematic in the shade. They are beautifully combined with variegated scribbles, hoofs, autumnal astral sprawling, hellebones, gorodkami, low ferns and hosts.
In the autumn, geychers and tiarkas create a beautiful backdrop for flowering colchicum, devoid of foliage.
Anna RUBININA, Moscow.
Photo of the author.
The magazine "Flower" № 10 2007