Gailardia perennial, planting and caring for which does not cause much trouble, is a sunny flower that can give positive emotions from early spring to late autumn. But, despite the complaisant nature, the fire daisy needs the attention of the gardener, who, after spending a little time, will receive the radiant light and beauty of the flowerbed.
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Gailardia perennial: features of cultivation
Gaylardia - a bush with spreading curved shoots, reaching a height of 70 cm. The stems of the flower are surrounded by basal leaf plates of a lanceolate shape. Before flowering, at the ends of the shoots, simple large inflorescences are formed from bright reed flowers around the circumference and tubular ones in the center. The flowers are painted in rich tones of red, orange, bronze and framed by a yellow border. The flowering period lasts from the beginning of summer until the onset of frost. It is not difficult to grow a representative of astrovidae in the open ground, however, for the effective design of the front garden, flowerbed or the whole garden plot, you must adhere to certain agrotechnical requirements for planting and care.
Planting flowers
Planting perennials, as a rule, is carried out with the help of expelled seedlings. Cultivation of perennial gaillardia seeds for seedlings begins in April, and seedlings are planted at a constant place at the beginning of the fall season.
Site and soil preparation
For planting flowers, well-lit areas with drained soil are selected.Deficiency of the sun negatively affects flowering, which in the shade may not occur at all. Due to its unpretentiousness, the plant is cultivated on almost any type of soil, preferring dry, light, non-acidic soils with a pH of 6-7. Before planting flowers, the nutrient layer of the soil is enriched by making compost or humus, a glass of wood ash and two tablespoons of complex mineral fertilizers during digging.
Important! When preparing the soil, fresh manure is not allowed: the plant does not tolerate this type of organic fertilizer.
Landing rules
In order for a flowerbed with sunny flowers to look rich, you should adhere to certain rules when planting:
- Prepare wells with a distance of 25-30 cm, where compost, ash and mineral fertilizers should be applied, if the soil has not been enriched in advance.
- To give greater splendor, the planting should be carried out by 2-3 plants in one landing pit.
- After planting, moisten the soil under the bushes well.
Gailardia perennial: care
When cultivating plants, care is a must. However for gaillardia, providing good lighting is most important. Therefore, if the place was chosen correctly, then care measures will not cause difficulties.
Watering
A flower needs moderate watering only during intense heat with a long dry period. After wetting, the soil is sure to loosen.
Fertilizer application
Perennial top dressing is carried out three times during the growing season with organic and complex mineral fertilizers in the form of compost, humus, nitroammophoski:
- in early summer - during the bud formation phase;
- in the second half of summer - in the phase of intense flowering;
- in mid-autumn - after pruning of flower stalks and three weeks before the arrival of the first frost.
Transfer
Five years after growing in one place, the flower is transplanted. The procedure is combined with the cultivation of the plant by dividing the bush.
Tying
Tall types of culture require a garter so that the shoots of the bush do not fall apart on the ground, and the beautiful flowerbed does not have an unsightly appearance. Instead of additional supports, the stems of other plants are used: if irises grow near the gaillardia, flower stalks of which can withstand even in windy weather, they will become an excellent support for the spreading bush.
Winter preparations
Perennial refers to frost-resistant crops that tolerate winter cold. However, according to experts, before severe weather conditions with a strong drop in temperature, the flower needs to be covered with fallen garden foliage or spruce branches.
Pest and disease protection
Despite the resistance of the flower to damage by pests and diseases, non-compliance with the rules for care can cause the manifestation of fungal diseases: powdery mildew, spotting, rust and rot. If signs of damage are detected, it is necessary to carry out treatment with the fungicidal preparations “Skor”, “Topaz” and other analogs according to the manufacturer's instructions. Of the pests in the culture, aphids and whiteflies are noted, from the settlement of which the spraying of the flower with the insecticide Actellik, Decis and other preparations of a similar action will protect it.
Gaylardia perennial: reproduction
Perennial is bred by two methods: vegetative and generative.
Vegetative method - dividing the bush
Old overgrown bushes breed by division of rhizomes - take root. For the procedure, the autumn period is suitable after removal of the peduncles or the spring period before the beginning of intensive growth.
- Wells with a distance of 30 cm are prepared.
- An adult bush is being dug up.
- The rhizome is divided into parts, each of which should have several roots and shoots.
- After seedling, new plants are watered abundantly.
Seed Reception
Perennial in the garden propagates by self-sowing, in which the color palette of flowers on new bushes can have significant differences when compared with the parent specimen.To avoid such a situation, self-sowing is controlled: in the autumn, after flowering is completed, the seeds are collected and dried.
Next spring, with the arrival of heat, the following steps are taken:
- The site is prepared - it is dug up and well moistened.
- Seeds are distributed on the surface, after which they are crushed by the earth at 0.5-1 cm.
- With the help of a film or agrofibre, with which beds are hidden, a greenhouse effect is created.
- After two weeks, seedlings appear.
- Dive is carried out after the appearance of the first pair of true leaves.
- In the fall or next spring, the gailardia moves to a constant place of growth, where in a year it will give the first flowers.
Landscape design
Gailardia perennial flowers are widely used in mixborders, for decorating flower beds, alpine hills, rabatok. When designing wide borders often involve undersized varieties of culture. In the field of garden landscape design, two perennial varieties of marvelous shrub, which in the wild is represented by more than 25 species, are widespread.
Hybrid perennial gaillardia
The species, which is the result of the painstaking work of breeders, was obtained by crossing the spinosa gailardia with various wild annual flower varieties. A plant in the form of a bush, the height of which does not exceed 80 cm, is formed by many shoots surrounded by lowered leaves of the lanceolate type. Terry or semi-double inflorescences in the form of baskets are formed by reed and tubular flowers of red, brown, orange and bronze shades. The beginning of flowering is noted in the early summer. The duration of the flowering phase is about two months. Among flower growers, the most popular are such varieties as the two-flowered “Zone”, “Kobold” with an atypical red frame of flowers, the undersized “Arizona Sun”, abundantly flowering and at the same time compact “Primavera”, red “Burgunder” with yellow splashes.
Gaillardia spinosa
A bushy perennial with a height of 30 to 75 cm was brought to Europe from the North American region. The species has erect dense shoots curving in the lower part. The shoots are covered with petiole sessile leaf plates with a lanceolate, oval or oblong shape. Before flowering, basket inflorescences up to 12 cm in diameter are formed on the shoots, which are formed by reed flowers of orange, yellow or red colors. Flowering begins with the advent of summer. Garden forms of this variety are combined under the general name gailardia large-flowered. As the most common varieties stand out: "Dazzer", "Virral Flame", "Mandarin".
Thus, for a small amount of effort and attention spent, gailardia will give the grower plenty of flowering and a riot of bright colors.
