Hebe

 
хебе красивая

Norichnikov family. Homeland New Zealand, Australia, South America. There are about 140 species in nature. This plant is not for ordinary city apartments, but for winter gardens and cool greenhouses. In the southern strip of Russia, some Hebe species are grown in open ground.

  • Hebe oriole Hebe salicifolia is a tree-like shrub with oblong, pointed at the end leaves about 15 cm long and about 3 cm wide. The leaves are opposite, sessile, smooth, green. Numerous flowers are collected in fluffy racemose inflorescences about 20 cm long. The flowers are small 0.5-1 cm in diameter, white or purple.
  • Hebe cypress-like "Hebe cupressoides" is a small, highly branching shrub. The stems are thin, covered with tightly fitting leaves about 2 mm in size. The leaves are fleshy, bluish in color. The flowers are blue or pale purple about 3-4 mm in diameter in loose capitate inflorescences.
  • Hebe the beautiful Hebe speciosa is a tree-like shrub with oblong leathery leaves on short petioles. Leaves about 10 cm long and about 3-4 cm wide, glabrous, with slight pubescence along the central vein. The flowers are red or purple, about 1 cm in diameter, collected in multi-flowered racemose inflorescences.
  • Hebe pinguifolia is a small, well-branching shrub up to 40-50 cm tall. The leaves are tightly fitting to each other, fleshy, oblong, pointed at the end, green-bluish in color. The flowers are white about 3-4 mm in diameter in loose racemose inflorescences.
хебе

In culture, you can most often find hybrid varieties obtained by crossing a variety of Hebe species. Most of them unite under the name Hebe Anderson Hebe andersonii. By the way, there are very beautiful variegated varieties.

Hebe - care at home

Hebe speciosa (beautiful) grows quite energetically and soon it needs a lot of space. To restrain the growth of the shrub, it can be pinched and pruned many times, but exclusively immediately after the dormant period or at the end of flowering. Inflorescences form at the ends of young shoots.

Temperature: hebe prefers moderate temperatures in summer in the range of 20-22 ° C, in winter it is much cooler - about 6-8 ° C. In too warm rooms drops buds and leaves. For the winter, this plant must be placed on an insulated balcony, in the summer it must be taken out into the garden.

Lighting: hebe is photophilous, many species do not require shading from the direct sun in summer, but are gradually accustomed to it in the spring so that the plant does not get burned. In winter, additional artificial lighting may be needed if temperatures are not low enough.

Watering: plentiful in summer, the earthen lump should not dry out, but excessive dampness is not allowed either. Provide good drainage in the pot. In autumn and winter, watering is much more moderate, but depends on the surrounding temperature. The colder, the less often watering. Before watering, touch the soil in the pot - is it dry enough.

Top dressing: from April to August, every two weeks with liquid fertilizers for ornamental flowering plants. The fertilizer should contain more phosphorus and potassium than nitrogen. It is desirable that the fertilizer includes trace elements - boron and zinc.

Air humidity: periodically sprayed. If in summer the temperature is kept above 26 ° C, then spray more often, or put the pot on a wide tray with water.

Transplant: Annually in the spring. The soil is the 1 part of the sod, the 2 part of the leaf, the 1 part of the peat and 1/2 parts of the sand. The soil should be loose and not heavy. Small expanded clay and pieces of birch coal can be added to it.

Reproduction: by seeds and stem cuttings.

From personal growing experience, Maria Zyryanova: "As you probably already understood, Hebe is more of a greenhouse plant than a houseplant, and on the streets it is grown in the southern regions of Russia. But if you have a well-insulated balcony, you may well grow Hebe in a pot, leaving it to winter in freezing temperatures on the balcony until spring. If it suddenly gets very cold, you can move it to the landing during frosts. If this is not possible, then you need to leave Hebe on the balcony, but carefully insulate the plant - place it in a box and wrap it in blankets. If the temperature inside the box is + 2 + 3 ° C and completely dry soil, then the plant will perfectly tolerate the absence of light."

   

By the way

Hebe is quite often overgrown, especially if the lighting is not enough, the shoots stretch, the leaves grind and do not sit so tightly on the stems. Therefore, so that the plant does not lose its decorative attractiveness, it is cut after flowering, and at the end of autumn until spring, Hebe should be at rest, i.e. cool conditions and rare watering restrain growth. In spring, to stimulate more abundant flowering, the ends of the shoots are pinched, the plant is gradually accustomed to the bright sun. Then, until the end of summer, it should be in the fresh air.

By the way

Hebe is propagated by cuttings and seeds. Cuttings are best cut in autumn, when the plant is pruned after flowering. The apex is cut off about 10-12 cm, the lower leaves are removed. Dip the end of the handle into phytohormone powder and plant in small pots with a loose substrate of 4-5 pieces. It is better to take soil from equal parts of sheet earth and sand, or peat and sand. The cuttings are placed under the bag. Rooting occurs in about 1.5 months. After the cuttings take root and new leaves begin to appear, the tops of the shoots need to be pinched.

Hebe seeds are poorly stored, quickly lose germination. Therefore, they are sown immediately, in wide plates with a loose substrate (as for cuttings). Lightly sprinkle with earth and moisten from the sprayer. Crops are covered with glass and kept in a well-lit place, but not direct sunlight. After the first leaves appear, the glass is removed and the seedlings can be carried out in fresh air, but in a place protected from wind, hot sun and rain.

Care errors

  • The leaves become lethargic and pale - if the soil is dried out. Hebe needs plenty of watering in the summer, especially if the weather is hot.
  • On the leaves, brown spots are various spots that appear due to violation of watering regimes, when the soil is often waterlogged or dry.
  • Dry brown edges of leaves - can be if the plant is overfed with fertilizers.
  • The leaves are pale, small, the shoots are elongated - if too dark. If in winter you do not have a low enough temperature in the conservatory, then connect additional lighting. In summer, put the plant in the lightest place, although some Hebe species can grow in light partial shade.
    • In
  • open ground, Hebe can be affected by aphids, especially during flowering. A spider tick can also harm if the air is too dry and hot.