Freesias belong to the Iris family. They can be grown in a greenhouse, garden, indoor pot. Flowering time - from April to October. Indoor plants bloom mainly in spring.
Types of freesia and popular varieties
On sale you can find both freesia mix and classic plant varieties. The most popular of them: Armstrong freesia, broken and hybrid freesia.
What does a flower look like
Armstrong (Freesia Armstrongii)
Plant height 65 cm (+/- 5 cm). The bell-shaped flowers are red, pink or raspberry colored and collected in inflorescences of 3-5 pcs. The leaves are xiphoid and long. The plant blooms from May to June.
For your information! The most famous variety of this subspecies is freesia called Cardinal with red flowers.
Armstrong
Alba (Freesia Refracta var. Alba)
Alba is a subspecies of the white (refracted) Freesia Refracta. Has snow-white large flowers with a yellow-pink core. On the petals are streaks of purple. The plant is small in height (about 40 cm). Flowering begins in April.
Alba
Fragrant (Freesia Refracta Odorata)
Another subspecies of Freesia Refracta. A plant with lush inflorescences consisting of 5-7 flowers. They have a delicate peach color with red veins. Freesia exudes a rich smell of lily of the valley. Height 40-50 cm. Flowering from April to May.
Scented Freesia
Note! All of these varieties can have both ordinary and double petals.
Propagation methods used for garden and indoor flowers
Freesia propagates with the help of daughter bulbs or seeds. For beginners, the first method is suitable, with its help you can quickly and easily get a new plant.
Bulb propagation
During flowering, children begin to appear in the mother's bulb. After shedding dry buds, you need to trim all remaining flowers and foliage. If this is not done, the plant will spend resources on seed formation, not bulb growth.
Children are separated from the mother's bulb and stored separately. The daughter bulbs are planted in the ground at the same time as the mother bulbs in late April - early May. A mixture of sand and ground coal should be added to the recess for planting.
Seed propagation
Not the most common method of plant propagation, since the process takes a year. The best period for sowing seeds in the ground is the beginning of spring. Freesia seeds are burgundy, glossy, similar to berries.
In early March, they are soaked in cold water for a day. Next, the seeds are sown shallowly in a nutrient mixture of humus, sand and peat. It is necessary to use a drainage layer of expanded clay, since excess water will destroy the plant.
The pot is covered with a film. Twice a day it should be opened, making airing. Within 1-2 weeks, small sprouts will appear, which should often be irrigated from the spray gun. After a month, the film is removed.
Note! Further, the sprouts should be kept under the same conditions as an adult plant, and regularly fertilized. By February, freesia will bloom.
Freesia: outdoor cultivation and care
In Central Russia, landing in open ground is made in early spring. In the climatic conditions of the Urals and Siberia, it is much more difficult to grow freesia. Due to the short summer, a plant with a long growing season does not have time to germinate and bloom. For this reason, it is grown at home in a pot and only before flowering it is planted in open ground. It is also possible to grow in a greenhouse.
Preparing bulbs for planting
Freesia should be prepared for landing in late March. Bulbs located in the winter are removed, cleaned and soaked for 1 hour in fungicide. Then they can be planted in the ground.
Landing
The depth of the hole should be about 5 cm, and the distance between the tubers - 5-10 cm. After planting, the ground must be leveled and sprinkled with peat so that the roots of the bush do not overheat. In August, flowering will begin, which will last until the beginning of October.
To avoid stagnation of water, which can kill freesia, it is necessary to provide a good drainage layer. A layer of expanded clay is poured into a furrow with a depth of 15 cm. Above is nutritious earth, on which bulbs or sprouted tuber with a plant are placed. All this is then sprinkled with earth.
How to care during growth and flowering
During growth, the shrub freesia needs complementary foods. After germination, they are treated with ammonium nitrate, then superphosphate and potassium salt every two weeks. Freesia, cultivated and maintained in the garden, is watered abundantly every morning. The earth must be loosened and weed.
How to prepare a plant for winter
After flowering, watering is reduced, and then stops altogether. Bulbs remain in the ground until early October. In order for the plant to survive the wintering, they must be sent for storage.
Bulb Storage
Bulbs should be dug up, cut off the remaining leaves, washed under cool water and soaked in a solution of potassium permanganate for 1 hour. Then they must be dried for five days in a dry place.
Important! Bulbs are stored at 25 ℃ in a damp room. The parent and daughter bulbs must be separated.
Freesia: planting and caring for a flower in a pot at home
Freesia, cultivation and home care which is easy and simple, lands in three seasons to choose from:
- from mid-August to mid-October;
- from mid-May to mid-August;
- from mid-November to mid-February;
Plants are placed in a pot with an earthen mixture of turf land, peat and sand in a ratio of 2: 1: 1. In a pot of 3 l, you can plant no more than six tubers.
Conditions of detention
Freesia is a photophilous plant and requires lighting 12 hours a day. From exposure to direct sunlight dies, so it is necessary to keep it in partial shade.
Humid air is preferred for freesia, but fungal diseases can develop from excess moisture in the air or soil. It is necessary to spray the flower from the spray gun so that water does not get inside the buds.
For your information! The optimum temperature for the flower is 22 ℃. The plant is extremely sensitive to drafts and temperature extremes.
Features of watering and top dressing
The only fertilizer format that is absorbed by freesia at home is liquid products. In the early stages of growth, fertilizers with nitrogen, iron, phosphorus, manganese are used. Yellowed leaves - a signal that the plant is overfed.
Watering and feeding is carried out in the morning. The pot must have a drainage layer. The plant is sensitive to watering: excess or lack of water is unacceptable. The soil is watered as it dries.
Freesia disease
The plant is faced with the same diseases and pests as gladioli. As a result of improper care, freesia can suffer from aphids, ticks, thrips. The most common diseases: rot, scab, fusarium. In case of damage to the plant, immediately remove the diseased areas.
For prophylaxis, bulbs can be treated with disinfectants, for example, during transplantation. Both store-based products (fungicides) and a weak solution of potassium permanganate are suitable. Another way to prevent infection is to not use too cold water for irrigation. The best option is water, which is left standing for several days.
Thus, freesia can be planted both in the flower garden on the street and at home in a pot. The main thing is to study the instructions so as not to confuse anything, otherwise the flowering representative of the Irisovs can not wait.
