Each amateur gardener wants flowers planted in a flowerbed on a summer cottage or in a flower box on the balcony of a city apartment to please their eyes for as long as possible. At the same time, it is desirable that their care during the entire flowering period is minimal. African chamomile (Osteospermum - osteospermum), owing its name to the place of initial growth and brought to Europe in the middle of the XIX century, meets all these requirements. Recently, the cultivation of osteosperm from seeds has found many fans in our country.
Exterior Flower Features
The shape of the inflorescence, this plant is largely reminiscent of all of us familiar field chamomile, hence its second name. By classification, they belong to the family of asters.
These flowers grow in the form of branched bushes with strong branched vertical stems reaching a height of 30 to 90 cm. At the end of each shoot there is a lush inflorescence with a diameter of 5 to 8 cm.
In the color palette of hybrid varieties there are a variety of shades: white, yellow, orange, blue, purple, bright red, burgundy.
Narrow elongated green leaves (5 to 10 cm long) have a dense structure. They are attached to the branches without cuttings close to the stem.
Different varieties of plants
Although the plant came to Europe a long time ago, it aroused the main interest among breeders only in the second half of the last century. Today, the number of different species and hybrid varieties (according to various sources) ranges from 35 to 70. For growing osteosperm from seeds at home, the most famous varieties are:
- White Lightning - in color most closely resembles a classic daisy with white petals and a yellow core;
- Blushing Beauty - with a yellow center, the color of the leaves, when moving away from the center, changes smoothly from light purple to pale yellow;
- Bright Lights Yellow - with a bright yellow color of inflorescences and a dark yellow (almost brown) oval in the center;
- Serenity Red - with dark purple leaves;
- Orange Symphony - with a dark purple central oval and orange petals;
- Soprano Purple - with a predominance of juicy purple shades;
- Lemon Symphony - with yellow leaves and a central oval, very similar to blue sapphire;
- Blue Eyed Beauty - with a blue core and three-colored petals: the beginning is purple, the middle is white, then the main bright yellow part.
Only 4-5 monosorts of this plant and 3-4 mixes are available for Russian florists for growing osteosperm from seeds on sale. The most popular and sought-after varieties are: Passion Mixed, Sky and Ice, Serenity White.
Reasons for popularity
The reason for the growing popularity of these colors is their phenomenal properties:
- long flowering period (depending on the region from early June to late October);
- sufficient simplicity of growing osteosperm from seeds;
- universality: seedlings can be planted both in open ground and in ordinary flower pots;
- high resistance to flower diseases;
- they are practically not affected by garden pests.
And importantly, many have noticed that, unlike other flowers, Osteospermum is practically hypoallergenic and absolutely safe for the health of both children and adults, as well as various pets.
Optimum seed germination start time
To the question of when to plant osteospermum when grown from seeds, it is impossible to give a definite answer. It depends on several factors. First of all, you need to understand how long it will take for the seedlings to germinate and the seedlings to grow strong enough. Depending on the variety, this period can be from 4 to 10 weeks. Knowing the beginning of the warm season in your region (when the air temperature at night does not fall below plus 8-10 ° C) and taking away the period of growing seedlings from this date, we get the starting point for starting the sowing of seeds.
Therefore, in the southern regions, it is possible to start planting seeds at home already in mid-February, and for the northern regions this period will be postponed to early or mid-March (and in some places to early April).
If you plan the schedule correctly, then by the time of planting in open ground the seedlings will grow to the required size, be strong enough, safely survive the transplant itself and take root well in the open ground.
Germination soil composition
For growing osteosperm from seeds in household trays, pallets, or containers, a regular primer mix for flowers is suitable. Breeders and professional manufacturers do not put forward special requirements for its composition. However, it is recommended that you add a small amount of organic compost to it.
Some gardeners, already experienced in breeding such plants, recommend a home-made mixture made from equal parts of peat, sand and humus.
General recommendations
When growing osteosperm from seeds at home, you should adhere to certain rules that apply to almost all varieties of African chamomile:
- it is not recommended to plant seeds directly in open ground;
- seeds must be placed in the soil to a depth 4 times their diameter (usually about 0.5-0.6 cm);
- seed germination time (depending on the variety) is usually 5 to 15 days;
- before the first shoots appear, the ambient temperature should be constantly 18-20 ° C;
- for the period of germination, the illumination of the room does not matter after the emergence of shoots: the more light, the better (although professional breeders say that good illumination has a beneficial effect on seed growth);
- after germination, the temperature at night can be reduced to 16-27 ° C;
- relative humidity in the room should be from 95 to 97%;
- when the seedlings are of sufficient size (that is, when it gains decent strength for safe extraction from the soil, as 2-3 full green leaves will testify), the shoots must be transplanted into separate pots or containers with a minimum size of 7.5 X 7.5 cm;
- the time required for growing seedlings before transplanting into the soil is from 4 to 10 weeks depending on the variety and size of the seeds (the larger the size of the seeds, the faster they will germinate even in the same plant variety).
Passion mixed
The most popular among Russian flower growers is the Passion Mixed hybrid varietal mixture. The color scheme of plants consists of three colors: white, pink and purple. As a result, you get a dense multi-colored carpet of flowers on a flower bed with an inflorescence diameter of about 5 cm and a height of 35-60 cm.
When cultivating the "Pehn" osteosperm from seeds, the first shoots at a temperature of +20 ° C appear after 7-10 days. For this period, the tray with sown seeds must be covered with a plastic container or placed in a plastic bag. The recommended depth of immersion of seeds in the ground is about 5 cm.
Seedlings should be planted in open ground at the end of May (at stable night temperatures plus 8-10 ° C) in sunny areas with loose fertile soil (the distance between individual seedlings should be about 30 cm).
The features of this variety are as follows:
- It grows well even in short daylight hours.
- It has a long flowering period (up to the first frost).
- It has high frost resistance (tolerates a short-term decrease in night temperatures to minus 5 ° C).
Cool
One of the tallest representatives of the African chamomile family, which is often used by Russian flower growers for growing from seeds, is the Coolness osteospermum. The bushes grow to a height of 60-90 cm. The inflorescence is a blue-violet (with neon tint) central part with snow-white petals extending from it. A mixture of these two colors (especially in bright sunlight) gives the plant a unique look.
For seedlings (depending on the region) this variety is usually sown in March-April. Moreover, on the seedlings planted in the soil (usually in May), the first flowers appear already in mid-June. Flowering continues until the end of October.
A distinctive feature of this variety is a fairly delicate root system. Therefore, when transplanting into open ground, certain care must be taken. However, after this the shoots do not need special care, they "get along" perfectly in the same flower bed with other flowers (for example, with petunia, peonies, daffodils, irises and other summer species). Such a plant will perfectly fit into any color scheme of a large flower garden and will not violate the overall palette.
On a note! For all tall varieties of osteosperm (and "Cool" refers to this category), the distance between individual plants when planting in the soil should be at least 40-50 cm.
For growing Osteospermum “Coolness” from seeds (photo of blooming Serenity White is presented below) is an excellent choice for those who do not want to spend a lot of time caring for plants, but at the same time enjoy their beauty for a long time.
"Sky and ice"
This variety is a bit similar in appearance to Serenity White. However, the core has a more saturated dark blue color, and a fairly pronounced blue tint is visible on the white petals. In addition, this variety belongs to the so-called undersized class of plants. The height of an adult bush usually does not exceed 30 cm.
When growing osteosperm "Sky and ice" from seeds, one should adhere to general recommendations for their germination and further transplanting of seedlings. Of the distinguishing features of Sky and Ice, its increased drought tolerance should be noted. Therefore, watering such plants, compared with other representatives of Osteospermum, is less common.
For balconies and window sills
For those who are not going to transplant seedlings in the open ground, and there is not enough space on the windowsill of a city apartment or a country house to breed “full-sized” varieties of African chamomile, breeders have developed a special species - Osteospermum Nano. For normal growth and a long flowering period, which is about 7-8 months, a container or pot with a diameter of only 90 mm is enough.
For fans of growing osteosperm from seeds (a photo of a compact flower bed is presented below), this is just a godsend.
Under good weather conditions, naturally, such plants, along with containers, can be dug in open ground. There is no need to take care of the quality of the soil. All necessary components inside the pot will not have contact with the surrounding earth (whether it is hard loam or solid sand).
Plant care
Although unpretentious varieties of this plant are used to grow osteosperm from seeds, some care for them is still necessary.
To increase the duration of the flowering period and the inflorescence of inflorescences, it is recommended that plants be fed 2 times a month with the use of organic fertilizers or special mineral compounds (always with a minimum phosphorus content).
In dry weather, flowers need to be watered once a week.
In conditions of increased soil moisture or prolonged rains, plants may be affected by mold or other fungal formations. Damaged leaves must be removed immediately and the plant itself treated with a fungicide.
For some varieties, mechanical removal of faded and dried buds is recommended.
Well, and like any plant, it does not hurt the regular removal of weeds and periodic loosening of the soil.
Finally
Growing osteosperm flowers from seeds is currently gaining more and more popularity among amateur gardeners and professionals alike. Although Osteospermum is an exotic plant, it grows quite well in temperate climates. The long flowering period, unpretentiousness and ease of maintenance suit the owners of suburban areas who want to give the surrounding landscape a unique look for almost the entire period of the summer season. For florists, the magnificent combination of flowers in the bud of this plant allows you to use it as an integral (and quite often the main) part of a festive bouquet, especially a wedding one.