The wild rose, surprising in its unsurpassed vitality, commonly referred to as the "dog rose", is a plant common throughout Europe, West Asia and northern Africa.
A bush familiar to the eye with delicate pink flowers and spiny shoots is found everywhere in Russia and is so famous that it has become invisible, but also indispensable in the surroundings of forests, meadows and gardens of mid-latitudes. The bush received a funny and unusual name “dog rose” because of its close relationship with garden roses and the practical use of fruits and leaves in the treatment of dog bite wounds in European countries in the 17-18 centuries. Let's talk about this interesting plant, its cultivation and care features.
Dog Rose: Description
Belonging to the vast family of Rosacea, the dog rose is a deciduous, sprawling shrub that grows up to 2-3 meters in height. Its straight, but often curved or flowering stems with green bark on the shoots of the current year or reddish on older shoots are protected by spikes, strong and very sharp. On the main stems, they are rare and straight, on flower stalks they are frequent and flattened at the base.
Complex pinnate leaves with 5-7 serrate leaves, with sharp tips, bright green on top and bluish on the back, reach 7-9 cm in length. The flowers are pink or white with a different range of shades, and there is a "dog rose" yellow with pale yellow or yellowish-milk flowers. The false bright red fruit ripened after pollination is up to 2.5 cm long, it is large, oval or spherical, glossy smooth, with cirrus incised, sepals directed downward. On the inside, on the walls of the fetus there are many bristly hairs with hard grains of fruit nuts located between them. "Dog rose", or ordinary, blooms in May-July, the fruits ripen in August-September. Growing on forest edges, clearings, in woodlands, along river banks and roadside roadsides, wild rose lights star fruit ruby stars by early fall.
Application
Unpretentiousness and decorativeness of a bush found application in a garden interior. Many gardeners in temperate latitudes do not represent the fencing of the site better than a hedge of dog rosehips, reaching two goals at once - a reliable fence and healing fruits. Medicinal properties are endowed with all parts of this plant - roots, fruits, leaves, flowers "dog rose." All of them have anti-inflammatory, analgesic and restorative properties to a certain extent. For example, the fruits and preparations made of them help in the treatment of heart failure, hypertension, problems with blood vessels and skin diseases, the leaves relieve conditions in the gastrointestinal tract, kidneys and lungs, and burns, pressure sores, frostbite and trophic ulcers are treated with seed oil.
Rosehip is also good in single landings. It tolerates pruning well, after which it branches heavily. But not only these qualities are valuable this wonderful shrub. "Dog Rose" - a great stock for garden roses, frost and drought tolerant, surviving in almost any environment. Consider the necessary agricultural activities for cultivation and care.
Landing
Dog rose "dog rose" grows excellently on soils of any structure, but prefers loams, neutral or slightly acidic. It is so unpretentious that seedlings in containers with a protected root system are planted throughout the growing season. If the roots of a seedling are open, then the recommended dates are spring or early autumn. The place for planting is chosen sunny, but also in the semi-shaded areas, the bush is developing well. Plant the planted in pre-prepared soil (it needs to be dug up with the introduction of humus 2 weeks before the planned planting).
The dimensions of the landing pit should be slightly larger than the volume occupied by the root system. After planting, the soil around the plant is well compacted, but not trampled, as there is a danger of damaging the roots and making rooting of the seedling more difficult.
"Dog Rose": propagation by cuttings
Rosehip is propagated on the site by seeds, layering or cuttings. All of these methods are very effective, but experienced gardeners give preference to cuttings. Propagation by lignified cuttings is the most convenient method that saves the gardener time and allows you to keep the mother bush in excellent productive condition.
Cuttings 15-20 cm long are cut from last year's fruiting stems. Each of them should have 2-3 healthy growth buds. To root them, seedlings of about 50 × 20 cm in size with drainage holes at the bottom are filled with quarter expanded clay, fine gravel or brick chips, and two quarters with well-mixed soil, the composition of which is: humus, river sand and perlite in a 4: 1 ratio : 0.5. Cuttings are planted at a distance of 10 cm, buried in the soil at half height. To accelerate the survival of cuttings before planting, they are treated with a growth biostimulator, for example, “Kornevin,” dissolving the drug in water, following the recommendations in the annotation. By autumn, rooted cuttings are transplanted to a permanent place.
A bush grown in this way enters into force and begins bearing fruit already in the 3rd year after planting.
Green cuttings
Not only lignified cuttings are used when propagating such a plant as a "dog rose". Dog rose "dog" propagates well and green cuttings. They are cut in early July. At this time, the growth rate of new stems is already reduced, it is from them that cuttings are cut so that each has 2-3 internodes. To improve their rooting, they are kept for several hours in a solution of a biostimulant (“Heteroauxin”).
Thus prepared cuttings are planted under glass or film, placing them at a distance of 5-8 cm from each other and maintaining a distance of 10 cm between rows. The first 2-3 weeks, rooting seedlings must be regularly watered. They take root completely in about a month, this can be seen by the emerging increase. From this time, the film shelter is removed, and the seedlings gradually adapt to the environment. Green cuttings give a good increase in shoots by autumn, but many of them require high-quality shelter for the winter, because they do not always have time to get stronger in the cold.
Propagation by layering
Dogrose "dog rose" also successfully propagated by layering. You can do this in the spring and autumn. From the annual shoots, the strongest shoots are selected and pinned to the ground in several places in previously prepared grooves filled with humus. Growing new shoots pile up with earth. The next year, seedlings are separated from the mother bush and planted in a prepared place. This method is simple and effective, but its drawback is that during the winter young shoots can damage rodents, and as a rule no more than two shoots are obtained from one stem.
Seed propagation
This method is usually not used by gardeners for reasons of significant time costs. Moreover, seed germination usually does not exceed 30%, they germinate hard and only after a long process of stratification. And the collection of seeds is a very difficult task. They are extracted as follows: the collected unripe fruits are crushed by rubbing through a sieve, free from pulp, placed in a container of wet sand and stored in a basement or refrigerator, constantly moisturizing.
In autumn, they are sown, buried by 1-2 cm. During the winter, viable seeds are finally stratified and germinated by mid-summer. The bush grown from seeds begins to bear fruit after only 4-5 years.
Pruning
Rosehip bushes grow quite quickly, losing decorativeness, and need formative pruning when they reach the age of three. Pruning is carried out in autumn or early spring, forming a bush and cutting sick, broken or growing branches inside the bush. The total height of the bush is also trimmed, focusing on your own ideas or the rules of the garden landscape, according to which the site is designed.
Rosehip Care
Despite the fact that the shrub is drought tolerant, regular watering increases the yield and overall decorativeness of the bush. In addition, watering is mandatory for young plants. For them and shrubs grown for harvest, additional nutrition is also necessary. In spring, plants are fed with high-quality organic matter - humus, compost, rotted manure or long-acting fertilizer for garden roses. For lack of organic fertilizers, three fertilizing with mineral fertilizers is carried out during the season.
The complex of grooming measures includes regular weeding, either mulch the soil under the bushes and free themselves from removing weed grass for the whole season. The listed agricultural techniques are not burdensome for the gardener and are suitable for all types of dogrose ("dog rose"). Varieties of wild roses, to the family of which the "dog rose" belongs, are numerous. All of them are highly decorative, bloom for a long time and generously, giving gardeners joy and satisfaction.