Cotoneaster brilliant - an interesting and very beautiful plant belonging to the Pink family. Very often, this shrub is used to decorate parks, squares and private areas. In natural conditions, it can be found in Buryatia and Eastern Siberia. Resistance to adverse conditions makes this plant especially popular among many gardeners. In this article we will tell you all about the care and planting of a cotoneaster brilliant. This process is quite troublesome, but only in the first two years.
Description
Cotoneaster brilliant - upright deciduous shrub with a very dense foliage. Small leaves, the length of which is not more than 4 centimeters, have an ovoid shape and pointed tips. The surface of the leaves is smooth, and the color changes from tender to juicy green in spring.
A distinctive feature of this ornamental shrub is a change in the color of leaves in the autumn period. As shown in the photo of the cotoneaster brilliant below, the leaves acquire a purple hue. Thyroid pink inflorescences consist of 5-8 flowers. The bush begins to bloom in May-June, after which the fruits appear in the form of small berries. Separately taken flowers do not carry noticeable decorative qualities. But the combination of lush pink bloom against a background of lush green foliage makes the shrub particularly attractive. Cotoneaster berries at the initial stage of formation have a light green color, which, as it ripens, turns into almost black. The ripe fruits of cotoneaster are quite edible and have a large amount of nutrients.
In the wild, it is not so easy to meet the thickened plantings of this shrub. Most often, these are solitary bushes with weaker decorative qualities compared to garden specimens.
Advantages and disadvantages
When choosing shrubs for decorative functions, it is important to study not only the merits of a particular variety, but also its disadvantages. A photo of a hedge made of brilliant cotoneaster illustrates its positive decorative qualities. In addition, it has a number of advantages over other shrubs, namely:
- unpretentiousness in caring for an adult plant;
- neat appearance;
- resistance to almost all diseases;
- immunity to air pollution by dust, soot and exhaust gases;
- lack of strict requirements for the choice of soil and place for planting.
That is why this plant is often used to decorate city parks and alleys. However, cotoneaster needs constant pruning and has rather complicated methods of growing.
Landing: choosing a place and soil
Cotoneaster brilliant equally well grows both in sunny areas and in partial shade. But in any case, it is important that there is shelter from the draft and the proximity of the groundwater. Planting seedlings is carried out at a distance of not less than one and a half meters from each other, because over time, their crown grows significantly. Wells of 70 centimeters deep are prepared for planting, a good layer of drainage is poured onto the bottom of them.
For the development of a healthy and beautiful plant, it is necessary to prepare a certain soil mixture. It consists of two parts of turf, one part of peat or compost and two parts of river sand. A small amount of lime is added to this mixture - not more than 300 grams per square meter of land.
Seed propagation method
This method is considered quite time-consuming and troublesome. In addition, you need to be prepared for the fact that not all seedlings sprout, but only half. To increase the germination rate, it is important to conduct a comprehensive preparation of planting material.
Seed stratification begins in the fall, immediately after harvest. Seeds are placed in a metal container and sent for storage in a refrigerator or a cold room, such as a basement. Planting is carried out only the next fall, when the seeds are fully ripe. You can shorten the training period. To do this, the seeds are immersed in sulfuric acid for 20 minutes, and then hardened for a month.
Before sowing, the seeds are soaked in water in order to identify empty specimens that float to the surface and are subject to destruction. Healthy seed material is buried in the soil by 4 centimeters, and the distance between the rows should be at least 15 centimeters. The period of emergence of shoots is quite long and does not depend on the thoroughness of care and the creation of comfortable conditions for germination. During the first year of growth, seedlings reach thirty centimeters in height. And only after a year will the formation of the crown begin. Brilliant cotoneaster begins to bloom 4 years after planting.
Cuttings
The most used method for propagating brilliant cotoneaster is vegetative. For it, green or lignified cuttings are prepared in advance, the length of which should be at least 15 centimeters. Well-developed and strong specimens must have at least two internodes.
Harvesting of green cuttings is carried out in July. Before planting planting material in the soil, immerse it for several hours in a growth stimulator and only after that distribute it in boxes with a substrate. The soil for planting cuttings should consist of equal parts of humus, turf and sand. Before deepening the cuttings, the soil is well wetted with water. The process of planting cuttings consists in their deepening into the soil by 5-6 centimeters at an angle of 45 °. After that, they are covered with a film or a jar and sent to a well-lit place. Observing all the conditions of planting and care, by the autumn you will receive seedlings with a powerful root system, ready for transplanting to a permanent place. After transplanting into the open ground, young plants are sure to take shelter for the winter.
To obtain lignified cuttings, the workpiece is carried out after the first frost. The cut shoots are placed in the sand and sent for storage in a cool and dry room. In spring, cuttings are cut into pieces, the length of which is 20 centimeters, after which a similar preparation is carried out.
Watering
Regardless of the variety, cotoneaster is considered a very drought tolerant plant. And therefore, even on hot summer days, he calmly dispenses with additional watering. Adult bushes enough to water 3-4 times for the entire growing season, making at least 8 liters of water for each plant. However, one should not excessively water the cotoneaster brilliant, since excessive soil moisture leads to rotting of the roots and the development of diseases.
It is permissible to refresh the plant on hot days by spraying. A stream of water will not only wash away a layer of dust from the leaves, but also fill them with the necessary moisture. This is especially true of the hedge of a brilliant cotoneaster.
Top dressing
The growth and development rate of young shoots directly depends on the fertile composition of the soil. To obtain a lush, thick and beautiful crown of saturated color, various top dressings should be regularly applied to the soil. Especially valuable additive that activates the growth of herbs, are nitrogen-containing drugs. And for the general maintenance of the balance of minerals, superphosphate and potassium fertilizers are applied to the soil.
Also important for cotoneaster and organics. It is desirable to breed manure in water in a ratio of 1: 6, and when using bird droppings, one part of the fertilizer is bred in ten parts of water. The resulting composition is used during the spring digging of the soil around the bush. In addition to manure, other organic fertilizers are used, for example, compost and humus.
Pruning
Shrubs of this type require some care. The cotoneaster is brilliant, like many other ornamental plants to create a hedge, it requires mandatory pruning. After this procedure, the branches of the shrub grow well and give the plant the desired shape. You can give the cotoneaster absolutely any shape (ball, square, cone), but form pruning should begin no earlier than the two-year-old plant, when the length of the shoots reached 60 centimeters.
First, pinch the tops of young shoots, and after reaching the necessary density, they begin to trim to a third of the length of the branch. To get a neat and even geometric shape, it is important to have hedge trimmers and a tightly taut rope. However, the most convenient is the use of a wooden frame. You can build it yourself, from any wooden bars. To carry out a large volume of work, it is advisable to use a special brush cutter. Annually increase the cutting height by 6-7 centimeters until the shrub reaches the required level. Also, when trimming, it should be remembered that the upper tier grows much more actively than the lower one and can overshadow it.
Shelter for the winter
Despite the general frost resistance, it is desirable to harbor a cotoneaster brilliant in particularly severe winters. As a material for shelter, dry foliage or peat is well suited, the layer of which should be at least 6 centimeters. The branches of the tallest bushes at the same time bend to the ground and are accurately fixed, so that it becomes possible to cover them. Fallen snow can be used as additional insulation.