2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Menziesia (lat. Menziesia) Is a genus of deciduous shrubs of the Heather family. The genus includes seven species native to East Asia and North America. The genus got its name in honor of the English naturalist and physician - Archibald Menziz.
Characteristics of culture
Menzisia is a fast-growing deciduous shrub or small tree up to 2.5 m in height. The annual growth is 5-9 cm. The leaves are alternate, short-petiolate. Shoots are bristly pubescent. Flowers are five-membered, bisexual, color - from light pink to dark red. The calyx is foliated, the corolla is slightly zygomorphic or regular. Mencisia blooms regularly, but not always abundantly, flowering lasts 14-27 days. The fruit is a thin-walled four or five-celled capsule. Fruits are set annually, often do not have time to ripen. Young plants do not differ in winter hardiness, adults are able to withstand frosts down to -30C. Mencisia is a close relative of the azalea. In landscaping, the crop is rarely used, due to insufficient cultivation data.
Menziesia pentamellar (lat. Menziesia pentandra) is one of the most popular representatives of the genus. It is a low shrub or tree with shoots covered with long glandular hairs and leaves crowded into a rosette. Leaves are oblong-elliptical or elliptical, pubescent, up to 5 cm long. Flowers are small, red or white, sit on long bristly pedicels, collected in apical umbellate inflorescences of 2-5 pieces. The fruit is a spherical-ovate capsule with sparsely bristly pubescence. Mencisia blooms in June, the fruits ripen in August. The species is common in the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin, as well as in Japan.
Growing conditions
Mencisia develops well and blooms profusely in areas that are as close as possible to natural in composition. Soils are preferable moderately moist, acidic, light, air and water permeable, without excess nitrogen fertilizers. The location is sunny with light shading.
Propagation by cuttings
Propagated by cuttings. This method is the most effective and relatively uncomplicated. Rooting rate does not exceed 30-40%. Cuttings are carried out in the summer, the exact dates depend on the presence of non-flowering shoots on the bushes. Cuttings are not harvested from shoots on which flower buds have formed. Cutting cuttings from faded shoots is not prohibited. Cuttings are planted in a mixture of sand and sphagnum peat in equal proportions. Peat and sand are sieved before mixing, removing too large particles.
The distance between the cuttings should be about 2-3 cm. For different species and varieties, different containers are used, since they have different root formation ability. After planting the cutting, the soil is watered abundantly from a watering can with a fine spray mesh. It is advisable to dissolve the fungicide in water. Cuttings must be kept indoors or in a greenhouse. The following spring, rooted cuttings are transplanted into separate pots for growing, and a year later - into open ground.
Care
Standard care: watering, pruning, loosening and weeding. Care activities are not time consuming and do not take much time. The culture responds well to mulching the near-trunk zone. For mulch, it is recommended to use natural material that acidifies the soil, such as spruce cones, pine litter, sawdust or shavings, pine nut husks and peat. Mulch not only acidifies the soil, but also retains moisture for a longer period, and protects the root system from overheating.
For additional acidification of the soil, you can use boric acid or garden sulfur. The culture does not need additional fertilizing, since in nature it grows on marginal soils, however, the introduction of complex fertilizer "Kemira-Universal" will not harm. Top dressing is carried out in early spring, when the soil is in a moist state. Watering should be moderate, spraying is also beneficial. The first 2-3 years of mencisia is not pruned, although pinching the crown of the growing shoots is possible, so you can achieve better tillering.
