The stunningly beautiful ornamental shrub of the spirea, despite its transatlantic origin, has long been successfully used in the landscape interior of Russian gardens, often becoming the basis of design compositions.
A classic representative of
the Rosaceae family, spirea is extremely effective in the implementation of various ideas: both as a hedge, 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 can be explained by its surprisingly large varietal variety, consisting of one hundred very different species - from miniature to medium and tall. Among this variety, Douglas spirea is perhaps the most common decorative culture in Russia. It will be discussed in the article.
Plant features
Douglas Spirea is a deciduous shrub with upright stems and a long flowering period (up to 45 days). Cultivated shoots of saturated terracotta color, pubescent and very durable. Bright green leaves of medium size, oblong, whole to the middle and uneven in the upper part, slightly pubescent on the lower side and have a noticeable silver haze. The main advantages of the plant are its absolute unpretentiousness to growing conditions, high winter hardiness, which makes it possible to successfully grow spirea in moderate 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. Photos demonstrate the magnificent decorativeness of the bush. The flowers are very small, but there are so many that the cone-shaped panicles are very impressive in size - from 10 to 18 cm. However, the length of the inflorescence is determined by the conditions of culture and increases depending on their quality.
Flowering begins in July and lasts until the end of summer. Ripening occurs in September. The shrub grows rapidly and already from the age of three begins to fully bloom.
Seed propagation
Seeds are usually sown in early spring in seedlings or in a heated greenhouse. Seedlings at home to grow spiraea is easier, because you can maintain the temperature at a certain level and not to sprout additional obstacles. Seedling containers are covered with a film and placed in a well-lit room with normal room temperature. Shoots appear in May. 2-3 months after germination, the seedlings dive on the bed to grow to the state of full seedlings. To activate the formation of a good root system, the central root is shortened during a dive. However, the unpretentiousness of culture allows you to plant a seedling immediately in a permanent place. It is only necessary to carefully care for it: timely feed, weed, loosen the soil and water moderately.
Douglas spiraea seeds grown for the first time bloom in the third or fourth year after planting. When removing the first inflorescences on young bushes, plant development is faster. Reproduction by seeds is considered the most time-consuming and not always rational way, since seed germination does not exceed 75-80%, and the result often does not meet expectations, due to the absence of all signs of the mother bush.
Propagation by cuttings
Absolute rooting and full varietal correspondence is shown by vegetative propagation. Semi-lignified young shoots are the best material for cutting cuttings, the optimal length of which is 10 cm. In this quality, any part of the stem is suitable - both the middle and the top. For faster formation of the root system on cuttings, various biostimulants are used (for example, “Kornevin”), and to protect them from various infections, the lower cut is powdered with charcoal powder. Do this just before landing. The soil for rooting cuttings should be light and breathable as much as possible. A mixture of garden soil, humus and sand in equal proportions is well suited.
Getting seedlings from layering
Douglas spirea propagates and horizontal layering. This method is recognized by gardeners as the simplest and most reliable. It 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 peg in a row and tie the top to it, setting the desired direction;
• throughout the season, the soil above the shoot should be moderately moistened, make sure that it does not dry out;
• Periodically, the pinned stalk should be earthed out so that the roots that are forming are not exposed.
Carrying out these simple operations is rewarded: by autumn or next spring, rooted cuttings turn into full-fledged seedlings. They are carefully separated from the mother bush and transplanted to a prepared place. The biological feature of the shrub is the formation of a shoot, which can also participate in the propagation of the variety.
Spirea Douglas: planting and cultivation features
Despite its royal appeal, this photophilous culture is very unpretentious and excellently grows and pleases with continuous flowering in moist places protected from the bright sun. Douglas Spirea, the photo of which is presented, prefers loose, fertile acidic or slightly acidic soils and normal illumination. The plant does not tolerate a close approach of groundwater, it is surprisingly frost-resistant, but it is necessary to cover it in the first winters to maintain good decorativeness, since apical shoots are often damaged in young plants.
Experienced gardeners recommend planting the crop in a permanent place in the early spring, after the soil has thawed. But you can do this in the fall, before the end of leaf fall.
How to plant spiraea
According to all measurements, a drainage layer of sand, expanded clay or charcoal to the height of the palm is laid at the bottom of a dug landing pit up to half a meter in size according to all measurements. When planting, take into account the composition of the decorative group. If plants are planted as a hedge, then they do it in two rows, placing the pits in a checkerboard pattern at a distance of 0.4-0.5 m from each other and 0.35-0.4 m in the aisles. In group plantings, plants are planted 0.6-0.9 m from one another. Keep in mind that Douglas spirea is a fairly sprawling bush, reaching a height and a half meters in diameter. If plantings in the hedge are artificially thickened, then in the garden interior, cultures should be separated 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 is the topsoil mixed with peat, humus and river sand in equal proportions. Half-filled pits filled with this mixture are abundantly watered with water, seedlings are placed in them, making sure that the roots are conveniently located without bending upwards. Then close up the remaining soil so that the root neck of the plant is flush with the ground, and carefully compact the soil around the seedling. Finally, planting is watered again, the soil is mulched. Young plants wintering for the first time need shelter with spruce spruce branches or other special materials.
Spirea Douglas: Care
Common care measures include moderate watering, weeding and loosening of the soil under the bushes, or mulching and periodic updating of the mulch layer. When an unwanted shoot appears, it is removed by cutting at the base.
Mandatory action necessary to preserve the exquisite decorativeness of a culture such as Douglas spirea - pruning, which is carried out, guided by some rules. As a summer-flowering culture, spirea is pruned exclusively in early spring. This work begins with the fourth year of life of the plant, truncating shoots to a height of 0.25-0.3 m from the ground. This is done so that the bush does not lose its compact shape, its stems do not deviate from the center, and the number of flowers increases due to increased growth of lateral shoots. Sparing, as novice gardeners often think, apical pruning is an unproductive and unnecessary action. In this case, the plant will give thin and weak young shoots with small inflorescences.
Spiraea in landscape design
Refined, with delicate pink panicles of flowers and silver foliage, the Douglas spirea, the description of which is presented, is effective not only in group compositions, but also very significant in green building, in particular, the frame of 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 summer, which lasts incredibly long thanks to a culture such as Douglas spirea. Planting and caring for it are not burdensome operations, but the plant pays a lot for its care with magnificent flowering.