Cineraria silvery - a plant that deserved the love of gardeners and landscape designers for the original form of their openwork leaves. In addition to the shape of the leaves are attracted and texture, reminiscent of velvet. Usually, this Mediterranean shrub is grown as a background for bright colors. Let's consider in detail the theme of growing cineraria silvery, or, as it is called, cineraria seaside.
Sowing of seeds of silvery cineraria
No trouble will not deliver silvery cineraria, if you plan to try growing from seeds. They can be purchased in almost any store, the seeds differ in their ability to germinate well and quickly. The best time when you can sow seedlings on cineraria is March, but it's not too late to do it in April and even in May.
There are several ways to plant seeds of cineraria - they all guarantee a decent result:
- You can sow cineraria in moist soil, while the seeds should not be sealed, it is enough to crush them and cover them with a film.
- Another way is to sow seeds in a container with a moist soil, then sprinkle them with sand and cover with glass or a film.
- Finally, seeds of cineraria seeded on the surface layer of soil can be simply covered with a layer of thin paper, which, being moist, will give the shoots an opportunity to break through it. Again, the container must be closed with insulating material.
In all three cases, covering with film or glass is necessary, such a layer will ensure the maintenance of the proper level of humidity. By the way, watering the soil after planting should be done very carefully, a powerful jet can bring down small seeds and disturb the accuracy of planting. You can spray the soil from the spray gun, but you can initially choose a container with drainage holes and lower it into a pedestal with water so that the soil is moistened from below.
Shoots of silvery cineraria
After a week and a half after competent manipulations to plant seeds, the first shoots can be expected. Now for the plant light is important, so the vases are moved closer to the windows. The next stage of "growing up" of the plant is the appearance of two leaves on the stem. This is a signal saying that it's time to plant the seedlings in separate pots with a peat substrate. The transplantation is carried out by picking, gently pulling a clod of earth along with the roots and placing it in a groove in a new soil. Then the soil around the stem is gently squeezed to let air out from under the roots. Do it gently so as not to damage the thin roots.
Seedlings of cineraria usually get well in a new place and by the time they land in the ground they are already getting stronger. Plant young plants a month or two after the transplant, that is, in May-June, when the weather will become warm, and no longer threaten to freeze. Cineraria grows silvery until late autumn and all this time does not lose its decorative appearance.
Care of cineraria
Both planting and care of silvery cineraria do not require excessive efforts. The cineraria on the sunny areas grow well, it feels good in the penumbra, but it may lose its external attractiveness in part. Contribute to the development of the plant will be periodic fertilizing - it is enough to use fertilizers with a low nitrogen content once or twice a month. Watering is desirable to provide regular and abundant, but in case of a drought the plant is able to sustain itself for a long time due to a deep root system. The diseases of silvery cineraria will immediately be indicated by wilting and yellowing leaves, and this shrub is rarely damaged by pests.