Ashen, or burning bush, is a very unusual plant that, if desired, can be grown in your summer cottage. However, to get started is to learn more about it.
Botanical description
The burning bush is a herbaceous plant with a straight, sticky stem without branches about 70 cm long. It belongs to the Rutov family. The flowers themselves are large bells, collected in inflorescences in the form of brushes of various colors: pink, white and purple.
Important! When in contact with a non-burning bush, be sure to wear gloves, otherwise glandular hairs that are on the yasenets flower can cause skin burns.
Most often, there are two main types: Caucasian and white yasenets. So, the Caucasus grows about 75-85 cm high with pink-purple inflorescences that appear in June. The white yasenets reaches 50-60 cm in height, its flowers are white, and you can see them in the first two months of summer. By August, gives its first fruits.
Features of growing
The ascender (both Caucasian and white) is not too whimsical and boasts excellent winter hardiness. However, in order for a beautiful and healthy plant to please you for years, you need to know how to grow it properly. There are some requirements for lighting and soil.
Poisonous plants are often used in traditional medicine. Their number includes: yasenets, wolfberry, bathing suit, autumn crocus, dodder, yew berry, rue.
Lighting
Under habitual conditions (i.e., in nature), a burning bush grows most often in a bright forest, on the edge, on a slope, or in bushes. Loves both open sun and partial shade. Remarkably grows in the shade of other plants or independently. To lighting is not demanding. On the same place can live about ten years.
Soil type
The soil should be light and well drained. Feels good on alkaline or neutral soils. For yasenets, poor soil will be even better than saturated with organic matter.
However, it should be borne in mind that groundwater should not be near, because the burning bush does not like wet soil. So, a good option would be turf soil, sand and humus at a ratio of 1: 2: 2.
Important! If there is still stagnation of groundwater in the soil, then drainage will be an important element during planting.
Planting yasentsa
The flowers of the burning bush will surely delight you with their beauty, if you plant them correctly. It is important to know at what time to sow, and how to properly implement it.
Planting dates
Seeds of burning bush are sown in open ground as they ripen. Thus, seed germination will be much higher. It is also allowed to sow in winter or in spring. If you plant Yasenitsa seeds in the fall, they will ascend only a year later.
Sowing seeds
Small seedlings should be seated in a small school (or greenhouse, in which seeds are germinated). At the same time between them there should be a distance of about 10-15 cm. Thus, plants should be grown for three years, and only after this time can they be planted in a permanent place. After that, the burning bush will grow in one place for several years and will not cause much trouble.
Did you know? In Georgia, yasenets grass is used in cooking as a spice for various dishes.
How to care for a plant
Ascender requires not only a favorable landing, but also proper care. Under all conditions, you will grow a beautiful flower, as in the photo below.
Watering
The plant is unpretentious to watering, but you should know that a large amount of water can adversely affect its condition. Water should be watered only on dry days. In other cases, watering should be done quite rarely.
Soil care
The plant is not particularly demanding on the soil. However, mulching around plants must be done. It is not necessary to warm the seedling for the winter, because it will feel great under the snow.
Top dressing
The burning bush needs fertilizers that alkalize the soil. Thus, you should feed the plant during flowering: once or twice. It is desirable that the fertilizers were complex.
Burning Bush and Safety
You need to be careful with a burning bush, because it is especially dangerous. It is strictly forbidden to touch her, you can not even smell flowers. The danger is that when a person touches a flower, he feels nothing, but after 12 hours the skin begins to redden and blisters appear, after which a second-degree burn is formed. Temperatures and severe weakness may also occur. All this is explained by the fact that the cells of the non-burning bush emit some substances that tear the skin.
Did you know? Ashen is also called a self-igniting plant, because if you bring a match to a flower on a hot day, a flame will light up in the air, and the plant will not suffer. In this way, toxic volatile compounds are burned.
In general, the yasenets is a plant of amazing beauty that is easy to care for. The most important thing is to adhere to safety rules, and then the flower will delight you with its beauty for many more years.