Helenium shines with its flowers like a sun in the morning sky. Bright colors right into autumn are what make it so attractive. In order to enjoy this plant for a long time, it should be given certain care.
How do you properly care for the sun bride (Helenium)?
The care of the sun bride (Helenium) includes regular watering without waterlogging, fertilizing with compost or liquid fertilizer, protection against slugs with bark mulch or slug pellets, light wintering with leaves or brushwood and regular removal of spent flowers as well as pruning the stems in spring Autumn.
Do you need a special fertilizer for the sun bride?
Shortly before or when the bud shoots, you can give the sun bride a complete fertilizer. Compost, for example, is suitable for plants in the garden, but nettle manure and pond water are also ideal for fertilizing.
Heleniums in pots should be provided with a liquid fertilizer for flowers. When growing in pots, fertilizing at regular intervals throughout the growing season is recommended. You should lightly fertilize Helenium in the pot every four weeks.
What should you pay attention to when watering?
Depending on where the sun bride is, it needs to be watered more or less frequently:
- don't like dryness
- does not tolerate waterlogging
- Keep soil slightly moist
- water when the top layer of soil has dried
- Mulch the soil around the root area
- increased attention: water well after planting
Which pest can be dangerous to the plant?
Snails are the culprits that like to leave behind eaten leaves and make it difficult for the sun bride to grow lushly and bloom happily. Snail infestation can occur especially in damp weather. Collect the pests to protect the plant!
As a precaution, you can spread bark mulch to protect the clumps. It is also advisable to scatter slug pellets (€16.00 on Amazon) around Helenium in the spring. Otherwise the snails could eat the young perennials. There are no other specific pests or diseases for Helenium.
Is wintering useful?
The sun bride does not need to be overwintered. It is sufficiently hardy in our latitudes. Only when temperatures are significantly below zero is it a good idea to spread a protective layer of leaves, compost or brushwood.
Why and how is the sun bride cut?
- Cut off spent flowers regularly (longer flowering period)
- cut down stems in late autumn or spring
- remove old leaves
- If necessary, remove tips when budding in order to achieve strong growth and more stability
Tip
To keep the Sun Bride youthful and vigorous, divide it every three years in spring or fall.
