An excellent choice for the garden is the amazingly beautiful flowerbed freesia plant. Planting and caring for freesia in the open ground are quite simple, and its flowering is invariably admired by everyone.
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Description of species and varieties
Hybrids obtained by crossing freesia broken with the Amstrong variety are very popular among our amateur gardeners.
- Amstrong is distinguished by rather high stems up to 70 cm, as well as inflorescences, consisting of 5 fragrant flowers of a wide variety of colors. It blooms in June.
- Broken freesia is a miniature plant for a flower bed or flowerpot, which hardly reaches a height of 40 cm. The inflorescence is very bright, paniculate, consists of 5 flowers. The view in April blooms.
Hybrid freesia perfectly combines the qualities of parent plants. The bush is very branched and can be up to 100 cm. Flowers in diameter reach 7 cm, fragrant, various colors (can be two-tone). Terry freesia is also bred.
Among others, grades are especially distinguished:
- freesia "Alba";
- Rose Marie
- Pimperina and many others.
In gardening shops you can find a specific variety, or you can buy a mixture to create a multi-colored flower bed on your site.
How to grow freesia from seeds?
Growing freesia from seeds is a very exciting experience, because a flower of amazing beauty grows from a tiny seed. However, this process is laborious and does not guarantee a positive result.
To grow these flowers from seeds, you must:
- Soak planting material in a growth stimulator for a day.
- Sow the seeds in prepared containers with nutrient soil, slightly pressing them.
- Tighten containers with foil to create a greenhouse effect.
- Identify pots in a bright place.
- Every day, the film is lifted and sprayed planting, well ventilated.
- As the sprouts appear, they need to be gradually tempered, leaving the film ajar for a while.
- When these leaves appear, the seedlings are dived into separate containers or planted, leaving 6 cm between the sprouts.
After a few months, freesia will bloom.
Outdoor flower planting
It is much easier to grow freesia through corms that are planted in the garden. However, even in this case, not all flower growers know how to plant freesia in the spring correctly, and therefore cannot bloom from it.
First, you should correctly select the site on which the bulbs will be planted.
- It is advisable to choose a place in partial shade. Although freesia loves light and daylight for its normal development should be about 12 hours, direct sunlight is very harmful for the plant.
- The site is chosen reliably protected from the north wind and drafts.
- The earth must be loose, nutritious, drained.
Corms need to be sprouted. To do this, in the first days of April, the material is taken out, inspected for rot, cleaned of dried scales and treated with a weak solution of Fundazole. Then the prepared material is planted in shallow containers, deepening them only by 5 cm. Flowerpots should stand in the light.
Freesia flower is a tropical crop that requires heat. Planting in the garden begins only at the end of May.
Landing freesia step by step:
- Shallow holes are prepared, since bulbs cannot be deeply buried in the ground.
- If the heads are large, then the distance between the holes should be about 5 cm, if the material is small - leave 3 cm.
- The distance in rows is 15 cm.
- Bulbs are placed in holes and sprinkled lightly on the ground. Top landing must be mulched with organic matter or peat.
Flowering begins in August. With properly organized care, the plant will bloom until the end of October.
Care for freesia in the garden
The plant will bloom lushly and brightly if properly fed. Fertilizing is carried out in several stages.
- The first time nutrient compounds are introduced as soon as the shoots hatch from the bulbs. Freesia is fed a weak solution of ammonium nitrate, diluting only 20 g in a bucket of water.
- Then it is fertilized every 10 to 12 days, introducing potassium and superphosphate. Bred 20 and 40 g of fertilizer, respectively, in a bucket of water.
In addition to top dressing, frequent weeding and loosening of the soil are necessary. Weed grass can clog plants.
Watering requires special attention. During flowering, the bushes are watered frequently and abundantly. When the flowers begin to bloom, watering is gradually reduced and reduced to nothing. At this time, spraying begins. It is advisable to spray flowers in the evening.
Breeding methods
There are two ways to propagate a flower: children and seeds. Propagation by sowing seeds is a very long and laborious process, which is mainly used by breeders. Amateur gardeners propagate freesia as daughter bulbs.
During flowering, children begin to grow next to the mother's bulb. They can be from one to ten pieces. During the growth of the flower, the mother bulb is usually completely degenerated.
- When freesia begins to fade, all flowers must be removed so that the plant does not direct forces to seed maturation, but to bulb growth.
- When the last flower is cut off, the plant should be left at rest for a week.
- Then they carefully dig it out, remove the tops, and leave the bulbs to dry.
- When they dry, the children are separated from the mother's bulbs and stored separately. They can be planted next year.
Protection against diseases and pests
Freesia is affected by the same diseases and pests as all flowering bulbous plants. Thrips and spider mites can cause significant harm to her.To combat them, you need to use insecticides for the garden.
Of the diseases, the scab plant, rot and fusariosis are most often affected. It is impossible to cure freesia from these diseases. The affected plant is simply dug up, carried out of the site and burned.
To keep the bulbs healthy, they are soaked in a weak solution of manganese before planting.
The irrigation schedule is also important, since it is impossible to prevent the appearance of rot due to excessive humidity. But overdrying the soil can cause the death of the plant.
Freesia after flowering
As a rule, in October, corms are dug up. Do this after yellowing the foliage.
- They cut the leaves and stem, clean them from the soil, remove old scales.
- Then the nodules are soaked for 30 minutes in a weak solution of fungicide.
- After soaking, the bulbs are dried for several days at t = + 25ºC.
- Dry bulbs are sorted by size and put away for storage.
Freesia can not be called a very whimsical plant, but for lush flowering you will have to pay some attention to it. In gratitude, the flower will surely please the owner with bright buds and juicy greens.
