Shrubby cinquefoil, the care and cultivation of which does not cause much trouble, is a spectacular decorative culture with a long flowering period, known for a long time under the name “Kuril tea”. During the time of the heroes, even Ilya Muromets drew strength from the fragrant flowers of cinquefoil.

Shrubby cinquefoil - description and features of cultivation

Shrubby cinquefoil, also known as Kuril tea or five leaf leaves, is a deciduous shrub plant, the height of which does not exceed 1.5 m. A compact and dense crown is formed by lowered shoots of grayish-brown color with green foliage. In the flowering phase, which lasts from the beginning of summer until mid-autumn, white and yellow flowers bloom, gathered in umbrella inflorescences.

When cultivating a decorative shrub, it is worth considering its main features:

  • photophilousness;
  • exactingness to soil structure and fertility;
  • resistance to damage by harmful organisms;
  • lack of need for constant scraps.

Types and varieties of cinquefoil

Kuril tea is represented by 15 species and numerous varieties derived from these varieties.

Among the most popular are:

  • Shrubby cinquefoil “Pink Queen” is a stunted shrub with highly branched creeping shoots, covered with light green leaves and pinkish flowers during the flowering period, lasting from late spring to mid-fall season.
  • Shrubby cinquefoil “Abbotswood” is a shrub variety distinguished by a cushion-shaped crown and plentiful flowering from the beginning of the summer season to September, during which beautiful white inflorescences blossom. Hanging shoots create a semblance of a train.
  • Shrubby cinquefoil “Princess Blink” - a plant with a compact crown, which in diameter can grow up to a meter. Light pink flowers, marked during the summer season, in the sun become snow-white.
  • Cinquefoil shrubby “Lovely Pink” is a densely creeping shrub. With lush flowering, observed throughout the summer season, pink flowers bloom, the diameter of which is no more than 2.5 cm. Dark green leaves, against which single or collected in racemose flowers contrast, begin to turn yellow with the advent of autumn.

Outdoor landing

In order for the cinquefoil to annually please the grower with abundant and prolonged flowering, it is necessary not only to properly plant the seedlings, but also to choose the right place.

Site selection and soil preparation

The shrub needs a lot of light, which should be soft: the color of flowers in direct sunlight will lose brightness. And when planting a cinquefoil in the shady zones, the grower risks not even waiting for the flowering phase. The culture develops well in fertile, light soils with a loose structure that provides free air circulation and moisture capacity, and with a slightly alkaline reaction.

How and when to plant?

Planting seedlings of shrubby cinquefoil is carried out in early spring, after the snow cover has melted:

  1. Landing holes are dug out, the size of which exceeds the size of the earthen coma of the seedling twice.
  2. A drainage layer made of gravel, expanded clay or broken brick is placed at the bottom of the recess.
  3. The pit is filled to half with a nutrient soil mixture prepared from leaf soil, humus and sand in a ratio of 2: 2: 1 with the addition of nitroammophoska in an amount of 150 g.
  4. Then a seedling is placed and covered with soil so that the root neck is 1-2 cm higher than the soil level.
  5. Soil in the near-stem circle is compacted, moistened and mulched with sawdust, which allows you to slow down the process of moisture evaporation.

Attention! In the case of group plantings, the distance between the bushes should be at least 30 cm.

Shrubby cinquefoil care

Easy care of shrubs should be systematic, which will enable the grower to become the owner of a healthy bush with high decorative qualities.

Watering

Having such a quality as drought tolerance, the bush does not need additional watering if significant rainfall is observed during the summer season. However, in case of soil drought over a long period of time, the bushes are watered with warm water twice a month at the rate of 10 liters per specimen.

Loosening, weeding and mulching

The day after watering or rainfall, the soil is loosened, which allows you to maintain good aeration. Regular cultivation also makes it possible to timely remove emerging weeds. If the grower does not have free time, or does not want to spend effort on the implementation of this procedure, the trunk circle is mulched. During the growing season, the mulch layer from sawdust or peat is updated 3-4 times.

Top dressing

Soil enrichment to maintain fertility and ensure the culture of full development is carried out three times during the growing season:

  • Complex mineral fertilizers are introduced into the budding phase, stimulating the formation of large buds.
  • During the flowering period, the cinquefoil is fed with phosphorus fertilizers, which allows to prolong the flowering state.
  • In September, top dressing, which includes phosphorus and potassium, makes it possible for the plant to fully prepare for winter.

Pruning

To maintain the decorativeness of the bush, the cinquefoil is cut twice - in the spring before the sap flow and before the onset of cold weather in autumn.

  1. In early spring, forming pruning is carried out when the shoots are shortened by a third of the length, which makes it possible to create a spherical shape.
  2. Pruning of the cinquefoil in shrubby autumn is sanitary in nature and involves the removal of old, weakened shoots that develop inward.

Important! A rejuvenating haircut is performed every five years.

Pests, diseases and control methods

Manifestations of harmful organisms are extremely rare on the plant. If, during examination, the development of powdery mildew or rust was detected, the cinquefoil should be immediately treated with fungicide. There are situations when the bush is attacked by scoops. In this situation, spraying with a pesticide, but with an insecticidal effect, is also carried out.

Bloodroot after flowering: autumn, winter

In mid-autumn, when the shrub completes flowering, the shoots are shortened by ⅓. The culture, which has cold hardiness, does not need additional shelter, wintering well in open ground, even in central Russia.

Plant propagation methods

The cinquefoil propagates both by seed and vegetative. The latter is the simplest and most effective, since cultivation of the potentilla from seeds is a troublesome business, in which it is impossible to maintain varietal qualities.

  • Cuttings - during the procedure carried out in the middle of summer, 10 cm long cuttings are prepared, which are planted in the shadow zone of the garden and covered with a glass jar for rooting. After 1.5 months, new plants are planted in a permanent place, and with the advent of cold weather they shelter with spruce branches.
  • Reproduction by layering is the simplest technique, in which a low-growing shoot is cut along and placed in a groove up to 15 cm deep. After the roots are formed, the cuttings are separated from the parent specimen and planted in the selected place.
  • Division of the bush - during the procedure in spring or autumn, a four-year bush is excavated, the rhizome of which is divided into parts with three buds. The division is carried out with a sterile instrument, and the sections are necessarily treated with a disinfectant in the form of charcoal, activated carbon or a fungicidal preparation.

Use of a plant in landscaping

Being a stunted shrub with a long flowering phase, shrubby cinquefoil is used to decorate the following art objects:

  • borders
  • alpine hills, where a variety of conifers are planted as a background for cinquefoil;
  • live fences;
  • rockeries.

Thus, shrubby cinquefoil, when fulfilling a small set of agrotechnical requirements, will delight the grower with plentiful flowering during not only the summer season, but also half of the autumn period.

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