The silver old man(Senecio cineraria syn. Jacobea maritima), also called the ash old man or frost, is one of the most popular annual species. It is usually a plant of the background, because against the background of its silvery, deeply cut leaves, other species, especially flowering species, look great. We explain the rules ofgrowing a silvery old manin the garden and on the balcony, is it possible to hibernate this plant, and also what are the ways topropagate frosts
Silvery old man - Senecio cineraria
Fig. © PoradnikOgrodniczy.pl
Silvery old man - appearance description, application
The Silver Old Man belongs to the Asteraceae family(Asteraceae) and comes from the Mediterranean basin. In nature, it is a semi-shrub, while in Poland it often freezes, so it is most often cultivated as an annual plant.
The Ash Old Man has a compact habit and reaches up to 60 cm in heightThe old man is decorated with leaves, which are large, oval, deeply trimmed and covered with silvery hairs. In summer, baskets of small, yellow flowers appear on the tops of the shoots, gathered in clusters, strongly contrasting with the gray leaves.
The old man is a valuable ornamental plant with leavesused as a variety of flowerbeds, borders, and also as a background for flowering plants in containers. Plants can create dense, silvery carpets, filling flower beds. Along with heliotrope, shiny sage or impatiens, old trees are very often planted in squares or city flower beds.They contrast wonderfully with marigolds, begonias or marigolds.
Silvery Old Man - cultivation
The old man requires a fully sunny positionOnly in the rays of the sun he produces an appropriate cutter, and thus the leaves acquire a unique silvery color.
The Ash Old Man doesn't have high demandsand succeeds in any soil. However, if we want to grow it as a perennial, then a fertile and permeable substrate will be appropriate.
Young plants react badly to water shortages, but older plants have no problem with enduring short-term shortages. However, they do not tolerate heavy, moist soils and excess water. Under such conditions, oldies quickly develop fungal diseases.
We feed the frosts withmulti-component mineral fertilizers, or natural fertilizers such as biohumus or compost. In order for the plants to have a nice and dense habit, we remove the tips of the shoots and regularly remove the faded inflorescences.
Silvery old man and pelargonium
Fig. depositphotos.com
Silvery Old Man - Wintering
The silver old man has only a slight frost resistance.down to about -12 ° C and it is not able to survive the Polish winter in the ground (included in the plant frost resistance zone 7B). In regions with milder winters, the plants are covered with agrotextile or weed and mulched with compost, garden bark or dry leaves. In spring it is a good idea to trim frozen or damaged shoots just above the ground.The old man responds well to cutting , so after this treatment he will bounce quickly, releasing young and he althy shoots.
Frosts grown in pots or containerson balconies and terraces can be moved to a bright, unheated room for the winter. It can be, for example, a bright attic or porch. In the following years of cultivation, however, the plant habit changes and they do not look so attractive anymore.Therefore, a better solution is to sow seeds every year or buy ready-made seedlings.
Silver old man - reproduction
Silvery old man is easy to propagate by shoot cuttings and sowing seeds.
Sowing seeds of old silverware- at the end of March we sow seeds of old people in a heated inspection or in a greenhouse into boxes filled with a substrate intended for the production of seedlings. We can also prepare the soil for sowing seeds by mixing de-acidified high peat with the addition of coarse river sand or perlite in a ratio of 1: 1. You can also mix the leaf soil with sand or peat.
Frost seeds until frost. They need lightto germinate, so we don't cover them. When the seedlings produce 2-3 proper leaves, we pick them into individual pots. The cuttings, which have reached approx. 10 cm in height, are peeled off so that they can sprout better. The seedlings are planted permanently in the second half of May, when the risk of frost has passed. Silvery sticks are planted at a distance of 20 x 20 cm
Reproduction of the old man by cuttings- for this purpose, keep the mother plant in a cool room for the winter to take the top shoots in February and prepare cuttings from them. We root them in a substrate intended for seedling and store them in a bright room.
MSc Eng. Anna Błaszczak
