Tamarix - A Delightful Pink Cloud

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

Tamarix is one of the few woody plants that are not afraid of strong and cold winds. They are drought-resistant, some species can withstand severe frosts. Especially decorative during the flowering period

Rod Tamarix

Among six dozen species of plants of the genus Tamarix (Tamarix), or Grebenshchik, there are shrubs and trees. Some of them are evergreen, others are deciduous. More precisely, they could even be called "twig-falling", since in the fall not only leaves fall, but also fragile twigs, to which these leaves were held. But such a term does not yet exist in botany.

The bush, covered with tiny, scaly, bluish-grayish leaves, looks more like a large, ruffled bird than a plant. To match the feathery leaves in summer, small flowers bloom, painted in white, pink, purple colors. They gather on one-year shoots, forming racemose dense inflorescences that turn a flowering bush into a lush colored cloud that mistakenly descended from heaven to the sinful Earth.

Tricuspid small capsule - the fruit that completes the growing season.

Varieties

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Tamarix French (Tamarix gallica) is a shrub that, depending on the temperature and humidity of the place of growth, can be evergreen or semi-evergreen. A brownish gray bark with small lentil-shaped holes (called by botanists, lentils) covers the short, twisted trunk. The branches of the shrub are curved upward and covered with greenish-blue leaves. Pink flowers are formed on the purple shoots of the current year.

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Tamarix (Tamarix pentandra) - reddish-brown twigs are completely covered with light green leaves, superimposed tightly on top of each other. On the branches of the current year, pink flowers are formed, showing five red stamens.

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Tamarix four-pointed (Tamarix tetrandra) - Sprawling bushes of this species are covered with light green leaves. Unlike the previous species, bright pink flowers appear on the branches of the previous year, revealing four stamens to the world.

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Small-flowered tamarix (Tamarix parviflora) - gives the world dark pink flowers.

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Tamarix paniculata (Tamarix ramosissima) - is a tall shrub, and sometimes a tree. Last year's branches are completely covered with light pink flowers in summer.

Growing

French and paniculata tamariks are widely used as ornamental crops. Their fearlessness in the face of cold and strong winds and their rapid growth make the plant attractive for hedges, shelter belts, anchorage of sandy soils and crumbling slopes.

Any well-drained soil is suitable for them, except for calcareous ones. The root system of tamariks is deep and grows horizontally, so they should be planted away from other plants.

In order for the crown to be dense, the plant needs regular pruning of the shoots. Pruning for different species is done at different times. After flowering, species are pruned, in which flowers bloom on last year's shoots. In winter, plants in which flowers are born on newly-appeared branches are subject to pruning.

Tamarix pleases with abundant flowering in sunny places. Withstands both high and low temperatures. Watering is required only for young plantings, since the plant easily tolerates drought and soils with a high salt content.

Reproduction

Less commonly, tamariks are propagated by sowing seeds, more often by October cuttings, or by root suckers.

Enemies

A beautiful plant has plenty of enemies. Fungi provoke the formation of galls (growths) on the branches; powdery mildew - whitish mold; the worms are the rabble. Control measures are standard.