Deciduous Shrub Kerria

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

Deciduous shrub with pink-yellow flowers that bloom in spring. Tolerates partial shade. Suitable for mixborder, hedge and single planting. Resistant to viruses and pests

William Kerr

William Kerr, a native of Scotland who worked as a gardener at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Europeans owe the deciduous shrub that bears his name, Kerria.

The Royal Botanic Gardens of Great Britain is one of the unique places on the planet, in which a large collection of plants has been collected over two and a half centuries. Among them is the Kerria shrub, sent from China at the beginning of the 19th century by the gardener William Kerry.

Kerry came to China by order of King George III at the suggestion of Joseph Banks, patron of natural sciences, through whose efforts the botanical garden was founded. During his 8 years in China, William Kerr sent 238 new plants to England, one of which was the Kerria bush.

Perhaps William Kerr could have done even more if he had not been carried away by opium, being the caretaker of gardens in Ceylon, where he was sent in 1812, where after 2 years he was overtaken by death. But the memory of him continues to live in the name of the bush.

Description

A beautifully flowering deciduous shrub in culture most often rises up to 1.5 meters in height, but in the wild nature of the mountain slopes of native China, Japan and Korea it grows up to 3 meters. The shrub takes a minimum of 5 years to reach its maximum height, and a maximum of 10 years.

Yellowish-green thin stems gracefully bend under the weight of narrow oval-lanceolate narrow simple leaves with a double-toothed margin. In summer, the leaves are bright green or light green, depending on the variety. By autumn, they turn yellow and fall off, leaving attractive green stems to decorate the winter.

Pink-yellow flowers cover the bush abundantly in spring. In nature, these are simple 5-petal flowers. The decorative variety Kerria "Pleniflora" (or "Bachelor's Buttons") has double flowers, single, bright yellow, and the leaves are light green with a downy underside. Often the flowering of the bush coincides with the great holiday of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, therefore the bush is also called the "Easter rose". Flowering lasts 3 to 7 weeks.

Varieties have been bred with white and cream flowers, as well as with variegated leaves, for example, with a yellow border around the light green central part. There are two new cultivars awarded by the Royal Horticultural Society.

Growing

Kerria prefers moderately fertile loamy soils and does not like clay soils very much. Does not tolerate stagnant water, and therefore the soil should be moderately moist and have a good drainage system.

For a shrub, partial shade is preferable, or a lit place, but without direct sunlight, since in the sun the golden-yellow flowers seem to fade, becoming pale and unattractive.

Since flowering is given by new shoots, after the flowers wither, they prune the bush, removing the faded shoots.

The plant, accustomed to living on mountain slopes, easily tolerates drought. But young plants need regular watering to maintain soil moisture with good drainage.

Kerria is a fairly frost-resistant shrub that does not lose its vitality in frosts down to minus 35 degrees. It is safer to cover the bushes for the winter. It is especially important to shelter young plants from frost. For example, as in the following photo:

As a rule, insect pests bypass the shrub, as well as fungal and viral diseases.

Reproduction

Kerria is rich in root growth, which is separated from the mother plant in autumn and transplanted to the desired place.

In addition, propagated by green cuttings and air layers.