Kallikarpa or beautiful-fruited is an ornamental shrub that attracts attention with its bright purple-lilac fruits, which is why it got its name. Growing it is not difficult at all and is available to every amateur gardener.
Description of the plant
The plant is a deciduous shrub or a small tree 1.5-3.5 m high from the genus Krasivoplodnikov (lat. Callicarpa), which naturally grows in tropical and subtropical forests (North and South America, Japan, Madagascar, countries Southeast Asia, etc.). In warm countries, the plant is evergreen bushes, and in colder Europe and Russia it becomes deciduous.
Krasivoplodnik is an ornamental shrub (photo below), which is part of the Lamiaceae family, with more than 170 species. This is a perennial plant with a deep, slightly branched root system, straight and sprawling stems.
Leaves (A) appear in the first month of spring and have large plates, rounded edges with teeth and sharp ends, paintedin light and dark green shades. Flowering begins in summer (closer to August): numerous small flowers appear on the bush (B), hidden in the axils of the leaves and collected in paniculate inflorescences. The color of the flowers is pink, lilac, lilac or white, and yellow stamens are clearly visible in the center.
The shrub acquires its most beautiful appearance in autumn, when the leaves change color to red-yellow and pink, and ripened round berries (C) in September-October acquire a bright purple, violet or lilac color with a metallic sheen. The original berries do not fall off and can stand on the bush all winter, for which the people called the bush “lilac pearls”. The fruit yields small oval seeds (D).
The ornamental shrub has good tolerance to pruning and excellent shaping, which is why it is very popular for use in bonsai.
Growing, care and watering
Growing a callicarp is easy, because the plant is unpretentious. It loves sunny places with bright or slightly sparse lighting. The beautiful fruit does not like the shadow: its leaves become smaller, growth slows down, and the number of fruits decreases.
The soil he prefers light and fertile, well-permeable to water. The plant is afraid of drafts. On the site, gardeners recommend planting several bushes at once, because the plant forms fruits by cross-pollination.
Young bushes should be watered often, and for adults, watering is carried out only in dry summermonths. For better moisture conservation, the soil around the bush should be mulched with dry grass or humus. Excessive moisture can cause root rot, and its lack reduces winter hardiness.
The beautiful fruit is practically not affected by diseases and pests.
Wintering
The plant loves warmth, because in nature it grows in tropical forests, so it has low frost resistance. However, the shrub can fully recover from cold damage due to its good hardiness. If the plant looks frozen in the spring, then do not despair. He needs to prune the damaged branches well in early spring, then the callicarp will gradually recover and grow.
Because of the reduced winter hardiness, the ornamental shrub must be covered for the winter, securely wrapping the near-stem branches of the plant. This is especially true for young seedlings. In open ground all year round, callicarp can be grown only in the southern regions. Another way out is to plant it in a large container, which is put indoors for the winter.
Pruning and shaping the crown, top dressing
Shrub beautifolia should be cut to form a rounded crown shape:
- in early spring, before the leaves bloom, the branches should be shortened, trying to maintain roundness;
- remove drying and weak shoots;
- leave only shoots pointing upwards;
- another pruning is carried out in the summer to obtainplanting material (cuttings).
The first feeding is carried out 2-3 weeks after spring pruning with nitrogen-containing fertilizer. The first summer months, the beautiful fruit should be fed every 2 weeks with complex fertilizers, and then with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers (until October).
Reproduction
Callicarpa can be easily propagated using green cuttings taken in spring or semi-woody summer cuttings. Seeds and cuttings are also used. Propagation of ornamental shrubs by seeds requires their preliminary long-term stratification at temperatures up to +5 ° C for 30-45 days. Seeds should be sown in a box in a sandy-peat soil mixture, then covered with glass, arranging a greenhouse. For germination, the optimum temperature is + 18 … + 20 ° С. After picking, the sprouts are planted in separate pots.
Ready-made seedlings of beautiful fruit are on sale, when buying them, you should choose with a closed root system. Favorable time for planting is spring or autumn. When planting a plant, you should dig a fairly roomy hole according to the size of the root system, water the pre-fertilized soil well. Then the seedlings are moved using the transshipment method so as not to damage the fragile roots.
You can also make cuttings yourself by cutting them from a bush in the middle of summer and planting them in the soil. Rooting takes place within 2 months.
Varieties and varieties
Russian gardeners grow several types of ornamental shrubs, which are able to toleratefrost in winter:
- Bodyniere giralda Profusion - the most popular species, brought from China, height up to 2 m. It is better to plant it in sunny areas, it blooms in July, the berries are edible, but bitter, in the Moscow region it requires shelter for the winter.
- Forked (purple or 2-forked) is of "Asian" origin. Shrub 0.9-1.2 m high, inedible fruits, prefers to grow in partial shade or in the sun, soil is neutral or acidic. Covering look.
- Japanese - suitable for growing in a tub in a greenhouse or winter garden, for the winter it should be placed on an unheated veranda or in the basement (can withstand frost down to -12 ° C). The plant loves frequent watering, grows well in partial shade on alkaline or acidic soil.
- American - shrub height up to 2 m, grows better in the southern regions, because it freezes in winter, flowering continues from April to July. The berries are sweet, astringent and can be used to make jam.
Gardening with other plants
Experienced landscape designers advise planting an ornamental shrub with a beautiful fruit in combination with other plants, leaving it in the background:
- with variegated holly;
- with palm-shaped maple or witch hazel, which also has colored leaves, which in the autumn months allows you to turn a flower bed into a multi-colored kaleidoscope, pleasing to the eye;
- with berry bushes (chokeberry, viburnum, skimmia, etc.), which have colored fruits, but in different shades;
- with a vineyard, this is a climbing plant that firstwill go twisting along the callicarp, and then he will need a separate support.
Decoration and bouquets
The ornamental shrub of the beautiful carp remains bright and noticeable almost all year round: in spring it gradually dresses in soft green tones of leaves, in the summer months it blooms with numerous white-pink flowers, and in autumn its leaves turn pink and ripen small beautifully colored bunches-fruits.
Many flower growers prefer to admire the callicarp berries in the cold months, forming winter bouquets from them. Bright purple-lilac fruits stand well without losing their shape and color. In the bouquet, they are combined with lunaria, physalis and forest hairweed.
