Spireya Douglas: description, planting and care, pruning, photo

The stunningly beautiful ornamental shrub shrub , despite its overseas origin, has long and successfully been used in the landscape interior of Russian gardens, often becoming the basis for design compositions. The classical representative of the Rosaceae family, spiraea is extremely effective in the implementation of various ideas: both as a hedgerow, and as a central or general plan element in park and garden reliefs. It is difficult to find a more plastic and multifunctional plant, which is understandable by its surprisingly large variety variety, consisting of a hundred different types - from miniature to medium and tall. Among this diversity, Douglas spirea - is perhaps the most widespread decorative culture in Russia. About it and will be discussed in the article.

Features of the plant

Douglas spirea is a deciduous shrub with straight growing stems and a long flowering period (up to 45 days). The shoots of a culture of saturated terracotta color, pubescent and very strong. Bright green leaves of medium size, oblong, whole to the middle and unequal in the upper part, with a lower side slightly pubescent and have noticeable silver haze. The main advantages of the plant are absolute unpretentiousness to the conditions of growth, high winter hardiness, which allows successfully growing spirea in temperate Russian latitudes and excellent decorative qualities.

Bloom

Flowers of noble purple-pink hues, collected in dense narrow pyramidal apical inflorescences, characterize such a culture as Douglas spirea. The photos show the splendid ornamentation of the bush. The flowers are very small, but there are so many of them that the cone-shaped brooms have very impressive sizes - from 10 to 18 cm. However, the length of the inflorescence is determined by the conditions of the culture content and increases depending on their quality. Flowering begins in July and lasts until the end of summer. The fruit ripens in September. Shrub grows rapidly and from the age of three begins to bloom fully.

Reproduction by seeds

Sow seeds usually in early spring in seedlings or a heated greenhouse. Sprouting at home is easier to grow because it is possible to keep the temperature at a certain level and not create additional obstacles to the shoots. The containers with seedlings are covered with a film and placed in a well-lit room with an ordinary room temperature. Seedlings appear in May. 2-3 months after germination the seedlings dive to the bed to grow to full-grown seedlings. To activate the formation of a good root system, the central root is shortened by diving. However, the unpretentiousness of culture allows you to plant the seedling immediately to a permanent place. It is necessary only carefully to look after it: in due time to feed, weed, loosen soil and moderately watered. Douglas, grown from the seeds of spirea, blooms for the first time in the third or fourth year after planting. When the first inflorescences are removed on young bushes, the development of the plant goes faster. Reproduction by seeds is considered to be the most laborious and not always rational way, since the seed germination rate does not exceed 75-80%, and the result often does not meet expectations, due to the absence of all the signs of the mother bush.

Reproduction by cuttings

Absolute rooting and full varietal matching shows vegetative reproduction. Half-aged young shoots are the best material for cutting cuttings, the optimal length of which is 10 cm. In this capacity, any part of the stem will fit - both the middle and the tip. For faster formation of the root system, various biostimulants are used on cuttings (for example, "Kornevin"), and to protect them from various infections, the lower cut is powdered with charcoal powder. Do this immediately before planting. Soil for rooting cuttings should be light and maximally breathable. A mixture of garden soil, humus and sand in equal proportions is well suited.

Obtaining seedlings from layers

Propagates Douglas spirea and horizontal layers. This method is recognized by gardeners as the simplest and most reliable. This is done like this:

• In spring, when the leaves bloom, the peripheral stems are bent to the ground, pinned with a wooden slingshot or thick wire, and sprinkled with soil;

• to give the future shoot a vertical shape, you can drive a row of pegs and tie the top to it, setting the right direction;

• throughout the season, the soil above the shoot should be moderately moistened, make sure that it does not dry out;

• Periodically it is necessary to hone the pinned stem, so that the roots formed do not become bare.

Conducting these simple operations is rewarded: by autumn or the next spring, entrenched layers turn into full-fledged seedlings. They are carefully separated from the mother's bush and transplanted to a prepared place. A biological feature of the bush is the formation of a seedling, which can also participate in the propagation of the variety.

Douglas's spirea: planting and growing features

Despite its royal appeal, this light-loving culture is very unpretentious and excellently grows and pleases with a long flowering in the damp places protected from the bright sun. Douglas's spirea, the photo of which is represented, prefers loose, fertile acidic or slightly acidic soils and normal illumination. The plant does not tolerate the close approach of groundwater, surprisingly frost-resistant, but to cover it in the first winters is necessary to maintain good decorativeness, as young plants often damage apical shoots.

Experienced gardeners recommend planting the crop in a permanent place in the early spring, after the soil has thawed. But you can do it in the autumn, before the end of the leaf fall.

How to plant a spiraea

At the bottom of the excavated landing hole, up to half a meter in size, a drainage layer of sand, expanded clay or charcoal is laid to the height of the palm. When planting, the composition of the decorative group is taken into account. If plants are planted as a hedge, then do it in two rows, placing the landing pits in staggered order at a distance of 0.4-0.5 m from each other and 0.35-0.4 m in the aisles. In case of group plantings, plants are planted in 0.6-0.9 m from each other. It should be borne in mind that Douglas spirea is a fairly sprawling bush, reaching a height and diameter of one and a half meters. If in a hedgerow planting artificially thicken, then in the garden interior of the culture should be spaced from each other at such a distance to reveal the beauty of the bush and preserve the individuality of the project.

The ideal soil for planting seedlings - the top layer of soil, mixed with peat, humus and river sand in equal parts. Filled to half with this mixture of pits abundantly watered, they have seedlings in them, making sure that the roots are located comfortably, without bending up. Then cover with the remaining soil so that the root neck of the plant is flush with the ground, and gently compact the soil around the seedling. Finally, the planting is once again watered, the soil is mulched. Young plants that hibernate for the first time need to be sheltered with spruce lapnik or other special materials.

Douglas's Spirey: Care

Conventional care activities include moderate watering, weeding and loosening of the soil under bushes or mulching and periodic renewal of the layer of mulch. When an undesirable sprout appears, it is removed by trimming at the base.

The obligatory action necessary to preserve the exquisite decorative qualities of a culture such as Douglas spirea is pruning, which is guided by certain rules. As a summer culture, spirea is pruned exclusively in early spring. Begin this work from the fourth year of plant life, truncating the shoots to an altitude of 0.25-0.3 m from the ground. Do this so that the bush does not lose a compact shape, its stems do not deviate from the center, and the number of flowers increases due to the activation of growth of lateral shoots. Gentle, as novice gardeners often think, apex pruning is an unproductive and unnecessary action. In this case, the plant will give thin and weak young shoots with small inflorescences.

Spirea in landscape design

Exquisite, with delicate pink swirls of flowers and silver leaves, Douglas spirea, the description of which is presented, is effective not only in group compositions, but also very significant in green building, in particular, framing park alleys and garden paths. Landscape designers appreciate this shrub as a plastic and very fertile material. Gardeners are not indifferent to the classic colors of the summer, which lasts incredibly long thanks to a culture such as Douglas's spirea. Planting and caring for her are not burdensome operations, but the plant is paying a hundredfold for the care of magnificent flowering.