Flax is an annual plant of the Flax family, which has been growing on our territory for thousands of years. But his homeland is India. It was there that linen fabric was first created. Now more than 200 species are known, in our region there are about 40. Flax is grown by large farms as an industrial crop. Its fabric remains popular to this day, it is grown in flower beds, and its seeds are used in medicine.
Seed flax has several names: slate, long-lasting or cultivated. The flax stem is erect, thin, about 50 cm high, branched at the top. The leaves are narrow, lanceolate, about 5 cm long, arranged alternately. The stem and leaves are covered with a waxy coating. The flowers are small, 2-3 cm in diameter, collected in umbrella inflorescences.
The color of the five petals is usually blue, but can be pink or white.
The petals are often smooth, sometimes corrugated. The flax flower is self-pollinating. After flowering, a box with 10 seeds is formed. It is round, slightly elongated at the top. The seeds are flat, round, shiny, yellow, brown or brown in color.
All varieties of flax can be divided according to the growing season into early ones with a growing season of up to 80 days and late ones with a growing season of up to 110 days. The early ones are grown in the northern flax growing zone, the late ones - in the central and western ones.
Flax grows best in moist, medium-density loamy soils. They should be loose and allow water to pass through well. It grows worse on sandy soils. Heavy clay and acidic soils are not suitable for growing flax. The site must be protected from strong winds.
Features of growing the plant:
When the seeds are close to readiness, the plants are watered with EM preparations. The plant stems are trimmed with a Fokin flat cutter after half or two-thirds of the bolls have turned brown. Place to dry.
After a week, when the boxes rustle with seeds when shaken, they can be threshed.
A small amount of raw materials can be processed manually by kneading the boxes over a wide bowl. If there is a lot of it, they wrap it in a tarpaulin and thresh it, tapping it with a stick. Then the seeds are collected and winnowed in the wind.
After threshing, the seeds are still quite moist. They need to be dried in places where they are not exposed to direct sunlight and the air does not stagnate. This could be a shed or an attic with open windows.
Flax has many beneficial properties. Its fibers are still used to make valuable linen fabric, which is used to make summer clothes. Flax is a good precursor for many agricultural crops. Growing this plant improves the soil structure. The roots and stem contain a large amount of useful microelements that pass into the soil. Therefore, flax partially performs the function of green manure.
As an ornamental plant, flax is planted in rock gardens, flower beds, and in separate groups.
Flax seeds are used in the baking industry. They are sprinkled on buns, crushed and added to some types of bread. Drying oil, paint and varnish products, and oilcloth are prepared from flax seeds. From them you can obtain oil, which is used to prepare cosmetic creams. It smoothes out facial wrinkles. Flaxseed oil is obtained by cold pressing. The cake left over from seed processing is used as livestock feed.
After squeezing out the oil, cake and meal remain, which are used as livestock feed. They are considered one of the best drugs for feeding. First, fill the cake with warm water and wait until mucus with pectins forms there. There is information that the Colorado potato beetle does not like the smell of tannin in flax leaves and flaxseed oil, which is found in the seeds. Therefore, it is recommended to plant it near crops that are most damaged by this pest. It also drives away carrot flies.
The healing properties of flax were noticed a long time ago, back in Ancient Greece. With the help of its seeds, the body was healed. Flax seeds cleanse the body and are used as emollients and dissolving agents.
Flax seeds contain many useful substances:
Features of use:
Not everyone can use flax seeds and preparations made from them. Under no circumstances should they be used by people suffering from hepatitis and cholecystitis. Do not use in case of acute intestinal disease and tendency to diarrhea. Long-term use of preparations made from flax seeds can bring harm, not benefit. General intoxication of the body occurs.
Flax seeds intended for use in medicine are stored in packs for three years. Flax grass should not be ingested because it is poisonous.
More information can be found in the video:
Perennial flax, so familiar to most of us, is often relegated to the background when choosing suitable decorative flowers for the garden plot. But in vain. After all, this plant has long been considered a real decoration of any home and its protector. Flax is a completely unpretentious plant, but at the same time capable of blooming with incredible luxurious flowers. By the way, contrary to popular belief, linen does not have to be blue. Today you will learn about all the features of growing perennial blue flax in open ground: planting, care, use in landscape design (photo materials are attached).
Flax belongs to the genus of herbaceous plants, numbering about 200 plants that are diverse in appearance and properties. Most often, flax is represented by a small plant, reaching a height of about 0.5 m, with fairly thin but strong stems and flowers of various sizes (they can be both small and quite large) of a soft blue, white or pink-red hue. .
Actively cultivated in mid-latitudes. The plant prefers a temperate climate, so blue flax can most often be found in North America, Africa, some parts of Europe and Asia.
Among the existing types and varieties of flax, the following can be particularly highlighted (photo below):
Oilseed flax
Large-flowered flax
The plant cannot be called particularly picky about growing conditions, but still flax, regardless of the variety or variety, needs a sufficient amount of sunlight, so the area for planting it must be chosen that is not shaded by houses or trees.
Advice. If you are a resident of a region where the sun is considered a rather rare phenomenon, unfortunately, it is better for you to refuse to grow perennial flax.
The soil for planting flax can be almost any, but you are unlikely to be able to grow flax in a swampy area. The soil must be light, with sufficiently deep groundwater. Perennial flax will take root well even on slopes (but not too steep).
It is better to plant perennial varieties of flax in closed ground, but if the climate is warm enough, you can sow them directly into open ground, and it is advisable not to deepen the seeds into the ground, but simply spread them out on the ground and spray them with water from a spray bottle.
flax bush
Growing in open ground is possible both in spring (when the temperature reaches a stable 20 degrees) and in autumn (when the temperature has not yet dropped below 20 degrees).
Advice. When growing perennial flax in open ground, be sure to take into account the cold factor: planting cannot be done in damp or rainy weather, and after this process, the seeds must be covered with a small layer of soil, then insulated like a regular flower crop.
Perennial flax is propagated in several ways:
In order for the plant to please you with luxurious, albeit not too long-lasting, flowering in the summer, be sure to make sure that it receives proper care. Next, we will talk about what kind of care perennial flax will require when grown in open ground.
In order for the plant to remain healthy and “live” a full life, it is necessary to provide it with periodic watering, which, by the way, should not turn the soil surface into a swampy area.
Avoid stagnation of water at flax roots
Remember that flax does not like stagnant water. A sufficient frequency of watering can be about 1-2 times a week (depending on the dryness of the period and the temperature characteristics of the region). Make sure the soil is always moist. But with the onset of autumn, it is advisable to reduce watering to a minimum, and then stop altogether.
In addition to watering, flax will also need periodic weeding, since weeds and excessive plant thickening do not have the best effect on the appearance of flax.
Fertilizing is not a weak point of perennial flax, so you can forget about constantly preparing nutrient mixtures for the soil. It is imperative to apply organic fertilizer a few days before sowing the seed and add a little potassium fertilizer to it. It is advisable to apply liquid fertilizer at least a couple more times throughout the season. It is advisable to carry out the process of feeding plants immediately after watering.
As for diseases, flax has something to boast about, because the plant is not susceptible to any diseases. Unless the flax flea can sometimes attack it. Unfortunately, folk remedies are powerless to combat it, so immediately when a small pest appears, it is necessary to treat the area with growing flax with a special chemical preparation.
In order for flax to take root well in the garden plot and become a worthy decoration, remember that the best combination of the plant is observed mainly with crops that have a similar development pattern and growing conditions.
Linen in landscape design
Flax is a generalized name for a numerous genus of herbaceous annuals and perennials from the Flax family. Represented by herbaceous and shrubby plants. Of the more than 100 existing species, common flax has the greatest industrial value. It is used in the production of fabric. In garden decoration, perennial flax is popular along with Narbonne and Alpine flax. Contrary to the usual opinion about the heavenly color of flax flowers, there are other shades. The culture is unpretentious in care and propagates by seeds.
Perennial flax has thin bare stems that stretch up to 80 cm in height. Abundant branching is observed in the upper part. The leaves are narrow, spear-shaped, oppositely alternate in distribution, green or bluish in color. The flowers include 5 proportionally oval sepals in blue or white. Blooms in June - July. After flowering, the fruits ripen - round boxes measuring 7 x 8 mm. The seeds are small, flattened, with an oily coating.
Of the total species diversity, 25 varieties are used in landscape design. The most common varieties of flax are presented in the table:
| Name | Description |
| White flax (Linum album) | An herbaceous annual representative grown for industrial and medicinal purposes. In addition, this variety is used to decorate the garden. The flowers are red and white. The seeds are small, glossy, golden in color |
| Ordinary or oilseed | Tall, partly branched perennial, 40–60 cm high. Five-petaled blue flowers, 3–4 cm in diameter. The seed is brown, small, used for distilling oil and grinding it into flour. The plant withstands frost and drought and grows well in the sun. Flowering lasts throughout the summer |
| Large-flowered | Large-flowered flax is endowed with spectacular flowers with a diameter of 5–6 cm. The color palette is varied: white, blue, lilac, pink, red-white, purple. The stems are thin, branched, with narrow foliage. Height varies between 40–60 cm. Blooms from June to September. Easy to care for |
| Austrian (Línum austriacum) | Tall perennial, 15–65 cm in height. It blooms in May with large pale blue flowers and pleases throughout the month. Grows without problems on calcareous soil, drought-resistant |
| Blue (Linum perenne) | Forms dense herbaceous clumps more than 50 cm high. When spread, it stands from June to August. The flowers are a soft blue hue. Propagated by seeds: after sowing it begins to bloom the next year. It is unpretentious to growing conditions, tolerates a lack of humidity and low temperatures, and does not require shelter for the winter. Preference is given to breathable and enriched soil |
| Yellow (Linum flavum) | Compact herbaceous annual (no more than 40 cm). The flowers are loose, bright yellow, no more than 3 cm in diameter. Opens in late July. Natural habitat: Balkans, Eastern Europe. Loves an abundance of light, depleted but loose soil. Does not tolerate transplantation, so seedlings are grown in mobile peat pots |
| Alpine (Linum alpinum) | Dwarf species, 15–20 cm high, with sky blue flowers. Stems are bare, erect or creeping. The foliage is of regular distribution, linear-lanceolate configuration. The petals are oval, wavy, bent outward. Fruits in the form of capsules |
| Campanulate (L.campanulatum) | Low-growing bushes 20–40 cm high. The foliage is predominantly dark green, with a slight bluish haze. Distributed among the stems in regular order. The petals have a sinewy pattern and form bell-shaped buds of golden yellow color. Collected in corymbose inflorescences 5–6 cm long. Blooms in May - June. There are no special requirements for the soil |
| Capitate (Linum capitatum) | A forty-centimeter perennial with abundant foliage. The leaves are lobed at the bottom and form a dense rosette. The stems have a lanceolate-linear shape with a pointed end. The buds are yellow, bloom in June, flowering lasts 3 months |
| Tauride (Linum tauricum) | Forms dense, abundantly flowering bushes 50 cm high. The flowers are small, umbrella-shaped, grouped into lush inflorescences of 15–20 each. The color is exclusively yellow |
| Thin-leaved (Linum tenuifolium) | Strongly branching shrubs with stems woody at the base, 20–50 cm high. The leaves are elongated, peak-shaped, rough to the touch, with a longitudinal vein. Inflorescences are prefabricated, up to 2–3 cm in diameter. Available colors: white, pink, lilac, white with a purple center. Blooms from June to July |
Decorative varieties of flax:
The described representatives are grown mainly to decorate private areas, parks and gardens. But this does not infringe on their beneficial properties: the seeds are widely used in cooking and folk medicine.
Flax is a plant that is unpretentious in terms of growth and care, but on heavy soils and in the absence of solar heat it will not be possible to achieve abundant flowering. Therefore, the site is selected as lightly as possible, with protection from drafts. The soil is welcome to be loose, nutritious and with drainage included. Dampness is contraindicated for flax, so the close occurrence of groundwater is excluded.
Growing perennial flax in Siberian regions with short and cloudy summers is unlikely to be successful. The way out of the situation is to prepare seedlings at home.
It is important to adhere to the rules of crop rotation when sowing flax. An ideal area would be where potatoes, legumes and grain crops previously grew. Depleted soil is acceptable if the predecessors were other perennials. During autumn digging, potassium-phosphorus fertilizers are applied, nitrogen fertilizers are added in the spring, immediately before planting.
The suitable period for sowing in open ground is April - May, when the ground warms up to a temperature of 8–10 °C. You can plant flax in the fall, until the first frost occurs. The seeds are pre-treated with fungicides to prevent all kinds of diseases. It is not necessary to deepen them: the seeds are distributed over the surface at a distance of 20–25 cm. Lightly sprinkle with soil on top and moisten with a spray bottle.
Watering is carried out according to the degree of drying of the upper soil layer. In the summer season, three times a week is enough; in the fall, moisturizing is stopped. Over the entire growing season, 3-4 feedings are sufficient. Mineral and organic are added alternately. Granular complex compounds and humus can be placed in the root zone, with a slight depression. Spraying with the same fertilizers, only in a diluted state, will be no less effective.
Proper care also includes regular loosening and weed removal. Faded buds are immediately removed so that the plant does not waste energy on them. In their place, new ones will soon form. In late autumn, flax plantings are covered with mulch from leaf compost or peat. This technique will protect the roots from freezing.
Flax is rarely exposed to diseases and pest attacks. The only danger comes from the flax flea beetle. Preventative treatments with insecticides help.
After flowering, the fruits ripen, which are gutted and the seeds collected. Readiness is determined visually: the boxes dry out and the seeds turn dark brown. The collected material is dried in the open air. It can be stored for up to three years without losing its original properties. In addition to sowing, the seeds are used in cooking and cosmetology.
The most common method of propagating decorative flax is by seeds.. In central Russia they are pre-germinated in containers. With an abundance of light and warmth, the seedlings hatch after 2–3 weeks. If climatic conditions allow, then this stage is skipped, and sowing is carried out immediately at a permanent place in the garden.
Seedlings are transplanted in the spring or early summer, when the risk of return night frosts has passed.
The sequence of further actions is as follows:
Group plantings are recommended so that neighbors can support each other in an upright position. Otherwise, the thin stems will collapse under the weight of the flowers. Excessively dense plantings are thinned out by dividing the bushes. A part with at least one bud on it is pulled out from the base. You can dig up the plant completely and cut it lengthwise, capturing the root system.
Another propagation option is cuttings. The procedure is carried out any time between April and August. Stronger shoots, at least 20 cm long, are selected. After separating them from the main plant, they are buried in the soil to the level of the lower foliage. The top is trimmed and a glass cap is put on top. Full rooting usually occurs by autumn or next spring.
Experienced gardeners guarantee more lush and abundant flowering when sowing seeds. Perennial flax grows in one place for 3–4 years without replanting.
With the arrival of June come summer flowers, often cheerful and brighter than their spring counterparts. One of them, the bright golden lenok, or coreopsis, is a member of the sunflower family and one of the easiest flowers to propagate.
The name coreopsis comes from the Greek "opsis", meaning "to resemble", and "koris", meaning "bug". Indeed, its seeds resemble bedbugs or ticks. In the West, the plant is called tickseed, which means “tick seed.”
Another wonderful feature of the plant is that it is a natural dye. Flowers are used to make yellow and orange dye. Using alum, they produce a bright and durable orange color.
The flower is suitable for almost any kind of garden and it is difficult to find a more hardy and beautiful flower.
It is a drought-tolerant plant that can adapt to poor soil and can be safely planted in full sun, although it blooms well in just light areas. Lenok is very easy to grow and blooms in the first year if planted very early.
Remember, in the first year you may not get any blooms or the blooms may not be abundant. It depends on the timing of planting and conditions. But in subsequent years, the Parisian beauty will bloom magnificently and brightly.
Sow seeds in late winter/late spring or late summer/fall.
For early sowing, fill pots or containers with drainage and good compost and place containers in water to moisten the soil. Gently scatter the seeds on the surface and lightly press them into the soil. Do not cover them or place them in a dark place as they need light to germinate. Keep the compost moist. The seed will germinate in 20 to 25 days. Crops are kept at temperatures from 16 to 21 °C.
When the sprouts have their first pair of true leaves and are large and strong enough, transplant them into 7.5 cm plastic containers.
For autumn seedlings, place pots of sprouts in a cool area of the house, greenhouse or sheltered part of the garden. Sprouts are planted in a permanent place in the spring, when the risk of frost has passed. Plant them 38-40cm apart in a sunny location in well-drained soil.
Lenok does not require fertile soil. If you feed the flowers too much, it makes them too tall and spread out, making them look careless and untidy. Half a handful of slow-release, general-purpose granular fertilizer is sufficient for the entire season. Scatter fertilizer into the soil around each plant in the spring.
No special watering is required. When watering nearby plants, give some water to the coreopsis as well. If you haven’t watered it once over the summer, it’s okay - the flower is hardy.
It is much more important to regularly pick off the faded heads, otherwise flowering will end quickly. Flowers should be trimmed regularly to encourage continuous flowering. Otherwise, only bare peduncles will remain above the foliage, which does not look very attractive.
When flowering is completely over, prune the plant back heavily and it will grow back strong and healthy. You can leave the spent flower heads on the stems for birds to feed on. But in winter, reduce the branches almost to ground level and cover the roots well with mulch.
When it comes to full bloom, the Parisian beauty dominates the flowerbed and is difficult to outshine. Therefore, combine tall varieties with other summer flowers that produce large blooms of a different color. These types of calliopsis look good together with bookworms, crocosmia, cannas and dahlias. But use dwarf varieties and species for borders or in the foregrounds of flower beds and flower beds.
Butterflies love lenka and it would be a good idea for gardeners looking to attract butterflies to include coreopsis in their planting plans.
Have you seen how flax blooms? The spectacle is incredible, the field covered with blue splendor goes into the distance, merging with the sky on the horizon line. The decorative and beneficial properties of the plant have brought it great popularity. Today, flowering flax adorns the landscape, is used in cosmetology, and the seeds have a rejuvenating and healing effect on the human body.
Landscape architecture uses flax in various combinations with perennials. Good group compositions, borders, flower walls, rock gardens, where the piercing blue of the plant is complemented by the tenderness of cornflower, the defenselessness of chamomile, interspersed with marigolds or meadow clover.
The landscape fashion trend is developing the theme of wildflowers, and of course flax is the leader among other plants unconditionally.
There are 25 types of decorative perennial flax. Each of them has its own structural features of the flower cup:
Blue flax looks something special, which is why flower growers and landscape architects love it so much.
It is a plant crop used in the textile industry and cosmeceuticals. Annual flax with a stem height of one meter is widespread, but there are also other dwarf species. There are many of them: large-flowered, long-flowered, creeping, curly.
In private farms, they grow crops for weaving mats and rugs; some housewives have hand-made homemade machines. The plants are mainly used to obtain seeds, which are used to make hair and scalp care products. It happens that a plant is planted just so that the garden will please the eye, because flowering flax is a wonderful sight.
The plant's agricultural technology is simple. The crop propagates by seeds, develops from April to October, flowering continues from May to August, seeds ripen in June and July. The culture blooms continuously, this is its important advantage in decorative terms. Pictures and photos colorfully narrate the beauty of the flowering field.
To grow flax, you don't need much effort. Loves loamy soils. Care is simple, watering is required in especially dry summers, some insist on adding humus to the ground. Events like this won't hurt.
Gardener's advice: flax can be planted in virgin soil, and after a year the land can be used for garden crops.
In addition, flax is a green manure plant, that is, a plant that fertilizes the soil and improves its performance. There is a species called “Special Flax Green Manure”, the peculiarity of which is that the tannin substance it secretes repels the Colorado potato beetle.
Note: When buying seeds, pay attention to what species the plant belongs to; decorative tasks are best solved with a perennial species, and for a vegetable garden you need a type of cultivated flax.
Flax is planted in April, with seeds scattered to a depth of 2 cm. The seeds are planted with a harrow. After two weeks, germination begins. Flax is also planted in the garden; even the highest quality photo cannot convey the beauty of the green-blue carpet between the trees.
Watch the video in which a specialist talks about the technology of growing flax of the Severny oilseed variety:
