2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Dwarf birch (Latin Betula nana) - a species of low-growing shrubs of the genus Birch of the Birch family. Other names are small birch, dwarf birch, dwarf birch, dwarf birch. In nature, the plant is found in many European countries, in Canada and Russia. It grows in small quantities in the Alps and Scotland. Typical places are hypnum swamps, arctic tundra, moss forests.
Characteristics of culture
Dwarf birch is a deciduous shrub up to 120 cm high with open or rising shoots. Young shoots are densely pubescent or velvety, with age - almost naked, with reddish-brown or dark brown bark, often with a bluish bloom. Leaves are rounded-oval or rounded, small, short-petiolate, up to 15 mm long, up to 20 cm wide, obtuse-toothed along the edge.
The upper part of the leaves is dark green, smooth, with shine, the lower part is light green, with diffuse pubescence. In autumn, the foliage becomes dark yellow or yellow in color. During flowering, anther catkins form on the plants, they can be of two types - male and female, after pollination they fall off. On female specimens, small elliptical nuts with three lobes and attached scales are formed.
Growing conditions
Dwarf birch is successfully cultivated on acidic garden soils, and on peat bogs, and fertile chernozems, and sandy loam soils, and loams. However, the culture develops best on light, slightly acidic, humus-rich soils. It is undesirable to grow dwarf birch on waterlogged, heavy clay and saline soils. The location is sunny, light shade is also possible.
Reproduction and planting
Propagated birch dwarf seeds and cuttings. The collection of seeds is carried out at the time of the browning of the earrings. Seeds are sown immediately after collection or in late autumn under a shelter in the form of peat or sawdust. Such a procedure is quite laborious and not subject to every gardener, therefore, experienced agronomists advise you to grow a crop by planting a seedling. Seedlings are presented in large numbers in specialized nurseries; they should not be purchased in unverified places.
It is not recommended to buy seedlings with an open root system, even if they are properly planted, they may not take root. It is better to purchase seedlings in containers or with an earthen clod. Saplings are planted in spring or autumn. A planting pit is prepared in a couple of weeks, a mixture consisting of garden soil, peat, humus and sand is poured onto its bottom in a ratio of 2: 1: 1: 1. It is important not to forget about the introduction of complex fertilizer (150-200 g per hole). Immediately after planting, the near-stem zone is mulched with a thick layer of humus or other available covering material. Watering is required.
Care
Dwarf birch is a moisture-loving plant, it is difficult to imagine, but in the summer it extracts about 250 liters of water from the soil. Therefore, irrigation for the crop is vital; during a drought, the volume of water and the frequency of irrigation are doubled.
Top dressing is also necessary, in the spring the plants are fed with nitrogen-containing fertilizers, in the fall - with nitroammophos or Kemira universal. Preventive pruning is carried out annually in the spring, before the start of sap flow. Forming as needed, but at the same time.
Application
Dwarf birch has been actively used in landscape design for many years. It looks great in group plantings, rockeries and rock gardens. Shrubs look especially impressive in the fall, so they are often used to create automalii (autumn gardens). Dwarf birch goes well with evergreen dwarf conifers, as well as closely related species of birch - ferruginous birch, Finnish birch and Middendordf birch.
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