Once upon a time, botanists classified the heat-loving granny's rolls and the frost-resistant crane grass subshrubs growing in open ground into the same family of Geraniaceae and began to call both types of plants geraniums (Geranium). Then scientists renamed the tropical rolls into pelargonium (Pelargonium), but due to inertia, many amateur gardeners still call indoor flowers geraniums, despite the fact that the scientific name Geranium is now applied only to cranebirds. Ivy geranium, flower care and propagation are described below.
Ivy-leaved ampelous geranium: care and propagation
Many people want to decorate their premises in winter, the walls of their houses and gardens in spring and summer with flowering hanging branches of hanging pelargoniums. Propagating them at home will help you get many beautiful plants; ivy-leaved geranium is easy to grow from seeds.
Crane geraniums form from one to three inflorescences on peduncles
Ampelous Pelargoniums are used not only for hanging decoration, but also as ground cover plants.
To grow hanging Pelargonium, you can use one of the sowing methods:
- into the soil mixture with embedding into the ground to a depth of no more than 0.5 mm;
- open method in a mini-greenhouse on damp paper;
- into peat tablets.
Ivy leaf ampelous geranium
All three methods will help to propagate plants at any time of the year. But in autumn and winter, under conditions of short daylight hours, in order for the seedlings to take root successfully and not stretch out, they will need additional illumination with special phytolamps.
How to propagate pelargonium using seeds
The elongated seeds of ivy-leaved pelargoniums differ from ordinary geraniums in that they are larger in size and have a dense surface. They are easy to pick up with tweezers; they are clearly visible on the soil surface, and even more so on light paper.
For your information! Seeds purchased in flower shops have a quality guarantee. Such seed can be used without additional processing.
Seeds of unconfirmed quality must be disinfected with any fungicidal preparation and encouraged to grow using a root formation stimulator. For these purposes, the fungicides phytosporin, skor, stimulants epin, succinic acid, and sprout are used.
Large seeds with a hard shell for rapid germination and rooting are sometimes subjected to scarification - thinning of the protective coating of the seeds using an abrasive material.
Ivy Pelargonium Seeds
Sowing with embedding in the ground
For this sowing method, it is necessary to prepare or purchase a loose soil substrate for Geraniums with a neutral acidity level. Homemade soil can consist of garden soil with the addition of deoxidized high-moor peat and sand.
To give the soil mixture sufficient looseness, it is passed through a sieve, and to disinfect it, it is steamed in the oven. After heating and cooling, the substrate is spilled with a solution of phytosporin.
Low boxes, bowls or pots with drainage holes are chosen as planting containers. They must be washed in a disinfectant, dried, and then filled almost to the top with moistened soil substrate.
The seeds are laid out on the surface of the soil, maintaining a distance of 2-3 cm, then sprinkled with a very thin layer of dry substrate. The soil surface is moistened again using a fine-droplet water spray.
The planting boxes are covered with transparent glass or plastic and taken out to a warm room (20-25 °C). Every day from boxes for 20-30 minutes. remove the cover, check the soil moisture, and water if necessary.
Important! After the first shoots appear, additional illumination lamps are installed above the boxes. To prevent the seedlings from becoming thin and stretched out, the total length of daylight should be at least 12-14 hours.
After the seedlings have formed 2 true leaves, they are transplanted into containers up to 15 cm high. Seedlings can be rooted either one at a time in individual pots, or several at a time in wide common containers.
Planting box with seeds, covered with glass
How to root ivy-leaved geranium by sowing on damp paper
7 layers of toilet paper are placed at the bottom of a transparent plastic container, closed with a transparent lid. It is moistened, the seeds are distributed on the paper. Cover the container with a lid and place it in a warm, well-lit place. Ventilate and moisten the paper.
Sprouts with two cotyledon leaves will appear approximately on the 10th day. They cannot be allowed to take root in the paper; they are transplanted into individual plastic cups using tweezers. The cups are covered with transparent bags and placed under phytolamps until real leaves appear.
Seedlings with two cotyledons
How to root ivy-leaved pelargonium by sowing in peat tablets
Geranium seeds can take root well in peat tablets. Tablets with mesh are used. They are placed in a common tray, water is poured to the bottom. After the tablets increase in size, the seeds are placed in the central recesses located in the center. The tray is covered with a transparent lid, water is added to the bottom as needed.
Note! After the seeds germinate and true leaves appear on the seedlings, they, along with peat tablets, are transplanted into individual flower beds.
Varieties of indoor plants with names and what they look like
The varieties and varieties of ivy-leaved pelargonium are quite numerous, but through the efforts of breeders they are regularly replenished with interesting new products with even more spectacular flowers.
Summer rain
A variety series with flowers of various colors: white, pink, burgundy, scarlet, lilac. The corolla is simple, has 5 petals. The inflorescence is umbrella-shaped with 5-8 buds. Shoots are 80-100 cm long. Fleshy dark green leaves are pubescent, smooth and shiny. Demanding of light, does not tolerate flooding.
Geranium ivy-leaved ampelous variety series Summer Rain
Crystal Queen
A variety series with different flower colors was created specifically for growing in outdoor hanging pots. Tough and durable shoots grow only 20-30 cm and are resistant to wind and rain.
Toscana
This beautiful variety series was bred in European nurseries and is distinguished by the fact that all its varieties have flowers with two-color petals. Corollas are found simple with 5-8 petals, but more often semi-double or double. The habit is compact, the length of the shoots does not exceed 25-30 cm. The bush in a flower pot forms a compact and symmetrical head. The leaves grow close to each other with a minimum distance between the petioles. Umbrella-shaped inflorescences are directed upward.
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Okka variety of ivy-leaved pelargonium of the Toscana variety series
Amethyst
The peculiarity of the variety series is the pink-lilac rather rare color of the flowers, close to the shade of a semi-precious stone. The petals may have burgundy veins. Corolla – semi-double or terry. The variety is classified as variegated. The leaf plate is light green in color with yellowish veins. The bush is compact with short stems with short internodes.
Geranium ivy variety Amethyst
Decora Pink
A beautiful variety with special light green leaves with darker edges that seem to curl. Looks decorative all year round even without flowers. The inflorescences produce 10-20 or more buds each on long stalks. The corolla is simple with five neon pink petals.
Pelargonium Decora Pink
Ice Rose
A real queen among ivy-leaved pelargoniums. The flower is snow-white, double. The peduncle contains a small number of buds, usually 6-8, but due to the very large size of each corolla it looks unusually impressive.
Interesting! Under certain conditions, the center of the flowers may turn a soft pink shade.
Geranium Ice Rose
Rouletta
An elegant variety with unusual flower colors. The corolla is semi-double bicolor – red-pink. Each petal has a red border, a pink center and red strokes in the center. The plant is compact with short vines and numerous peduncles of 8-15 buds. The leaves are medium-sized, light green, uniform in color.
Pelargonium Rouletta
How to cut and root ivy-leaved pelargonium
Cuttings of ampelous pelargonium are carried out with sharp, disinfected instruments. Green cuttings taken from bushes in spring and summer take root the fastest (in 10-15 days). Semi-lignified cuttings will take about 3 weeks to root.
How to propagate geranium at home
Step-by-step process of cuttings of ampelous pelargonium:
- Select healthy stems of mother geranium and cut cuttings at least 5 cm long from them.
- 2-3 leaves are left at the top, the rest are torn off.
- The cut is treated with powdered activated carbon.
- The cuttings are left outdoors for a day.
Transparent planting cups with pre-made drainage holes with a volume of 50-100 ml are filled with nutrient substrate. This can be a mixture of black soil from your own garden with high-moor peat in a 1:1 ratio, purchased soil, or coconut fiber. Any of the selected substrates is well moistened with a fungicide solution.
A depression is made in the center of the cup. The cutting must be planted so that its lower end almost touches the bottom of the cup, and the lower bud is 2-3 mm above the level of the planting substrate. The glass is placed in a tray and placed in a shaded place with a temperature no higher than 25 °C and no lower than 15 °C. After 3 days, the cuttings are brought closer to the light, but at noon they are removed away from the scorching sun.
For your information! Propagation of ivy-leaved geranium by lignified cuttings can be carried out from August to October.
Green cuttings of geraniums
Main characteristics
The modern type of pelargonium was known back in the 16th century in the Netherlands. Then it was perceived as an exotic plant that could not be seen in the homes of poor people. But already in the XVIII-XIX centuries. the situation changed, different varieties appeared and the flower became available to everyone.
Pelargonium's second name is geranium , and both are associated with birds. Thus, from Greek geranium is translated as stork, and pelargonium as crane. The fruits of the plant are similar in appearance to the beak of these birds. Pelargonium is a perennial house flower, it is frost-resistant and can winter outside.
Pelargonium thyroid or ivy-shaped belongs to the ampelous species. Its homeland is the southern territories of Africa, where it grows on the slopes of hills, flowing down from them. The ampelous type has flexible shoots, so the plant is often used in the interior of hanging gardens. The length of the stems can reach one meter.
Unlike vertically growing geraniums, ampelous geranium leaves are smooth and without fluff. The leaves consist of 5 lobes 3-6 cm wide. Cactus-shaped and star-shaped flowers are collected in an umbellate inflorescence, in which up to 30 flowers can grow. They come in simple and terry, in different shades.
The plant blooms from early spring to late autumn.
How to pinch ampelous geraniums
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The decision about whether it is necessary to pinch ivy-leaved pelargonium is based on what kind of plant you want to see in front of you: a beautifully formed dense bush or pelargonium with sparse long flowing stems.
Pinching leads to the fact that after the growth point is removed from the top of the branch, side shoots begin to form. The plant spends additional energy on this, the budding process slows down, and the flowering period is delayed. But the result is a profusely flowering bush, because buds are also formed on the side shoots.
Pinching is done simultaneously with pruning weak and broken branches and excess leaves. The procedure can be performed in warm weather several times a month. In the winter months, when indoor pelargoniums enter a dormant period, it is better not to disturb the flowers.
Pinching becomes a reason for additional propagation of flowers, because pieces of stems suitable for cuttings can be cut from plants.
Dense bush of ampelous pelargonium
