This variety of hydrangea appeared recently, but has already managed to gain popularity among amateur gardeners and professional gardeners. Today, the heroine of our article will be the luxurious hydrangea "polar bear" (panicled). Photos, reviews of the owners will allow you to evaluate its merits and find out if this plant has flaws.
Polar Bear: Description
This variety became known to a wide range of gardeners in 2013. Holland breeders who crossed Limelight and Grandiflora varieties were able to achieve an amazing result - a unique subspecies appeared that can decorate any garden, garden, square or park.
Panicle hydrangea “polar bear” is a shrub or tree, no more than one and a half meters high. Crohn has almost the same size. This is a compact and spectacular externally structure, characterized by airiness, which is given to it by huge dense conical inflorescences. They are a feature of the variety.
Inflorescences up to forty centimeters long (thirty centimeters are more common) are located on strong stems. They evenly cover the bush, forming a fluffy light hat. Initially, the flowers are painted in a light pistachio color. In an adult plant, they are white, and by the end of flowering acquire a creamy hue.
Due to the fact that the inflorescences are distributed evenly throughout the bush, it gives the impression of a huge bouquet planted in the ground, as if in a flowerpot. The flowers of this hydrangea are very large - over three centimeters in diameter. Panicle hydrangea “polar bear”, the 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 form of an ellipse have a rich green color. The variety is unpretentious in care, has a very high frost resistance, the plant easily tolerates frosts up 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 floriculture publications, can be planted in autumn or early spring. Autumn planting will require additional work from the owner - shelter for the winter.
Hydrangea "polar bear" feels comfortable in areas that are fairly well lit, which direct sunlight in the morning and illuminate the area for at least six hours. It is important to protect the plant from drafts, since sap flow begins in early spring, when winds and night cold are quite frequent.
Before planting, it is necessary to prepare a pit measuring 40 x 50 x 50 cm. As a rule, landing takes two days. On the first day, you should 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 you need to make fertilizer in the pit. Mix equal amounts of fertile soil with peat. Separately mix sand with humus. Both formulations should be mixed thoroughly in a 2: 1 ratio. Superphosphate, 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 obtained soil, install a seedling, carefully spreading the roots, and sprinkle them with the soil remaining after digging a hole. Hydrangea "polar bear" needs a transplant only if the soil and the landing site were initially improperly selected. In autumn, planted hydrangea must be covered.
What should be the soil?
Hydrangea "polar bear" (gardeners' reviews confirm this) prefers fertile, slightly acidified soils - chernozem, loam. Ammonium sulfate and vitriol can serve as acidifying agents. From natural materials, peat or coniferous litter is suitable. When planting in sandy soils, additional feeding is necessary.
Care
Despite the fact that hydrangea "polar bear" is a plant unpretentious in care, certain rules must be followed. For the active growth and development of the plant, the following measures should be taken:
- Mulching. It is required to protect the roots of the plant from overheating and drying out, since they are shallow and compact. To do this, you can use peat, sawdust, covering materials.
- Watering. Hydrangea is a hygrophilous plant that needs regular watering, since 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.
- Shaping, pruning. So that hydrangea bushes do not thicken, pruning should be done annually in spring. When the branches are too close to each other, this can lead to a decrease in plant immunity due to insufficient air and light. In this case, the inflorescences become much smaller, and the bush can infect pests and infections.
Since this variety is frost-resistant, pruning can be done in early spring or late winter. The strongest 5-10 shoots need to be shortened to 3-5 kidneys. Usually this is two-thirds of the branch, and the remaining processes are removed.
Winter insulation
Recommended for regions with severe and light snow winters. For this purpose, under the bush lay a layer of leaves, peat, spruce branches up to twenty centimeters thick.
Top dressing
For the active flowering of hydrangea, she needs regular top dressing. It is performed as follows:
- organic fertilizers are applied in the spring;
- when buds appear, use mixtures with superphosphate, potassium and urea;
- you will need complex fertilizers in the middle of summer (during this period, top dressing can be combined with watering the plant);
- during the preparation of the bush for winter, special mineral fertilizers for hydrangeas should be applied.
Breeding
Hydrangea can be propagated in several ways, but the most common is cuttings. The shoots remaining after pruning the shrub can be used to propagate it:
- the remaining branches must be put into water for three days;
- then, cuttings can be cut from them so that each has four internodes;
- treat lower sections with a growth stimulator;
- plant the cuttings in the soil, consisting of peat and sand, in a ratio of 1: 1 for two-thirds of its length;
- cover the container with the handle with plastic wrap.
Planted cuttings need constant moisture, so it is advisable to store planting material in a cool room (for example, in the basement). Cuttings are there until the first green shoots appear. This usually happens in late summer. After that, they are planted in open ground.
Young seedlings should be protected from frost, since only at the age of three years hydrangea becomes resistant to low temperatures.
Landscape design application
Magnificent flowers of hydrangea "polar bear" are elegant and solemnly elegant. These qualities are successfully used in landscape design when creating various garden compositions:
- In a very small area, such a bush can easily replace a central tree.
- Around it you can place lawns, flower beds, tapeworms.
- Coniferous rhododendron mixborders grown under a bush look great. This part of the garden always looks very elegant.
- An interesting composition can be created in combination with stunted bushes, creeping plants, perennials.
- Spectacular hydrangea "polar bear", planted along fences or against walls.
- Try to diversify the planting with vines: honeysuckle, prince, girl's grapes.
- These flowers look great both in Japanese kindergartens and on sunny English lawns.
Panicle hydrangea "polar bear": reviews
Experienced gardeners and beginners in floriculture claim that the Polar bear hydrangea was a real discovery for them. Unpretentiousness, resistance to cold and most diseases are attractive to many. For flower growers, it is important that this magnificent plant does not need very complex care. Observing the simplest rules, you can grow unusually beautiful inflorescences that will decorate the site. Cut white flowers in a vase look no less spectacular.
It is interesting that among the reviews there was not a single one in which any shortcomings of this plant were noted. On the contrary, experienced gardeners strongly recommend that beginners grow this beautiful flower in their areas.