Professionals involved in landscape design believe that each plant should be allocated a thoughtful place in compositions. On personal plots, you can often find an ornamental deciduous shrub with decorative foliage and luxurious flowers. This is a spirea, or meadowsweet, as it is also called. This plant belongs to the rose family. Spirea shoots have a special flexibility. This, in fact, is the reason for its name, which is translated from ancient Greek as “bend”. The main advantage of this plant is its unpretentiousness.
General information
In nature, there are about a hundred varieties of spirea. This bush can be found both in the steppes or on the edges of forests, and in semi-deserts. The first mention of meadowsweet was in the fifteenth century, for example, in the epic "Sadko".
Brief information about the plant can also be found in Dahl's dictionary, where he writes that our ancestors used the thin but strong branches of spirea to make whips or ramrods. Today, a variety of varieties of this shrub are grown in gardens. All of them are highly decorative, unpretentious, andfrost resistance. Another factor due to which this plant is widely used in landscape design is the duration of its flowering. Spireas are very different - dwarf, only up to fifteen centimeters high, medium-sized and very large, reaching two and a half meters. The color of their flowers is also varied, ranging from crimson to boiled white. In different types of meadowsweet, the inflorescences are arranged differently: in some, the buds open along the entire shoot, in others - only at the ends of the branches, and in some - only on the upper part. This article will focus on one of the brightest representatives of the pink family - a guest who came to us from the Land of the Rising Sun. This is a Japanese spirea, a photo of which testifies to the incredible beauty of this shrub. It is a very popular culture among landscape designers.
Japanese spirea: description
Due to its decorative effect and low price for planting material, this plant is found in almost every household plot. Its beauty and pomp delight the owners for a long time - from early spring until the first frost. Luxurious Japanese spirea, the care of which is very simple, with its decorative foliage of bright color and lush inflorescences of very rich colors creates a special mood. It must be admitted that nature generously rewarded meadowsweet with beauty. The feeling of eternal spring is always present in those areas where Japanese spirea grows. The photo of this plant is indisputable proof of this statement.
This beautiful shrub has felt-pubescent young shoots that become bare with aging. The height of the Japanese spirea reaches one and a half meters. The leaves of this representative of the pink family are ovate oblong. From below they are painted in gray, and from above - in rich green. In autumn, the shrub is incredibly beautiful. Its foliage takes on yellow, red and purple hues. Japanese spirea blooms for a long time: subject to all agrotechnical standards, it pleases its owners with lush paniculate-corymbose inflorescences for up to two or more months.
Features
But Japanese spirea is famous not only for external beauty. Planting and caring for it are fairly simple activities. Subject to all agrotechnical standards, the plant will delight the owners, attracting attention with its lush flowering and rich shades of foliage. Its main advantage is unpretentiousness. Apparently, this is why this small ornamental shrub with raspberry inflorescences and yellowish leaves can often be found in city flower beds.
Japanese spirea is found almost everywhere in our country. It grows equally well on the south coast and in cold or dry areas. True, there are several of its varieties that freeze slightly in harsh winters. They need spring pruning. It is carried out for sanitary purposes, after which the bush quickly recovers and even blooms in the same year.
Varieties
Japanese Spirea was brought to us from the Land of the Rising Sun. This species has manyvarieties, some of them came to Russian gardens from China. They differ not only in the intensity of the color of foliage and inflorescences, but also in the height of the shrub and the shape of the crown. The most common varieties of Japanese spirea in our country are Shirobana, Princess, Golden, Albiflora.
If you manage to create curtains from different spirea in the flower garden, choosing the right varieties, you can get the brightest flower bed that blooms from early June to September. And the elegant foliage of the bushes will decorate the garden from early spring to late autumn. Let's take a closer look at some of the most common types.
Japanese spirea variety Shirobana has a height of about eighty centimeters. It has a very spreading crown, reaching a diameter of up to 1.2 meters. This variety blooms with white or pink inflorescences that appear from the end of July. The shade of the petals depends on how much the shrub is lit by the sun. The period of its decorativeness, starting in July, lasts until late autumn. However, the Japanese Shirobana spirea has one drawback: if you do not periodically trim its crown, it will look very untidy.
Golden Princess is an equally common variety of meadowsweet. Its height reaches one meter. Spirea Japanese Golden Princess blooms quite profusely, releasing buds from the first summer days. She has red-pink inflorescences and yellow leaves that turn bright orange by autumn. Spiraea Japanese Golden Princess has a crown, up to one meter in diameter. Along with the benefits, in particular the beauty andunpretentiousness, this variety has a minus: it attracts insects. Therefore, experts do not recommend planting it near gazebos or near places of rest.
Japanese Goldflame spirea is no less popular in our country. Its foliage also changes color throughout the season, turning from yellow-orange to rich yellow, then greenish-yellow, and by autumn - a deep orange hue. Spirea of this variety blooms with red-pink lush inflorescences.
Meadowsweet of this species has varieties that are short in stature. First of all, this is the Japanese spirea Princess Little. Its height barely reaches sixty centimeters. The shape of the crown is oval. The variety looks very nice in curtains. Against the background of its dark green foliage, large corymbose inflorescences of a red-pink color stand out sharply. Japanese Spiraea Princess Little is a summer flowering variety. It grows quite slowly. When planting, you need to choose areas with medium illumination, because under the influence of bright rays of the sun, the flowers of Princess Little fade. The variety is excellent for both group plantings and as a hedge. In landscape design, single specimens are often used.
Other popular low varieties - Crispa, Magic Carpet - are summer flowering. The period of their decorativeness begins in June. In height, these Japanese spireas reach a maximum of sixty centimeters. They bloom for about two months. Crispa produces light pink umbellate buds with a slight purple hue, and MagicCarpet - reddish orange.
How to plant meadowsweet
This horticultural crop is very easy to care for. The main thing is to choose the right place for each variety. Planting is carried out as follows: a hole is dug of such a size that the roots of the plant fit in it, a seedling is placed inside and covered with earth. Experts advise soaking the root ball in water for about two to three hours before placing it in the ground.
Japanese Spirea does not require frequent fertilization. This bush is quite enough the minimum layer of fertile soil. If the gardener wants to have a Japanese spirea hedge, then planting is best done in April. However, experts say that meadowsweet is such an unpretentious shrub that it can be planted and even transplanted throughout the warm season. True, on hot summer days it will have to be watered often, up to complete engraftment. However, professional gardeners transplant Japanese spirea in the fall, after the bushes shed their foliage. It is allowed to plant meadowsweet in the spring, but only before the buds on the branches begin to bloom. It is best to calculate the planting period for Japanese spirea based on the variety and its flowering period. For example, if this kind of meadowsweet blooms in early spring, then it is better to place planting material in the ground in autumn. So the plant will already take root well before the buds open.
Preparing seedlings for planting
In order for the Japanese spirea to please the owner with abundant flowering and rich foliage,before landing in the ground, it must be prepared. If the seedlings have an open root system, they must first be carefully examined and their condition assessed. Damaged and too long shoots should be removed with secateurs. In this case, you need to ensure that the angle of the cut of the roots is even. Then the aerial part of the planting material is shortened: by about a third of the length of the branches.
Seedlings with a closed root system should be carefully removed from the container before planting, and then pour plenty of water over the lump. If there are fossilized parts of the earth in it, it is better to put the planting material in a bucket for several hours.
Ground requirements
With a shovel you need to dig a hole fifty centimeters deep and about the same size in diameter and carefully plant spirea seedlings. At the same time, it is necessary to take into account the fact that meadowsweet shrubs on homogeneous soil will not please with such abundant flowering, which happens when planted in soil rich in microelements. In addition, if the site has very clayey soil, experts recommend that drainage be made of sand and bricks. So, the pit is ready, it remains only to pour a mixture made of one part of peat and sand and two parts of soddy soil onto its bottom, and then place the seedling inside. After filling the soil, the hole should be watered abundantly. You can buy planting material everywhere. Almost every nursery or specialized store sells Japanese spirea inexpensively.
Care
This incredibly beautiful shrub does not require careful and time-consuming care. However, you still need to knowsome rules for its cultivation. If planting is carried out in the spring, then immediately after placing the seedlings in the ground, they must be watered abundantly, and with water at room temperature. After some time, feeding is also carried out. At the same time, you need to know that summer-flowering varieties, for example, Japanese spirea Princess Little varieties, require fairly abundant watering, after which the soil must be immediately mulched. This allows the root system to retain moisture for a long time.
No less important process is top dressing. It is held three times per season. Mineral fertilizers are used for top dressing. If the planting material was placed in a homogeneous soil, then the first time this event should be carried out in early spring. Two subsequent top dressings should be carried out in June and August. In order to prepare fertilizer, you can use manure and superphosphate by diluting them in water.
Cutting
Japanese Spirea is an amazingly beautiful shrub whose flowering pleases the owners almost all summer. At the same time, meadowsweet tends to grow strongly, so it needs pruning from time to time. In early-flowering varieties of Japanese spirea, flowering is observed along the entire length of the shoot. Therefore, only those tips of branches that have frozen over during the winter are cut annually on them. And already at about the tenth year of life, all old shoots are removed from such a plant. Experts believe that it is better to cut the bush almost to the very stump, in order to subsequently form a new one from five to seven of the he althiest young branches. summer bloomingvarieties should be cut annually in May. Small and weak shoots that need to be removed altogether are subject to pruning. On large ones, only a small part should be removed - up to large kidneys.
In order to give the spirea the desired shape, pruning must be done correctly. I must say that some gardeners believe that this event is optional. Nevertheless, most experts tend to believe that only with the help of pruning does the Japanese spirea turn into a beautiful, well-groomed plant. Otherwise, in the garden you can see an ugly shrub with a few sluggish flowers and a mass of dry branches and leaves.
Reproduction
This process can be carried out in three ways - seeds, division and cuttings. In the first case, you need to know that when propagated by this method, the young Japanese spirea does not retain the characteristics of the variety. Cuttings should be carried out from July or the first months of autumn. In the second case, the planting material will go under the snow in winter and will not require watering, and in the spring the rooting process will begin. Cuttings planted in the summer are kept under a film in shady places until the development of the root system begins. Reproduction of Japanese spirea by division is suitable for young bushes. Adult specimens are difficult to dig up and separate. Therefore, it is easier to propagate them by cuttings.
Landscape use
Japanese Spirea attracts the eye with its shape, lush flowering and rich foliage color. Another of its advantages is, of course, unpretentiousness and vitality. It was these qualities that made meadowsweet a desirable inhabitant of the garden.
Another circumstance due to which this culture takes its rightful place both on street lawns and summer cottages is its availability. Meadowsweet develops well next to a variety of plants, besides, it does not oppress them. Since this crop tolerates pruning well, it is very often used to create beautiful borders or hedges. With the help of Japanese spirea, you can provide a beautiful design on the site, using it both in curtains and as single plantings.
