Gomfrena is a plant of stunning beauty, combining a huge variety of different species. Botanists still can not explain the true origin of the plant, so much so it remains mysterious. One thing we know for sure, homfrena won the hearts of many gardeners with its appearance, so people began to breed them as decor.
The plant is very heat-loving and difficult to tolerate the winter period of time, but we will try to describe the care of it in this ruthless period.
Varieties and types
Before we talk about planting and care, we will understand what types and varieties this plant includes. Each plot is characterized by its own species, which boldly manages to overcome the difficulties of natural conditions and soil fertility. It is very good that several varieties can be used to decorate the garden at the same time, which complements and only improves the appearance.
Homfrene spherical is diverse, its flowers can be red, orange, pink, light cream and many other shades. After the plant blooms, you can observe an incredible picture: green buds turn into bright, saturated balls. Very often, when buying seeds for planting gomfrena, multi-colored varieties are put in the package, which is the whole area of the garden was full of all the colors of the rainbow.
They divide the plant along its length. There are both tall (over 35 cm) and dwarf varieties. Let's take a look at the second, as they are in greater demand in modern society.
Low-growing varieties of spherical homfrena
If you decide to decorate your garden with low homfrens, which will not interfere with the passage to the garden, then low-growing varieties will suit you. They are not inferior to ordinary homphrenes, the only thing that distinguishes them is the length of the stem and the short duration of life. There are more than 50 species of such plants, but they are all divided into four subspecies, the distinguishing feature of each of which is color.
- White.
- Purple.
- Light pink.
- Lilac.
Low-growing varieties of flower homphrenes will not live more than a year. The maximum length of such plants will be approximately 15 cm, not more. Despite the fact that dwarf plants - buds have a fairly large diameter (from 3 to 4 cm). There will be no problems with such homfrens, as they easily survive both dry times and the wettest ones. Of course, from an excess of water, a plant can die as well as from an insufficient amount. Plant growth occurs only from seeds.
Plants of this type are indescribably beautiful. You can observe their flowering for centuries, since it is not the same as everyone else. What is their characteristic difference? They can bloom to the most real frosts, without losing their brightness and richness of buds. To obtain such a result, efforts must be made to care and sow the seeds.
Do not plant plants in open ground, as homfren is not intended for such manipulations. This is unacceptable, based on the fact that the plant has a long ripening period, and if you plant it incorrectly, you risk not waiting for the buds to bloom. It is necessary to prepare the land from the beginning of March in order to avoid unpleasant situations.
Preparing seeds for planting
How to grow a homfrena plant from seeds at home? Pour the necessary amount of seeds for seedlings into a small glass jar, then fill them with warm water. In order for the water to not cool, you can put the jar on the battery. So you need to change the water every day for four days.
After this period, you need to drain the water and rinse the finished gomfren seeds with warm water, preferably boiled. Now I have to take a course of cooling the seeds. Transfer them to an empty dry jar and refrigerate. Go about your business, forgetting about seeds for about 1.5 weeks.
Now you need to prepare the soil for homfren, a photo of which can be seen in the article. It is necessary to mix the soil with the selected fertilizer. It is important to remember that the resulting substance should not be wet, but only slightly moistened. If you do not know how to determine soil moisture, try squeezing a small piece of earth and throw it down 30 cm from the floor. If the earth is not very wet, then the lump will fall apart the very second when it comes into contact with any surface.
Now distribute the resulting soil on the seedling cassettes. Having distributed the earth, compact it so that it is not porous. From above do not forget to fill in a small amount of soil. Do not forget that the surface of the cassettes should be looser than its internal environment. The last thing you need to do, as you might have guessed, is to pour prepared tapes.
Planting seeds
How is further cultivation from seeds of spherical homfrene carried out further? Prepare small dimples for planting seeds. Remove the prepared seeds from the refrigerator and start planting. In order to avoid that some sections of the cassettes do not germinate, try to plant two seeds in each of the recesses. Do not worry, if two sprout, then they will not interfere with each other, on the contrary, they will be quite comfortable. It is necessary to fill the planted seeds with soil again.
If the cassette is small, then try to put it in a plastic bag and put it on the windowsill in the sun. If the size of the cassette does not allow you to use only the cassette, cover the seeds with cling film. If you have a small heater, place it near the cassettes, this will accelerate their germination.
You will see the first germination in four days. After this time, remove the film and remove the heater, if you used it.
Watering seedlings
Watering seedlings must be done correctly and in normal quantities. Do not try to water the plants constantly. This will lead to waterlogging of the plant, after which it will simply fall, since the stem will not be able to withstand the smallest leaves.
If suddenly this already happened, try to lay ash on the ground surface. During its action, forget about watering the land.
Gumfren Care
So we got to care for the sprouting plant. Gomfrena is a picky plant, so the choice of soil is yours. The only rule that must be observed is to choose a piece of land that is constantly lit by the sun. In this place your future homfren will grow. After digging this area, make small indentations for the sprouts with your fingers. The approximate distance between two plants should not exceed 25 cm.
Do not use fertilizers such as manure. It contains too many vitamins, which is an excess for ornamental plants of this type.
Carefully try to remove the gomfrena sprouted in the cassettes, and then proceed to landing on the site. The approximate landing time is the end of May. It should be borne in mind that the weather for the next three days at this time should be sunny. The temperature on such days should be at least 16 degrees.
Food homphrenes
For the most productive growth of homfrene, it is necessary to nourish it with various mixtures that contain minerals. Nutrition occurs in the first months and a half, since it is during this period that the roots “get used” to the soil.
However, do not get carried away with this, as in the case of water, this can lead to disastrous results. For example, a plant may be left without a flower.
Watering Gomfren
Gomfren, as already indicated, is unpretentious: drought does not frighten her. But this does not mean that she does not need watering at all. It is enough to water the plant 1-2 times every two weeks. In moments when you physically do not have time to do this, do not worry - nutrition will be carried out by leaves through photosynthesis. Thus, without watering, it can last a week, after which it is mandatory to water the plant.
Winter season
A gomfren plant survives the winter very poorly. Annuals generally die during this period, and perennials try to survive until spring, but it is very difficult for them. If you decide to plant one-year-olds, then you should not worry so much, because in any case they will have to be dug up and next year they will prepare to plant new ones. If you planted perennials, then the situation here is certainly more complicated. In this case, you need to transplant all the plants into pots and take home to the heat. But not everyone has enough space for more than 30 plants. In this case, you will be helped by a regular old carpet, which is desirable to cover plants for the winter. The last way is to cut leaves and flowers so that next year the homfrena blooms again. It would seem that the method is easy, but in fact it is the most deadly for flowers: plant life is shortened.
Homfren breeding
Spherical homphrenes, the photo of which is presented in this article, can be bred only with seeds obtained after annual flowering. After you collect the seeds of the plant, it is necessary to repeat all the same steps for preparing for sowing that we described earlier: planting takes place in the soil prepared in advance, the planting dates on the garden are in late May and early June.
Conclusion
Gomfrena spherical - a grassy plant for open ground, which even an inexperienced gardener can grow. This process is quite easy, especially if a person adheres to simple rules and recommendations for care, which were described in detail in our article. However, do not forget that this plant is very difficult to tolerate winters, especially Russian. During this period of time, special attention should be paid to culture in order to try to preserve it. In the warm regions of Russia, it will be easier to do. At the same time, each gardener can choose for himself the variety that he likes, because there are several of them. Thanks to this, you can create an incredibly beautiful flower bed in your suburban area, you need to show only a little imagination.