Flax (Linum) - perennial or annual herbaceous plant from the Flax family. In nature, the plant can be found in the temperate and subtropical latitudes of our planet.

Origin

The native land of flax is the northwest of Africa. The genus of flax includes over 200 species of plants, of which slightly more than 40 are cultivated. 25 types of flax are grown as an ornamental crop.

Description

The following types and varieties of flax are of interest to gardeners.

You can admire the wonderful flowering of flax by looking at the photo of the plant.

Flax growing conditions

The plant is demanding on lighting, it puts up only with a light lace shade. The most best sites for decorative flax - open sun areas. Flax planted with glades attracts the eye with the brightness of flowering.

The plant is not demanding on the soil. The main thing is that the soil is well drained and has an alkaline reaction. Perennial flax prefers light sandy soils filled with humus at a dose of 5 - 7 kg per 1 sq. meter. Heavy clay soils domesticated by adding sand, wood ash and lime. Annual species grow well on any soil.

Flax care is very simple. Watering plantings is required only in severe drought, usually, the flower has enough natural precipitation.

Weeds will spoil the look of flower meadows, so weeding should be done in a timely manner.
To avoid the uncontrolled spread of the flower by self-seeding, you need to collect on time seed pods... Or take a separate area for flax, away from flower beds and flower beds.

Under unfavorable weather conditions, flax can be affected by fusarium and rust. If, at the first sign of the disease, you do not start treating the plantings with fungicides, there is a risk of losing all plantings.

Flax propagation

Annual species are easily spread by sowing seeds in the ground, self-seeding is possible. Sowing is carried out in the spring, at the end of April - May, on prepared soil. Seeds are poured into grooves to a depth of 1.5 - 2 cm, the distance between seeds is 3 - 6 cm, between rows 12 - 20 cm. Flax seedlings are friendly and fast.

Perennial species can be propagated by dividing the bush in early spring. The bush is dug up, and the rhizome is divided into parts. Delenki are planted in a prepared place, in a well-spilled hole. Sowing perennial flax seeds are carried out before winter. In one place, perennial plant species can grow up to 5 years.

Decorative flax in landscape design

Blooming all summer long bright flowers, flax is an important part of the Mauritanian lawn. Planted in a company of poppies, cereals, flax will complement a flower garden in a natural or rustic style.

Good flax, planted close large plants with dark textured foliage. Perennial undersized flax is planted on an alpine hill, combining with bells and cereals; along the paths, in the foreground of the flower beds. You should not combine linen with exquisite aristocratic flowers - roses, lilies, wild flower too easy for such a neighborhood.

Useful properties of flax

In addition to beautiful flowering and growing to obtain plant fiber, flax seed has a number of beneficial properties for the human body. The seed is especially rich in Omega 3, 6 and 9. The product is useful for digestion, improves the condition of the skin, hair and nails. Flax seeds are taken for kidney diseases, hormonal disorders, frequent colds, bronchitis, atherosclerosis, diabetes. Slimy flaxseed decoctions and jelly are an excellent medicine for a sick stomach.

Flax seeds are added to cold salads, cereals, jelly is prepared, or simply eaten with water or juice. The combination of flaxseed and kefir will bring special benefits to the gastrointestinal tract.

Important! More than 2 tbsp. tablespoons of flax seeds per day should not be consumed. The optimal dose for strengthening the immune system is 8 - 10 g.

In the pharmacy, you can buy not only flax seeds, but also linseed oil... It is useful to add it daily to salads without subjecting them to heat treatment.

In cosmetology, flax seeds are used as part of cleansing scrubs, smoothing masks.

Watch also the video

Flax is a bright, gentle, unpretentious plant. As an ornamental plant, they grow annual large-flowered flax and several perennial species.

Linen - ornamental plant for garden

Flax is a genus of perennial and annual plants of the flax family. The number of species is about 230. Gardeners grow several decorative species- annual and several perennial species among which the most common -, coarse flax and .

1. Large-flowered flax - an annual, very delicate, beautifully and long-flowering plant, low up to 50 cm in height. Flowers of large-flowered flax have a diameter of up to 4 cm and a variety of colors - white, red, pink, blue, some varieties have darker eyes in the center of the flower. Flowers are revealed only in sunny weather. Beautiful large-flowered flax in, looks especially impressive large groups, included in the composition, suitable for cutting c. Large-flowered flax is a plant, seeds can be sown directly in open ground in May or before winter. Blooms from June to September.

2. Perennial flax - perennial up to 50 cm tall with blue or white flowers up to 2 cm in diameter. Blooms in June-July.

3. Flax yellow - a perennial plant from 20 to 40 cm tall with bright yellow flowers up to 3 cm in diameter. Blooms in June-July.

4. Austrian flax - perennial up to 50 cm in height, blue five-petal flowers. Blooms in May-June.

5. Tauric flax - yellow flowers are collected on a pedicel about 50 cm long in umbellate inflorescences of 10-20 pieces.

Linen in garden design

Linen. Growing, planting and care

Flax is a light-loving plant, grows on sunny open places... Prefers the lungs fertile soil with a neutral reaction.

Flax propagates by seeds, except for perennial species seed reproduction reproduction by dividing the bush and grafting is possible. When propagated by seeds, flowering in perennial flax species begins from the second year. When planting, a distance between plants of about 15-20 cm is observed.

Flax is a plant of the Flax family, numbering more than 200 species, including annual and perennial, decorative and agricultural, as well as oil plants. Flax grows throughout Europe, North America, in some countries in Asia. In this article it will be on the cultivation and cultivation of decorative perennial flax.

Decorative, large-flowered

Perennial, large-flowered, blue flax has the greatest decorative value. Its height is 50-60 cm, flowers 5-6 cm in diameter, thin shoots, woody by autumn. The flowers are blue or blue, grow in clusters, open in the morning on sunny days, but crumble in the evening. The next morning, new flowers appear, as a result, flowering occurs continuously, in sunny weather it lasts from May to October. The duration of flowering depends not only on weather conditions, but also from leaving, seed pods must be removed in a timely manner.

Flax loves alkaline, well-drained soils, and although it can grow in poor and scarce soil, it will thrive if the soil is fertilized with organic and mineral fertilizers in advance.

Large-flowered blue flax can grow in one place for 4-5 years, when the flowers and leaves lose their former decorative effect, the plants are transplanted to another place.

Decorative perennial flax prefers light areas, without stagnation in the soil, grows well on slopes. In cold climates, it is propagated by seedlings, for which the seeds are sown in a greenhouse in April. In warm climates, flax can be sown in open ground in April-May, when the air temperature during the day and at night does not drop below +12 degrees. The first shoots will appear 10-15 days after sowing the seeds.

Flax tolerates transplanting well, and if it grows too luxuriantly in one place, it is transplanted, dividing the bushes. Even if the roots were damaged during digging, they can be covered with compost, and flowering will continue until the cold weather. In addition, flax is fed with nitrogen and phosphates.

In areas with a warm climate, perennial flax seeds can be sown in the fall, so that with the first heat, strong, cold-resistant seedlings appear. Often flax reproduces by self-sowing, in the spring it will need to be thinned out so that too densely growing bushes do not grow weak and stunted.

Flax care consists of watering, loosening the soil, removing weeds that can drown the plant. In the fall, watering is stopped so that the leaves dry up, the stem remains to winter, in the spring new leaves and flowers will appear on it. To protect flax from fungal diseases, it is sprayed with fungicides. To prevent the appearance and spread of nematodes, marigolds are planted next to flax, which scare off pests with their aroma.

Ornamental oilseed

This view is just as different large flowers with a diameter of 4-5 cm. Plant height is 30-40 cm, some specimens grow above 1 meter. The flower petals are narrow and long, different colors- crimson, blue, blue, yellow, red. Flax received an uncharacteristic color of flowers as a result of the breeding activity of florists who bred flax species that are very different from everyone's usual blue fiber flax.

Oil flax is grown not only because of beautiful flowers, its seeds possess useful properties contain more than 40% fatty oil, which is used in medicine, cosmetology, paint and varnish and perfumery industries.

Oil flax has well developed root system, therefore, it is necessary to sow it, or plant seedlings at a distance of 20-25 cm from each other. Over time, the bushes will grow well, and the height will rise to 70 cm.

You need to take care of oil flax in the same way as for large-flowered flax - to water, loosen the ground, feed, weed. Potassium, nitrogen, phosphates, phosphorus are used for feeding.

Oilseed decorative linen can be planted in rock gardens, flower beds and borders, preferably in a bright, sunny place.

In addition, other types of perennial flax are used in ornamental gardening - alpine creeping flax;

• bell flax with yellow flowers and oblong leaves;
• capitate flax with long leaves and golden yellow flowers.

These varieties begin to bloom in late spring and finish flowering in late autumn.

One of the leaders is an unpretentious plant - decorative flax. Gardeners who discovered it for themselves are constant lovers of this wonderful plant. Having planted it once in their garden, they will grow it constantly. Why is this plant so attractive?

Flax is one of the ancient cultures grown by man. A strong thread was obtained from its fibrous stem by spinning. Linen fabric is environmentally friendly, durable, beautiful. Clothes made of linen are not hot in summer, not cold in winter. In nature, flax has small blue flowers.

Large-flowered flax - decorative annual plant, often used in flower gardens, gardens and parks. It grows from 30 to 60 cm in height, can reach a height of 110 cm. Flax flowers of medium size - up to 3 cm in diameter, are collected in inflorescences. The petals fall off pretty quickly. A dry capsule with numerous brown seeds is formed. The plant propagates exclusively by seeds.

In its natural environment, flax grows in northern Africa. It has been cultivated since the 18th century. Nowadays it is grown almost everywhere. In Russia, it grows even in the northern regions.

Decorative flax grows even on the poorest of soils. Loves sunny areas. It grows rather poorly in the shade, the plants become thinner, grow and bloom little. Dislikes wetlands with very wet soil.

Soil preparation

A flower bed is prepared in advance. The earth is well dug, the soil should be loose, saturated with oxygen. It is advisable to fertilize the earth with humus and superphosphate. You can apply special fertilizers for flowering plants... After fertilizing, the soil must be loosened up, leveled and sowed again.

It is advisable to make rows, shed them and sow seeds. You need to plant shallow - about 1.5 cm. You can sow in holes. The plant grows well in a group or in dense rows. After planting, the ground needs to be watered again.

When to plant decorative flax

You can sow flax in early spring or before winter. Can be planted at the end of April. The plant takes a long time to germinate, the first shoots appear in a few weeks. If the flax is planted very tightly, then thinning can be done.

Plant care

During the summer, planting should be watered if necessary, but not too often so that there is no waterlogging. If there is enough rain, then no watering is required. It is advisable to loosen the soil, weed the weeds so that they do not drown out delicate plants.

With good and timely care, the plants will delight with abundant and long flowering... It begins to bloom quite early and ends in late autumn. Flowers come in different shades, but mostly blue, blue, pink-red, milky flowers. In combination with different colors the flowerbed looks just great, eye-catching. Before flowering, you can feed flax with mineral fertilizers for flowering plants.

According to the rules of crop rotation for the next year, decorative flax needs to be planted in a new place. The soil is depleted and plants can grow weak.

The use of flax in plantings

Decorative flax is widely used in landscape design garden and personal plots. It is a wonderful decoration for alpine slides. Unpretentious plants take root well and actively bloom in combination with other plants alpine slide creating a unique floral pattern. Looks good with wildflowers - bells, cornflowers, daisies.

There are not only annuals, but also perennial varieties, which have a wide variety of flowers in color. They are taller, form dense thickets, which must be periodically thinned out. Flax reproduces by self-seeding, so you need to make sure that the seeds do not fall out of the dry bolls. Dried flowers must be removed, this will prolong the flowering time of the plant and make it more lush.

Medicinal properties of flax

Flax is not only an ornamental plant, but also very useful. Especially famous for medicinal properties white linen. The most valuable medicinal oil is obtained from the seeds, which helps with many diseases. It enhances immunity, has a rejuvenating effect, saturates the body with useful fatty acids. Since ancient times, people have known about the benefits of this plant and have grown it not only for decorative or industrial purposes, but also to improve health. This is a natural, environmentally friendly medicine for many ailments that does not possess side effects when used correctly.

In autumn, dry boxes are collected, the seeds are poured into a special container. The stems are harvested and burned, and the garden bed is dug up before winter. This helps to kill many pests, weeds and oxygenate the earth. If you do not dig it up, then the earth becomes dense, and in the spring it is much more difficult to cultivate it. You can sow flax before winter, but keep in mind that delicate seedlings are afraid of frost.

Growing flax at home

Flax can be grown in the city on the balcony. Growing at home is not difficult, due to the unpretentiousness of the plant. It is planted in special boxes. A prerequisite is the location on the sunny side.

The soil must be alkaline. You can buy land from specialized garden shops. You can also buy decorative flax seeds there. Drainage is poured at the bottom of the box - these are pebbles, expanded clay or gravel. A layer of earth is laid on top, which can be mixed with a small amount of sand for looseness. It is advisable to add mineral fertilizers, but the plant is unpretentious, so it makes sense to fertilize with humus.

The seeds must be sown in wet soil to a depth of about 1.5 cm. After about a week, the first shoots may appear. If the ground is cold, then the seedlings generally germinate later. Seedlings are thinned and watered regularly. Be sure to loosen the land a little and remove weeds. At proper care on the balcony you can grow beautiful flowers that will delight all summer. You also need to pick off dry inflorescences for more abundant flowering... In the fall, you need to collect the seeds for the next planting in the spring. You can be sure that the plant will become one of the most beloved and demanded by gardeners.

Flax is not only a healthy crop widely used in textile industry... A perennial plant flax, as well as the Narbonne and Alpine species of this crop have highly decorative qualities and are successfully grown on household plots middle crack. Its blue, white or yellowish flowers can decorate any flower bed, and are also ideal for rock gardens.

What does a flax plant of different types look like?

Of the 25 species, only two are most often used in flower decoration: perennial and Narbon. You will find a description of the flax plant of these species on this page.

Plants with erect, strong, thin stems, narrow opposite leaves and beautiful five-petal flowers that open on sunny days.

Look at the photo - the flax plant has flowers of blue, white, yellow or red colors, all of them are collected in half-umbrellas or brushes:

Perennial, or Siberian, up to 80 cm in height, stems are naked, thin, rod-shaped, usually branched at the top. The leaves are small, linear, alternate, green or bluish.

As you can see in the photo, in perennial flax flowers are pale blue or blue, 2 cm in diameter, collected in a loose corymbose panicle:

Sepals are ovate, easily falling off. The capsule is spherical, 8 mm in diameter, the seeds are brown, flat, 5 mm in length. Perennial flax tolerates light shading, but it grows better and blooms more abundantly in open places, well warmed up by the sun.

Narbonne- a plant about 30 cm tall with thin graceful, slightly twisted shoots. It blooms in June-July with sky-blue flowers, 2.0-2.5 cm in diameter, collected in low-flowered inflorescences on the tops of leafy stems.

But also alpine flax is found. Pole-root plant 40 cm high. The plant grows from mid-April to October. Blooms in May-June, seeds in June-July.

Below you can see what a flax plant of all these types looks like:

Growing of perennial, Narbonne and Alpine flax

Flax is easily propagated by seeds. When sown in March in a greenhouse, they bloom in the same year, but you can sow directly to a permanent place in the fall, before winter or in spring.

Flax grown from seeds blooms more abundantly and plants are more viable than when dividing bushes.

When growing perennial flax, as well as when growing flax of other types in the usual garden land make 5 kg of compost or humus per 1 m2, if the earth is heavy, clayey, add 1-2 buckets of sand. Damp soils are not suitable for flax.

Landing distance 15 x 20 cm. The best time planting seedlings late May - early June. Landings are weeded in a timely manner, watered only in dry times. Although each flower lives for a little more than a day, in general, the flowering is long - more than two months, from June to August.

Perennial, Narbon and Alpine flax seeds ripen in August-September in abundance. It reproduces easily by self-sowing; in the spring, seedlings can be transferred to new places.

Flax of all types is planted in rock gardens, in stony areas among the undersized.