The lion's yawn is a perennial herbaceous plant with large green stems of the Podorozhnikovye family, which is grown here as an annual plant. The plant forms a lot of stems. The stems of the lion's yawn are straight, branchy, of various heights: there are low-growth varieties, only about 20 cm, and there are taller ones, up to one meter high, which forms pyramidal shrubs during the vegetation period. Leaves of the lion's yawn are elongated, lanceolate or slightly oval green, pubescent with thin line.
Type of flowers of the Lion's yawn
Flowers of a lion's yawn are large, irregularly shaped, two-horned, resembling a scrawny lion's jaw, pubescent from the outside. There are varieties with simple and terry flowers. Flowers are collected in cartilaginous inflorescences. Color of lion's yawn flowers can please you with a wide range of colors: they can be white, pink, yellow and two-color. In the wild, there are species of lion's yawn with yellow, blue, purple flowers.
The native land of the plant is North America. In Ukraine, the lion's yawn has long been popular and is a very common garden plant, decorating flower beds and flower beds. The lion's yawn - a beautiful sunny perennial, will fill your garden with a pleasant fragrant aroma, attract not only bees but also butterflies.
How to grow the Lion's yawn with seeds?
Sowing lion's yawn seeds on seedlings can be done from the end of February, in March, to the beginning of April. Seeds of lion's sowing yawn are slightly covered with earth. The first shoots begin to appear in ten days, but the germination of the lion's shed seeds can last for a month. For better germination, cover the container with the lion's shed seeds with glass or p/e bag. As soon as the seedlings appear, the film or glass should be removed.
For better germination, keep the container with the seeds of the lion's shed at a temperature of at least +18 oC. Seeds of lion's shed can be planted immediately in the open soil in May, covering the bed with a film or an agro span.
At first, after the lion's yawn germinates, keep an eye on the moisture content of the soil: over-drying, as well as excessive moisture in the soil, can lead to the death of seedlings. Do not put off the sowing of lion's yawning seedlings for long: it should be done in the first two or three real leaves. When the sprouting of the lion's shed grows to 4-6 pairs of real leaves, the tops of the plants should be pinched to form additional stems.
How to care for the flowers of the Lion Zev?
The lion's shed seedling is planted in the open ground, which is already partially blooming at the end of May - beginning of June, when the threat of freezing passes, leaving 30 cm between the plants. The lion's yawn grows best in open sunny areas. If you don't have any open sunny spots left, you can plant a lion's yawn in the shade. Only flowering will take a little longer, will not be too abundant, the flowers will be gentle, not as bright as the open sun.
Soil under the lion's shed should be well fertilized. If your soil is clayey, add more organics, peat, peat, sand, to make the soil looser and eliminate excessive moisture stagnation. If you have sandy loam soil, add chernozem, rotten organic matter, and leafy soil, and try to improve the structure of the soil so that it can hold the water and stay moist for longer.
Do not forget to water the snail lion's yawn. Do not water the next time before the topsoil has dried out. To preserve precious moisture, fertilize the lion's shed with a layer of freshly cut grass, humus, and rotten sawdust. In the case of strong overwetting, the lion's shed is subject to various rottenness, including root shed.
The first feeding of the lion's yawn after transplanting into the open ground - not earlier than in two or three weeks, so as not to burn the plants damaged by transplanting roots. When the plant fully adapts to the open air, new leaves will grow, and then you can carry out the first fertilization with mineral fertilizers. It is desirable that fertilizers have a complete NPK formula, and additional trace element content is only welcome. Especially the plant needs to be fed during the flowering period. And a strong healthy plant is able to resist diseases and pest attacks.
The lion's yawn blossoms as early as June and continues to bloom until it freezes. Try to remove blossoming inflorescences in time. This procedure greatly extends the flowering period of all plants.
The lion's yawn has a number of healing properties
Besides the fact that the lion's yawn is very decorative, its flowers can be used in folk medicine. Infusion of lion's yawn flowers is drunk when the intestines are swollen, it can be used as an additional tool for some liver diseases.
Especially good is a mixture of flowers of lion's snail, immortal and cornflakes during the recovery period after hepatitis. The infusion and decoctions of lion's yawn flowers are used for severe headaches, water and dyspnea. When used externally, infusions and decoctions of lion's yawn help with hemorrhoids, open skin ulcers, boils.