Gloxinia: description and photo of what a houseplant looks like, names of varieties, what are the prices for a flower, and what kind of care this beauty needs at home

Luxurious gloxinia is one of the most popular indoor plants among the people. It can decorate a house, bring a positive atmosphere into it, and even bring a small income.

Even a beginner grower can take care of gloxinia. In this article we will talk in detail about the features of growing and caring for this beautiful flower. Also watch a useful video on this topic.

The origin of the name, description, prices in the retail network

This beautiful plant of the Gesneria family bears the name of the Alsatian physician and biologist Benjamin Peter Gloxin. Match or not but Glocke translates from German as "bell". The second name - Sinningia - received the flower in honor of William Sinning, a gardener at the University of Boston, who had been breeding this plant all his life. The homeland of gloxinia is the South American tropics.

Gloxinia is one of the most affordable plants, both in care and for the family budget. The price of gloxinia in a pot is 300-650 rubles, rooted tubers are sold at 180-250 rubles, rooted leaves are sold at 150-300 rubles, and seeds are priced from 30 to 50 rubles for a bag with 5 pieces of planting material.

Are they similar to another domestic beauty - violet?

Some gardeners claim that there is a kinship between violet and gloxinia. Indeed, both have dense velvety dark leaves, a similar gamut of flowering, both can propagate by cuttings and seeds, both love slightly acidic soil. But gloxinia refers to the Gesneriaceae, and violet to the violet. But the senpolia, which is often confused with violet, is the closest relative of gloxinia.

What does a houseplant look like?

The plant is a tuberous, perennial, in the winter it is at rest (about when to remove gloxinia for rest, read here). The rhizome is scaly, similar in shape to a small carrot. The tubers are elastic, dense, with a diameter of at least 3 cm, on the upper part is a recess in which there are kidneys, similar to small irregularities. The lower part of the tuber is slightly convex. The roots of gloxinia grow over the entire surface of the tuber.

Children appear in the leaf outlet or when propagated by leaf fragments - from the lateral veins. The stem is erect. The standard gloxinia height is about 25 cm, and indoor varieties can be very miniature, not higher than 5 cm. The leaves are opposite, oval or ovoid, velvety, dark green, with a relief central vein, make up a rosette.

It blooms from early spring to early fall. The flowers are single, large, simple or double, coming out of the sinuses, velvety, have the shape of a bell. The flowers are painted in colors and midtones of mainly cold colors - from white and pale lilac to dark cherry and brownish, only a yellow tint is not found.

Stamens 4, nectar in the form of a ring or absent. The gloxinia fruit is a small box with very small seeds.

All about the main types

Gloxinia can be classified according to various criteria.:

By location and number of rows in the petals:
- simple (one row);
- terry (several rows).
By color:
- plain;
- chintz;
- tigers.
With monophonic, everything is clear, chintz is strewn with specks evenly, and tigrins have a plain contrasting rim along the edge of the petal.
In the form of inflorescences:
- bells and teidei (shoes);
- more elongated at the base.
According to the size of the leaf outlet:
- miniature (leaf outlet diameter up to 20 cm);
- semi-miniature (diameter 20-30 cm);
- standard (30 cm or more).

Only two of the 25 gloxinia species found in nature were found to be suitable for selection: the gloxinia is excellent and the gloxinia is royal.

Popular varieties are famous for their decorative and plentiful flowering:

"Cleopatra"- a compact terry variety with large buds, white petals densely dotted with purple or lilac dots, which merge closer to the core in a dark purple background.
"Winter cherry"- a variety of similar colors, but specks or dots of wine red or maroon color.
"Brocade"- uniformly colored large raspberry-red, pink or dark blue flowers with or without white border on the background of a small outlet.
"Eliza"- a large-flowered variety with a wide blue or maroon border, the center of the bud is light with dark dots.
"Kaiser Wilhelm"- terry dark purple buds with a white border.
"Kaiser Friedrich"- dark red terry buds with a white border.
"Hollywood"- a variety with a huge (up to 8 cm) bud size and a bright, uniform purple color.

Photo

Below you can see photos of the flowers and buds of beautiful gloxinia.

Properties and value for the home

Gloxinia is loved for its decorative properties, for the ability to revive and warm any interior with its appearance. Everyone can notice that blooming gloxinia has a special, warm energy, giving comfort to the house and raising the mood of its inhabitants.

Like any plant in the house, gloxinia has the ability to purify air and absorb harmful impurities. To a possible question whether gloxinia is toxic, one can confidently answer: no, not at all. It can be safely placed in the nursery, it is absolutely harmless to children. For pets, it is also not dangerous, but it is better, of course, not to let them chew the flower.

Propagation at home

Gloxinia easily propagated in several ways: seeds, cuttings, bulbs, tubers, parts of leaf blades, cuts. But for each variety, its own method is better suited: species varieties are better propagated by seeds, and hybrid varieties are vegetatively better (we can talk about planting gloxinia with a leaf and how to do this, here).

Pollination

Gloxinia is pollinated to obtain seeds.. This is done on the second day after the buds are opened. With a soft brush or cotton bud, pollen from the stamens is transferred to the pestle, the next day the procedure is repeated. If pollination was successful, the ovary will turn out, although it will have to sacrifice flowering buds. After a half to two months, the box with seeds will ripen and open slightly.

They collect seeds by gently tapping on it and substituting any container: mature fall off, and immature can be collected in the same way in a few days.

IMPORTANT: each variety must be treated with a separate brush to prevent the appearance of unwanted hybrids.

Planting seeds and growing seedlings

Gloxinia seeds ready for planting in late January. They are scattered on the surface of moist soil and crushed a little. Then the container is covered with a film and put in a warm bright place. At a temperature of about 25 ° C, seedlings can appear in a couple of weeks.

Sometimes you need to gently moisten the ground, let the seedlings breathe and prevent them from freezing. A month later, the shoots are transplanted into light soil in rows with a distance of 2 cm between the shoots, and a month after the appearance of two leaves on each, in separate containers.

Watch a video about growing gloxinia from seeds:

Propagation by cuttings and pedicels

This is a better way to apply in the spring. The peduncle of the faded bud is placed in the root forming agent according to the instructions, then the tip is slightly cut and placed in a glass with distilled water on a warm bright window. Water should be no more than 2 cm. Roots form in a month, and tubers in two.

You can find out how gloxinia propagates by leafy cuttings here.

Sheet division

For this method, the best moment is summer. A large sheet is divided into several parts with a sharp unused blade. It is important that the veins are preserved on each fragment. Then the fragments are inserted into the damp ground by slices, covered with polyethylene and a container is placed on the window, where it is warm, there are no drafts and there is a lot of light.

Sometimes you need to open the film and slightly moisten the ground if necessary. After about a month, a small tuber forms from each vein on the fragment. Dividing the fragment by the number of tubers, they are deposited in separate containers. A suitable tuber should already have sprouts.

By the number of sprouts, it is divided into parts with a sharp knife, the places of the slices are sprinkled with crushed coal or dipped in a weak solution of potassium permanganate for half an hour, then immediately planted in the ground, leaving the top layer of the tuber on which the sprouts are uncovered. Watering is possible in 2-3 days.

Read more about how to propagate gloxinia with a leaf, as well as about the subsequent care of the plant at home, read here, and from this article you will learn how to grow gloxinia from a leaf.

Watch the video on the propagation of gloxinia by the method of division of the sheet:

Wick watering kids

To do this, you will need:

two plastic cups, different in width;
old nylon tights.

Cut nylon into thin ribbons of 15-17 cm by 5 cm. Make a hole in the bottom of the wider cup, thread a nylon tape into it so that its lower end hangs 5-6 cm. Fill a cup with drainage material and earth by 2/3, and the other with settled warm water.

Insert a cup of earth into a cup of water. A nylon wick should be lowered into the water and held tight in the ground. The ground can be slightly moistened for the first time, then the wick will absorb water from the bottom cup and give it to the ground. Now you can plant the kids.

Features of cultivation and care

Gloxinia loves heat, diffused light and moderate watering with well-purified, settled water, the temperature of which is slightly warmer than room temperature. Add water to the pan or very carefully to the ground. The soil should be moderately moist. Gloxinia should not be sprayed.

Every 10-12 days, the plant needs top dressing so that the buds are bright and large, and the flowering period is long. A complex of fertilizers for decorative flowers with a minimum of nitrogen and a high percentage of phosphorus and potassium is suitable for this. Treatment with fungicides during this period is unacceptable.

ATTENTION: Fertilizers cannot be applied to the soil when a plant - young or mature - has just been replanted in new soil.

It is better to make the solution weaker and water the flowers more often so that the roots do not suffer. Gloxinia goes to sleep for the winter. Therefore, watering and fertilizing plants from the end of August is gradually being reduced. When it fades for the last time and the leaves fade, the plant is cut to a hemp 2 cm tall and put in a cool dark place (about what to do when gloxinia has faded, read in our material).

It is not necessary to water gloxinia until spring, but if the air is very dry and warm, then every 2 weeks the soil is slightly moistened. You can dig up the tuber and store it in wet sand at a temperature of about + 15 ° C. If gloxinia is still small, you can simply reduce watering without cutting it.

Read more about how to properly water and feed gloxinia at home, read here, and from this article you will learn about how to properly plant and care for gloxinia.

Around February, gloxinia wakes up, and it is possible to transplant a flower into a new soil. For this flower, the balance of potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen is important, therefore it is better to buy soil in a store - for example, a substrate for violets or begonias (how to find the best soil for gloxinia can be found here).

Good drainage at the bottom of the pot is needed:

shards;
expanded clay;
polystyrene or small pebbles.

The tuber should be washed before planting and inspected for rot and lethargy. Strongly deepen it into the ground is not worth it. The gloxinia tank is suitable for wide, but not deep (you can find out about the size of the pot for the healthy development of gloxinia here). The distance from the edge of the pot to the tuber should be between 3 and 5 cm.

Read more about the features of difficult care and growing gloxinia at home, read in our material.

Diseases and Pests

Most often, gloxinia is affected by fungal diseases, powdery mildew, gray rot, and pests are whiteflies, scutes, mealybugs, aphids, thrips, nematodes and spider mites (learn about gloxinia diseases, how to treat them, and see how it looks in the photo can be here). The diseased plant is isolated and treated with an insecticide from insects, tobacco infusion or a soapy solution from infections, the ground is shed with the same drugs.

Errors in care are reflected in the form of gloxinia as follows:

Brown spots appeared on the leaves. - the flower was watered with cold water or kept in too bright a light.
Leaves turn yellow - the matter is an excess of light or fertilizers or dry air. Perhaps there are problems with the tuber.
Gloxinia does not bloom - The problem is a lack of light and phosphorus-potassium fertilizers or lack of peace in winter.
The leaves turned pale and stretched out - the plant does not have enough light.
The plant has wilted, rotting the root - the reason is excessive watering, the solution is to cut the tuber, disinfect it and transplant it.

TIP: If gloxinia has stopped growing, the growth of the stem has stopped, its color has changed, the plant begins to rot from the base of the stem, leafy cuttings do not give roots - this is late blight, the plant will have to be destroyed along with the soil.

Read about why the gloxinia buds do not bloom and blacken, read here, and from this article you will learn about what kind of leaf diseases a plant has and how treatment is carried out.

Business on this plant

The gloxinia business is beautiful, mostly amateur and mostly seasonal, for the time of flowering, although with enough seeds, you can sell them all year round. Gloxinia has consistently good demand even in small towns. Sell tubers, seeds, rooted cuttings and leaves; adult flowering plants - only in specialized stores.

For a gloxinia business to be successful, you will have to not only learn all about them, but also set aside a separate room for flowers, purchase shelving and fluorescent lamps, and if possible make a page on the Internet with a photo and price list. It is necessary to have a large assortment of different types and colors of this flower, since gloxinia lives 3-4 years.

Here is information on how to properly care for gloxinia, and there is no doubt that it will bring joy to the house. To buy one plant for the soul or several for income is a personal choice.