Geranium a couple of decades ago was very popular, it could be found on almost every window sill. Over time, many flower growers for some reason lost interest in her. But today you can safely say that it again finds success and returns to the homes and apartments of many.
Geranium has a lot of advantages. It can be both indoor and garden plant, its presence terrifies most pests, so that they become harmless even for its neighbors. In addition, geranium has many varieties, they are all very bright and interesting, and most importantly - useful for human health.
Care for indoor geranium
Indoor geranium is absolutely unpretentious in care, therefore its cultivation is in force even for early aspiring flower growers. Very rare cases where the flower does not survive at home.
The temperature of the content of the plant should be at the level of the average room, in the cold season it is desirable to lower it to + 10 ° C, although the geranium can withstand even frost. So for the winter it's better to put it in the coolest room.
Lighting for a house plant geranium should be maximum - the lighter, the better. You can even partially expose it to the direct rays of the sun. The lack of light will certainly badly affect the plant: its leaves are shallow, and you can not wait for flowering at all.
You can not worry at all about the level of air humidity - for geranium it does not matter. Spray it is not necessary and even impossible. But it is necessary to water often and abundantly. But at the same time, make sure that the water in the pot does not stagnate. Just make sure that the earth is always wet. At the bottom of the pot should be quality drainage.
As for the fertilizer, you need to remember that the geranium does not tolerate fresh organic matter. Approximately twice a month you can use standard fertilizing for flowering plants.
After such careful care, you, of course, will be interested, when does the room geranium blossom? In our latitudes this usually occurs between April and November. Depending on the variety, flowering is different in abundance and shade.
How does indoor geranium reproduce?
One of the most popular ways for the multiplication of many plants - cuttings , is suitable for geraniums. Such procedures almost always end successfully. Another way is by seeds. Collect them from a richly flowering plant. But this method of reproduction is used only by very experienced flower growers, because the process is very troublesome.
When cuttings are cut at the end of summer or beginning of autumn, apical cuttings with 4-5 leaves are cut from a strong adult plant. They need to be put in a container of water and wait for the appearance of roots. Then the sprouts are planted in the pot with the ground.
Types of room geraniums
As we said at the very beginning, there are quite a few varieties of room geraniums. However, the most common are two of them - geranium fragrant and geranium royal.
The royal geranium blossoms very luxuriantly, the flowers themselves are large and spectacular. They can be white, pink, purple, red. You can distinguish this variety in the form of flowers: they have wavy edges, and on each petal there is a large dark spot, like a royal seal.
Fluffy geranium, as the name implies, has a strong flavor, but it blooms less abundantly. But these plants are very beautiful carved foliage, the aroma of which drives away aphids and other pests, not only from this plant, but all those around. In addition, a pot of such geraniums is an excellent antiviral antimicrobial agent, so during epidemics it is simply saving for the household.