Physocarpus opulifolius is a deciduous shrub native to North America. The name of the plant was due to the similarity of fruits with small balls - bubbles. When the flyer is pressed in autumn, when it is ripe, a light pop is heard.
Ornamental shrub
Krone of the vesicle of the viburnum spherical shape. Spreading branches droop slightly, forming a dense curtain. The bark is brown or brown.
The height of the plant is 1.5-3 m, depending on the variety.
Green carved leaves are shaped like viburnum. Cultivars also come in golden, red, and even deep purple.
At the end of June, the plant is covered with a pinkish or white haze. These are small flowers blooming, collected in shields up to seven centimeters in size.
The fruits of the vesicle - leaflets that make a funny sound. Like the clap of a small salute. The green color of young fruits becomes reddish by autumn, and later brown. Elegant bunches decorate the bush for a long winter.
The vesicle of the viburnum is unpretentious and tolerates even strong gas contamination. The life of a shrub is long - it will decorate your garden for almost 30 years.
Circumstances of time and place
When you plant a viburnum vesicle in the spring, you can't go wrong. The young plant will take root well and get stronger by winter. Autumn planting possible in September.
By buying a seedling in a pot at the garden center, you can plant it at any time, from spring to autumn. Although it is still better not to delay the planting so that the roots do not outgrow. Place the plant in partial shade and water regularly. The clod of earth must be moist.
Bubble is a very hardy plant. Grows in sun or shade, dry or damp places. Of course, you should not plant it in flooded areas.
Prefers acidic soils, so don't fertilize with lime. Even on poor soils, it will become a decoration of the site.
Green varieties tolerate shade. For varieties with golden, red and purple leaves, take a sunny area. Otherwise, in the shade, their leaves will turn green and lose their decorative effect.
It is important to plant correctly
The size of the pit for planting the vesicle should allow the roots to settle freely in it. Depth not less than half a meter. It is important to make drainage so that water does not stagnate at the roots. To do this, medium-sized crushed stone is placed at the bottom of the pit with a layer of 20 cm.
It is better to take fertile land for planting, mixing it with sand and peat in a ratio of 2: 1: 1. Fertilizers are not needed.
If the seedling is in a pot - saveclod of earth. Place a bush with open roots in a hole on a mound of soil and straighten the roots.
Plant the plant in such a way that the root neck is not covered. Add soil in layers, watering occasionally to compact.
After planting, water again abundantly. Mulch the trunk circle with a layer of 10-15 cm. For this, peat, wood chips, small decorative pebbles, just dry earth will do. The mulch will help keep the soil moist while the shrub establishes.
Plant the vesicle at a distance of 1.5-2 m from other plants.
Now growing
The headache of all lovers of ornamental crops, which include the viburnum vesicle, is planting and care. Let's reassure right away: the plant we are considering is unpretentious, although, of course, it needs to create certain conditions.
Recently planted bushes for three days in a row watered with a bucket of water. Then - as the earth dries up. Avoid waterlogging in heavy clay soils.
Pet care is easy. While the bush is small and weak, after watering, loosen under it and pull out the weeds.
First dressing spend a week after planting. Apply liquid shrub compound fertilizer as directed.
Feed the vesicle preferably twice a season. In the spring, fertilizers with nitrogen are required. It can be a solution of mullein or urea. Good complex liquid fertilizers. There are many on sale.
Apply them when buds start to open. Fertilizers will help the bushgrow big and he althy.
Autumn needs phosphorus-potassium fertilizers. They will prepare the plant for wintering - growth will stop and the wood will ripen.
Take care of feeding at least the first two years. For caring care, the viburnum vesicle will gratefully respond with rapid growth.
Diseases bypass this unpretentious plant. But aphids can attack young leaves in early spring. However, this rarely happens. This misfortune is easy to deal with by spraying the bush with "Aktara".
When trimming is needed
Inspect the vesicle in the spring. Cut out old, dry and broken branches.
The natural form of the plant is quite sprawling. It can take 3 m in width. If necessary, carry out shaping pruning after flowering.
If you want to get a wide dense bush - cut off all branches no higher than 50 cm. You need a more slender and delicate one - leave a few large shoots and shorten at a height of 1.5 m. Cut the rest.
The vesicle tolerates a haircut well. The first time it is carried out before bud break, preferably in April. The hedge is trimmed at least twice a season.
Moving to a new location
If you have to transplant an adult bush of the vesicle of the viburnum - do it before the buds open. Or in autumn, when the leaves have fallen.
Deciduous endure shedding earth from the roots. But still try to save the com as best you can. Then the small suction roots will not be damaged, and the plant will cope with stress faster.
Before transplanting, carry out sanitary pruning and shorten all branches to a height of 20-30 cm. This way you will save the vesicle from dehydration, reduce the load on the affected roots.
After transplanting, treat the bush with "Epin". It will strengthen the immune system of the plant.
One is not enough
Culture propagates easily. If desired, seedlings are grown on a hedge from one adult vesicle. They do it in different ways:
- seeds;
- cuttings;
- layering;
- dividing the bush.
Small, like poppies, seeds are sown before winter in the ground. Or in the spring, with stratification for a month in the refrigerator.
This method is suitable for plants with green leaves. The seedlings do not inherit the bright foliage of the vesicle varieties.
The bush can be divided, but it will not be enough for a hedge. The method is suitable when 3-4 plants of the same age are needed.
Propagation by cuttings
Green flexible shoots are cut before flowering. The length of the cuttings is approximately 20 cm. They must have at least two internodes. Leaves are removed at the bottom and shortened at the top.
To speed up root formation, the cuttings are placed overnight in Kornevin's solution. Or put a tablespoon of honey in a bucket of water.
Planted in a greenhouse at an angle of 45°. Water and air regularly. Shelter required in winter.
In the spring, small plants are transferred to open ground. The next year they are appointed to a permanent position.
Reproductionlayering
Spring is the best time to propagate the vesicle. For cuttings, select a two-year shoot. It must be he althy and grow outward. Cut off the leaves, leaving the top.
Bend the branch into the groove. Its depth is about 10 cm. Cover it with earth and press it in several places with small stones. The top with the leaves stays up, tied to the peg.
Water the layering all season long. In autumn, separate it from the main bush, but do not transplant. Cover with spruce branches, dry leaves or covering material for the winter.
In the spring, a new bush is ready for transplanting.
The taste and the color. Varieties Variety
Using plants with decorative leaves, landscape designers widely use the variety of viburnum vesicle in their work.
Description of popular varieties often found on sale:
- Aurea - reaches a height of 2.5 m. It has small white flowers. Bright yellow leaves bloom in spring. By the time of flowering, the crown turns green. In autumn, the yellowed foliage again contrasts beautifully with red fruits.
- Andre - reaches a height of 2.5 m. In the spring it spreads branches widely with delicate pink-red leaves. In summer, the color of the leaves darkens, a bronze tint is added.
- Nugget - an amazing vase shape up to 2 m high. Graceful leaves bloom yellow. As they grow, they become green.
- Luteus - grows quickly up to 3 m. In the dissolution, the leaves are yellow with an orange tint. In summer, they turn slightly green and combine beautifully with white flowers.
- DartsGold is a dense ball with a diameter of 1.5 m. Leaves from bright yellow turn green a little. In summer, the bush is covered with delicate white flowers. Sometimes the flower corymbs are pinkish.
Customers in garden centers are in demand vesicles red-leaved red-leaved varieties:
- Red Baron and Lady in Red. Shrubs are compact. They reach a height of 1.2-2 m. Spectacular dense corymbs of pinkish flowers and dark red shiny leaves. They have bright red veins.
- Little Devil - a small bush 80-100 cm high. A beautiful contrast of dark purple leaves and light flowers. Red fruits appear in autumn.
- Visual viburnum Diablo - reaches a height of 3 m. The branches are sprawling, slightly drooping. Pale pinkish flowers look magical against the background of dark red carved leaves.
In autumn, the leaves of these varieties do not change color, remaining the same bright. The vesicle also has a dwarf form of Nana - the bush barely reaches a height of 1 m.
Word of landscape designers
Thanks to lush crowns with large leaves, dense corymbs of flowers and unusually shaped seed pods, the vesicle fell in love with landscapers and gardeners. And of course, he won me over with his unpretentiousness.
The variety of plant varieties allows you to combine and add color to all corners of the garden or park. Compact varieties will help shape paths and lawn borders.
Using garden shearing techniques, you can create colorful hedges around the house.
The viburnum vesicle (pictured above) demonstrates a favorite technique of landscape designers - a combination of varieties with a contrasting leaf color. For example, Red Baron, which gives a red accent, is often planted with yellow varieties of Luteus or Darts Gold.
Purple Little Devil alternate in one line with golden green Nugget. Plant them in one row. Get a magnificent border. Or you can create a two-row hedge of colored ribbons by planting varieties in parallel lines.
Fashionable in the gardens, tall airy cereals look spectacular against the background of the dark leaves of the Diablo vesicle. This variety can emphasize the tenderness of lavender perovski. The duet with the silver foliage of Byzantine stakhis brings a solemn touch to the front area.
Unpretentious vesicles will help solve the problem of shady and wet areas. Remove excess moisture from the soil. Decorate the site in places where it is difficult to grow herbaceous plants.
Compact bushes land near the entrance. They are not inferior in beauty to capricious plants and will delight in bright color.
Great composition will turn out with conifers. Just imagine a bush with pinkish or orange leaves next to a silver spruce!
Kick the vesicle with red leaves lactiflora peonies. Delicate light flowers look expressive against such a background in early summer. Compositions with herbaceous perennials will not require much care.
For a solo performance, choose a bright and expressive variety and plant it onsunny place. In comfortable conditions, the vesicle is able to quickly grow into a three-meter bush. The perfect accent to your garden!
Third climate zone
Plants of the third zone will survive in frosts of minus forty degrees. Among them are many inhabitants of our forests. These are shrubs, conifers, herbs. They can solo on the site, or they can support the composition of garden shrubs and perennials.
The vesicle belongs to the plants of the third climatic zone. It is quite cold hardy. Mature bushes do not require shelter for the winter. True, in extreme cold, the unripened ends of the branches freeze slightly.
Young bushes planted in spring, as well as rooted layering and cuttings for the winter, it is better to cover.
Waiting for a frosty winter
Keep a close eye on the weather forecast. Before the onset of frosts above -10 ° C, have time to mulch the tree trunks with peat or earth. Mulch is applied dry, with a layer of 5-10 cm.
Save planting will help non-woven material of medium density "Agrospan-30" or "Agrospan-40". The material allows plants to breathe and retains heat at the same time. Wrap the bush or just cover the cuttings in two layers.
From improvised means, spruce branches or roofing felt are used. Gently pull the bush with twine. Make a cone out of roofing material and cover the young plant.
Adult vesicles do not require shelter. In winter, sometimes shake off snow from branches, especially wet ones. This will save them from breaking.
Just a little time and attention - and the vesicle will thank you with its beauty and lushgreenery.
