Hydrangea "polar bear": photos and reviews of gardeners

This brand of hydrangeas has appeared only recently, but has already gained popularity among amateur gardeners and professional florists. Today the heroine of our article will be a luxurious hydrangea "polar bear" (panicle). Photos, reviews of owners will allow you to evaluate its merits and find out if this plant has disadvantages.

"Polar Bear": description

This variety became known to a wide range of florists in 2013. Dutch breeders who crossed the Limelight and Grandiflora varieties managed to achieve an amazing result - a unique subspecies appeared that could decorate any garden, garden, park or park.

Hydrangea paniculate "polar bear" is a shrub or a tree, no more than a meter and a half high. The crown has almost the same dimensions. It is a compact and effective exterior structure, characterized by airiness, which is given to it by huge dense conical inflorescences. They are the peculiarity of the variety.

Inflorescences up to forty centimeters (more often occur thirty centimeters) are located on strong stems. They evenly cover the bush, forming a fluffy light hat. In the beginning, the flowers are painted in a light pistachio color. In an adult plant, they are white, and by the end of flowering they acquire a cream shade.

Due to the fact that the inflorescences are distributed evenly over the bush, it gives the impression of a huge bouquet planted in the ground, as if in a pot. The flowers of this hydrangea are very large - over three centimeters in diameter. Hydrangea paniculate "polar bear", a photo of which you can see below, begins to bloom a little later than the rest - in July, but flowering continues until the first frost.

The leaves in the shape of an ellipse have a saturated green color. The variety is unpretentious in care, has a very high frost resistance, the plant easily tolerates frosts down to -40 ° C, in addition, the plant is resistant to many diseases.

Planting a plant

Hydrangea "polar bear", a photo of which is increasingly seen in editions on floriculture, can be planted in autumn or early spring. Autumn planting will require the owner of additional work - shelter for the winter.

Hydrangea "polar bear" feels comfortable in areas that are well-lit, to which direct sunlight falls in the morning and illuminates the site for at least six hours. It is important to protect the plant from drafts, since the sap flow from it begins in the early spring, when winds and night colds are quite frequent.

Before planting it is necessary to prepare a pit, measuring 40 x 50 x 50 cm. As a rule, planting takes two days. On the first day, dig a hole and pour three buckets of water into it. The workpiece is left in this condition until morning. For the "polar bear" it is very important that the soil is well saturated with moisture.

Now in the pit you need to make fertilizer. Mix in equal quantities fertile soil with peat. Separately mix sand with humus. Both compositions should be thoroughly mixed in a ratio of 2: 1. Superfosphate, potassium sulfate and urea are added to the resulting mixture. The composition is ready and it remains only to bring it into the pit almost to the top, leaving no more than fifteen centimeters.

In the soil obtained, install the seedling, carefully spreading the roots, and sprinkle them with the earth left after digging the hole. Hortensia "polar bear" needs a transplant only if initially the soil and the landing site were incorrectly selected. In autumn, planted hydrangeas should be hidden.

What should be the soil?

Hortensia "polar bear" (reviews of gardeners confirm this) prefer fertile, slightly acidified soils - chernozem, loam. An acidulant can serve as ammonium sulfate and iron vitriol. Of natural materials, peat or coniferous litter is suitable. When planting in sandy soil additional fertilizing is needed.

Care

Despite the fact that hydrangea "polar bear" - a plant unpretentious in care, certain rules must be met. For the active growth and development of plants should be carried out such activities:

• Mulching. It is required to protect the plant roots from overheating and drying, as they are shallow and compact. For this, peat, sawdust, and covering materials can be used.
• Watering. Hortensia is a water-loving plant that needs regular watering, as its roots do not tolerate drying out. The weekly water rate is thirty liters per bush. Experienced flower growers recommend adding a little potassium permanganate to the water for irrigation.
• Formation of a bush, pruning. That the hydrangea bushes do not thicken, every spring should be pruned. When the branches are too close to each other, this can lead to a decrease in the immunity of the plant due to insufficient air and light. In this case, the inflorescence becomes much smaller, and the bush can infect pests and infections.

Since this variety is frost-resistant, pruning can be carried out at the beginning of spring or at the end of winter. The strongest 5-10 shoots must be shortened to 3-5 kidneys. Usually this is two-thirds of the branch, and the remaining processes are removed.

Warming for the winter

Recommended for regions with severe and little snowy winters. For this purpose, a layer of leaves, peat, fir branches up to twenty centimeters thick is placed under the bush.

Top dressing

To actively blossom hydrangeas, she needs regular feeding. It is performed as follows:

• Organic fertilizers are introduced in the spring;
• When buds appear, use mixtures with superphosphate, potassium and urea;
• Complex fertilizers you will need in the middle of summer (during this period, fertilizing can be combined with watering the plant);
• During the preparation of the bush for winter, special mineral fertilizers should be introduced for hydrangeas.

Reproduction

Hydrangeas can be propagated in several ways, but the most common is cuttings. Shoots left after pruning the shrubbery can be used to propagate it:

• The remaining branches must be placed in water for three days;
• Then from them it is possible to cut the cuttings in such a way that each one has four internodes;
• Lower sections are treated with a growth stimulant;
• Plant the cutting in a soil consisting of peat and sand, in a ratio of 1: 1 to two-thirds of its length;
• The container with the handle is covered with a polyethylene film.

Planted cuttings require a constant moisture, so it is desirable to store the planting material in a cool room (for example, in the basement). Cuttings are there until the first green shoots appear. Usually this happens at the end of the summer. After that they are planted in the open ground.

Young seedlings should be protected from frost, since only at the age of three the hydrangea acquires resistance to low temperatures.

Application in landscape design

The magnificent flowers of the hydrangea "polar bear" are exquisite and solemnly elegant. These qualities are successfully used in landscape design when creating various garden compositions:

1. In a very small area such a bush can easily replace the central tree.
2. Around it, you can place lawns, flower beds, tapeworms.
3. Perfectly look coniferous-rhododendron mixborders, grown under a bush. This part of the garden always looks very smart.
4. An interesting composition can be created in combination with low-growing bushes, creeping plants, perennials.
5. The hydrangea "polar bear", planted along the fences or near the walls, is effective.
6. Try to diversify the planting of lianas: honeysuckle, prince, girlish grapes.
7. These flowers look great both in Japanese gardens and on sunny English lawns.

Hydrangea paniculate "polar bear": reviews

Experienced gardeners and beginners in floriculture argue that the hydrangea Polar bear was a real discovery for them. Unobtrusiveness, resistance to colds and most diseases are attractive to many. For florists, it is important that this magnificent plant does not need very complex care. Observing the simplest rules, you can grow unusually beautiful inflorescences, which will become an ornament of the site. No less impressive are the cut white flowers in the vase.

It is interesting that among the reviews there was not one in which there were any shortcomings of this plant. On the contrary, experienced gardeners strongly recommend newcomers to grow this beautiful flower in their plots.