Kokhia broom is beautifully called summer cypress. This ornamental plant not only decorates plots, city flower gardens and parks, but also goes ... to make brooms and feed for pets.
Cochia broom (Kochia scoparia) - This is a plant from the family of hamsters, native to southern Europe and Central Asia. Its name comes from the name of the German botanist W. Koch.
For the decoration of flower beds and flower beds, usually low and graceful garden forms are grown.
This species is a fast-growing annual with highly branched shoots, which are covered with delicate narrow leaves of bright green color. They are attached to stemless shoots (so-called sessile). With the onset of autumn, the leaves can turn reddish.
This very ornamental plant in a short time forms very dense, elongated-oval bushes up to 100-110 cm high and up to 50-60 cm wide, outwardly very similar to dwarf conifers, especially cypress and thuja. Their stems are erect, densely branched.
The leaves of the kochia are small, lanceolate, taper at the base, emerald green. The flowers are small, inconspicuous, they are lonely placed in the axils of the leaves. The whole plant is pubescent.
Popular varieties of kohija
- Summer cypress... Differs in oval-elongated, rather tall (75-90 cm) bushes, bright green in summer and crimson-red in autumn.
- Sultan... Low grade (60 cm), round bushes. With the onset of autumn, it turns red.
- Green Lace... Elongated bushes, deep green color, changes to red in autumn.
- Green Forest... Variety with highly branched shoots of light green color. The shape of the bush is correct, oval. It grows up to 90-100 cm.
- Trichophylla... Medium-sized variety (50-80 cm). In summer, numerous leaves are emerald green, in autumn they are rich burgundy.
- Burning Bush... Fast growing bushes with small leaves. Green in summer and bright crimson in autumn.
Reproduction of kochia
Growing kochia is both very difficult and simple. The fact is that its seeds lose their germination in less than a year, so only fresh seeds should be sown. They cannot be deeply covered with soil, but only sprinkled a little. Keep seedlings at temperatures above 15 ° C, too, should not, because at this temperature they will quickly die from the black leg.
Therefore, it is easiest to leave 1-2 seed plants in a greenhouse or greenhouse in the fall. Then in the spring, soon after the snow melts, numerous friendly shoots will appear on this place. In some years, kochia produces self-seeding even in the open field.
Seedlings appear in 10 days. They dive into nutritious pots.
At the end of May, you can sow kochia seeds directly into the ground. From the cold, the seedlings stop growing and acquire a reddish-purple tone. To avoid this, they are covered with foil in early spring.
Kokhia seedlings are planted in flower beds after frost. After planting or thinning, the distance between plants should be 30–40 cm.
Growing kohija
The soil... Cochia is very unpretentious, it grows on any cultivated, non-acidic soils without stagnant water, but it develops much better on loose soils rich in nutrients and humus.
Illumination... She prefers sunny places, although it can withstand light shading.
Care... Kokhia is undemanding to leave, but it grows better if in the first half of summer it is fed 2-3 times with fertilizers, especially nitrogen fertilizers. The plant is relatively drought tolerant, but should be watered regularly during dry planting times.
Kohia does not need to be tied to a support, because its stems are very firm. It grows quickly, easily withstands constant haircuts and retains its shape well. This is one of the best trimming plants.
Use in garden design
Kohia can be successfully used for single lawn plantings, small groups, low hedges.
When decorating gardens, summer cottages and various territories, broom kokhia is often used to create a "green" hedge. For this, the plants are planted in two rows, while they are slightly shifted in relation to each other. Moreover, the distance between the bushes should be 15–20 cm, and between the rows - 15 cm. With this planting, the fence turns out to be dense and beautiful.
Cochia broom is also often used for planting in a variety of flower and rocky compositions, as well as on alpine slides. For group plantings, combinations of multi-colored varieties are very beautiful.
Read also the article Summer cypress in urban landscaping.
"Ural gardener", No. 12, 2019
