In recent years, a bright exotic flower of gatsaniya has become very popular among Russian gardeners. This plant is quite demanding and capricious, but, having familiarized yourself with some tricks and features of care, you can take up its cultivation in the conditions of Central Russia.
Description and main characteristics of gatsaniya
The South African gatsaniya (or gazania) flower in appearance looks a bit like a chamomile, which is why it was nicknamed. This is a stunted plant of the Astrov family, which came to Europe in the middle of the XVIII century. It was named in honor of the Italian priest T. von Gaza. In the wild, grows in Africa and coastal areas of Australia.
Gazania flower
Gatzania flowers are formed on a smooth, tubular stem 25 cm high and reach a diameter of 5-12 cm. The color depends on the variety and can be almost any: snowy white, saturated or pale yellow, orange, all conceivable shades of pink, red. A distinctive feature is the darker and contrasting strokes going to the center of the flower.
For your information! The plant begins to bloom 3-4 months after planting the seeds. Its duration is determined by climatic conditions.
Gatzania has a flexible aerial part spreading on the ground, a root root. Leaves and stems are fleecy silvery, milky juice appears on the cut. The upper part of the leaves is smooth bright or dark green. Seeds are thin elongated in black and white, having a small tuft.
Using gatzany in landscape design
Gatsaniya is grown in Africa as a perennial, but in European regions it does not survive the cold winter and is grown as an annual plant. Suitable for almost all types of climate, but in cold latitudes in the fall it should be dug up. He does not like the plant of waterlogging and a large amount of rainfall. It tolerates temperature fluctuations from -5 ° C to 35 ° C, dies immediately in severe frosts.
Landscaping Gazania
Gatsaniya - annual or perennial - can be grown in containers and flower pots to decorate balconies and terraces. Suitable for placement in flower beds, flower beds, along paths in the garden, on alpine slides.
Note! It is allowed to grow African chamomile as a home plant.
In the design of the flower garden, its ideal neighbors can be Iberis, Venidium, Lobelia. Avoid planting near too tall plants that will block access to light, such as verbena or delphinium. In the form of cut gazania lasts about 8-9 days.
Hybrid varieties of plants, among which the most common are gatsaniya harsh and gazania long shoot, are grown as annuals. They can reach 30 cm in height, bloom profusely from mid-summer until the onset of cold weather. These varieties are distinguished by multi-colored reed petals, which is why they are of particular interest to gardeners. Suitable for creating contrasting colorful mixes, they begin to bloom earlier and are more resistant to adverse weather.
There are also many other varieties, among which are gazania peacock, cirrus, one-flowered. The peacock gazania has about 20 cm long leaves, covered with harsh hairs on top, juicy orange flowers with a yellow center and a black ring around it. Cirrus gazania has a pinnate leaf shape and orange flowers with a dark mark closer to the middle. The single-flowered variety is a compact plant with creeping stems and soft yellow baskets of medium-sized numerous flowers.
Different types of gazania
Gatzania: seed cultivation
Gazania seedlings develop very slowly, so you need to calculate the timing of planting in advance. When to plant gatsanii when growing from seeds? It is better to begin this process at the end of winter, in February. To achieve the result, it is required to take into account the characteristics of the plant and act as follows:
- For growing seedlings, sufficiently deep containers are chosen, since the plant has a long, rod-shaped root, which needs a place for development.
- A drainage layer is placed in the tank.
- Light soil is prepared and filled up.
- Seeds are sown, placing them on the soil surface after 2-3 cm from each other, and sprinkled with a small layer of earth.
- Crops are moistened from the atomizer with settled water at room temperature.
- Cover the container with polyethylene or glass.
- Seedling containers are placed in a warm, lit place with an air temperature of at least 20 ° C.
- Daily soil moisture is checked and airing is carried out. The soil should not dry out, otherwise the seeds will dry out, barely rising.
Subject to the described conditions for proper care, after a couple of weeks the first seedlings will appear. From this moment, the film or glass is removed from the seedlings, the containers are transferred to a place with good diffused lighting. The soil continues to be regularly moistened, avoiding drying out or waterlogging.
If the seedlings are deep enough, then picking is carried out not earlier than the appearance of the fourth leaf. Each plant is planted in a separate peat pot so that sensitive roots are not damaged when planted in the ground.
Important! The spread seedlings are transferred to a lighted, but cooler room with an air temperature of 12 ° C to 16 ° C (for example, to a closed loggia). In the afternoon, the bushes should be left in a small draft so that the plants have time to harden.
Landing and caring for gazania
Upon completion of the last frosts and the establishment of warm days, you can begin to land gazania in open ground. A place for flower beds is better to choose a well-lit, heat-loving African guest is not afraid of direct sunlight, it easily tolerates drought. The soil must be fertile and nutritious, well-drained. Gatsaniya landing is carried out by performing the following steps:
- At a distance of 20 cm from one another, holes are made in which it will be easy to place pots with seedlings.
- Plants are placed in wells with pots. If seedlings were still grown in a common container, then young plants get out of them using a long garden shovel and digging the root along with a lump of earth, so as not to damage it.
- After planting, the plants are watered.
- The space around the seedling is mulched.
Outdoor gazania transplant
After gatsaniya take root in the open ground, it will easily tolerate a decrease in temperature up to −5 ° C. In cloudy weather and at night the flowers are covered with a film, and in the morning and in sunny weather they should be opened.
Watering the plant requires moderate, only after the soil has dried. After watering, the soil is loosened and weed, closing with mulch. When deciding how to feed gatsaniya for abundant flowering, it is better to opt for specialized fertilizers for flowering plants. The procedure is carried out about 1-2 times a month.
Note! To achieve the rapid formation of buds and abundant flowering, wilted flowers are removed from the bushes.
An annual plant after flowering and with the onset of cold days needs to be cut and burned to destroy the pests that settled on it. You can save the flower until next spring by digging up the bushes and planting them in pots. It is necessary to store gatsanii in winter at a temperature of about 10 ° C. The room must be bright. Plants are rarely watered, only after the soil has completely dried. In the spring, gatsaniya flowers are planted on a flower bed and their shoots are cut off halfway.
Gazania seeds are collected by putting specially prepared gauze bags on flowers that have just begun to wither, otherwise the ripened seeds will fly apart from gusts of wind.
For your information! It makes no sense to collect seeds of hybrid varieties, as they lose their species characteristics.
Growing gazania flowers as a perennial, you need to follow all the same conditions of care. In the fall, gatsaniya can be dug up and brought into the house. By creating suitable conditions, 14-hour lighting and a temperature of 22-25 ° C, you can not only preserve the plant, but also achieve its flowering in winter.
Potted gazania
Gazania flowers: growing, care, conservation as a perennial
Also, long-term gatsaniya during the cultivation and care in the conditions of Russian winters can be saved by moving it indoors, for example, to the basement. In spring, the plant is returned to warm soil, observing the planting conditions described above. Toward the end of winter, the plant is propagated by division and transplanted into new land. Then the pots are moved to a warmer and brighter room, starting to be watered more often in order to gradually wake the perennial from hibernation.
Diseases, pests and ways to combat them
Despite the plant's resistance to pests and diseases, improper care of gatsaniya and adverse conditions lead to the defeat of fungal or viral diseases, as well as the appearance of various pests. Due to insufficient lighting and excess moisture, gray rot forms on the plant, which can be eliminated only at the initial stage. For this, gazania is treated with fungicidal preparations.
Note! Bushes that have been severely infected are removed and burned to protect healthy plants from the disease. The bed is treated with phytosporin for the same purpose.
Garden snails, often eating the lower leaves of ganzania, are harvested by hand. By yellowing and wilting of the leaves, one can suspect that the reason for this was the appearance of a spider mite and aphids. The tick is destroyed using ditoxin, fufanon or actellik. They fight aphids with the help of int-vira, acarin or phytoerm.
Compliance with the rules of care will allow you to grow chic gazania bushes in the summer cottage. Perennial or annual, African chamomile will always delight with its unusual bright colors.
