Cypress euphorbia is widely used to fill voids in flower beds. A dense and lush deciduous plant creates a beautiful border, giving the flowerbed a more elegant look. Another significant advantage is the simple care of the flower.
What does Euphorbia cypress look like, to which family it belongs
Cypress Euphorbia - a perennial plant belonging to the Euphorbia family. The bush, which is compact in size, grows up to 20-30 cm. It has an upright stalk and a branched crown, consisting of bluish elongated but narrow dark green leafy plates. Inflorescences have an unusual color - they are painted in yellow-green color.
Euphorbia is widely used for flower gardens
Common varieties
Cypress euphorbia cannot boast of a variety of varieties. The most famous is Euphorbia Cyparissias. In vivo, it can be found in Ukraine. A flower loves hilly areas or forest edges. Its needle-shaped leaf plates are painted in a bluish-green hue, are more densely located on the upper part of the flower, and the stem is exposed to the bottom.
Healing properties
Cypress euphorbia is famous for its diuretic effect, so it is useful to boil tinctures from it and harvest leaves and stems for the winter. The tincture of the plant is applied externally to get rid of warts and lichen. It is known to use its decoction for poisoning and other problems associated with the work of the digestive tract.
Briefly about the history of the appearance
In the wild, the bush grows in Eurasia, it is especially common in Russia and Eastern Europe. It is known that euphorbia grew in prehistoric times in the Bronze Age.
Features of milk care cypress house
Cypress euphorbia is more demanding on growing conditions than on care procedures. Therefore, you should pay special attention to temperature, lighting and humidity indicators. In general, planting and caring for cypress milkweed are not particularly difficult to implement.
Euphorbia loves a lot of light
Temperature
The thermophilic plant does not tolerate temperature changes during the growing season, but during dormancy it can withstand frosts down to -27 degrees.
Lighting
To grow a lush shrubbery of milkweed in the garden, you must provide him with good lighting. Do not plant it in the shade or next to tall bushes and trees.
Note! Milkweed bloom directly depends on the lighting of the place where it grows. Due to a lack of light, the shrub can lose its decorative appearance.
Watering
Take care of the bush with the help of proper watering, which should not be plentiful. In rainy periods, the procedure is stopped altogether. At the beginning of the growing season, the bush is watered once every two weeks, but closer to the end of summer, watering can be stopped altogether.
Spraying
It is not necessary to spray the bush, as it reacts poorly to high humidity values. This can only be done if absolutely necessary in a particularly dry summer.
Humidity
For normal growth, the bush needs average humidity. With dry air, the leaves begin to dry out, and with excessive humidity the euphorbia ceases to bloom.
Priming
For the cultivation of milkweed, slightly acidic soil is required. To acidify alkaline soil, it is enough to add humus or manure to it.
Top dressing
Milkweed does not need frequent top dressing. In spring and autumn, it is enough to add organic matter. During the growing season, the plant is fed with granular mineral fertilizers diluted in water, and they spray the soil under a bush.
For feeding during the growing season, you can use granular fertilizers
Features of winter care, rest period
Closer to August, you need to gradually limit watering and feeding the flower. During this period, sanitary pruning is carried out and the bush is prepared for wintering. Euphorbia can endure winter without shelter if it grows in southern or middle latitudes. But it is better to cover it with spruce branches or to fill it with earth and dry foliage.
When and how it blooms
Euphorbia flowering is not very noticeable against the general background of the bush, but it is very plentiful. The main characteristic feature of cypress milkweed is a yellow-green hue of flowers. They are only a few tones lighter than their magnificent crown. Inflorescences are located at the very top of the stem and have the shape of an umbrella. Small flowers consist of two large and most pronounced petals. In their shape they resemble a bow tie, but with pointed ends.
Flowering period
The bush begins to bloom in the second half of May, but if the year turned out to be warmer, the euphorbia will begin to dissolve the buds earlier. This process lasts about 1.5 months, with proper care, the bush can bloom again.
Flowering bush begins in May
Pruning
After complete flowering, it is necessary to carry out sanitary pruning, this procedure is repeated annually at the same time. Remove all bare and dried shoots.
Important! Before trimming, gloves should be worn on the hands, as the plant secretes toxic juice and can burn the skin.
How Euphorbia cypress breeds
Caper Euphorbia can be propagated by vegetative and seed methods.
Seed germination
To harden the seeds and increase the likelihood of germination, they are recommended to be planted in autumn in the open ground. You need to deepen the seeds a little deeper, about 3-5 cm, so that they do not freeze in the winter. Already in spring, euphorbia will give healthy shoots.
Rooting cuttings
Reproduction using cuttings is carried out in late spring or summer. They are cut off from healthy adult stems, each length must be at least 10 cm. Cuttings can be planted immediately in the garden, but it is better to grow them in a box with a nutrient substrate and in greenhouse conditions. After about a month, the roots will have stable roots, and they can be planted on the street.
Rooting cuttings occurs a month after planting them in a substrate
Air lay
In this way, the bush is practically not propagated. To carry out this procedure, it is necessary for the milkweed to have a long steady and elastic shoot. The stalk is bent to the ground and dug up with soil. If necessary, it is fixed with an iron bracket or hairpin. Periodically layering is watered and, as soon as it takes root, is separated from the main bush.
Transfer
There is no need to transplant the shrub only if it does not seriously fall ill, but it happens very rarely. In this case, euphorbia is dug up along with the root and the rotten and affected roots and stems are removed, and the places of the sections are treated with disinfecting solutions. On a new site, dig a hole and transplant a bush into it.
Possible problems with growing and disease
During the cultivation of cypress milkweed, various problems often arise, but they are not serious and do not cause much harm.
Flower drops buds and leaves
This problem arises due to a lack of phosphorus in the soil, so it is worth starting to fertilize the bush with Superphosphate.
Leaves turn pale
Faded leaves indicate a lack of sunlight. It is necessary to take a more responsible approach to choosing a place for a bush. If absolutely necessary, you will have to dig a plant and transplant it to a more suitable site.
The tips dry on the leaves
Drying of the edges of the leaves is a sign of a decrease in air humidity and an increase in temperature. This happens only in a particularly hot summer. At the same time, it is recommended to increase watering and spray the bush.
Important! Euphorbia should be sprayed in the morning or in the evening, otherwise the leaves will get burned.
Lower leaves fall off
If the lower leaves fall, then the shrub suffered from a rare drop in temperature. Another reason could be watering with cold water.
Pests
This is not to say that euphorbia suffers from pests. He fights with them himself, as he has a substance in his tissues that repels various insects with his smell.
Of the pests, cypress cypress can attack:
- spider mite;
- mealybug;
- scale shield;
- root worms.
Other problems
Occasionally, milkweed observes darkening of foliage. This symptom indicates a long stay of the bush in the shade or abundant watering. The result of overflow is still rotting of the stems and root system.
Signs and superstitions
There is a belief that if euphorbia grows near a house, then sick households, their relatives or friends will soon be cured of all ailments. The cypress look has always been considered a symbol of health, which is confirmed by its numerous healing properties.
Shrub fits beautifully in the landscape of personal plots
Cypress euphorbia is perhaps the most unpretentious garden plant. All procedures for caring for him are so simple that sometimes flower growers forget about this plant at all. However, this does not greatly disturb the flower, because its main task is to be the final touch of the flower arrangement.
