Purple Avens (Prairie Smoke, Old Man's Whiskers)

Three-flowered avens - Geum triflorum = Geum ciliatum.
Beautiful fruit with a pink tuft that flutters spectacularly in the wind.
Perennial of the Rosaceae family.
The plant has 3 flowers, the whole plant is covered with silky hairs, decorative spikelets-seeds.
Flower color: reddish-purple.
Natural flowering period: May - July.
Height of flowering plant: 25 cm
Winter hardiness zones: Z1 - Z7.
Soil requirements: dry, well drained.
Use: for rock gardens.
1.0 g = 1400 seeds.

How to care for geum in open ground.
Geum is planted in sunny areas, near water bodies. The plant tolerates partial shade and light short-term drought. However, it still prefers regular abundant watering.
The main requirements for care are loosening the soil, weeding, sufficient watering and fertilizing. It is advisable to feed at least two or three times a season with organic or complex mineral fertilizers.
Thanks to such attention, geum will delight you with luxurious flowering and bright, thick leaves.

Growing geum from seeds at home.
You can plant geum seeds for seedlings or directly into the ground, in spring or autumn.
Growing geum seedlings.
When to plant geum for seedlings? Start sowing in early March, trying not to delay, but you can plant until early April. Prepare seedling boxes or containers with mandatory drainage holes in the bottom. Fill them with loose nutritious soil. You can use soil from a store for flowering plants. Make shallow furrows, up to 1-2 cm, and place the seeds in them at a distance of 3-4 cm. The distance between the rows is 4-5 cm. Cover the seeds with soil. You can scatter the seeds on the surface of the soil, press them with your palm and lightly sprinkle soil on top. Moisten moderately, you can use a spray bottle. To speed up germination, you can cover the container with seeds with a plastic bag. When shoots appear, remove the bag. As soon as the seedlings release two or three true leaves, they are carefully transplanted into separate cups with a diameter of about 7 cm. Help yourself with any sharp object (a fork, a toothpick, the back of a teaspoon) to pry the seedling together with the root and a lump of earth. This way you will transplant the plants painlessly, they will get sick less. 10 days after picking, feed the seedlings with a complex fertilizer for flowering plants to stimulate growth.
How to plant geum seedlings in the ground.
Geum seedlings are planted in the ground from mid-May to early June, provided there are no night frosts. Two weeks before planting, the seedlings are hardened off by leaving them outside, starting with several hours a day, and increasing the time spent outside to a full day. In this case, planting will be painless, the plants will quickly take root and begin to grow. Plants grown from seeds will bloom only in the next season, in July. They are planted at a distance of 40 cm from each other.
How to sow geum seeds in the ground.
In the spring. Spring sowing begins as early as possible, as soon as the soil ripens. Loosen the bed, dug up in the fall, level the ground with a rake. Make rows at a distance of 15-20 cm, sow the seeds shallowly, up to 2 cm, level the ground with the back of the rake. It is advisable to time the weather before the rain, then you will not have to water. If the weather is dry, moisten the bed with a watering can, but do not flood it, so as not to form an earthen crust. It is better to water a little every evening than to flood it occasionally. When shoots appear, weed the bed and thin out the geum itself, leaving at least 5 cm between the plants. When the seedlings rise to 10-15 cm, they are transplanted to a permanent place. The distance between the bushes is 40 cm.
In the fall. The sowing time will depend on the region, the main thing is that after sowing there is no prolonged warmth, because of which the seeds can sprout in the fall. Usually, geum is sown before winter around October, when it is already quite cold. The bed should not be specially insulated: the seeds do not freeze, and natural stratification will benefit them, and the plants will sprout together in early spring.

Reproduction of geum by dividing the bush.
A geum bush can be divided if it has grown well. This is done in spring or fall. The plant is completely dug up and cut into several parts with a sharp knife, with at least two or three growth points. The divisions are planted in pre-prepared holes, trying to maintain the previous level of the root collar. It is advisable to put a couple of handfuls of humus at the bottom of the hole, this will give the plant a good charge for several years. When planted in spring, the plants can bloom in the same year, you just need to try to divide the bush as early as possible so that the geum has time to take root before the flowering season.