There is a yaskolka underfoot
She spread out her carpet
With delicate white flowers
Attracts the eye.Fragrant flowers
The petals reach towards the sun,
Silvery leaves
So graceful and fragile!
I really like low-growing groundcover plants. I enjoy growing flowers like moss phlox, sedums, and pinks. Groundcovers look spectacular in the foreground of flower beds, along paths, in rock gardens, and under shrub canopies.
In this note I will tell you about the yaskolka.
Cerastium is a perennial, low-growing groundcover plant belonging to the Caryophyllaceae family. It is frost-resistant, overwinters without shelter, and does not freeze even in severe winters.
What does a yaskolka look like?
Its creeping, pubescent shoots develop roots as they touch the ground, from which new stems grow. The clumps of chickweed quickly develop into dense, cushion-like turf.
The leaves are small, elliptical, and greyish-silver in colour.
The small white flowers have five petals, each with a yellow throat and a double notch. Here in Krasnoyarsk, they begin blooming in June. During flowering, they emit a honey-like aroma.
Even at my old dacha, I made small flower beds, lined them with stones and planted low-growing groundcover plants in them, which I grew from seedlings.
Among them was also a yaskolka.
When we bought another dacha, I moved the chickweed here. It grew in various places along paths, at the edges of flower beds, under tall flower bushes, and in the shade under a tree. It performed best in a sunny spot along a chain-link fence, in a narrow, raised bed lined with stones.
How I care for the yaskolka
I've had this flower growing in the same spot for a long time. It grows quickly, taking over nearby areas and crowding out neighboring plants.
In the spring, I trim away dead branches and excess stems that have invaded other plants, removing them or replanting them in the center of the bush, adding new soil if there are bare spots. After flowering, I trim the flower stalks.
Even without flowers, the yaskolka looks attractive, decorating my small flowerbed with its gray-green cushions until late autumn.
Cerastium does not require special attention, I never fertilize it, although it is recommended to feed it with mineral fertilizers 2-3 times during the summer.
I don’t treat it for pests, no one attacks it, bugs and caterpillars don’t eat the leaves.
She never gets sick.
I only water it periodically if it’s very hot and there’s no rain.