Pelargonium, or geranium, is a fairly common flower in indoor culture. The birthplace of this plant is South Africa. Grassy or shrubby pelargonium is absolutely unpretentious in cultivation. Considering that it blooms for a very long time - from spring to winter, it is called "blooming geranium" in a different way. All existing types of pelargonium, which are grown in the house, have one name - indoor geranium. Her close relatives are common geranium (weed), growing in vegetable gardens and roadsides, and meadow geranium, which grows in meadows, clearings in the forest and on mountain slopes.
Pelargonium home has several types. One of the common ones is pelargonium zonal. This name is no coincidence. On its leaves there are dark circles of transitional colors, dividing the sheet into zones. Her flowers are in the form of a spherical umbrella, terry and simple. The color scheme is diverse - white, pink, raspberry, red. The stems are strong, the leaves are pubescent and smell very good. Basically, this plant reaches a height of 30-60 cm, and there are up to 1 meter.
Pelargonium home is another very beautiful species. This type of royal pelargonium is called . This is a large-flowered showy plant with jagged, rough leaves. Her flowers have wavy edges and brighter colors with a diameter of 4 to 6 cm.
The lack of royal pelargonium is a short flowering. Since it blooms only from the onset of spring until mid-summer. And its growth in height reaches 30-60 cm.
A hybrid form of pelargonium is thyroid pelargonium. She has thin drooping shoots reaching one meter in length, and this makes it possible to grow it as an ampelous plant. The leaves of this plant are juicy, ivy, bright green in color, sometimes along the edges with a white border. The flowers are both ordinary and double from white, pale pink, salmon tones, to bright lilac.
Today, due to its abundant and long flowering, usual care and bright, beautiful leaves, pelargonium thyroid is very popular. It is also possible to grow it as a standard tree.
Fragrant pelargonium is a herbaceous plant with a large number of branches and leaves. Smelling small-sized leaves emit the aroma of lemon, and some have the smell of orange, apple, nutmeg, mint, and rose. The same small flowers of pink or lilac color, which are collected in an umbrella, go well with fragrant geranium leaves . But still, this species is grown because of the leaves, as they are used as seasonings and in various fragrant pads.
As you know, one of the most picky plants is pelargonium. Care at home for this flower does not require much time and effort. Just when growing geraniums, you should remember - she likes moderate watering (in winter the earth should be almost dry), does not require spraying, tolerates sunlight well, but needs to be protected from the sun on especially hot days.
Young shoots should be pinched after the appearance of 4-5 pairs of leaves in order to improve flowering and increase the number of shoots. You need to trim the plants in the fall, while leaving a few leaves at the bottom (at least two). Branches that have been pruned can be rooted. And if during the winter period home pelargonium is too long, then it must be cut in the spring.
Only large-flowered pelargoniums are an exception. They bloom mainly the next year after planting and bloom much more abundantly when uncircumcised. Flowers that have already faded, as well as leaves that have turned yellow, should be removed, but it is better not to break off, but to cut, so that the stem does not decay.
In winter, home pelargonium enters a dormant period, so watering should be minimal, and the temperature should not exceed 10-15 degrees. Do not forget that these plants do not like transplants. Pelargonium flower is transplanted only when the pot has become too small. Feeding geranium is required with potash fertilizers. If the fertilizer is already ready, you need to make sure that it contains a small amount of nitrogen. Otherwise, the plant will have many leaves and few flowers.
Pelargonium at home is quite resistant to pests, but there are unpleasant cases when it is affected by aphids, ticks, whiteflies and weevils. But this is not scary - weevils, ticks and gray rot can be destroyed with fungicides, and aphids and whiteflies with permethrin-containing drugs.
Also, the tick is afraid of washing the leaves with the infusion of chamomile with green soap or tobacco. After such washing, it is necessary to wash the leaves with water after 2-3 hours. And in the fight against whitefly, this procedure must be done once every three days and always outdoors.