Perennial garden geranium: species, varieties, cultivation and use

ABOUT geraniums known as a houseplant, which is quite popular among flower growers. But perennial flower species adorn gardens and parks without requiring special care and conditions for growth. Geranium bushes are used by designers to create flower arrangements on the territory of a suburban area.

Hundreds of varieties of geraniums have been bred by breeders. These are both herbaceous representatives of the flower and semi-shrubs. In temperate climates, there are annual and perennial decorative crops, representatives of the Geraniev family. It is easy for a beginner to grow flowering plants. You can choose the types of geraniums that are suitable for the conditions of the climate, site.

Contents:

• The best types and varieties of garden geranium
• Breeding methods, rules for planting perennials
• Recommendations for the care of geraniums
• Possible growing problems, their elimination
• The use of geranium in garden design

The best types and varieties of garden geranium

An unpretentious perennial garden geranium plant is valued for its success in survival in different climatic conditions. It grows well both in the shade and in the sun. The bushes grow rapidly, decorating the area with bright fancifully carved green leaves, large inflorescences or many small flowers of various colors.

Among the types of geraniums for the garden, those that correspond to the location of the site, the tastes of the owner are chosen:

• Balkan geranium is distinguished by a large rhizome, which spreads along the ground, spreading over a large territory. With a height of the bushes of thirty centimeters, a decorative carpet of bright greenery and small rosettes of a purple flower is obtained. By autumn, the foliage turns red, decorating the site.
• Perennial geranium blood-red blooms profusely all summer. Red flowers with a diameter of four centimeters look interesting against the background of light green rounded leaves. The spherical shape of a bush 60 centimeters high will become a true decoration of the site at any time of the year.
• For an area with a level of groundwater occurrence close to the surface, a marsh type of geranium is suitable. Large leaves and small flowers sit on long, hairy stems. The number of outlets is few, but the green carpet will cover the soil until August. And the species reproduces by self-seeding.
• Bright purple flowers, collected in umbrellas, the gray leaves of the Georgian geranium cut into pieces annually delight the eye. The plant is unpretentious and can exist in one place for more than ten years. Ornamental shrubs are tall, strong, resistant to temperature extremes.
• The Himalayan geranium can be said to be one of the best flower species. Intense blue with a purple tint, the rosettes are kept on the stems all summer. They give off a scent that attracts insects. From the rhizome, shoots grow rapidly, creating flowering carpets.
• The name of the gorgeous geranium speaks for itself. Since July, the bushes are covered with light tones of purple, lilac. By autumn, the petals turn yellow, orange. A feature of the species is the absence of seeds.

When choosing types of geraniums, they rely on different periods of their flowering.You need to know what soil the plant prefers, how it reproduces.

Breeding methods, rules for planting perennials

Seeds geraniums are rarely propagated, because this process requires the ability to select high-quality seed. In order for a seed to sprout, one must be able to determine its maturity. Some types of geraniums scatter seeds themselves in the fall.

If you decide on a seed reproduction method, then they begin to plant seeds in the ground in October or April. After winter, autumn plantings will give amicable shoots, if the conditions for growth were favorable. Geranium will bloom only next year. Store-bought seeds are planted in containers for seedlings, placing containers in a greenhouse. After growing, the bushes are determined to a permanent place with a distance of 50 centimeters from each other.

The plant quickly takes root if there is a lot of light on the site, and in the ground there is food, moisture and air.

In order not to cross the varieties of geraniums, they prefer to propagate by cuttings. Prepared branches are planted in soil consisting of sand and nutrient mixture. After rooting, they are placed in the holes and covered with nutritious light soil. It is easy to get cuttings with a viable root system by bending the side shoots of the bush and covering them with soil at the base. You can dig up the mother bush and separate the parts from it with the root, planting them separately. In any case, during reproduction, it is necessary not to damage the rhizome by planting it along with the layers.

For planting ornamental crops, sunny places are chosen. The plant prefers soil that is loose, nutritious, with neutral acidity. Although there are species that grow well in acidic soils. These include blood red geraniums. The planting of the bush is carried out in prepared holes with a distance of half a meter from each other.

Recommendations for the care of geraniums

There are few requirements for the care of perennial garden geraniums:

1. Water the bushes abundantly after planting. Then they take root better. In dry periods, watered, observing the state of the soil. Most species of a flower do not tolerate wetlands.
2. After rains and moisture, the soil is loosened, removing the crust from the surface of the earth. It is helpful to weed the plantings as the weeds grow.
3. If the site is poor mineral and organic matter, then they feed the flower garden with complex fertilizers.
4. To lengthen the flowering time, pruning of dry leaves, broken off branches is carried out.
5. Geranium hibernates without shelter. You can remove the aerial parts of the plant in the fall and sprinkle the bushes with a thick layer of mulch - wood chips, bark, compost.

Geranium bushes do not require careful maintenance, they grow easily, taking up empty spaces.

Possible growing problems, their elimination

Despite its unpretentiousness, garden geraniums can die due to lack of sunlight. If the bushes grow poorly, the leaves wither and turn yellow, then the plant is urgently transplanted. Waterlogging of the site, waterlogging of geranium plantings is also fraught with irreversible consequences for ornamental culture.

Perennial grows poorly due to fungal infections. Fungus powdery mildew causes the appearance of white bloom on the leaves. Gray mold on leaves and stems is associated with rot. Rust appears as red spots on the leaf plates.

You can fight the disease by spraying with fungicidal preparations.

From pests, aphids attack bushes, drawing sap from plant tissues. The danger is the whitefly, its larvae. The appearance of nodes on the rhizomes of a plant is associated with damage nematodes... The elimination of parasites occurs by treating geraniums with insecticidal agents such as Actellik. A solution of laundry soap and tobacco dust will also help.

The use of geranium in garden design

Designers successfully use garden geranium, creating landscape compositions.

• Tall shrubs of forest or gorgeous geraniums are used in mixed flower beds to create a backdrop in the background.Bright flowering bushes are combined with peonies, roses, in sunny places - irises, Veronica, in partial shade - with the Horny Goat Weed. Low-growing varieties are best planted in the foreground of flower beds, flower beds.
• Due to the growth of geraniums, it is good to use it for decorating slopes. Fruit trees, berry bushes surrounded by flowering bushes look great.
• Single plantings of a magnificent plant look great on a green lawn field. You can plant geraniums as a border along paths, around flower beds.
• The plant's bright red flowers adorn the rocky gardens.

On a plot of territory close to natural conditions, on an alpine hill, in rockeries, creeping bushes of ornamental culture will fill the voids between stones, evergreen shrubs. You can use garden geranium where other ornamental plants do not grow well. The tenacious rhizome of perennials will help to strengthen the slopes, the shores of the artificial pond. Geraniums are easy to care for and are an indispensable part of the landscape in the garden.

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