Kuril tea belongs to the Rosaceae family and is associated with garden flowers in most gardeners, and the plant received its name due to its tonic property and pleasant taste. The peoples of the Kuril Islands used it to make a tea drink. This plant has another name - shrubby cinquefoil, a description of the planting and care of which you will find in this article.
Description
Kuril tea is a highly branched bush, creating a lush, dense crown, similar to lace. Plant height varies from 20 to 150 cm, and the average width is 110 cm. Fresh silky shoots after a short period become brown. Bright green leaves are covered with soft, thick silvery villi.
In all types of cinquefoil, leaflets are lacy, carved, divided mainly into five lanceolate lobules in shape, however, specimens are found in which there are three or seven lobes. Egg-shaped stipules grow together with cuttings. Large flowers are wide open, flat and consist of five petals. There are single or collected in inflorescences in the form of a brush. Basically, the petals are painted in a beautiful, rich yellow color.
Some types of Kuril tea (cinquefoil) have pink or white flowers. Flowering is constant, long, from the beginning of the summer months until mid-autumn. Some species of cinquefoil, under favorable conditions, please bloom, until the first snow appears. Flowers bloom along the entire length of the shoots. Fruits - pubescent crescent-shaped achenes, ripen in late August. The plant begins to bear fruit in the second year after planting and then, annually. Under good conditions,
a tea bush in one place can grow up to 30 years.
Where it is found in natural conditions
In nature, Kuril tea (shrubby cinquefoil) can be found from Central Asia and up to Western Europe. It grows in the wild on rocky slopes, along river banks, in coniferous forests. The plant is photophilous, hardy and it is not afraid of frosts down to -40 degrees. It easily tolerates temperature changes.
Varieties and types
There are several dozen of them, which differ among themselves by the height of the bush, the color of the petals and leaves. Common to all varieties and species: deciduous, perennial plants, highly branched crown. Silvery, erect, goose, creeping cinquefoil are the most popular species.
Some varieties of plants:
- Kobold. Light yellow flowers. A fast-growing bush that requires regular pruning.
- Goldstar. The height of the bush reaches one meter. Lacy crown in diameter up to one and a half meters. This is a frost-resistant variety, yellow flowers are large, rare. Long flowering.
- Princesses Revitalizes the garden with pink flowers.
- Red Ace. The bush is up to 70 cm high. It blooms from July until almost to the frost. Petals of an orange-red tint.
- Abbotswood. The most popular variety with snow-white flowers.
Breeding
Vegetative method: green or lignified cuttings, root offspring or layering, dividing the bush, planting and growing Kuril tea.
Reproduction by seeds is preferable when breeding plant species. Planted them in the spring to obtain seedlings. For this, the seed material is sown densely and not buried. About thirty days after sowing, young sprouts are planted in open ground.
Choosing a place to land
All types and varieties of Kuril tea, care and cultivation are not particularly difficult, to obtain the maximum number of flowers should be cultivated in an open, sunny area, protected from the wind. The plant feels comfortable in the vicinity of trees and other shrubs that protect the cinquefoil from direct sunlight and give slight shading. However, it should be remembered that most of the daylight hours the plant should not be in the shade. The most unpretentious are varieties with yellow and white flowers.
Varieties with flowers, painted in yellow, are the most frost-resistant. Bushes of tea with pink flowers should be covered in the winter, more often fed. They bloom later than plants with yellow-flowering varieties.
Planting a plant
There are some features in the care and planting of Kuril shrub tea. Reproduction is possible in several ways, which are listed above. The cinquefoil prefers light loamy soils. The root system is located close to the surface, so when loosening, care must be taken not to damage the roots of the bush. When growing on clay soils, drainage is made using limestone gravel. Landing of Kuril tea in sandy soils reduces its decorative effect. In central Russia, tea is planted in late April or in the autumn months.
Before planting, in about two weeks, a pit of 60 by 100 cm is dug and a drainage is made, the layer of which should be at least 20 cm. The planting pit is ½ volume filled with a specially prepared mixture of sheet soil, humus and sand (in a ratio of 2: 2: 1). When planting, the root neck is not deepened, but left at ground level. The distance between the bushes is not less than 50 cm (for the purpose of further formation of hedges or flowering continuous borders) and up to 120 cm for single plantings.
Kuril shrubby tea: planting and care
The plant grows well in rocky soils. Landing and transplanting of the cinquefoil is possible after the snow melts, as well as in early September. With prolonged dry weather for three weeks after planting, the plant is regularly watered and sprayed. Then they carry out one-time plentiful watering in the evening (for the entire summer period no more than three times), pouring up to 12 liters of water under the bush, then mulch with humus.
The first top dressing is applied immediately after planting and consists of mineral fertilizers (20 g), wood ash and lime (150 g). The second top dressing is done immediately before flowering. Potassium-phosphorus fertilizer is dissolved in water (the proportions are indicated in the instructions for use) and water the plant under the root. Timely application of fertilizing gives abundant flowering.
Plant pruning and crown shaping
After planting shrubby Kuril tea, pruning and care are required. Once every five years, anti-aging trimming is performed.
To do this, at the very beginning of spring, completely cut off all branches, leaving no more than 15 cm from them, then fertilize them using mineral fertilizers with a high nitrogen content, as well as chicken droppings diluted in water. Every September, the crown of the plant is formed.
Flowering and harvesting
With proper planting and care, the Kuril tea shrub bloom begins in the third year after planting in a permanent place. As raw materials use leaves that are collected in July, and shoots, their collection is carried out in August. Next, the raw materials are dried and used to prepare decoctions and tea drinks.
Diseases and Pests
Shrubby Kuril tea (planting and care are simple) is disease resistant and is rarely affected by pests. Sometimes the leaves are overcome by rust, and brown spots are formed on them, casting yellowish or purple. At the first signs of a disease, the plant is sprayed with special chemicals or treated with sulfur or emulsion, which includes copper and laundry soap. The causes of this fungal disease are damp, too dense land and the proximity to diseased trees or shrubs.
What is the use of Kuril tea?
Shelter for winter roots with a layer of mulch, infrequent watering and top dressing - these are the minimum measures for caring for the cinquefoil. Hunters have long used the beneficial properties of Kuril tea, they knew about its anti-inflammatory effect and, to protect themselves from viral infections, they threw one pinch of tea into hot water. A tool that gives strength - so it was believed in the old days. In medical sources there is information that the infusion made from Kuril tea can neutralize rotavirus and even cholera vibrio.
Decoction of Kuril tea, due to the content of cobalt, potassium, manganese, iron, calcium, the increased presence of ascorbic acid, vitamin A, PP, tannins, essential oils, taken internally, strengthens the immune system, improves the external condition of the skin. Broth of Kuril shrubby tea (for planting and care described above) is used:
- in surgery and traumatology - for washing wounds;
- in dermatology - with various inflammatory diseases of the dermis;
- in ophthalmology - in the treatment of conjunctivitis and inflammation of the lacrimal ducts;
- in dentistry - for the treatment of gums;
- in endocrinology - with pathology of the thyroid gland;
- in gastroenterology - with poisoning, dysbiosis;
- in urology - with cystitis, urinary tract pathologies;
- in gynecology - with inflammation of the appendages, with heavy menstruation;
- in cosmetology - for taking baths, strengthening hair and protecting them from oily sheen.
Shrub tea is also widely used in folk medicine. Reviews consumers note its positive effect in the treatment of:
- pneumonia and bronchitis;
- sore throats, colds;
- vaginitis, colpitis.
Gardeners (both professionals and amateurs) prefer the cinquefoil when decorating gardens, parks, squares, flower gardens, landscaping slopes, and also use as hedges.