All about gerberas: description, types, cost, symbols, how to grow and care at home and in the garden

Many species and varieties of plants adorn our homes, but rarely does anyone think that these familiar home flowers are often exotic guests from distant continents.

Each species has its own amazing travel story, its own preferences and features. Among such "alien travelers" one can meet an amazing and many-sided gerbera.

It symbolizes the strength and joy of life, so it is often presented for the holidays. Next, we will tell you about the basic rules for leaving a houseplant and garden.

Historical background and proper name

The history of Goberge began in South African lands. You can especially highlight the island of Madagascar, where many different varieties of it grow. In 1737, the plant was described by Gronovius, a botanist from the Netherlands, which gave it a name in honor of Traugott Gerber, the famous herbalist.

At the end of the nineteenth century in western Europe, in the Transvaal, the Scottish R. Jameson selected a garden version of the gerbera. Jameson opened the plant to a large, almost round the world road to houses, gardens and greenhouses. By the beginning of the twentieth century, the plant firmly embarked on the path of popularity and recognition, spreading throughout the European part. Nowadays, it is among the top 5 most popular flowers in the world.

Often there is confusion with the stress in the name of the plant. The correct pronunciation implies an accent in the word in the second syllable, in the letter E - "Gerbera".

On a note. Gerbera also has other names - daisy, African daisy, transvaal daisy.

Their meaning

Gerbera symbolizes modesty, a sense of proportion and secret. At the same time, these flowers mean the strength and brightness of life, the colors of well-being, joy and happiness. Gerberas are also suitable as a symbol of appreciation and respect.

If viewed from an astrological point of view, then this is a flower of Capricorn. It helps capricorns to successfully climb the steps of career growth, so people of this sign are recommended to keep a bouquet or photo of gerberas in the workplace.

By color:

• Whites - a symbol of great sympathy, which means feelings of falling in love or simply the joy of life.
• Orange - Flowers for a beloved man as a sign of special location.
• Pale pink, cream, pastel - a symbol of a reverent attitude and admiration.
• Hot pink - a symbol of health or friendship.
• Yellow - a symbol of a sunny and cheerful mood.
• Ornage - a symbol of good luck and prosperity.

Why give and what does this symbolize?

Gerbera is always a floral compliment. Their colors and shape perfectly convey the best and most positive feelings. In the warm season, it is usually customary to give bouquets of pastel colors, and in the cold season - bright compositions.

1. White - the classic basis of the compositional bouquet of the bride.
2. It is customary to give orange and red to men, and pink to women.
3. Also, white gerberas can be presented to colleagues at work, relatives, beloved woman, only variations in the design of the bouquet will vary depending on the recipient.
4. A bouquet of colored gerberas will be appropriate as a birthday present. Terry gerberas are suitable for young girls.

Similar plants

Gerbera blooms with double and semi-double flowers or simple. The terry look strongly resembles asters, and simple ones are very similar to daisies. There are other gerbera-like flowers, only small ones. Abyssinian gerbera is especially similar to the medicinal form of chamomile, it is found in Ethiopia.

Perennial or annual?

Reference. In the category of home plants, gerbera is grown as a perennial, with periodic shipment for periods of rest.

If the gerbera grows in a place where the winters are relatively warm, then during the cold you can cover it with a layer of straw, lapnik, foliage. When grown outdoors in cold climates, it is often cultivated as an annual flower.

How it looks: description of appearance

Thick stems with leaves of different shapes, depending on the variety, crowned with fairly large flowers, baskets, painted by nature in every way. And asters and daisies all rolled into one. Mostly yellow, cream, orange, white, pink and red gerberas are in use. Variegated flowers are also very popular, with color flowing along the length of the petals.

What colors are gerberas combined with:

• A simple piece of green sisal and a few African daisies will create a great combination.
• They look rich and elegant in combination with roses.
• Delicate and melodic in the company of chrysanthemums.
• Orange gerberas with blue or purple irises will make an amazing bouquet of colors and shapes.
• And if you combine irises, gerberas and lilies, then it is quite possible to get a designer masterpiece for the celebration.

Photo

Below you will find high-resolution photos of these beautiful ornamental plants of various colors: red, yellow, blue and others.

What is the price per unit and how long does the flowering period last?

How much do gerberas cost after purchase and what is their flowering period?

1. Cut flowers with due care can stand from seven days to two weeks. It is only important to follow a few rules - standing water, a slice of the stem at an angle to ensure maximum water intake, regular water changes, coolness, diffused sunlight (how to care for cut flowers so that they stay longer in a vase, read here).
2. Homemade gerbera in a pot pleases with color from August to November.
3. Garden gerbera blooms in early spring and completes flowering only towards the end of autumn.

On a note. The price of one cut flower is approximately 100-120 rubles, and the cost of a plant in a pot will be in the region of 300-500 rubles.

Read more about when and how many gerberas bloom and why they do not, read in our material.

Botanical Description

The plant is a perennial type, belongs to the herbaceous, aster family. The roots are strong, strong and developed. The leaves are quite large. The elongated pinnate shape with sections is accompanied by pointed points, the leaf plate grows to 35 cm. They form a rosette-like rosette, in the center of which a bouquet of inflorescences is revealed on more or less long stems.

Varieties of gerberas are found with abundant pubescence of stems and petioles. It happens that the edge is also present on the peduncle. The length of the flower stalk can reach 60 cm. This is a group of complexiflora, since many small flowers are placed in the core of a single flower basket, which, on a superficial glance, seem to be a core with petals. It turns out that looks like a single flower, in fact, is an inflorescence.

The diameter of the baskets is usually 4-15 cm, and in some hybrids it can be as much as 30 cm. The inflorescence is round, on the edges of the petals are tabs of the same color, and in the central part of the basket there are small tubes of golden color. The core is convex, like a button, most often dark brown. The colors of blooming African daisies can be very diverse, only blue is excluded.

Gerbera flowers are simple, semi-double type and double, and they are divided into large-flowered plants, from 10 cm, and small-flowered, up to 9 cm in size. Flowering occurs in the last month of summer and the beginning of autumn.

Common species

Mostly grown pink, red, white, yellow and orange gerberas. Motley flowers with color transitions along the length of the petal are especially popular. The most popular are potted varieties suitable for home growing (how to grow a gerbera at home, read here). Jameson's gerbera and Zelenolistnaya gerbera are the most widely known, it is their genetic material that underlies the numerous transformations of the species, these are varieties of greenhouse and at the same time home type.

Varieties for outdoor cultivation

Large open varieties of gerberas are grown on open ground, up to 60 cm in height.

• Narrow-leaved small flowers:

  Alcor, giving a deep cherry color, and Aldebaran with rich pink holiday inflorescences.

• Large-flowered flowers with narrow petals:

  Vega, giving a sunny orange color, Migar with nice pink flowers, Algol with cherry bright inflorescences.

• Large petals of medium petal type:

  Saturated Red Mars.

• Large blooms with large petals:

  Delios, Almak, Vera, Romeo, Peter, Saturn.

• Semi-double and terry-type narrow-petal gerberas:

  Sonya, Viola and Kalinka, while the wide-petalled variety is the Iskra variety with dark, densely red inflorescences.

• Gerbera Wright grown for bouquets and as part of landscape design. It blooms for a long time, throughout the spring-summer period, until the onset of cold time.

Varieties for growing at home

To decorate the house take undersized plants up to a third of a meter. For example, gerberas Ilios, Hummingbird and Happipot. They bloom in large inflorescences on short stems that are beautifully decorated in a luxurious rosette. They are not difficult to place in small spaces, for example, on window sills, since these varieties are collected and compact.

In addition to comfortable contents, such gerbera varieties are convenient to use for forming round bouquets like a bride’s bouquet, and for various floral compositional decorations.

Reference. Widely used as an indoor plant by Gerber Jameson, including such varieties as Golden Serena, Parade and Harley. Most often, domestic flowers have a white, orange or yellow color, and inflorescences up to 10 cm in diameter.

How and where does it grow?

The natural habitat is temperate latitudes, South African lands. Especially a lot of gerberas grows in Madagascar. More than one generation of gardeners has worked on the creation of methods and varieties that are resistant to growing on open ground in unnatural climatic conditions for the plant. This has become possible in warm regions with mild climatic conditions; in the cold regions, gerberas are bred in greenhouses or in greenhouses. Currently, gerbera is growing successfully in residential buildings, but much less often than greenhouse options.

Basic rules for indoor plant care

Temperature

In the growing season from mid-spring to early autumn, the preferred temperature is 22-25 ° C during the day and 18-20 ° C at night. This corresponds to the natural environment. The same rules are followed in greenhouses. For winter, a temperature of 14 ° C is required, combined with sparse watering. You can lower it to ten degrees, but in their native gerbera places they can tolerate +6.

It is not worth arranging such an extreme regime at home, as the roots can be supercooled and dehydrated as a result. A temperature of + 28-30 ° C is critical for a gerbera, it begins to fade and hurt, so ventilation and shading are required on hot days. She loves a fresh breeze, is not afraid of drafts, but it is unacceptable to leave a flower under a stream of cold air from the air conditioner.

Lighting

Direct sunlight is a favorite "treat" for gerbera. It is imperative that she gain leaf mass. They shade it only occasionally, in special heat and in the spring in the first days after cloudy periods. Basically, shading is needed if the plant is at the south window, in the afternoon. But on the north side, year-round illumination is required, the permissible brightness is 35,000-60,000 lux.

Important! Only in the presence of a 12-13 hour light period can the gerbera bloom.

At the beginning of the development of the leaves, in the post-transplant time, for 14 days, you need to maintain increasing the backlight rate by an hour or two, bringing it to a fourteen-hour regime. Without such a factor, rooting will not occur, and the leaf system will not develop.

Watering

Moderate type during vegetation and flowering. The soil must be maintained in a slightly moist state in the subsurface layer and dried at an external level. To adhere to regularity and an equal amount of moisture at each watering. Such a scheme is ideal - four days of moist soil alternate with two days of dry soil.

In coolness, respectively, a decrease in the dose of water, and on hot days - an increase. It is very important not to dry the gerbera. Water is poured only on the ground, from a height of five centimeters from the outlet, preventing droplets from falling on the leaves, petioles and inflorescences. Use settled water at room temperature.

Air humidity

It is extremely undesirable to spray the plant, but it loves moisture, a 65-75% level of air humidity is suitable. But an excess of 85% will create a vulnerability of gerbera to fungi and infections, this risk is especially great in the winter, when the windows begin to "cry". In this case, set the micro-ventilation mode, minimize watering or move the flower. To maintain an optimal humidity regime, you can place evaporators, bowls with water nearby, or place the pot in trays with wet sphagnum or pebbles.

Fertilizers

They are fed with manganese, nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus, depending on the season. Also at the very beginning of a set of leaf mass fertilize with complex nitrogen solutions. Do two complementary foods, maintaining the 14 day interval. When planting in new soil, complementary foods begin after 30 days. When flowering sets in, nitrogen fertilizers are removed and more potassium-phosphorus supplements like Fertica are added to the menu.

Rest period

Reference. As such, the plant does not have sleep, but in the winter all life processes begin to slow down.

Therefore, they reduce the activity of lighting, minimize the temperature regime to 14-16 degrees. Water does not stop, but significantly reduce the concentration.

The soil

Drained soil with low acidity, almost neutral. The gerbera loves sandy soil mixtures, and in loams it grabs into a monolith.

Soil Recipe:

1. one piece of turf;
2. peat of the smallest gravel;
3. sand;
4. a quarter of the humus.

Drainage is done about two centimeters at the bottom, of foam or small expanded clay.

Universal soil can be applied by adding washed zeolite granules, a handful on the pot (filler for Barsik cat litter).

Transfer

It is made in the second half of spring. About when and how to transplant a gerbera after a purchase, read our article.

Pot

A medium-sized clay pot, rather small but not too wide, and deep enough so that vertically developing roots have room for growth.

Antifungal measures

• Avoid deepening into the soil, leaving the root neck and stem above the ground. This will make the gerbera more resistant to infections.
• The soil before planting is disinfected, and when watering, preventive measures are taken by adding phytosporin.
• A newly purchased plant is once shed with a two-gram solution of fundazole per liter of water.

You can find out about the nuances of breeding gerberas, planting and caring for them in the garden and at home here, and from this article you will learn about the care that home gerberas need in pots, as well as how to resuscitate the plant.

Nuances of gardening

1. Temperature differences are not permissible.
2. Needs moderate watering with warm water under the root in the evening or morning hours.
3. Since the climate in the greenhouses is stable, they are watered regularly every 3-4 days by drip wetting.
4. On open ground adhere to the rules of irrigation, as is the case with the home option.
5. For the flowerbed there will be a perfectly lit place, without direct light and through winds, therefore it is preferable to grow a garden option along fences, against walls or hills.
6. Garden gerbera loves soil rich in nutrients. Loose and light soil of equal proportions of turf, peat and sand is best suited.
7. In the warm period, they are fed with mineral compounds, every 14 days, until September.
8. If the area is cold, then in the fall a plant with a soil lump is dug up and transported in boxes with sawdust to a cool and dry room, until the spring season.
9. They are transplanted in the spring, the root neck is treated with a light solution of manganese, if necessary, then the roots are trimmed by no more than 15 cm.

In detail about the planting and care of the garden gerbera we talked about in our material.

Diseases and Pests

• Fungal root disease - they are solved by cutting off the affected parts and transplanting into a new soil and pot.
• Rotting of the basal cervix due to poor drainage and excess watering.
• Gray rot it is removed by fungicides.
• Powdery mildew It is neutralized by sulfur-containing drugs and fungicidal.
• In open ground, gerberas can annoy aphid, insecticides will help here.
• From excess moisture in the atmosphere may appear spider mitefungicidal compounds will save you from it.
• Due to excess watering less often, but there are precedents of phytophthora and fusarium.

Read more about the diseases and pests of room gerbera, read here, and you will learn about this article about why leaves turn yellow at room gerbera and how to avoid it.

Breeding methods

Seeds

1. After soaking the seeds in water, distribute them over a layer of the substrate, sprinkling them lightly with sand.
2. Make a mini-greenhouse and put in heat, but subject to protection from direct sunlight.
3. Ventilate, moisten the soil.
4. After seven days, the seedlings hatch, and with the appearance of four leaves they need to be planted in permanent places.
5. Pots take about 10 cm in diameter.
6. Sow from the beginning of winter to mid-spring.

Another option for germination is the penetration of seeds by three millimeters into a mixture of humus, sand, leafy soil and turf.

Important! The seed method of breeding does not guarantee the transfer of the parameters of the mother plant. Flowering occurs a year after the germination of seedlings.

You can find out how to grow a gerbera from seeds at home here.

Gerbera. Sowing seeds with boiling water:

Division

The method provides a guarantee of inheritance by the daughter plant of all maternal traits. Breeding time by dividing the home plant is the first part of the summer and the middle of the summer season. Breeding time by dividing the garden gerbera, in the greenhouse or at home, before planting in the ground, from mid-spring to the end.

• Take three to four year old gerberas.
• Divide the root system into five parts so that each has at least two growth points.
• Slices are treated with charcoal.

Variant of division by the root of a home gerbera:

1. The top layer is removed, the root system opens.
2. Incisions are made to separate.
3. Processed by coal.
4. Sprinkle again, but with new soil, covering the roots.
5. Put the pot in the light and in moderate heat.
6. After a month or a little less, the dividers are taken out and planted, having previously cut them in half.

Shoots

Use healthy and lush plants in the earliest spring. Separate small shoots with a certain number of leaves (2-3 pieces) and root in a normal substrate, placing the outlet a centimeter above the surface.

Cuttings

Cuttings are rarely done, this is a less successful method. In fact, the process is standard, as for other plant species. Gerberas living longer than three years are not taken to be cut. Proper care of gerberas will ensure guaranteed success and help grow a beautiful and healthy plant.

Read more about how gerbera propagation occurs, read here.

A piece of Africa will comfortably sit on the windowsill or in the garden in the form of an exotic Trasvaal chamomile, warming in winter cold and creating an optimistic mood all year round. A simple and elegant flower with many colors and a slightly audible caramel aroma. And besides, completely safe for allergy sufferers.