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Cineraria is a delicate perennial flower that is the closest relative of the Aster family. Although they are perennial, it is very problematic to achieve flowering a second time, therefore, most often they are grown for only one season, and then thrown away. The height of the flower stem is no more than 30 cm. Cineraria is a compact form with a rather lush crown, consisting of bright flowers, which are painted in many bright shades of white, pink, red, purple or blue. You can see cineraria bushes in the open field garden or flower beds, in shop windows and in street pots (pictured). This plant is thermophilic and does not tolerate cold well. More often than not, these lovely flowers feel great at home. We will look at how planting and caring for a beautiful plant is carried out in this article.
Varieties of cineraria
There are more than 1300 different species of these plants on the planet, each of which is beautiful in its own way. The most common types that can be found in the garden, on flower beds, lawns or in home windows are the following varieties of cineraria:
- diamond powder (pictured);
- silvery;
- seaside,
- ragwort;
- hybrid;
- graceful and many others.
In turn, these varieties are divided into those that are more suitable for planting in a garden or in a street flower bed, for example, cineraria diamond powder, silver and seaside. They are able to withstand small night frosts up to -2 degrees, and will delight you until late autumn. The planting of these varieties looks great both separately and in combination with other bright colors, emphasizing their unique color.
And there are cineraria that are more suitable for breeding at home, for example: hybrid, bloody and other varieties.
Wherever you grow these flowers - in the garden or at home, you must always remember that they require careful and careful care - otherwise, they will die.
Features and rules of care
For botanists, the question often arises - how to properly care for cineraria so that it blooms? To do this, you need to know the features and rules of caring for this beautiful delicate flower.
Peculiarities
The plant loves open space, which must be protected from direct sunlight during the heat of the day, as the summer heat can destroy it. The best place for planting in the garden or on the windowsill is the east side, since the flower must be in the shade during the day.
The soil should always be evenly moist. The root system of the plant does not like sudden changes and fluctuations in moisture in the soil. Too dry soil will lead to weak flowering, and an excess of moisture will lead to root rot. Be careful not to wet the foliage when watering. When growing cineraria indoors, always use a pot with drainage holes to drain off excess water.
Carefully care for and monitor watering during bud emergence. For the correct development of flowers, it is recommended to use a liquid fertilizer for flowering plants during watering. Apply it according to the instructions on the package.
Cineraria loves cool air, the optimal temperature is 13-16 degrees Celsius during the day and 10-13 degrees at night. Higher or lower temperatures and very bright light will destroy green leaves and result in a very short flowering period.
Cinerarium care
Place your houseplants on a window that faces north or northeast. There the flower will receive the necessary lighting.
Planting in a garden outdoors is carried out in the northern part of the site, preferably under a canopy or under the crown of a tree. If frost is expected on the ground, try to cover them with film or wood shavings. If the temperature rises, be sure to open the flowers.
Aphids and slugs are the main enemy of many plants, and cineraria is no exception. Therefore, plant care must be meticulous. Carefully inspect the leaves, buds, and at the first detection of parasites, you should treat the entire area with soapy water.
If the ambient air in the room is very dry, then you should place the flowerpot in a bowl or saucer, on the bottom of which you should evenly place a small layer of gravel or pebbles, and then add some water. The water level should be below the gravel level, that is, your pot should be on wet pebbles, but not in water. Evaporating, the water will create a humid microclimate for the plant.
These plants love fresh air, so ventilate your area more often.
If there was improper care, the flower has withered, do not be upset, there is a way out.
To revive a wilted flower, completely submerge the pot in a bucket of warm water. Wait until the air bubbles stop coming out, remove the pot from the water and let the excess water drain.
Put the flower back in place, if after 5-7 days it does not recover, then you will have to throw it away.
Planting plants in the ground
There are two ways to decorate your garden with blooming cineraria:
- Planting ready-made bushes purchased at a flower shop in the ground.
- Planting home-grown flower seeds.
Recommendations for growing plants from seeds
Remember: proper seed care is the key to a beautiful flowering plant. At the end of winter, plant the seeds in special planting boxes, the room temperature should be 20-22 degrees Celsius.
And in 7-8 days you will see the first shoots. Then, as you grow, pick the seedlings twice and transplant them into separate pots.
And when the weather is consistently warm, plant them in the soil of your garden. Seeds are planted directly into the soil, which must be thoroughly loosened and sieved beforehand, and the top layer of soil must be leveled and watered. The seeds can be sown arbitrarily, be sure to sprinkle them with earth. If you want to grow flowering bushes, for example, for Valentine's Day, then you must plant seeds on September 1, and for Easter holidays - October 15.
Cineraria maritima (Cineraria maritima) is one of the types of cineraria of the Astrov family, its homeland is the Western Mediterranean. Cineraria are perennial herbaceous plants of rosette or shrub form 15–60 cm high. In our climate, seaside cineraria are often grown as a spectacular annual, forming in the first year an elegant rosette of beautiful ash-silver or bluish-green leaves.
Cineraria Seaside Diamond Powder - a variety with beautiful, carved, silvery-ash foliage, decorative throughout the growing season. It will look perfect in a flower garden as a background plant!
How to grow?
For planting cineraria in a flower garden, it is better to grow seedlings from seeds in advance. They are sown in the second half of February; the seeds are small. Any loose soil is suitable for sowing; the top layer about 1 cm thick is best sieved thoroughly. Since the seeds are very small, when sowing, they are not buried in the ground, but placed on a slightly compacted surface of moistened soil, then the crops are covered with glass or film. You can lightly sprinkle the seeds with fine-grained sand.
Seedlings appear in 7-10 days at a temperature of 18… 20 ° С. Seedlings develop slowly at first. A pick is carried out when 2 true leaves appear in pots or boxes. Plants tolerate transplanting well.Cineraria seedlings can be planted in a flower garden from early May to early June; the distance between plants is 15–20 cm.
Cineraria seaside cold-resistant, sun-loving, drought-resistant and requires abundant watering only at the beginning of growth. It is undemanding to the soil, but it grows better on loose nutrient. It develops well in partial shade, but in the sun the leaves are much more beautiful - their whitish color is more pronounced in full sunlight.
On poor soils, cineraria is recommended to be regularly fed with mineral fertilizers (usually 2-3 times a month for the entire growing season). In dry weather, it is advisable to water it moderately. Strongly elongated plants can be pinched so that they do not disturb the clear lines in the flower garden. After that, they branch well and form a dense bush.
As for the protection of cineraria from diseases and pests, this rather resistant plant only needs preventive treatments against aphids (they attack in the heat).
General information 
This plant is increasingly found in flower beds of owners of summer cottages and backyards. Cineraria silvery, the cultivation of which is possible in our climatic conditions, grows in the natural environment on about. Madagascar and tropical Africa. This herb has several species that are popular for its silvery pubescent leaves. They all prefer fertile, well-drained soil.
Application and care
Cineraria silvery, which is best grown on neutral or slightly alkaline soils, blooms with nondescript yellowish flowers that have absolutely no decorative value. But its graceful leaves perfectly emphasize the beauty of any flower bed, border or mixborder. It looks just as advantageous in rock gardens. Silver cineraria looks very impressive against the background of various dark and light green, as well as flowering plants. Growing it comes down to choosing a suitable place for planting, sowing seeds for seedlings, timely watering (without waterlogging), regular weeding and loosening of the soil. It grows wonderfully in sunny, open areas. In such conditions, she is most comfortable. Cineraria silvery, the cultivation of which is possible in our country only as an annual, is capable of tolerating small frosts, therefore it retains its decorative effect almost until the very cold weather. In the southern regions, under cover, it can successfully overwinter.
Cineraria "Silver Rain" 
Most often, this type of cineraria is found in our flower beds. It is grown as an annual crop. This undersized ornamental plant reaches only 20 cm in height. Each bush has a fairly compact shape. The plant is covered with heavily dissected, openwork leaves. All parts of it are strongly pubescent with white hairs. This cineraria is great for decorating flower beds, flower beds, mixborders. It looks especially good in combination with bright colors. Ideal neighbors in a flower bed are alissum, geranium, petunia, ageratum, marigolds. The seeds are sown for seedlings in March. They germinate at 20 ° C. The grown seedlings dive into peat pots. Cineraria is planted in open ground when there is no spring frost. When planting plants, leave a gap of at least 20 cm between them.
Cineraria "Diamond Powder"
This wonderful Dutch flower belongs to annuals. Cineraria "Diamond Powder", the cultivation of which is practically no different from the cultivation of other species of this plant, will become a real jewel in your flower bed. Its openwork leaves have a dense prolapse with amazingly colored silvery-ash hairs. Until late autumn, she will delight with her beauty and grace.If desired, this cineraria can be dug up before frost and transplanted into a pot, in which it will successfully grow in a cool room until spring. This variety looks great in group and single plantings.
The original ornamental annual plant Cineraria silvery, the cultivation of which is becoming more and more popular in our country, is an amazingly beautiful and unpretentious adornment of any site in terms of care requirements. After all, as a rule, it is she who is used to revitalize flower beds and create unique borders. The homeland of cineraria is the Canary Islands, but it behaves very well in our latitudes.
Cineraria belongs to the Aster family, the height of the plant does not exceed thirty-five to forty centimeters. The appearance of the cineraria silvery plant is original, and therefore its cultivation is widespread in many regions of our country. After all, there is something to see: the plant is covered with silvery-fluffy jagged leaves, which make it look like some kind of unearthly creature.
It should be noted that silvery cineraria, the cultivation of which you decided to carry out, has a special relationship with light to light. In order for it not to lose its characteristic silvery color, it is necessary that the plant be planted in areas with bright sunlight. In the shade, of course, the plant also grows, but only its leaves become ash-gray.
In leaving, cineraria is unpretentious, but it has certain requirements for watering. So, it must be watered often, and the soil must be well fertilized. In the event that the plant was purchased in a store, then you should not feed it. But if the plant is grown from seedlings, then this must be done weekly. In the event that cineraria experiences some discomfort, its leaves immediately begin to signal this: they curl and fall off or turn yellow. In the first case, this is a signal that excessive illumination acts on the plant, and in the second case, either a draft interferes with the plant, or it is not watered enough. Quite often this plant is also called cineraria silver rain.
The cineraria plant diamond powder, the cultivation of which is considered in this article, blooms somehow nondescript. Its decoration, as already mentioned, is the leaves. That is why it is best to pinch flower shoots at the moment they appear.
How is this unique plant, cineraria silver rain, used? It is very loved by landscape designers. After all, cineraria is a magnificent background plant, thanks to which you can create amazingly beautiful flower arrangements on a flower bed. Also, quite often, beautiful borders are created from cineraria. Today, there are various types of this plant. For example, bloody cineraria and graceful cineraria are usually planted in picturesque groups on lawns. In the event that you want to grow this plant indoors, it is better to choose blooming cineraria.
This is how it is - cineraria diamond powder, the cultivation of which cannot be called difficult. And this plant will bring a lot of positive emotions. Moreover, it can even withstand slight frosts, and, according to experts, in the southern regions of our country it is even permissible not to dig it out for the winter.
In the event that you decide to start this amazing plant on your site, you should also know the diseases that can infect cineraria. As a rule, it is a spider mite or aphid. And in order not to lose this plant, you must very carefully monitor its condition.
So, cineraria silvery, the cultivation and care of which does not seem difficult, is actually an amazing plant that can decorate any personal plot. And a true connoisseur of beauty will never pass by him.
