Flowers for the garden
Gatsania or Gazania
Gazania
Named in honor of Theodor von Gaza — an Italian priest who translated the works of Aristotle and Theophrastus. In Germany Gazania is called Mittagsgold ("midday gold"), because its inflorescences open only in the midday hours, and then only in sunny weather.
Gazania is a perennial, but here it is grown as an annual; however, gazanias can be dug up from the garden in autumn to keep until the next season. The plant has showy flowers and is low-growing, reaching no more than 25-30 cm in height. The leaves are elongated, dark green above and silvery beneath, gathered in a basal rosette and forming a stemless clump.
The flowers come in various colors: orange, yellow, red, white, up to 8 cm in diameter. Interestingly, the flowers open only in sunny weather. It blooms from late June to October. The attractive gazania is very well suited for flower beds, borders, and rock gardens on the sunny side.
Breeders have developed many cultivars and cultivar groups of gazania with brightly varied flower colors. New hybrid gazania varieties are valued not only for the striking beauty of their flowers, but also for earlier and more prolonged flowering in summer and autumn, and for resistance to adverse weather conditions during cold, rainy summers.
Location: Gazanias are exceptionally drought-tolerant, heat- and light-loving. In the garden they require open sunny sites for successful cultivation. Fairly cold-hardy, they tolerate frosts down to -5 to -7 °C.
Soil: they prefer light, fertile garden soils. They do not tolerate excess moisture. On heavy clay soils, especially in rainy years, they suffer and perform poorly.
Care: moderate watering and removal of faded flowers promotes the formation of new buds. In fertile soils plants are fed every 4-6 weeks, and in poorer soils every 2-4 weeks with a solution of complete mineral fertilizer.
Gazanias overwinter indoors without particular problems. At the end of September, bring plants that have been transplanted into boxes or pots into the house and place them in a bright room with a temperature of 8-10 °C. In winter water very moderately, but do not allow the soil to dry out completely. In spring, before planting overwintered specimens into the ground, cut the shoots back by half.
Propagation: by seed and cuttings. For raising seedlings, sow in March in boxes in a greenhouse or warm frame. In April you can sow in cold frames and in the open ground. In mid-summer you can propagate by cuttings taken from side shoots at the base of the stem. For rooting they are kept in solutions of rooting hormones. Initially, protect the cuttings from direct sunlight and drafts. Later, until planting in flower beds, grow them at 15—18 °C with good light, watering as needed.