Freesia is one of the most charming and beloved flower growers around the world. Its bright and memorable flowering can successfully decorate a flower bed or window sill. However, the cultivation of this plant does not always end with success, since caring for it requires a lot of attention. The article discusses the features of the flower, as well as the main subtleties of caring for it.

History of the variety

Rosa Freesia is an elegant flower of a yellow hue, especially popular among lovers of varietal roses such as floribunda. The species is one of the most striking examples of highly professional selection. A plant was bred in Germany in 1973. A hybrid is obtained by vaccination; the stock is often a rose variety of Rogoz, Konin or rose hips.

Characteristic and Description

It appears to flower growers as a perennial bushy plant with a highly branched, tree-like stem. The average height of the bush is 60–80 cm. On it, thin rounded leaves develop, pointed at the edge, with a central vein of a saturated green hue. The root system of the flower is powerful, branched.

The plant blooms profusely, at this time from each shoot from 3 to 8 flowers of a saturated yellow hue, 5-10 cm in diameter, develop. Cup-shaped flowers, terry, painted evenly. The flowering period of the bush is observed throughout the growing season. The first flowers appear in mid-June, the latter can be observed at the end of October.

Did you know? For the first time, roses began to be grown in Ancient Rome, however, during this period the flower was not cultivated for decorative purposes, but as a valuable medicinal plant.

The main feature of the species is the perfect combination of decorativeness and unpretentiousness to the living conditions. Freesia takes root both in open, well-lit areas, and in partial shade. In addition, this rose is characterized by high frost resistance - it is able to tolerate seasonal frosts down to –28 ° С, as well as sharp cooling to –2 ° С. The species is also resistant to bacterial infections, it is not characteristic of black spotting and powdery mildew, and often the plant affects scab and fusarium.

Features of outdoor cultivation

Often, cultivation of Freesia does not cause much trouble, so a novice grower can grow it on the site. But you can get a healthy and plentifully flowering plant only after careful preparation. It includes methods for cultivating the soil and observing the necessary planting dates.

Landing time

A rose is planted in early spring, before the appearance of buds. The optimal period for planting a bush begins after a full spring thaw occurs, with a temperature regime of +10 ... + 15 ° С. In a temperate climatic region, this time is observed throughout early May, in the south in the first half of April.

Seat selection

The best place to cultivate the flower is a well-lit and dry area, away from high humidity and tree vegetation. However, a bush can be successfully grown in the first tier of tall vegetation or partial shade. It is important to take into account the fact that the flowering of such bushes will be less active, and flowers of shaded bushes often form no more than 5-6 cm in diameter.

Important! Freesia is not recommended to be planted in a draft, this negatively affects the immunity of the plant, and also creates favorable conditions for the development of aphids.

When choosing a place for planting Freesia, it is important to take into account the composition of the soil mixture on the site. The species grows and develops better on highly nutritious fertile soils. Leached chernozem is suitable for this, while marshy and peat substrates for bushes are undesirable, since they often inhibit their growth and flowering. Poorer and denser substrates are enriched with humus or peat, but the pH of such soil should be in the range of 6–7 units.

Preparatory work

The flower requires minimal preparatory work. However, at this stage the plant often receives a valuable charge, without which the chances of its effective rooting are rapidly reduced. In order to get elegant flowers in the summer, you need to approach the procedure very carefully.

Soil preparation

Soil preparation is started long before the planting of seedlings. Since autumn, in the first half of November, the place under future plantings has been carefully dug up to a depth of at least 30 cm.Thanks to this procedure, all kinds of pest larvae hiding in the soil are outside, which sharply reduces the activity of their population in spring.

At the same time, it is necessary to clean the soil from the remnants of any vegetation, which is a reservoir of dangerous infections. At the end of March, the soil is re-excavated, and then the site is carefully leveled. To improve the nutritional value of the substrate, the soil is enriched with a mixture of 9 l of humus and 1 l of clay. Additionally, 15–20 g of superphosphate is added to the mixture.

Seedling preparation

About a day before planting, seedlings are also subject to preparation. They are soaked in clean, settled water, at room temperature. This is necessary so that the plants are saturated with valuable moisture, which activates their metabolism. As a result, the procedure helps Freesia to take root safely in just a few weeks. Only the root system is soaked in water, soaking the stem can provoke putrefactive damage to the seedling, which almost always threatens death for it.

Did you know? Roses are one of the oldest plants on the planet. According to archaeological finds, this species existed on the planet 50 million years ago.

Technology and depth

Bushes are planted alone or by mass plantings. In the second case, plants are planted in a row or staggered manner, at a distance of 50-100 cm. For each plant in the plot, create an individual hole with a depth of 50 cm and a diameter of about 45 cm. If the plant is not grown on nutritious chernozem, each well is filled with a special nutrient substrate consisting of peat, sheet land and clay (2: 2: 1). After this planting is well moisturized. As soon as the moisture is absorbed, the bushes mulch (layer thickness 5-10 cm) with sawdust, spruce needles, tree bark, husk or other natural materials.

Care Features

The whole plant care procedure provides for timely watering, top dressing, cultivation and pruning. Thanks to this set, it is possible to qualitatively provide the plant with flowering for more than one year, which is the main indicator of successful floriculture.

You will be interested to learn about the features of caring for roses in the fall.

Watering

Freesia is a hygrophilous plant, so water the bushes systematically. Since the root system of the plant is able to penetrate the lower horizons, watering is best done rarely, but abundantly, to completely wet the soil to the lower horizons. In spring and autumn, the procedure is carried out once a week, in the summer at least 2 times a week. The last time moisture is applied to the beds two weeks after the flowering of the bush. Regardless of the season, 15–20 L of water is required for each secondary plant.

For watering around the bush create the so-called near-stem circle - a small depression around the base of the bush. They bring moisture to this zone, irrigation of green mass is not recommended. In this case, watering can create excessive moisture, which is an ideal environment for the development of fungi. An ideal period for the procedure is considered to be early morning. During the day, particles of spilled moisture on the foliage can provoke a sunburn of tissues, and evening watering leads to excessive dampness in the area.

Fertilizer application

As the bushes grow and develop, they need to be fed. The beds are fed systematically, for the first time the procedure is carried out 14–20 days after planting, and then every spring, before the appearance of buds. To do this, use any highly nitrogenous mixture (urea, nitroammophoska, ammonium nitrate).

Find out what and how to fertilize roses.

The second dressing of the flower is done in early July, for this, superphosphate and potassium nitrate are used. If possible, they additionally feed Freesia in the fall, after flowering, for this purpose, manure, peat, compost and other organic mixtures are added to the beds.

Weeding and loosening the soil

One of the most important flower care procedures is timely weeding combined with cultivation. Carry out such a care measure regularly. For the first time, soil is weeded out already 3 weeks after planting seedlings, and then every week, to a depth of at least 10 cm. Only in this way can all weeds be destroyed and the soil be supplied with oxygen.

Important! Weeding and loosening are carried out early in the morning or late in the evening, not less than 24 hours after watering. Otherwise, the procedure may cause the soil to dry out.

Pruning

Pruning is the only procedure that helps Freesia fulfill her main goal: to decorate the garden. In addition, without the timely completion of the procedure, it is almost impossible to achieve especially large flowers, since the plant will actively spend energy on the formation of extra shoots. And this is often the main reason for the decrease in the activity and duration of flowering of the bush. For the first time, a young seedling is cut the next year after planting, and then the plant is formed 1 time per season. The optimal period for this is considered to be early spring, before the appearance of buds on the bushes.

There are three types of pruning:

1. Strong - no more than 2–4 buds are left on each shoot, they are used to rejuvenate a mature bush.
2. Moderate - up to 7 buds are allowed on each branch, this procedure better provides decorativeness, as well as early flowering.
3. Weak - used in the summer to remove faded inflorescences and dried shoots.

In addition, they also do the so-called sanitary pruning, the second half of autumn is considered the best time for it. At this time, old, damaged and excess shoots are removed. This allows the bushes to successfully enter the period of winter suspended animation, as well as form an elegant, decorative crown.

See also when and how to prune roses.

Shelter for the winter

They cover Freesia as necessary, in the case of growing crops in cold climates with winter frosts above –10 ° C. Perform the procedure before a sharp cold snap, in the second half of November. Young bushes of small size are laid on the flooring from boards or branches and fixed to the ground using metal rods.

The root ring of the flower is spudded, and the plant itself is covered with a layer of sawdust, pine needles, husks or other natural materials. From above, such flooring is covered with a spanbond in 2-3 layers. Tall bushes are not laid on the soil; instead, the plant is tightly wrapped with spanbond.

We advise you to find out when, how and with what to cover roses for the winter.

Pest and Disease Control

Unfortunately, not many flower growers manage to create ideal conditions for Freesia, which directly affects the appearance of characteristic diseases and pests on the beds. In this case, you should act immediately. Pathologies of this kind not only inhibit flowering, but also lead to slow death of bushes.

The main diseases of Freesia

Title	Methods of struggle
Scab	The affected areas of the bush are treated with alcoholic infusion of iodine, the plants are treated with any fungicidal preparation (Bordeaux fluid, Fitosporin, Homom). The procedure is carried out twice, from intervals of 14 days.
Fusarium	For the treatment of infection, plantings are treated twice with intervals of two weeks with “Fundazol”, “Maxima” solutions and other, interchangeable analogues.
Chlorosis (yellowing of foliage)	Plantings are fed twice with any nitrogenous fertilizer (urea, ammonium nitrate).

The main pests of culture

Title	Remedies
Aphid	The bushes are sprayed with solutions of the preparations "Actellic", "Antio", "Karbofos", "Rogor", "Metation"
Cicadas	Plants are treated with any contact insecticide (Ditox, Tagore, Tzipi), the procedure is carried out 2 times, with an interval of 10 days
Spider mite	Affected plantings are sprayed with solutions of “Akreks”, “Isofen”, “Omaytoma” or other interchangeable arcacid agents

Today, every year Rosa Freesia is increasingly found in summer cottages, this plant impresses with its elegance and long flowering. Even a novice florist can successfully grow a flower, as it is characterized by its unpretentiousness and resistance to all kinds of adverse factors. However, this requires appropriate care for the plant.