Snowberry

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Snowberry (Latin Symphoricarpus) Is a deciduous shrub of the Honeysuckle family. Other names Snezhnik, Snow berry, Wolf berry. In nature, the snowberry is found in mountain forests, on dry rocky slopes and along river banks in North America. Currently, 15 species have been identified.

Characteristics of culture

Snowberry is a graceful shrub 1-3 m high. Shoots are thin, upright, often slightly hanging, outstretched. Leaves are simple, entire, rarely notched-dentate, have no stipules, oppositely arranged on short petioles. Flowers of regular shape, collected in axillary or racemose inflorescences.

Fruits are numerous, small or large, spherical or ellipsoidal, contain 1-3 oval or compressed seeds, stay on the branches for a long time, can be white, pink, coral red or black. The culture blooms in June, the flowers are hardly noticeable, partially hidden under the foliage. The snowberry is considered a good honey plant. The plant is highly decorative, appreciated for its simplicity and resistance to adverse weather conditions.

Growing conditions

The snowberry is not picky about the growing conditions, it grows easily even on poor soils, as well as stony and calcareous substrates, it adapts without problems. The plant thrives on both open sunny and shaded areas. Some species also tolerate strong shading, for example, the white berry. The culture is drought-resistant and frost-hardy, but sensitive to wetting, for this reason it needs good drainage.

Reproduction and planting

Snowberries are propagated by seeds, cuttings, offspring and cuttings. The seed method is generally not difficult and effective. The seeds are harvested with the onset of frost, for this the berries are crumpled and kept warm for three days. Then the berries are poured with water, all soft particles will float to the surface, and the seeds will settle to the bottom. The seeds are washed, mixed with peat or sand and stored in the refrigerator until spring. Seeds are sown directly into open ground in early spring.

The easiest way to breed snowberries is by dividing. This procedure is carried out in the fall during the fall of the leaves. Often, the culture is propagated by root suckers, green and lily cuttings. Cuttings are cut during the dry period, the lower pair of leaves from the cuttings are removed, the cut is made oblique along the knot opposite one of the buds. Cuttings are planted in greenhouses tightly enough. Until the rooting of cuttings, watering, spraying, weeding and loosening the aisles are regularly carried out.

Care

Caring for snowberries is not difficult and is subject to even a novice gardener. The culture needs watering during planting and the next 3-4 days, and then only during a prolonged drought (at the rate of 1 bucket per plant). Snowberry responds well to feeding. Fertilizers are applied in early spring at the same time as digging the soil of the near-trunk zone. Ideal for fertilizing: humus or peat compost (4-8 kg), double superphosphate (30 g) and potassium salt (10-15 kg).

Requires a plant and regular loosening together with the removal of weeds. Sanitary and formative pruning is carried out in the spring, but before the buds swell. Every year, dry, frozen and diseased branches are removed from the shrubs, and the cuts are treated with garden pitch. The crop tolerates pruning without problems, it quickly recovers. The shape of snowberry hedges is also maintained by cutting out root suckers.

Application

Modern gardeners do not deprive the attention of the snowberry, not only are the plants not whimsical, they quite harmoniously fit into the landscape design, made in a wide variety of stylistic directions. The snowberry is used in the design of borders and mixed plantings, it is very often used as tapeworms and hedges, and is often planted on the lawn in groups. In order to shade and emphasize the beauty of the snowberry, it is planted in groups with mahonia, heathers and coniferous shrubs.