Bacopa planting and care in open ground. Flowering plants - bacopa

Many gardeners prefer to work with flowers and plant them in the countryside, near the house, and sometimes even on balconies in apartment buildings. You can hardly find a better decoration than a beautiful open bud.

Flowers are a symbol of life, youth and splendor. They serve as a wonderful decoration for any place. They can even cure people of depression and stress.

Exotic flowers are increasingly attracting the attention of florists and lovers of beauty. One such bright and delicate plant is bacopa.

It has recently received close attention. Bacopa is native to South Africa. This plant is a perennial. The cool climate is difficult for him to tolerate, so in winter period The flower must be placed in a warm room.

This exotic and unusual flower has more than a hundred species.

Currently, this plant has many different colors. It all depends on the specific species. The most common types of this plant:

• bacopa ampelous
• snowtopia
• blue avalanche
• Vasilisa
• snow avalanche

The colors are: white, pink, yellow, blue, purple, red, lilac, blue.

Let's look at some types in more detail. Bacopa ampelous is a South African representative. The plant is quite simple and picky. People often use the ampel type to decorate balconies, adjacent areas, walls.

The foliage of bacopa flowers can be 2 centimeters in diameter. Bacopa is ampelous, bright green, and has stems 60 centimeters long. However, the plant achieves these characteristics with proper care.

Flowers blue, pinkish, white or purple. However, as soon as autumn comes and the temperature drops, they immediately fall off the stem.

One of the subspecies of ampelous bacopa is bacopa snowtopia. This is a typical representative of this family. The plant blooms with blue and white buds, creating a beautiful contrast of brightness.

Utopia has small leaves. Enough long time You can observe the flowering of this plant due to its endurance and good adaptability.

Another hybrid is bacopa snowtopia or also called bluetopia. The flowers are snow-white and bluish in color. Very often, terraces are decorated with this plant.

Bacopa blue avalanche also belongs to the ampelous species. The stems are drooping, covered with lilac and bluish flowers. It is usually planted in a pot. Also applies to the ampel type.

Bacopa vasilisa - very fragrant flower. Many florists note that it emits the smell of real perfume. This is an annual plant of the Astrov family. Stands straight, branched. It can reach 60 centimeters in height. Blooms from summer period until the cold weather. Flowers begin to bloom in June.

Blooms with small fragrant flowers white. They grow in whole inflorescences up to 8 centimeters. Vasilisa is resistant to heat and dry air. Loves sunlight and warmth. However, it can also grow in the shade.

But Vasilisa cannot tolerate frost.

Bacopa snow avalanche is also capable of growing up to 60 centimeters. This type is very often used as decorative flower. The shoots are drooping, the flowers are snow-white. Blooms for a long time. This species is grown in pots.

Gallery: bacopa plant (25 photos)

Features of cultivation

Classic bacopa – perennial. On the stems there are flowers 2 cm in diameter, with 5 petals at the base.

Flowering mainly occurs from March to October. Often grown with bacopa:

• fuchsia
• lobelia
• aregatum
• petunias
• nasturtiums

The flowering plant forms a fluffy carpet of its inflorescences. This species is not afraid of high humidity or heavy rains. Even under such conditions, the flower will grow and bloom.

In the event that the flowers do not bloom, the leaves can decorate any place, because they are bright and small. If anyone decides to grow this plant, it is necessary to find information and learn as much as possible about it.

In order for the seedlings to turn out to be of high quality, and subsequently for healthy, beautiful plants and gorgeous flowers to bloom, it is necessary to plant bacopa correctly.

Landing does not require any serious effort. The main thing is to follow the algorithm.

Choose your soil. For this flower, soil that is not too acidic is ideal. For example, a one-to-one mixture of peat and garden soil.

If you plan to grow in pots, add humus and sand. Do not allow water to stagnate. To do this, ensure good drainage. This is necessary for the health of the root system.

As for watering, don't overwater these flowers. Sprinkle with a little water. However, make sure that the soil does not dry out or, conversely, is not too wet.

You will only do better if you feed bacopa useful minerals and fertilizers.

Make sure that the distance between flowers is about 25 centimeters. After all, the more and longer flower, the more space it needs.

As soon as the frosts stop, you can plant the flower in the soil. Bacopa will grow well in places where there is no wind and where there is constant sunlight.

Remember the rule - than more sun, the more flowers.

During cold weather, flowers need to be moved. They will take root well in a humid room with a temperature of 8 to 15 degrees. The plant can still withstand temperatures of minus 5.

If a flower spends the winter in places where it is too stuffy, there is a high probability of developing flower diseases - for example, rot, fungus. And the shoots, in general, can become bare and stretch out.

Correct pinching

Of course, you can ignore this procedure, however, the number of flowers depends on it. Therefore, if you want an abundance of blooming 5-petal buds, it is better to do pinching.

This process is carried out in this way:

• Young shoots are taken and the growing point is pinched on them. This allows the lateral shoots and colored buds to develop better.
• pinch at any part of the stem.

As for reproduction, there are several ways. For example, the process can occur by sowing a seed or cuttings.

The method through seed is to grow seedlings. Sowing into the soil will not produce results. The seed is quite small. One gram contains about 5,000 seeds. In order for the seed to germinate, it is recommended to use light soil that receives sufficient moisture, air, light and sun.

The most best temperature for this it is about 23 degrees. If the temperature is 5 degrees lower, the seeds will not germinate.

There is no need to plant seeds deeply. It is better to place them closer to the soil surface.

It is also not recommended to cover the pots. After all, without the presence of the sun and rays, all the work will go down the drain, and the seeds will not germinate.

Don't forget that this flower loves moisture, so make sure there is enough for the seed.

If you approach this issue competently, then within 2 weeks you will see the first results of your work - the first shoots.

When you first pick with a pair of leaves, take care of feeding the plant. This can be done with the help of fertilizer. It needs to be bred. Do half of the amount indicated in the instructions.

During the second picking, the seedlings need to be transplanted. To do this, prepare special glasses with drainage. After this, you can harden the flowers. Lower the temperature to 15 or 23 degrees in the daytime, and to 13 in the evening.

Plant cuttings

It is best to carry out cuttings in winter, for example, in January or spring period- in March. This process is also relevant for August and September. To do this you need:

• choose young shoots, always healthy and strong
• cut the top to 10 centimeters
• root the shoots half a centimeter into moist soil
• the bottom node must be below the soil surface to form a root system

The node that is on top will form shoots and leaves. In addition, for better development root system, you can fertilize the cuttings using phytohormonal agents or special preparations that stimulate growth.

Cuttings in containers must be placed in a warm place with high humidity.

White bacopa takes root more easily. After this, you can plant in the soil on permanent place in May.

Flowers are the best home decoration and personal plot. Every year, gardeners get acquainted with new types of ornamental and fruit plants and master methods of growing exotic crops.

In this article we will talk about bacopa - we will talk about growing from seeds and the features of caring for this unusually beautiful South African flower. Today, in addition to the traditional white bacopa, there are many varieties with flowers of different shades - lilac, blue, pink, yellow, blue, red, violet. But the plant with white flowers is the most stable, unpretentious and resistant to various types of external influences. In addition, many bacopa varieties tend to degenerate and cross-pollinate, turning from colored to white forms after a few years.

Bacopa: planting and care

Bacopa (sutera) is a low perennial plant with many small, single, five-petaled flowers (about 2cm in diameter), blooming almost continuously from spring (March) to autumn (October). Most often, bacopa is grown as a plant (decorating fences, pillars, and walls of buildings with flowerpots), but it also looks great as an unpretentious and spectacular perennial ground cover. If desired, other types of hanging plants can be grown in the same pot with bacopa: petunias, nasturtiums, fuchsias, lobelias, aregatum. In ground plantings, bacopa is used as an attractive background plant, forming a lush flowering carpet around the central plant of the composition. The advantages of the plant also include resistance to long rains - bacopa does not lose its attractiveness even in such conditions. In addition, even in the absence of flowers, the plant is quite decorative, due to the presence of many small bright green leaves.

The very first thing anyone who wants to grow this should find out beautiful flower– how to plant bacopa. After all, it is correct landing makes it possible to grow high-quality seedlings, which means healthy and beautiful plants. Planting bacopa is not a difficult task, but here, as in any other matter, you should adhere to a certain algorithm of actions.

First of all, you need to choose the right soil. For bacopa, a slightly acidic mixture (peat and garden soil 1:1) is best suited. To grow in flowerpots, you will also need to add humus and sand to the mixture (2 parts each). It is also necessary to ensure good drainage, since stagnation of water has a bad effect on the condition of the root system.

Bacopa should be watered often, but little by little, avoiding drying out or waterlogging the soil. From time to time, the plant should be fed with liquid complex mineral fertilizers.

Depending on the variety, the distance between plants should be from 10 to 25 cm (the taller the plant, the more space he will need it).

Bacopa can be planted in open ground as soon as the threat of night frosts disappears.

Bacopa grows best in sunny, wind-protected areas. Growing in partial shade is also possible, but remember: the less sun, the fewer flowers. When completely shaded, bacopa stretches out and somewhat loses its decorative effect.

For wintering, bacopa is hidden in a cool place. wet room(with air temperature 8-15°C). The plant can withstand short frosts down to -5°C. When wintering in too hot rooms, the risk of diseases increases - gray rot, sooty fungus, shoots may stretch and become exposed.

Do I need to pinch bacopa?

Pinching bacopa is not a mandatory procedure, but it significantly increases the number of flowers, which is why it is very popular among gardeners.

It is performed according to classic scheme– growth points on young shoots are pinched, which stimulates the development of lateral shoots and flower buds. You can pinch shoots at any length.

Bacopa: reproduction

This plant can be propagated various methods: sowing seeds or cuttings.

The seed propagation method involves growing through seedlings; bacopa is not grown by direct sowing into the ground.

The seeds are small, 1 gram contains more than 5 thousand seeds. Germination persists for 2-3 years.

For germinating small seeds, light, light, moisture and breathable soil is best suited. Optimal temperature for germination – 20-23°C. At air temperatures below 18°C, seeds do not germinate. The seeds should not be planted deeply - they are light-germinating, it is better to just lightly press them to the surface of the soil. For the same reason, you should not cover pots with sown seeds with light-proof materials - without light, the seeds will not sprout. It is also important to ensure high air humidity during seed germination.

The first shoots appear on days 10-14.

At the stage of one or two true leaves, the first picking is carried out (2 cm between plants). From this moment on, regular fertilizing with diluted fertilizer is required (50% of the norm specified in the instructions).

During the second picking, the seedlings are transplanted into separate cups (with a drainage hole). In this case, specimens should be buried into the substrate by one node. After the second picking, the plants begin to harden, gradually reducing the temperature from +22-23°C to +15-22°C during the day and +13-15°C at night.

How to cut bacopa?

Bacopa cuttings are carried out in January-March and August-September. To do this, select healthy young shoots, cutting them off the apical part with two nodes (up to 10 cm) and root them in a moist, light substrate to a depth of about 0.5 cm so that the lower node is below the soil surface (it will form a root). The node remaining on the surface forms ground shoots and leaves. To increase rooting, you can treat the cuttings with phytohormones or stimulating drugs.

The container with the cuttings should be placed in a warm, humid environment (you can cover it with a bag and place it in a warm place). Rooted plants are planted in the ground (in a permanent place) in early May.

White varieties of bacopa take root best.

Bacopa (sutera) is a herbaceous, easy-to-care plant that climbs and creeps. Flower branches can reach 70 cm in length. The leaves are medium in size, arranged in pairs on the branches. Olive green color. The plant belongs to the plantain family, native to southern Africa. Bacopa has been a cultivated flower for 25 years. She was originally named Sutera.

Every year, the originators develop new mixed varieties of flowers.
When growing plants in flowerpots, they are wintered in a room with a temperature of no more than 10 degrees. Plants after wintering are suitable for cuttings and planting.

Bacopa in garden landscape design photo

An indomitably blooming and fragrant carpet of bacopa looks great in a flowerbed. Exposures of fresh flowers go well with fuchsia, petunia,.

Growing bacopa from seeds at home

Preparing seeds and soil

To grow bacopa for the first time, you will have to acquire seeds. This method of growing will not cause any particular difficulties for flower beds. Go to a seed store and buy quality seed material.

The date the seeds were packaged plays an important role. Expired seeds will not sprout.

Before planting, seeds must be disinfected by soaking. This will protect them from the occurrence of various diseases. For this, a weak solution of potassium permanganate is used. Soaking time – 20 minutes.

The soil for sowing bacopa should be moist, with a low level of acidity, and loose. Optimal composition: leaf humus, peat and wet compost in equal parts. To warn root rot, it is recommended to use sand drainage. This mixture absorbs excess moisture well.

Sowing and caring for seedlings

Seeds are sown in March. For this you need peat substrate pre-sterilized in the oven (about 4 hours) at 100C. Afterwards the mass is cooled and placed in a transparent container. Do not plant bacopa seeds too deep. It is enough to press the seeds onto the surface of the wet substrate with your finger. After this procedure, the container is covered with film, cellophane or glass. Remember to comply temperature regime not lower than 20C. Sowing should be in the light. The first shoots will appear after 2 weeks. The full germination period can take up to a month.

Caring for seedlings is not difficult. As soon as you see shoots, do not allow the soil to dry out. Gently fluff up the soil around the seedlings. When the first three true leaves appear on the seedlings, we move on to the picking stage. In other words, the seedlings need to be transplanted into separate peat pots with a diameter of no more than 5 cm. After the seedlings get used to their new home, they begin to feed them with fertilizers enriched with minerals.

The best temperature for growing bacopa from seeds is 22-26C.

If you want to plant flowers in the front garden, then you will need a second pick. We need pots here bigger size. A week after the second picking, the seedlings are fertilized with minerals rich in phosphorus and nitrogen. The room temperature should be maintained at 15-24C during the day and 13-15C at night.

If bacopa is grown as indoor culture, a second transplant is not needed. The seedlings are immediately planted in a basket, bucket, or flowerpot.

There is no need to remove faded flowers; the plant cleans itself.

Planting bacopa seedlings

You can plant a flower in open ground only after the likelihood of night frosts has been minimized. That is, in mid-May. Experienced gardeners they know that seedlings need to be hardened off. This is done as follows: every day flowers are taken out to open air, gradually increasing the duration of the sessions until the plant adapts to spending the whole day outside.

The optimal place for planting is a sunny corner, shielded from the wind. You can plant bacopa in the shade, but then the flower will have fewer buds. In the shade, the plant will generally lose its decorative effect: there will be almost no flowers, and the shoots will become long.

If we talk about the soil, it should be well drained, rich in humus and slightly acidic. When planting seedlings in open ground, you need to maintain a distance between seedlings. Depending on the variety, you will need to retreat 10-25 cm between flowers. Remember, the taller the plant, the more it needs free space for maximum fertility.

Bacopa care after planting

After planting flowers, it is necessary to provide the plant with good lighting, as well as direct sunlight. Since bacopa can withstand temperature changes and even slight frosts down to -5C, it is hung in flower pots from spring until late autumn.

Watering the plant

Water bacopa often and a lot, especially in dry times. After watering, fluff up the soil, taking care not to damage the roots. Also remove weeds carefully by hand.

Fertilizers and fertilizing

Regarding fertilizing, they are effective only for young plants. It is best to fertilize from spring to autumn once every ten days. As winter approaches, there is no need to fertilize the flowers. As a rule, sutera is fertilized with universal solutions enriched with minerals, as well as organic substances in the form of mullein and bird droppings.

Bacopa pruning

To make the flower bush better, pinch the ends of its shoots. If the plant stems become long enough, they can be trimmed. The cuttings from above that remain after pruning are used for further propagation. When the shoots become lignified and the flowering becomes less lush, the lower part of the flower is cut off by 1/3 of the length. Such manipulations are usually carried out in the fall.

Wintering Bacopa

Many flower growers do not think the right decision leave an adult flower for the winter, because it loses its decorative effect. Typically, plants that have overwintered are used for cuttings.

Diseases and pests of bacopa

From spring to autumn, Bacopa almost never gets sick. Sometimes the stems are affected by aphids. In this case, they are treated with a soap solution 2-3 times at intervals of a week. If this procedure does not help, then insecticides come to the rescue. Remember that problems can begin in winter if the plant is not moved to a cold room.

When growing bacopa from seeds at home, there is always a risk of the plant being attacked by whiteflies due to dry air. If this happens, you need to cut it off completely. top part flower, and place the pot in the coolest place. Treatment chemicals may cause harm.

Bacopa varieties photo and name

Bacopa Snowtopia, an unpretentious, easy to grow variety. Most often used for hanging flowerpots. The flower is highly branched. Has shoots up to 60 cm long strewn with many small flowers. Best grown in areas without direct sunlight.

Blutopia

The hybrid variety of bacopa is characterized by white and blue flowers. The plant is most popular among gardeners who plant landscaping on balconies, terraces, and loggias.

Vasilisa

The culture is distinguished by the color of its flowers in a deep purple hue. Plants decorate front gardens and balconies. Bacopa is often grown in combination with petunias, chrysanthemums, and miniature roses. Vasilisa looks good on the alpine slides. Grows in partial shade, in full sun. The stems grow up to 60 cm.

Bacopa Carolinica

The plant is characterized by leaves arranged in pairs on succulent stems. Homeland of the flower - North America. The bacopa variety can grow in fresh and salt water. It is often used to decorate sea, freshwater aquariums. Growing beyond the water, the flower blooms with light purple flowers on the surface.

Blue avalanche

An annual plant with small blue flowers. Blooms profusely from early summer to early autumn. The length of the shoots reaches 60 cm. The crop is used in front gardens, borders, and to decorate flowerpots. The blue avalanche loves sunlight. If there is a lack of it, bacopa becomes stretched and does not bloom.

snow avalanche

A beautiful and unpretentious flower. During flowering it looks like a ball. Bacopa stems reach 60 cm. Combines well with other flowers in flowerpots and baskets. Loves shady places deprived of direct sunlight.

Bacopa Rafael

For florists and gardeners, flowers evoke a sea of ​​emotions. Used to decorate balconies, alpine slides. The crop with petunia, chrysanthemums, and small roses looks good. The shoots of the flower grow up to 60 cm, strewn with purple inflorescences. The characteristic properties of the Raphael variety are the duration of flowering, resistance to rain, and self-cleaning of faded flowers. The plant loves moisture and tolerates temperature fluctuations. Prefers partial shade and sun.

Blooming bacopa is an amazing decoration for the front garden, veranda, balcony, garden, loggia, various types fencing. A little effort to grow bacopa from seeds will be needed only at the initial stage of flower breeding, during the period when it can be overly capricious. After getting used to the new place, the established culture will become unpretentious and will not require much attention from the grower.

The genus Bacopa from the Plantain family includes almost 60 species of rhizomatous creeping perennials. Some of them are widely used in ornamental gardening, most successfully in the arrangement of balconies, building facades (ampeloid bacopas) and aquariums (aquarium bacopas).

Types and varieties

Usually means one of the types South Africa. In its natural form, this is a relatively unpretentious hanging plant used in landscaping balconies, walls, fences, alpine slides with bright green foliage 2 cm in diameter.

The length of the stems can reach 60 cm. The shoots are dotted with small flowers of blue, snow-white, purple or pink shades, randomly crumbling after flowering with the onset of the first autumn frosts.

A typical representative of ampelous bacopas is bacopa utopia - a mixture of blue and white bacopa, with small leaves. It blooms profusely and for a long time, at the same time it is hardy and unpretentious in cultivation.

AND snowtopia - hybrids with blue and snow-white flowers, respectively. These species have gained the greatest popularity among gardeners involved in landscaping loggias, balconies and terraces.

- another hanging plant with drooping stems covered with numerous lilac-blue flowers. This bacopa has a very long flowering period. Most often it is used as a potted crop, or planted with standard vegetation.

It can grow underwater and does it even better than when grown on land. These include, for example, bacopa carolina from the eastern regions of the USA.

Underwater it can reach 30 cm in height, on land - a little less. Its thick, erect shoots hold pairs of oval leaves. In the shade they are light green, and in good light conditions they are copper-red. The ends of the shoots are full of blue flowers.

Has long been used as a valuable medicinal plant. Among its beneficial properties, anti-aging and anti-cancer effects are noted, as well as restoring nerve cells and improving brain productivity. This bacopa is grown and how aquarium plant, and for the purpose of landscaping balconies.

Unlike the previous species, it is only an aquarium plant. Its dimensions are quite small, the foliage is bright green with a pinkish tint, and the stems are quite fragile. Blue inflorescences most often rise above the water surface.

— beautiful view, named after the peculiar color of the leaves, which under certain lighting can shimmer in all shades of purple and pink.

Very little is known about the origin and cultivation of this mysterious plant, but this fact does not prevent many aquaflora connoisseurs from successfully growing its specimens in their own aquariums.

- a representative of marsh plants, characterized by long (up to 1 meter) creeping or erect, weakly branching stems up to 4 mm thick. The foliage is cross-shaped and opposite, 1-3 cm long, colored in light green tones.

Underwater, the plant reaches a height of up to 15 cm and is excellent for both an aquarium and a paludarium, especially as a foreground decoration.

Familiar to many aquarium enthusiasts. Despite the fact that not so recently the existence of this species could only be guessed at, it took very little time for it to take a leading position in the lists of plant breeders.

This long-stemmed plant looks great when grown in small groups, especially in the middle ground of the aquarium. Its unusual shape and color will stand out against the background of other inhabitants of the underwater space.

Bacopa care and cultivation

When starting to grow bacopa, first of all you need to know that this plant requires a well-lit place for rich flowering. If grown in the shade, large green leaves will grow instead of flowers.

For aquarium species can be used for lighting fluorescent lamps power 0.5-0.7 W/l and incandescent lamps. Coarse sand or small pebbles are excellent as aquarium soil. For ampelous species, it is better to choose pots with drainage holes to drain excess water (or make them yourself).

Watering bacopa

Bacopa loves moisture, so it needs to be watered every day. large volumes. In hot weather, watering is carried out both in the morning and after sunset. In addition, when the plant gains leaf mass, it should be sprayed steadily at least 2 times a day until buds appear.

Soil for bacopa

Bacopa has no special soil requirements, but optimal solution will use slightly acidic, well-drained, humus-rich fertile garden soil, and specifically a combination of peat with garden soil in proportions 1:1, 2 parts humus, 1 or 2 (in container growing conditions) parts sand.

When planting, it is preferable to maintain a distance of 10 cm between plants. Root system Bacopa is superficial, and therefore loosening the soil is carried out carefully, without pressing.

Bacopa rejuvenation

To maintain decorative appearance, once every 2 years, bacopa is rejuvenated. This procedure is carried out by division when transplanting in the spring - long vines are cut off or cuttings are taken, then rooted.

If you plant bacopa in open ground, it will delight the eye with delightful flowering from the beginning of summer until the first days of autumn. The plant is not susceptible to temperature changes, however, it is still better to move it indoors in winter (to a greenhouse or to a balcony).

Bacopa fertilizer

You can maintain the health of foliage and flowers by fertilizing based on complex fertilizers. If the fertilizer contains a lot of nitrogen, the resulting foliage will delight you with its lushness.

Collecting Bacopa Seeds

Collecting bacopa seeds is not difficult - they easily fall from the branches onto the leaves. One gram obtained in this way contains about 55,000 seeds, which remain viable for 2-3 years.

Bacopa growing from seeds

For propagation, seeds are sown in loosened, moist soil, being careful and without pressing. The optimal temperature for sowing is from 18 degrees, at which the germination period will be 1-2 weeks.

When 1-2 true leaves appear, the time comes for the first picking, maintaining a distance of 2 cm between seedlings and feeding (the solution should have a 50% concentration compared to what is applied to adult specimens).

After the second picking, the seedlings are planted in different pots, deepened a little and undiluted fertilizers are applied. After 2-3 weeks, roots will appear.

Bacopa propagation by cuttings

For propagation by cuttings, cut off the top of the stem 10 cm long with 2 nodes. The best periods for rooting are from January to March and from August to September. To stimulate the growth of cuttings, they are treated with phytohormones.

For rooting, a moist substrate is used - it is introduced to a depth of 0.5 cm, with one of the nodes located on the surface of the soil and the other inside. It is recommended to place containers with rooted cuttings in a greenhouse.

When intensive growth begins, you can pinch the top to subsequently achieve better bushiness. If you plan to plant the plant in open ground, it is better to do this in early May.

Diseases and pests

• It is rare to find bacopa in a state affected by diseases and pests. But sometimes this plant is still attacked by aphids, and then it leaves turn yellow and curl . Having noticed these symptoms, you need to take measures to remove insects and treat the flower with a soap solution (10 g of soap per liter of water), and in case of severe infection, spray with an insecticide.
• In conditions of saturation with moisture, bacopa can get sick rot or fungus , which can be eliminated by cutting off the affected areas and flowers.
• Problems can also arise in winter when heating season the plant simply cannot cope with dry air and high temperature in room. You can help it by spraying it with a spray bottle or using electric humidifiers.

Bacopa is one of the plants that designers recommend decorating walls, fences, lamp posts, etc. It also looks great in horizontal gardening. Moreover, due to its simplicity, it absolutely does not overload the space. In the article we'll talk about how to plant a flower and how to care for it in the open ground (in the garden) and indoors. Accompanied by beautiful photographs, tips are given on growing crops from seeds and preventing diseases.

Features of the plant and its popular varieties

• Bacopa can be grown both in the garden and indoors. Some species grow in water.
• The plant does not live long, but it reproduces very easily.
• The stem is thin and long - can reach 60 cm.
• The leaves are ovoid, small. Their color is olive green.
• Flowers may differ between varieties. There are tubular and bell-shaped forms, simple and terry, and varied in color.

Bacopa can be grown indoors and in the garden

• Bacopa blooms for a long time, throughout the entire season. It occurs in waves: after the mass blooming of flowers, a period of short “rest” begins, during which much fewer buds appear.
• The aroma of the flowers is either very weak or completely absent.

Popular plant species among fans:

Spreading bacopa

Attention! Bacopa varieties with white flowers grow and develop faster than those with flowers of a different color.

How to propagate bacopa

Flower growers propagate bacopa using seeds and cuttings. Bacopa seeds are very small and light. Their germination lasts 2-3 years. Growing a flower from seeds is quite simple.

• Fill low containers with fertile and fairly light soil that will retain moisture well. A mixture will do garden soil, peat and sand (2:2:1).
• There is no need to bury the seeds in the soil. Simply press them to the surface.

Advice. To prevent small bacopa seeds from being sown too thickly, it is better to first mix them with sand.

• To prevent the soil from drying out, cover the crops transparent material(glass or polyethylene).
• During seed germination, place the container in a warm place. Usually shoots appear after 2 weeks.
• At the stage of the appearance of the second leaf, the seedlings dive into a common container at a distance of 2 cm from each other.
• After 2-3 nodes are formed on the plant, repeat the picking procedure again. This time, young bacopas are planted one at a time, burying the lower node into the soil.
• Be sure to feed the seedlings after mineral fertilizer and you can begin hardening by periodically exposing the pots with plants to Fresh air(to the garden, to the balcony).

Bacopa can be propagated by cuttings

Propagating bacopa using cuttings is also not difficult. The best time to carry out the procedure is in January-February or August. To begin with, cut off the apical part of the shoot with two internodes. The cutting length is about 10 cm.

The composition of the soil for rooting cuttings is the same as for sowing. When planting, the lower node is buried, from which roots will subsequently develop. Cover the top of the container with a transparent bag, which will help maintain the level of humidity necessary for germination of the cuttings.
After about 2 weeks, new leaves will appear, which will indicate the beginning of rooting of the cuttings. When they begin to grow intensively, you need to pinch the top. This is how young bacopas will begin to bush.

It is recommended to plant the plant in a flowerbed or in a flowerpot in the garden at the end of May, when stable warm weather arrives.

How to care for a plant and what pests can damage it

In order for bacopa to grow and develop well in open ground, it is necessary to observe following conditions care:

• The plant must have enough lighting. If bacopa is planted in the shade, the shoots will stretch out and there will be very few flowers on them.
• The soil is required with a slightly acidic reaction. A mixture of garden soil and peat (1:1) is best suited. If you plan to plant bacopa in a flowerpot, then you need to prepare the same soil composition in advance, but also add 1 part of sand.

Choose a sunny place to plant bacopa.

• At a young age, be sure to pinch bacopa regularly. This will make the bush very lush and beautiful. When the lashes become too long, they are cut off. During periods of weak flowering and during lignification of the lower part of the shoots, they also resort to cutting off the tops. The remaining trimmings can be used as cuttings for propagation.
• A prerequisite for the well-being of bacopa is keeping the soil moist.

Attention! Overdrying the soil in bacopa plantings is extremely undesirable. Damaged roots may not recover.

• Stagnation of water also greatly harms the plant - when growing in flowerpots, it is necessary to provide good drainage.
• Fertilizers need to be dissolved in water for irrigation. For bacopa, ready-made complexes for hanging plants are best suited.
• Flowers grown in flowerpots can be wintered in a cool, bright room. During this period you need to water and feed much less often. Having overwintered in this way, the same bush will be able to please for several years.

When growing bacopa as indoor plant care is not much different. The soil used is the same as for cultivation in garden conditions. Since the roots can rot if over-watered, the pot needs good drainage.

Caring for bacopa in the room is not difficult

It is best to keep the container with the flower on a light windowsill, and the plant must be shaded from the sun. Water the flower in the same way as in the garden. Fertilizer is added to the water once every 2 weeks.

Attention! The fertilizer solution should not get on the leaves and stems of bacopa.

The plant is disease resistant. However, if the cultivation rules are not followed, it can be affected by various rots. To avoid this, do not thicken the plantings and water the flower bed too often. Pests include aphids and spider mite. If signs of damage by these insects are detected, the bacopa plant should be treated with insecticides.