Speedwell First Love

The 'First Love' speedwell seedling requires no complex preparations and will delight anyone looking for a low-maintenance and, above all, long-lived perennial for their garden. Once you receive the seedling, find it a suitable sunny location or a spot in partial shade, where it will thrive best. Standard loamy and humic soil is ideal, as it can provide the plant with enough of the necessary nutrients. When planting, it is absolutely crucial to maintain the correct spacing, which should be around forty centimeters. In practice, this means planting about five to seven plants per square meter. This sufficient spacing ensures the necessary free circulation of air around the leaves. Proper airflow acts as the best natural prevention against unpleasant powdery mildew, to which this plant can occasionally be susceptible. Fortunately, you do not have to worry about other diseases or common garden pests; the speedwell is highly resistant to them and therefore requires no chemical sprays.

During the growing season, this speedwell requires moderate watering. Try to keep the soil reasonably and consistently moist, but carefully avoid unnecessary waterlogging, which could damage the root system. As the plant begins to bloom from June with an incredible flood of tiny bubblegum-pink flowers, it becomes a huge attraction for bees, butterflies, and other beneficial pollinators. If you regularly and carefully remove all spent stems and fading inflorescences, you will significantly encourage the formation of new buds. Thanks to this simple step, the plant will maintain its perfect and fresh appearance until the end of August. Moreover, its sturdy and stable stems are absolutely ideal for cutting into summer bouquets, where they will look stunning in a vase; conversely, drying is not recommended for this particular species, as the flowers lose their color and shape.

You can also grow this attractive perennial with great success in larger containers on a patio or balcony, as it grows to a very compact height ranging from thirty to forty-five centimeters. However, always choose a sufficiently spacious pot with a practical drainage hole at the bottom and use a high-quality, permeable substrate mixed with mature compost. For plants placed in containers, remember carefully that the limited amount of substrate dries out much faster than open soil in a garden bed, so regular and slightly more frequent watering during hot summer months is absolutely essential. At the end of the season, the whole plant naturally enters a vegetative rest period. You do not need to worry about winter protection in the garden at all, as the 'First Love' speedwell will handle extreme frosts dropping down to minus thirty-four degrees with ease, without any need for covering with conifer branches.