Indispensable companions of spring - tulips, are so diverse and unique that any grower can choose for himself a variety that he likes, because there are more than 10 thousand of them! The Ballad variety can become the star of your garden.
Grade description
The lily-shaped tulip Ballade (Ballad) was bred in 1953. and subsequently awarded by the Royal Horticultural Society. This variety is incredibly beautiful, the flowers are large, have the shape of glasses. The petals are pointed, and their ends are bent outward.
The color of the representatives of this variety is pale purple with a milky white border.. They have a delicate aroma. The stems are tall, up to 55 cm long. Suitable for cutting and creating floral arrangements with other colors. It blooms for two to three weeks in late April and early May.
Did you know? A feature of the tulip is its ability to quickly mutate. For a couple of generations, this flower can become barely recognizable.
The Ballad variety has several subspecies:
- Ballade Gold with golden petals;
- Ballad White (Ballade White) with snow-white petals;
- Ballade Lady (Ballade Lady) with white and pink petals;
- Ballade Dream (Ballade Dream) with red-purple petals.
Growing Features
This variety, like most bulbs, is quite simple to breed. It can grow in different climatic zones, tolerates frosts well up to –18 ° C, but loves the sun. For the best development, these flowers require fertile soil, preferably neutral or slightly alkaline.
Important! You need to buy planting material from trusted sellers in order to avoid diseases and be sure of the purity of the variety.
You need to try to hide them from the wind, because the legs of the ballad tulip are long and thin, therefore quite fragile. Abundant watering is necessary during budding, flowering and two weeks after, the rest of the time is moderate. It is also important not to fill the flowers so that the root system does not suffer.
Landing rules
Planting tulips in the ground is better in the fall, before frost. In the middle lane, this is usually done in September - the bulbs have time to take root before the cold, and green leaves have not yet appeared. The soil must be prepared before planting - dig, carefully remove weeds and fertilize. Bulbs are sorted and sorted by size. It is advisable to withstand the selected specimens in a fungicide solution for 20 minutes, in order to avoid possible diseases.
Planting rules for all bulbs - this is the depth of planting equal to three sizes of the bulb from the bottom to the top. The optimal distance between them is 10 cm. For "children" the depth is less. After sprinkling with soil on top, you need to mulch the plantings with peat or compost so that the plants tolerate winter cold well.
The subtleties of care
When caring for tulips of the Ballad variety, the following nuances must be taken into account:
- bulbs of varietal tulips are desirable to dig out every year;
- Do not plant plants in areas where lilies, daffodils grew, suffering from the same diseases;
- when watering, it is impossible for water to fall on the leaves;
- plant nutrition is carried out in early spring, at the stage of bud formation and after flowering;
- so that the bulbs are stocked with nutrients, you do not need to remove the leaves, until they naturally wither;
- loosening and weeding the soil from weeds is very important for good growth.
Pests and diseases
By observing the proper care of plants, carefully examining them at all stages of development, you can avoid most of the problems related to diseases and pests. But the basic need to know.
Important! Do not use chlorine to control pests and diseases of tulips. You can destroy the plant.
Pests:
- Medvedka. Large omnivorous insect, up to 5 cm long. In tulips, it damages the bulb and shoots. Means of dealing with the bear should be complex - chemical and folk.
- Onion tick. Usually settles on an already damaged bulb. To combat it, it is necessary to check the planting material well and follow the rules of irrigation.
- Slugs and Snails. Damage the ground parts of the plant. To combat them, you need to sprinkle with ash or tobacco dust their location.
- Beetles are nutcrackers. To combat them, deep plowing of the soil at the beginning of spring, as well as lowering the acidity of the soil with ash, chalk, etc.
Disease
- Motley. In this viral disease, streaks of color uncharacteristic of this plant appear on the petals of tulips and other bulbous plants. It is carried with juice by pests - aphids, onion nematodes, ticks, as well as through non-disinfected tools. The disease is incurable, so you need to carefully monitor the growth of tulips, remove infected plants in time, and prevent thickening of the planting.
- August disease or necrotic spotting. The virus is transmitted from affected weed roots to the roots of cultivated plants. It is expressed in the appearance of brown spots on the stem and leaves. Control measures consist of careful weeding from weeds, removal of diseased plants.
- Rot - gray, soft bacterial, wet and white. The fight against all types of rot includes crop rotation (do not plant tulips in the same area for more than five years in a row), good selection of material for planting, proper storage of bulbs in winter.
Tulip in landscaping
Tulips - one of the earliest spring flowers. They create a holiday atmosphere, and I want to keep it as long as possible. The flowering period usually does not exceed three weeks, so gardeners use all kinds of combinations of different varieties and their combination with other plants in landscape design.
Early varieties are planted with medium and late, achieving long flowering. Tulips are very well combined with other bulbous flowers - daffodils, muscari, hyacinths. Coniferous plants, ferns are suitable as a background emphasizing beauty.Did you know? The homeland of tulips is not Holland, and not even Persia, but the steppes of Kazakhstan.
The high-quality tulip Ballad will decorate the garden with a unique shape and color combination. He will delight the eye for many years, subject to proper care and knowledge of the intricacies of breeding.
