The gold lacquer is a long-blooming and fragrant flower that enriches the flowerbed in early spring as the successor to the early-blooming onion plants. This plant is easy to care for and is also suitable for the bouquet from your own garden.
Special features of the gold lacquer
The gold lacquer (Erysimum cheiri) is a member of the cruciferous family. It bears its name part "Gold" because of its play of colors, which originally only shone in yellow, but today ranges from brown to orange to red. The second part "-lack" is derived from another, related plant, the Levkoye.
- Gold lacquer is one of the biennial plants that bloom very persistently from April to May / June.
- It originally comes from Southeastern Europe, where it likes to grow on rocky surfaces and walls.
- What is striking about the 20 to 60 cm high plant is its intense scent.
- The ten to thirty flowers per inflorescence attract insects such as bumblebees and bees with their honey-sweet scent.
- In the meantime there are certain hybrids (cultivars) of gold lacquer that bloom into November if they are regularly freed of what has faded.
- The late varieties like 'Apricot Twist', 'Constant Cheer' and 'Codswold Gem' light up in orange or Orange-purple and white.
Location and planting of gold lacquer
Goldlack loves a sunny location, the soil conditions of which should be loose and airy. The permeability of the soil and sufficient sunshine have a decisive influence on the fragrance and the duration of flowering. If the soil is too acidic, it is advisable to apply a calcareous fertilizer before planting. Under optimal conditions, on lean, dry soil, the golden lacquer grows densely and splendidly into a long-flowering perennial, the flowers of which are also suitable as cut flowers.
Tip: Basically, the plant should not stand in draughty, damp corners of the garden, it also does not tolerate dry, cold winds badly.
Once the right spot has been found in the garden, the young plants can be planted in autumn on frost-free days: The depth should be about f5 to 10 cm, the distance about 30 cm. Those who grow the plants themselves, sow in the spring in the open ground in furrows at a depth of 1 cm. Once the seeds have emerged and the first leaves are visible, they are separated to 30 cm so that the plant can develop well. At a height of 15 cm, the young plants should be cut so that they can develop into blooming plants.
Tip: Goldlack belongs to the early bloomers and is therefore a good neighbor of tulips, daffodils and
Forget Me Not.The choice of location also determines how old a gold lacquer plant will be. Originally a biennial plant, some specimens can grow to be many years old as subshrubs if they are in the right place. Ideal for this are locations close to a wall or wall, where a lot of sunlight warms the rock and the plant has good growing conditions. These long-standing specimens are often cut back in autumn in order to sprout bushy and full in the following year.
Tip: Except in Garden bed The gold lacquer also thrives in buckets or boxes in which standard soil has been introduced.
Care and fertilization of Erysimum cheiri
The gold lacquer requires little maintenance. In order to extend the flowering time, it is advisable to clean out the inflorescences regularly, even with the old varieties. Fertilization in the garden can be done once a month with simple liquid fertilizer, potted plants require weekly fertilization. Important: Since the gold lacquer is not hardy, it must be covered in the cold season!
Cut gold lacquer
- Goldlack tolerates a cut back, but does not need it. Depending on the planting, an individual decision must be made here.
- If the plant is placed in a row, then a cut can be made in autumn, which allows the gold lacquer to grow like a hedge the following year.
- If there are a few loosely grouped plants, then it is sufficient to clean out the inflorescences before winter cover.
- A final option is to remove the entire plant after flowering and compost it.
Propagation and cultivation
If self-sowing is desired, the gold varnish is not composted after flowering, but rather it remains with the pods that have formed. Alternatively, the pods can be harvested and, as described above, used for sowing in spring. This should be done in a well-prepared seed bed. In harsher climates, the young plants are isolated in pots after they have sprouted, overwinter in the cold frame and only become in the
planted outdoors next spring.Another possibility of propagation is the cultivation by cuttings. Remnants of cutbacks or half-ripe, non-flowering shoots, which are simply stuck into the ground and take root there, are sufficient. The advantage of this method is that the color of the flowers is known and particularly beautiful specimens are preserved.
Diseases and pests
Locations where the disease caused by soil fungus has already occurred should not be chosen because the fungus responsible for this damages the plant underground and causes it to fall over and dies. Further susceptibility to disease is unknown.
Worth knowing about gold lacquer in brief
Gold lacquer blooms colorfully and for a long time and is not only a feast for the eyes in early spring, but With a suitable location and the appropriate variety, a plant that will last well into autumn pleased. It has the great advantage of being very easy to care for and not making any special demands on pruning or fertilization. It is therefore ideal for hobby gardeners who want to enjoy a blooming garden all year round with as little effort as possible. Gold lacquer is like that in almost everyone Cottage garden to find.
- The gold lacquer belongs to the genus Scotch oaks and in the cruciferous family.
- It is a perennial, herbaceous subshrub whose flowers smell strongly of violets. That is why the plant is also known as yellow violet.
- The whole plant, especially the seeds, is poisonous and irritating to the skin due to cardiac glycosides. The main active ingredient is the cheirotoxin.
- The gold lacquer originally comes from the eastern Mediterranean region. Only one of the 10 species of the genus Goldlack is native to Europe.
- The flowers appear early in the year, between March and May on racemose inflorescences.
- In the first year a basal leaf rosette forms, in the second year the stems lignify and the shoots with the beautiful flowers are formed.