Professionals involved in landscape design believe that each plant needs to allocate a thoughtful place in the compositions. In household plots, you can often find decorative deciduous shrubs with decorative foliage and luxurious flowers. This is a spirea, or meadowsweet, as it is also called. This plant is part of the Pink family. Spirea shoots have special flexibility. This, in fact, is the reason for its name, which from ancient Greek translates 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 at the edges of forests, and in semi-deserts. The first mention of the meadowsweet was back in the fifteenth century, for example, in the epic "Sadko".
Brief information about the plant can also be found in the Dahl dictionary, where he writes that our ancestors used the thin but strong branches of the spirea to make whips or ramrods. Today in the gardens grow a variety of varieties of this shrub. All of them are highly decorative, unpretentious, as well as frost resistance. Another factor due to which this plant is widely used in landscape design is the duration of its flowering. Spirea are very different - dwarf, only up to fifteen centimeters high, medium and very large, reaching two and a half meters. The color of their flowers is also diverse, ranging from raspberry to boiling white. Inflorescences are different in different species of meadowsweet: in some buds open throughout the shoot, in others only at the ends of branches, and in some only at the top. This article will focus on one of the most prominent representatives of the pink family - the guest who came to us from the Land of the Rising Sun. This is Japanese spirea, the 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 of planting material, this plant is found in almost every household plot. Her beauty and splendor delight the owners for a long time - from early spring to 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 saturated colors creates a special mood. I must admit that nature generously rewarded the meadowsweet with beauty. The feeling of eternal spring is always present in those areas where Japanese spirea grows. A photo of this plant is indisputable evidence of this statement.
This beautiful shrub has felt-pubescent young shoots that are exposed with aging. The height of Japanese spirea reaches one and a half meters. The leaves of this representative of the pink ovate family are oblong. Below they are painted in bluish, and on top - in a saturated green color. In the autumn, the bush is incredibly beautiful. Its foliage takes on yellow, red and purple hues. Japanese spirea blooms for a long time: subject to all agricultural standards, it pleases its owners with lush panicle-corymbose inflorescences for up to two months or more.
Features
But not only the external beauty is famous for Japanese spirea. Landing and caring for her are quite simple events. Subject to all agricultural standards, the plant will delight the owners, attracting attention with its lush flowering and rich shades of foliage. Its main advantage is unpretentiousness. Apparently, therefore, in urban flower beds you can often find this small ornamental shrub with raspberry inflorescences and yellowish leaves.
Japanese Spirea is found almost everywhere in our country. It grows equally well on the south coast, and in cold or arid regions. True, there are several varieties of it that freeze in harsh winters. They need spring pruning. It is carried out for sanitary purposes, after which the bush is quickly restored and even blooms in the same year.
Varieties
Japanese Spirea was brought to us from the Land of the Rising Sun. This species has many varieties, some of which have come to Russian gardens from China. They differ not only in the color intensity of foliage and inflorescences, but also in the height of the bush and the shape of the crown. The most common varieties of Japanese spirea in our country are Shirobana, Princesses, Golden, Albiflora.
If in the flower garden you can create curtains from different spires, choosing the varieties correctly, then you can get the brightest flowerbed, which blooms from early June to September. And elegant foliage of bushes will decorate the garden from early spring to late autumn. Let us dwell on some of the most common types.
Japanese Spirea varieties Shirobana has a height of about eighty centimeters. She has a very spreading crown, reaching a diameter of up to 1.2 meters. This variety blooms with white or pink inflorescences, which appear from the end of July. The shade of the petals depends on how much the bush is lit by the sun. The period of its decorativeness, starting in July, lasts until late autumn. However, Japanese Shirobana spiraea has one drawback: if you do not cut its crown periodically, it will look very untidy.
Golden Princesses are an equally common variety of meadowsweet. Its height reaches one meter. Japanese Spirea Golden Princess blooms quite abundantly, releasing buds from the first summer days. It has red-pink inflorescences and yellow leaves, which become bright orange by autumn. Japanese Spirea Golden Princess has a crown, in diameter reaching one meter. Along with the advantages, in particular beauty and unpretentiousness, this variety has a minus: it attracts insects. Therefore, experts do not recommend planting it near gazebos or near recreational facilities.
No less popular in our country and Japanese goldfish spirea. Her foliage also changes color throughout the season, repainting from yellow-orange to saturated yellow, then greenish-yellow, and by autumn - a dark orange hue. Spirea of this variety blooms with red-pink lush inflorescences.
The meadowsweet of this species has species that are short in stature. First of all, it is the Japanese Princess Little Spirea. Its height barely reaches sixty centimeters. The shape of the crown is oval. The variety looks very beautiful in curtains. Against the background of its dark green foliage, large shield-shaped inflorescences of red-pink color stand out sharply. Japanese Spirea Princess Little is a summer-flowering cultivar. It grows quite slowly. When planting, you need to choose areas with medium illumination, because under the influence of bright rays of the sun, Princess Little flowers fade. The variety is great for group plantings, and as a hedge. In landscape design, single copies 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 spirea reach a maximum of sixty centimeters. They bloom for about two months. Crispa throws light pink umbrella inflorescences with a light purple hue, and Magic Carpet throws reddish-orange.
How to plant meadowsweet
This garden 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 soil. 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 fertilizer. The minimum layer of fertile soil is quite enough for this bush. If the gardener wants to have a fence of Japanese spirea, then planting is best done in April. However, experts say that the 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. Nevertheless, professional gardeners transplant Japanese spirea in the fall, after the bushes dump their foliage. Meadow grass can be planted in the spring, but only before the buds on the branches begin to bloom. It is best to calculate the planting period of Japanese spirea based on the variety and its flowering period. For example, if this type of meadowsweet blooms in early spring, then it is better to put planting material in the ground in the fall. So the plant will take root well before the buds open.
Preparing seedlings for planting
In order for Japanese spirea to please the owner with abundant flowering and rich foliage, it must be prepared before landing in the ground. If the seedlings have an open root system, they must first be carefully examined and their condition assessed. Damaged and too long processes should be removed with secateurs. In this case, it is necessary to ensure that the angle of cut of the roots is even. Then the aerial part of the planting material is shortened: about a third of the length of the branches.
Saplings with a closed root system should be carefully removed from the container before planting, and then sprinkled with plenty of water. If it has petrified parts of the earth, it is best to place planting material for several hours in a bucket.
Soil requirements
With a shovel, you need to dig a hole fifty centimeters deep and about the same size in diameter and carefully plant the spirea seedlings. It should be borne in mind that the bush of meadowsweet on homogeneous soil will not please with such abundant flowering as occurs when planting in soil rich in trace elements. In addition, if the site has very clay soil, experts recommend that you make a drainage of sand and brick. So, the pit is ready, it remains only to pour a mixture made of one part of peat and sand and two parts of turfy soil to its bottom, and then place the seedling inside. After filling the soil, the hole should be abundantly watered. You can buy planting material everywhere. In almost every nursery or specialty store, Japanese spirea is inexpensively sold.
Care
This incredibly beautiful shrub does not require thorough and laborious care. However, you still need to know some rules for growing it. If planting is carried out in the spring, then immediately after placing the seedlings in the ground, they need to be abundantly watered, moreover, with water having room temperature. After some time, top dressing is also carried out. At the same time, you need to know that summer-flowering varieties, for example, Japanese princess Little Spiraea, require plenty of watering, after which you need to mulch the soil immediately. This allows the root system to retain moisture for a long time.
An equally important process is top dressing. It is carried out three times per season. Mineral fertilizers are used for top dressing. If planting material was placed in homogeneous soil, then the first time this event should be carried out in early spring. Two subsequent feeding should be carried out in June and August. In order to prepare fertilizer, you can use manure and superphosphate, diluting them in water.
Pruning
Japanese Spirea is an amazingly beautiful shrub whose flowering pleases owners almost all summer. At the same time, the meadowsweet tend to grow rapidly, because it periodically needs pruning. In early flowering varieties of Japanese spirea, flowering is observed along the entire length of the shoot. Therefore, they annually cut only those tips of twigs that have frozen over the winter. And already 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 stump, so that later from five to seven of the healthiest young branches to form a new one. Summer-flowering varieties should be cut annually in May. Trimming shall be small and weak shoots that need to be removed altogether. On large ones, only a small part should be removed - to large kidneys.
To give spirea the desired shape, pruning must be done correctly. I must say that some gardeners believe that this event is optional. Nevertheless, most experts are inclined to believe that only with the help of pruning spirea, the Japanese turns into a beautiful well-groomed plant. Otherwise, in the garden you can see an ugly shrub with several lingering flowers and a mass of dry branches and leaves.
Breeding
This process can be carried out in three ways - seeds, division and cuttings. In the first case, you need to know that when propagating by this method, young Japanese spirea does not retain the signs of the variety. Cuttings need to be carried out from July or the first months of autumn. In the second case, 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 the film in shady places until the development of the root system. Propagation of spiraea by Japanese division is suitable for young bushes. Adult specimens are difficult to dig out and separate. Therefore, they are easier to propagate by cuttings.
Use in landscape design
Japanese Spirea attracts the eye with its shape, lush flowering and rich color of foliage. Another of its advantages is, of course, unpretentiousness and vitality. It was these qualities that made the meadowsweet a desirable inhabitant of the garden.
Another circumstance, as a result of which this culture occupies its worthy place both on street lawns and in summer cottages, is its accessibility. Meadowsweet is well developed next to a variety of plants, moreover, it does not inhibit them. Since this crop tolerates pruning well, it is very often used to create beautiful borders or hedges. With Japanese spiraea, you can provide a beautiful design on the site, using it both in curtains and as single landings.