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Gaillardia, or Gaillardia (Gaillardia) - a bright representative of the Aster family, or Compositae, a close relative of zinnia, gerbera, marigolds, chrysanthemums, asters, sunflowers, dahlias.
Its rather large flowers, reminiscent of a bright sun, have a deep, rich, bright color and for a long time delight with their beauty in any corner of the flower garden.
In spring, it forms a rosette of lanceolate, deeply dissected leaves, which have a bluish tint from bristly pubescence. In June, Gaillardia develops long flexible peduncles up to 60 cm high, which end in large inflorescences - baskets up to 8-10 cm in diameter. The color of the flowers is mainly yellow, yellow-orange, dark purple or dark red. The tips of the petals are almost always yellow. Darker tones are arranged in a ring-like manner, closer to the center of the inflorescence. Plants bloom for a long time - from the end of June, without losing their beauty until the very frost.
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It is interesting that flowers on one Gaillardia plant often have different colors. As a rule, the extreme (ligulate) flowers are large and have an orange, yellow, burgundy, dark red color, and the median (tubular) flowers can be purple, brown with a spectacular embossed velvety center.
After the flowering process ends, a pubescent and even prickly achene-ball forms on the top of the peduncle. But even after that, Gaillardia looks very good, and its seed-balls look like little hedgehogs.
Of the annual species in the gardens, a relatively low (30-50 cm) beautiful Gaillardia is cultivated(Gaillardia pulchella)forming a sprawling bush. Long thin peduncles are crowned with single inflorescences with a diameter of 6-7 cm.
Types and forms of perennial Gaillardia are more popular than annual Gaillardia.
A common perennial species is spinous Gaillardia. (Gaillardia aristata). It begins to bloom from June. Its ligulate flowers are yellow, orange and copper-red, the tubular flowers are yellow-purple.
- Apizona - a series of varieties up to 30 cm high, inflorescences 10 cm in diameter, red, yellow with a blush, yellow-red, blooms earlier and blooms longer than other Gaillardia.
- Kobold - spherical bushes up to 35 cm tall, inflorescences are red with yellow.
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Tall stems of spinous Gaillardia (about 75 cm) can lie down from the wind under the weight of the flowers, so they need a garter.
The popular perennial Gaillardia hybrid belongs to garden forms. (Gaillardia x hybrida). It is believed that the hybrids originated from the crossing of beautiful and spinous Gaillardia, as well as spinous with other species.
Hyllardia hybrid has shoots 50–80 cm high, blooms in June – August. It has simple, semi-double or double flowers with a variety of colors - from orange-yellow to terracotta-red.
Hyllardia hybrid varieties
The most common varieties of hybrid Gaillardia are:
- Burgunder - up to 60 cm high, inflorescences up to 10 cm in diameter, wine-red with a brown and yellow center.
- Bremen - up to 60 cm high, inflorescences up to 12 cm in diameter, dark copper-scarlet color, yellow petal tips.
- Goblib - dwarf variety, up to 30 cm high, with raspberry-cream flowers.
- Sonne - up to 60 cm high, inflorescences up to 10 cm in diameter, golden yellow.
Growing and care
Gaillardia grows best in open, sunny areas, preferably well protected from cold winds. It is not very demanding on soils, but it grows better, develops and blooms profusely on dry, loose, rich in organic matter, sandy loamy weakly acidic soils. Dislikes fresh manure and acidic soils.
It is quite drought tolerant and can tolerate long periods of moisture deficiency. In humid places, plants stagnate, sometimes fall out.
In winters with little snow and cold, Gaillardia can freeze out, therefore, plants, especially young ones, should be wrapped in dry fallen leaves, peat crumbs or coniferous spruce branches for the winter, protecting the root shoots that appear in the fall from frost, and in the spring it is imperative to divert melt water from the plants.
Growing unpretentious Gaillardia is not difficult and is available even for novice florists.
Reproduction
Guillardia is propagated by seeds, dividing the bush, root and green cuttings.
The seeds are harvested as they mature. At the same time, it is important to collect only from specimens selected for color, because some of the plants will have ugly and pale inflorescences.
In favorable conditions, Gaillardia gives abundant self-seeding. Among the seedlings, along with unpretentious plants, very impressively colored specimens often come across. For their further reproduction, it is necessary to mark the most beautiful flowers in advance and leave them for seeds.
Gaillardia seeds are frost-resistant, so plants can be sown in the garden in early spring or fall. If you want Gaillardia to please with an earlier flowering, sow their seeds for seedlings in February.
At room temperature, seeds usually germinate within 1–2 weeks. At the same time, do not forget about the homeland of plants - Gaillardia seedlings should be kept at a high level of illumination and in a comfortable temperature (during the day not lower than + 20 ° С, at night not lower than + 14 ... + 18 ° С).
With spring sowing in open ground, annual Gaillardia will bloom in the same year in July, and perennial species will begin to bloom from next year.
Perennial Gaillardia can be propagated by cuttings (green and root), as well as by dividing the overgrown bush into two large parts. The bushes are divided in spring and autumn. When dividing Gaillardia, it is undesirable to make small divisions, since in this case the daughter plants will grow very slowly.
Usage
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Gaillardia is planted in groups, used for ridges, borders, in flower beds. For a longer and more abundant flowering, it is necessary to remove the faded flowers and feed the plants monthly during the growth period.
In the garden, Gaillardia are widely used. Low-growing ones look great in borders, in the foreground of flower beds. They also grow well in containers - and in decorative garden pots, and in window boxes, and on balconies.
Tall Gaillardia varieties are well surrounded by plants with stronger stems that protect their shoots from lodging.
Drought-resistant Gaillardia grow well on an alpine hill. They are very harmoniously combined with stones. And for cutting, Gaillardia varieties with long peduncles are used. Cut Gaillardia flowers last long in water.
"Ural gardener", No. 46, 2013
