Lavender: also known as perfume plants, vanilla, vanilla, yellow vanilla, lavender. It belongs to Lavender, a small shrub in Labiatae. Stems erect, stellate tomentose, old branches grayish brown, with strip-like peeling cortex. The leaves are strip-shaped or lanceolate, covered with sparse or dense gray stellate villi, grayish white or olive green when dry, and curled all over. Cymbals gather at the top of branches to form discontinuous or nearly continuous spikes; Bracts rhomboid-ovate, bracteoles inconspicuous; Calyx ovoid tubular or nearly tubular; The corolla is about twice as long as Cao's, with a straight tube and glandular hairs in the throat. Nutlets are oval and smooth. Native to the Mediterranean coast, Europe and Oceania islands, it is widely cultivated in Britain and Yugoslavia. Its leaves are beautiful and elegant, and its blue-purple inflorescences are tall and beautiful. It is a new perennial cold-resistant flower in the courtyard, suitable for cluster planting or strip planting, and can also be potted for viewing.
Health care function:
In the academic language of perfume, "lavender" represents an important flower fragrance, and "lavender water" made of lavender oil and alcohol is very popular in Europe and America. It is equivalent to the high-grade toilet water in China. As the safest and most effective essential oil in the beauty industry, it occupies a dominant position in the market. It can be used for fumigation, bathing, foot bath and dredging meridians in beauty SPA aromatherapy. Flower juice helps to regulate skin, promote epithelial cell renewal and balance sebum secretion; Refreshing, sterilizing, removing bacteria, expelling toxin, reducing insomnia, improving sleep quality, relieving mental stress and making people feel happy. The efficacy of lavender in improving insomnia has long been well known; Household cabinets are deworming; Purify the air.
Cultivation of lavender:
1. Soil: Suitable for weak alkaline or neutral sandy soil. Special attention should be paid to the selection of substrates with good drainage, which can be mixed with 1/3 pearl clay, 1/3 vermiculite and 1/3 sphagnum moss. If it is cultivated in the open field, pay attention to the drainage of the soil, and raise the mound into a border before planting.
2. Watering: Lavender doesn't like to keep water in its roots. After the first watering, water should be supplied when the soil is dry. The surface medium was dry and the inside was moist, and the leaves wilted slightly. Water in the morning, avoid the sun, and don't splash water on leaves and flowers, otherwise it will rot and breed pests and diseases. Continuous humid environment will make the roots grow poorly, there is not enough air to breathe, and even the whole plant will die suddenly. This is often the reason for the failure of lavender cultivation.
3. Illumination: Lavender is an all-day plant, which needs sufficient sunshine and a suitable humid environment. The environment that can give full sunshine is better, and it can grow in half sunshine, but there are few flowers. In summer, at least 50% sunlight should be blocked, ventilation should be increased, and the ambient temperature should be lowered, so that although the growth is weak, it will not die. Lavender can grow well on the flat ground in winter, so it should be cultivated in sunny places.
4. Temperature: Lavender is semi-heat-resistant, so it is cool. It likes warm in winter and cool in summer. The suitable growth temperature is 15 ~ 25℃, and it can grow at 5 ~ 30℃. Limit temperature: above 35℃, above 38 ~ 40℃ for a long time, and the top stems and leaves turn yellow. In northern winter, when the temperature is lower than 0℃ for a long time, the seedlings begin to hibernate, during which the seedlings can tolerate the low temperature of -20 ~-25℃.
5. Fertilization: When fertilizing, bone meal can be put into the pot soil as the base fertilizer (once every three months), and the seedling Shihuabao No.2 (20-20-20) can be applied again after the plant grows, such as Huabao No.3 (20-30-20). Apply light fertilizer.
6. Pruning: Lavender flower essential oil is the most abundant, and it is mainly used in flowers or inflorescences. In order to facilitate harvesting, some small inflorescences in the early stage of cultivation may wish to be leveled with scissors, and the newly grown inflorescences are of the same height, which is conducive to one-time harvesting. Some varieties can be as high as 90 cm, and this method is also used to make plants low, promote more branches and flowers, and increase harvest. Pruning must be carried out after flowering, and the plant can be pruned to 2/3 of its original size, so that the plant type will be stronger and conducive to growth. Pruning should be carried out in cold seasons such as spring and autumn, generally in spring, and pruning in autumn will affect cold tolerance. When pruning, be careful not to cut off the lignified part, lest the plant weaken and die.