Gerbera is a grassy perennial with beautiful large flowers. Most people see it cut off in a bouquet composition, but growing a gerbera on your own is not so difficult. The plant is quite undemanding. It will perfectly decorate a flowerbed or will delight in a pot like a room flower. Gerbera belongs to the family Asters. Its homeland is the expanses of tropical Asia, South Africa and about. Madagascar. Sometimes it can be found under the name transvaal daisy or transvaal daisy.
Plant description
Gerbera is a perennial herbaceous plant of compact size. The height of the shoot is 25-60 cm. However, such a high gerbera happens only during the flowering period. Most of the plant is formed by a leaf outlet located near the ground. Leaves grow in several tiers on short petioles. They have a cirrus-dissected shape with an elongated central part. Shares are pointed and can reach a length of 35 cm. The surface of the leaves is leathery, bare. Sometimes on the base and petioles there is a thick soft pile. The foliage is painted in a solid dark green color.
Gerbera bloom in August-November. From the center of the leaf rosette grows a bare, covered with a pile peduncle up to 60-80 cm long. It can be one or several grow at once. A single basket with a diameter of up to 14-15 cm (in rare cases, up to 30 cm) opens at the top. Often, heavy heads tilt to the side.
The color of the petals is very diverse: pink, white, yellow, purple, burgundy. The lush center consists of many small tubular flowers of yellow or dark brown color. Reed flowers grow in several rows along the edges. A delicate bush blooms for 3-4 months.
After pollination, seeds with elongated dark seeds ripen. The weight of 1000 units is only 2-3 g. They retain germination for no more than 6 months.
Popular types and varieties
The genus of gerbera has about 80 species, however, hybrid, highly decorative plants are more popular in the culture. The basis for most of them were the following two types.
Gerber Jameson. The herbaceous perennial has a shortened stalk, hidden in a dense rosette of basal leaves. At the end of summer, single inflorescences-baskets similar to multi-colored daisies with a diameter of 4-15 cm bloom over cirrus-dissected foliage. They are located on pubescent peduncles 25-30 cm long.
Gerbera green leaf (ordinary). Long jagged leaves, similar to dandelion foliage, have a more rigid and rough surface. Gentle pink large inflorescences with narrow petals in reed flowers rise on bare pubescent stems up to 1 m high.
Hybrid varieties. They are usually divided into groups depending on the structure of the petals or the inflorescence as a whole. The most interesting can be called these:
- Festival - large terry baskets with medium-wide petals bloom above large leaves on short peduncles;
- Alcor - a plant with narrow foliage and small (about 8 cm in diameter) flowers;
- Jupiter - reed flowers with narrow, almost needle-shaped petals;
- Mars - large baskets with several rows of wide petals bloom on a peduncle up to 65 cm high.
Breeding methods
Gerbera can be propagated by seeds, division of the bush and cuttings. Since the seeds quickly lose their germination capacity, it is recommended to plant them soon after harvest. For crops, prepare boxes filled with loose fertile soil (perlite, sand, peat, sheet land). Seeds are distributed on the surface and sprinkled with wet river sand. After careful moistening, the pot is covered with a film to get a kind of greenhouse. Airing is carried out twice a day, and spraying as necessary. Keep the greenhouse at a temperature of + 16 ... + 20 ° C.
Shoots begin to appear after 8-12 days. Since that time, shelter is removed, and watering is carried out more often, but with great care. With the advent of a pair of real leaves, gerbera seedlings dive into a new box with a distance of 7-8 cm. The presence of 5-6 leaves in seedlings indicates the need for transplantation into separate small pots. Flowering will come in 9-11 months.
A large bush periodically gives basal processes. In spring, they can be separated from the main plant and planted in separate pots or on a flower bed. To make the vegetation more magnificent, 2-3 sprouts are planted in one hole.
Adult gerbera during transplantation can be divided into equal parts. For this, the rhizome is carefully freed from the ground, and then cut with a sharp blade into dividers. Without letting the roots dry, they are immediately planted in new soil and watered.
Home Care
The thermophilic flower is usually grown indoors or in a greenhouse. It is not so difficult to please yourself with a flowering gerbera in a pot.
Lighting. The plant needs bright sunlight and long daylight hours. It is kept on the windowsills of the sunny side, and in the winter they are illuminated with phytolamps. On too hot days, it is recommended that you ventilate the room more often or put a flower outside. At noon, the crown is shaded with a tulle curtain.
Temperature. Gerbera develops best at a temperature of + 18 ... + 24 ° C. Excessive heat is as undesirable as cooling. In winter, the plant is at rest, it is kept at + 14 ... + 16 ° C. All temperature fluctuations should be smooth. Gerbera can survive a cold snap of + 8 ... + 10 ° C, but not for too long.
Humidity. Although the plant adapts well to the usual humidity in the room, it is recommended to spray it periodically. At the same time, water should not fall on the inflorescences. Leaflets should sometimes be cleaned from dust with a damp cloth.
Watering. Gerbera needs regular and plentiful watering so that the soil is always slightly moist. Stagnant water is undesirable, so the pan is released half an hour after irrigation. Water should be soft, well purified. Do not use liquid colder than room temperature.
Fertilizer. A flower needs regular top dressing (up to 4 times a month). However, it is customary to use half the concentration of the diluted mineral complex. It is poured into the soil. In spring, high nitrogen compounds are used. From the period of bud formation, potassium-phosphorus top dressing is used.
Transfer. Gerbera does not tolerate the transplant very well, so the procedures are carried out when the pot becomes too tight. The capacity is not very spacious, just a few centimeters more than the previous one. The soil must be nutritious and loose. It is made up of peat, sand, sphagnum moss and leafy land. All planting work is contraindicated during the flowering period.
Diseases and pests. Gerbera is considered a resistant plant, but with stagnation of water it affects powdery mildew, late blight, root rot and fusarium. Prevention is regular ventilation and moderate watering. If necessary, treatment with Fundazole is carried out. Among the parasites on the gerbera, the most active are spider mites and aphids. These small insects are not always noticeable, but cause great damage, so you need to get rid of them right away.
Gerbera in the open ground
Any, even not very experienced gardener can enjoy flowering gerberas in the flowerbed. Alas, in a temperate climate this heat-loving plant does not winter. It is either grown as an annual, or transplanted into pots every year in the fall and brought into a cool room (not lower than + 8 ° C).
In spring, they plan to land at the end of May or the beginning of June, when all the cooling takes place. For gerbera pick up an open sunny place. The soil should be loose and fertile. The pits are made shallow so that the stem remains on the surface. Pre-grown seedlings will bloom in the first half of summer.
Plants need regular and plentiful watering. You should also periodically loosen the soil at the roots and destroy weeds. Twice a month, the bushes are fed with a mineral complex.
In the southern regions, you can leave the gerbera to winter in the open ground. For this, the plants are covered with a thick layer of dry straw and fallen leaves. In the more northern regions, in order to preserve the gerbera, they dig it out. The rest of the care in the garden and at home for the flower is the same.
Flower use
The main purpose of the plant is the decorative design of the landscape or home. Bushes with large flowers in themselves look like small compact bouquets. In landscape design, a gerbera is used to decorate borders and mixed flower beds. Her neighbors in the flowerbed can be daisies, chrysanthemums, roses, callas.
Bouquets from this gentle plant are very popular, because the flowers do not have an intrusive smell and are suitable even for sensitive natures. The plant is associated with honesty, tenderness and joy. Gerbera can stand in water for a very long time, the main thing is to properly care for the bouquet. To do this, cut the stems diagonally to increase the area in contact with water. The fluid must have room temperature. A couple of aspirin tablets are added to it. So that the stems do not rot, the water is changed daily.
