Types Of Geraniums, Growing Geraniums On The Windowsill, Balcony And In The Garden (part 2)

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Read the first part of the article

Pelargonium - "crane nose"

Pelargonium care

At the beginning of summer, you can take your

pelargoniums to the garden plot and plant them in the sun or in partial shade directly into the ground, where they grow well and bloom profusely until frost with practically no additional feeding. True, business should not be brought to frost: in September, the plants must again be planted in large pots and returned to city apartments. These specimens that have lived in the garden for the summer always compare favorably with those that remained at home. Remember to remove dried or yellowed leaves from flowers, sweep debris from the surface of the ground in a pot, wash the crowns in the shower before returning the plants to their place on the windowsill.

In summer, flowers need sufficient watering, without drying out the roots. Complex fertilizing once every 10 days will support abundant flowering, if you do not use AVA long-acting complex fertilizers during planting.

Besides flower beds and window sills, the balcony is a great place for pelargoniums. They practice both planting flowers in boxes and installing pots in larger containers with filling them with earth to better retain moisture and reduce overheating of the roots.

In the fall, pelargoniums continue to bloom at home as long as they have enough light. You can supplement them with fluorescent lamps up to 12-14 hours of the day. At the end of flowering, the stems are cut to 10-15 cm and the plants are kept almost dry, in a cool (+ 8 … + 12 ° C) and even dark place until spring. The lower the temperature of the content, the less light is required and vice versa. Cut shoots can be rooted, although they root best from February to August.

Sometimes on the windowsills through the glass of the windows you see, instead of pelargoniums, real "palms", in which only the tops of the tops have preserved leaves on their long bare stems. This is because they were not cut off in time. There is no need to be afraid of pruning, without it, pelargonium cannot sufficiently branch and maintain a beautiful bush shape, all the more fully bloom. Young plants are known to bloom more abundantly than old ones. After two to three years, it is best to replace the mother liquors, and plant the old bushes in the garden and not return home.

If you did not prune the plants in the fall, this can be done at the end of winter, and immediately put the cuttings for rooting. In summer, cuttings are cut at any time: about 10 cm long, even if there are buds on the shoots.

After spring pruning, it is best to transfer the mother plant to fresh soil in a slightly larger container, not forgetting to add AVA granules - this will reduce the hassle of caring for the flowers. After pruning, nitrogen fertilization is always required to help the plants quickly regain green mass. In general, pelargoniums have a good "appetite", one should not forget about this. The annual transfer of mother liquors into a fresh fertile mixture improves their decorative effect and makes flowering abundant.

Healing aroma

Pelargonium is known and loved not only for its beautiful flowering, but also for its ethereal content. For geranium oil, the scent of which resembles a pink, in the countries of the Mediterranean and Central Asia, the Crimea, the Caucasus, specially cultivated

pelargonium pink (Pelargonium roseum) and

fragrant (Pelargonium graveolens). The oil is obtained from flowers and leaves, and 20 kg of oil are obtained from 1 hectare of pelargonium plantation. Due to its healing properties, essential oil is used in medicine, it replaces expensive rose oil in perfumery, soap making and food industries.

It is useful to have pelargoniums at home in all rooms: rooms, bedroom, living room, children's room, kitchen. Like any houseplant, it humidifies the air and absorbs carbon dioxide and other "excess" substances, improving the atmosphere at home. Its essential oil has a pronounced antiviral and antibacterial effect. In aromatherapy, geranium oil is used to relieve depression, nervous overstrain, to increase mental activity, in the treatment of neuralgic diseases. In cosmetics, geranium oil is used to care for oily skin, to rejuvenate, relieve inflammation and peeling of the skin, heal cracks, against dandruff, head lice, and also for the treatment of insect bites. The smell of pelargonium repels mosquitoes, moths, flies and lice. For headaches, geranium oil (as it is officially called; in addition,oil is obtained from forest and field geranium) rubbed into whiskey.

Especially a lot of essential oils contain the leaves of Pelargonium fragrantwith deeply dissected leaves (Pelargonium graveolens). It is these pelargoniums that are industrially grown to produce essential oils used in medicine, perfumery, and cosmetics. It blooms with pink small flowers with dark spots on the upper petals. The scent of its leaves is reminiscent of the scent of a rose. There are variegated varieties. Propagated by green cuttings, like zonal pelargonium, rooted easily directly in a pot of earth. Requires regular pinching of young shoots to maintain a compact bush. You can grow this pelargonium on trellises, a support - you get a living fragrant screen. Traditionally, its leaves are laid in the ears for pain, inflammation of the middle ear. On a hot sunny day, its leaves actively release essential oils into the air, and if you bring a burning candle to the plant,you can see the effect of the "burning bush" - when the lights instantly run around the flower without burning it. ("Burning bush" is called diktamnus, or ash-tree, which also strongly emits its essential oils in the sun, which instantly burn out from the fire.)

A special group is made up of varieties of

large-flowered pelargonium (Pelargonium grandiflorum), or

domestic (Pelargonium domesticum) with strongly serrated folded leaves. Its flowers are very large, gracefully folded, in umbrellas, white or pink, purple, with dark cherry spots on all or only the upper petals. This pelargonium is also called

royal- its flowers are so regal. It requires particularly careful maintenance, good lighting (ambient light) and nutrition. Propagated by green cuttings in spring and summer. Rooted cuttings are pinched for better tillering of plants. For abundant flowering, this pelargonium must be kept in winter for 2.5-3 months at a low temperature (+ 11 … + 13 ° C) - in such conditions and with a naturally short day, flower buds are laid. In the spring it becomes lighter, the air temperature is raised to + 20 ° C (at night + 16 ° C), watering is increased. Flowering begins in late April.

Pelargonium

ivy is grown for balconies and ampels

(Pelargonium peltatum) with drooping branched stems and green waxy pentagonal leaves that really look like ivy leaves. Its flowers come in a variety of colors in accordance with varietal characteristics. This pelargonium is propagated by cuttings, cutting them off in spring and summer. It is better to dry the cuttings for several hours, then dip them into the root and plant them in a light moist substrate (peat with sand, perlite) under a shelter.

To obtain a more decorative shape of the bush, 3-5 rooted cuttings are planted in one pot. It is important not to overmoisten the ground when watering, but also not to overdry. If the water regime is violated, brown bulging cork spots appear on the leaves and stems, spoiling the appearance of the plants. Pelargonium ivy is a very effective and hardy plant for ampels, and not only in the house, but also in the garden, in city gardens and parks. Companions of this pelargonium in ampels are ampelous varieties of lobelia, alissum, diastia - an amazingly bright and delicate, delicate composition for the whole summer is obtained.

Pelargoniums are so diverse that you can only decorate your home with this kind of plants and get a lot of pleasure, improve your health. This is one of the few indoor plants with not only pastel colors, but also fiery red flowers. Geraniums are a living source of red color, which we need to energize, stimulate action, move forward, to win and achieve achievements, and just to maintain a good mood. This is how color therapy, the most ancient of healing practices, interprets the effect of red.

Elena Kuzmina, Pushkin

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