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Geleniums - flowers of autumn

Continuation of the cycle "Perennials easy to care for" beginning in articles:

  • Perennials, easy to care for
  • Astilbe, small petals and heliopsis
  • Yarrow - a thousand leaves and flowers
  • Loosestrife, or weeping grass
  • Buzulniks, highlanders, burners

Gelenium is a faithful friend of flower growers, he will never let you down, despite our unpredictable weather, he will always delight you with flowering. Its main advantage is abundant flowering in autumn, its bright "daisies" will color the garden in yellow, bronze, dark red and brown tones. His inflorescences, like all representatives of the Asteraceae, are baskets. The convex center consists of yellow or brown tubular flowers. And the marginal ligulate flowers are variably colored in warm colors. They can be yellow, orange, red, brown, some with a border, strokes, stripes. There are 39 species of the genus helenium, but the varieties that bloom in our gardens come from autumn helenium (Helenium autumnale), and united under the general name helenium hybrid (Helenium x hybridum).

Gelenium hybrid Waltraut

Gelenium varieties

Helenium hybrid varieties have different heights and colors, and more recently, different flowering periods. The flowers are 5-7 cm in diameter, but there are a lot of them. Abundant flowering continues from July until frost. The structure of the flower resembles a chamomile, the edges of the petals are serrated, each shoot ends with 15-20 flowers, as a result, up to several hundred flowers bloom on each stem. Perfectly (up to two weeks) stands in the cut. Looks spectacular both in group and in single landings. Can be planted in groups on a lawn, in a mixborder, to mask outbuildings and unsightly places. "Bushes" have a columnar shape, the stems are strong, tall, well-leafy, reaching a height of 150 cm.

The modern variety of varieties allows you to choose the varieties that your heart desires, new varieties have appeared that bloom in summer, not autumn.

Early varieties bloom in July, this Waltraut (Waltraut) with large golden-chestnut flowers, undersized red-bronze Crimson Beauty (Crimson Beauty), Chelsea (Chelsey) - red-brown with yellow strokes, low bright fiery red Rubinzwerg (Rubinzwerg - Ruby dwarf), and the smallest (only 50 cm) - Ruby Tewsdy (Ruby Tuesday).

Gelenium hybrid Biedemeier

In England in the Holbrook Garden and in Germany in the Hartmut Rieger collection garden there are wonderful collections of heleniums, species and varietals. The famous German breeder Karl Forster was quite actively involved in the selection of heleniums, he bred 17 varieties. Each of its varieties has its own flavor. Red-yellow bright Biedermeier (Biedemeier) - showy, golden yellow, with orange stripes; Feersigel (Feuersiegel) blooms deep yellow, then a wide, irregular orange-red stripe appears on the petals. Tsimbelstern (Zimbelstern) blooms in August and blooms before frost, it is golden yellow with a dark burgundy center and a light orange dusting. One of the most interesting varieties - Koenigsteiger (Konigstiger), with the coloration of a royal tiger, with bronze-red petals and a golden-yellow narrow ring around the dark center and the same golden tips.

Gelenium hybrid Double Trouble

Modern breeders continue to delight us with new interesting varieties. In 2006, the first and so far the only variety with double flowers appeared - Double Trouble (Double Trouble). It is a bright yellow-lemon with a center of the same color, the color is so bright that it attracts the eye in a flower garden, the plant is powerful, tall, does not grow very quickly. Similar to him in color, but not terry Canaria K. Forster (Kanaria, Canary) and Butterplate A. Bloom (Butterplat).

Unusual flowers in varieties Tai Dai (Tie Dye) and Loisder Vic (Loysder Wieck). Their petals are rolled into a tube, the tips of the yellow petals are red, the reverse side is purple-pink. The largest flower in the variety El Dorado (Eldorado), it has large not only flowers, but also leaves.

Gelenium hybrid Loysder Wieck

Since 2014, new varieties of the famous breeder have appeared in our collections Arie Bloma (Arie Blom). They are short, compact, blooming for a long time, and most importantly - unusually bushy plants. They can be planted in garden containers and moved around the garden. They bloom in early August.

  • Siesta (Siesta), 40/4, dark red petals around the burgundy yellow center like the rays of the midday sun remind of siesta. Lowest grade for today.
  • Fuego (Fuego), 60 / 4.5, the larger and brighter brother of Siesta - two-color, bright red with yellow, the tips of the petals and the rim around the center are yellow. Bloom from June.
  • Salsa (Salsa), 50/5, fiery orangeRed.
  • Sombrero (Sombrero), 50 / 5.5, lemon yellow, bright, branched.
Gelenium hybrid SiestaGelenium hybrid Fuego
Gelenium hybrid SalsaGelenium hybrid Sombrero

Culture requirements... Gelenium is unpretentious, photophilous, but also tolerates partial shade, develops better on light fertile soils, loves watering in dry and hot weather, but is afraid of getting wet, especially in early spring. It is enough to feed it twice a season at the beginning of growth and before flowering; you can use organic, organomineral or mineral fertilizers. Geleniums are quite winter-hardy, able to withstand temperatures as low as -30 ° C. But snowless frosts are dangerous for them.

Geleniums have a biological feature that you should be aware of. Geleniums do not have perennial rhizomes. Flowering stems die off along with the roots by winter. But the buds, formed on the underground part of the annual stem, by this time form a rosette of leaves with roots. This rosette gives a flowering stem for the next year, there can be several such underground buds, and in the spring a small curtain is already obtained. That is, heleniums do not have a "bush" in the generally accepted sense, but there are closely sitting independent plants.

Reproduction and transplantation... Transplanting and dividing is best done every 2-3 years in the spring. For the winter, the stems are cut to the ground. Caring for helenium is quite simple - mulching in spring and autumn, watering in summer, pruning for winter.

Geleniums are propagated by dividing the bush and seeds. It is best to divide the plants in the spring, and buy accordingly, too. But geleniums are sold most often in August, because they want to show the variety. In autumn, there is a danger of stems dying off before new young rosettes appear. To prevent this from happening, cut the stems to a height of 10-15 cm before planting. It is easy to divide the helenium, dig up the plant in May, and it will itself disintegrate into separate rosettes. The seeds can be sown in spring or fall. New plants bloom the next year.

Geleniums in garden design

Designers define helenium as a plant with a stable decorative effect. As for the neighbors in the flower garden, then the helenium can have many of them. Having picked up the helenium variety according to the growth and flowering time, you can get a luxurious carpet. You can select plants in contrast from autumn asters, paniculata phlox, delphinium and monarda, or you can make a yellow flower garden with rudbeckia, solidago and heliopsis.

Inflorescences in autumn bouquets are very good, they are cut in full dissolution, since they do not open in water. Gelenium is a wonderful plant that will never let you down, from one division of which a good "bush" will develop next year.

Continuing the cycle "Perennials, easy to care for" read articles:

  • Physostegia and chelone
  • Unpretentious ferns

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