Gerbera is a genus of ornamental plants from the sunflower family. It was named in honour of the German naturalist Traugott Gerber. It has about 30 species in the wild, extending to South America, Africa, Madagascar, and tropical Asia. The first scientific description of a Gerbera was made by J.D. Hooker in Curtis Botanical Magazine in 1889 when he described Gerbera jamesonii, a South African species also known as Transvaal daisy or Barberton Daisy.
Gerberas come in two-lipped ray florets in the refreshing colours of red, yellow, white, orange and pink. The centre of the flower is sometimes black and a single flower can have petals in different colours. They are very popular worldwide and are used extensively as cut flowers or as a decorative garden plant. Commercially, gerberas are very popular. They are the fifth most important cut flower in the world after rose, carnation, chrysanthemum, and tulip.
Tips for caring for your Gerberas
- Instead of cutting the gerbera, pick the flower form the plant when one or two rows of stamen are visible. This is important because raw flowers need much more energy to develop completely but they have only a few reserves.
- After the flower has been picked, 2 to 4 cm need to be cut of the lowest part of the stem. By cutting of this hard part of the stem the flower can take up the water much better, which is important to avoid breach of the stem and bending necks.
- Put the stems in clean buckets with clean water immediately after harvesting and place them in a cool area. Before every use these buckets need to be disinfected to avoid the growth of bacteria in it.
- The gerbera flowers should be put in water between 6 to 24 hours to be able to take up enough water before packing.
- The area in which the gerberas are being watered for a long period should be free from ethylene, which is an ageing hormone that affects the durability of the gerbera.
- During the long period of watering the flowers, special flower nutrition can be added to the water. The loss of water in a gerbera flower causes ageing, so this should be avoided as much as possible
These flowers are available at most of the florists in Australia. You can shop for them online as well. You can even combine the gerbera bouquets for any occasions, be it weddings or birthdays, with chocolates, soft toys, cards, gourmet food, balloons, fruits, champagne or wine. You also get them in various sizes as small, medium, large and extra large so that you can choose to send them as per your budget.