2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
It is difficult to find a similar plant that can please with flowering at the beginning and end of the season in one year. Weigela shrubs have such an amazing quality. Large tubular bells bloom a second time completely unexpectedly, when the bright colors of autumn are just gaining strength. What structural features distinguish weigela from other brethren?
Biological structure
The height of the deciduous shrub is 1.5-2.5 m, depending on the variety. The leaves are oblong-lanceolate, dark green with small denticles along the edge. Inflorescences that bloom in the spring (mid-May - June) are laid in the fall. Re-bud formation (end of August) occurs at the tops of new shoots of the current year. Autumn bloom is more modest.
The buds are large, up to 5 cm long, bell-shaped with a funnel-shaped tube, a double-lipped corolla. The color depends on the type and variety of weigela: cream, white, yellow, pink, red, crimson. Single flowers prevail in the center of the shoot. At the ends of the branches, they are collected in groups of 5-8 pieces. During this period, the bushes look spectacular, resembling an elegant "Christmas tree" with many flashlights.
By the end of summer, bivalve fruits are formed in the form of a box with angular, small seeds.
Habitat conditions
Prefers sunny places, protected from northerly winds, with sufficient light. Withstands openwork partial shade under the canopy of a sparse forest. In deep shade, the shoots stretch out, the flowering is weak, the ripening of the wood worsens. Which negatively affects the wintering of plants.
Loves fertile soils with enough humus. On poor soils, rotted manure, compost, peat are added to increase the humus content. The heavy earth is loosened with sand.
Poorly tolerates waterlogging, the proximity of groundwater. The root system is subject to putrefactive diseases. In such places, drainage from broken bricks, clay shards or expanded clay is arranged at the bottom of the pit.
Landing
They are digging a garden bed in the fall. Remove weeds. In the spring, holes are dug with a diameter and depth of 50 cm. A loose mixture is prepared from: compost, sand, garden soil in a ratio of 2: 1: 2. A complex fertilizer nitroammofosku 30 g is added to a bucket of soil. The mixture is poured half the height of the hole with the resulting mixture. Set the distance between neighbors 1, 5-2 m.
Ready-made plants are planted in spring before bud break. Spill pits with water. Set the seedling in the center, spreading the roots. Sprinkle with fertile soil, compacting the near-trunk zone with your hand. The root collar is located at the level of the soil horizon. Moisten abundantly on top. After soil shrinkage, add mulching material: sawdust, peat, straw cutting.
Autumn plantings are not desirable. Unpredictable weather at the end of the season, the rapid onset of frost, without snow, can provoke the death of young animals that have not had time to take root.
Care
In early spring, after the snow melts, the bushes are fed with complex fertilizer nitroammofosk 40-50 g per 1 sq. M. The second portion of the phosphorus-potassium composition is given at the beginning of the formation of the buds. In this case, the color of the inflorescences becomes brighter.
In dry periods, watered once a week at the rate of a bucket of water per adult specimen. After moistening, the near-stem zone is loosened, closing off the evaporation. Mulch with peat or sawdust with a layer of 10 cm. Remove timely "competitors" for batteries.
Before the onset of stable cold weather, the trunk circles are insulated with leaf litter or sawdust with a layer of 20 cm. In young seedlings of hybrid varieties, the branches are tied with a sheaf, wrapped in non-woven material. Adult specimens need shelter only in severe winters with little snow.
If the tops of the shoots are damaged (breakage, freezing), weigela quickly restores the crown in a season.
Weigela propagation will be considered in the next article.
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