2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
A relatively unpretentious deciduous shrub that does not shy away from partial shade, withstands frosts down to minus ten degrees and gives a heavenly fragrant flowering from July to October
Rod Karyopteris
Of more than a dozen species of deciduous shrubs of the genus Caryopteris, only two are grown in culture: "gray-haired" and "clandonensis". Wild species are otherwise called "Nut-winged" and are included in the Red Data Books in connection with their rapid disappearance. This is in the Paleogene, 55 million years ago, they grew at ease. Much has changed on the planet since those times.
Karyopteris attracted the attention of flower growers by the abundant and long flowering of lilac-blue inflorescences, which emit a persistent pleasant aroma, which is felt even from a distance. But even in the absence of flowers, the shrub is decorative, due to the variability of the color of its carved leaves. "Hatching" from the buds in the spring, they are colored bright green. In the fall, when the flower petals fall off, the leaves express sorrow, turning yellow, browning or turning orange.
Active branching and pruning flexibility make it easy to shape the bush, turning it into a compact piece of art. The plant also owes its long flowering to its shoots, which are formed sequentially, politely making way for each other to reach the sun.
Gray-haired karyopteris
Gray-haired karyopteris (Caryopteris incana) is a dense branching bush that grows up to one and a half meters in height. Its falling leaves are oblong-oval in shape, with a large toothed edge, are very decorative and emit an aroma. But the peak of perfection is a flowering bush, covered with abundant lilac inflorescences against a background of green foliage.
Karyopteris clandonensis
Karyopteris clandonensis (Caryopteris x clandonensis) is a joint creation of nature and human hands, which crossed two botanical species: Mongolian karyopteris (Mongolian walnut), listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation, and gray-haired karyopteris.
The hybrid tried to take the best from the parents. It is a fairly stable species with a lush bush of flexible shoots that grow to a height of one meter. Derived from the hybrid, the garden form, Sky Blue karyopteris, has a compact bush shape.
Brown-dark green oval leaves covered with hairs.
From July to October, inflorescences of tubular lilac-bluish flowers bloom at the tops of the shoots.
Growing
Karyopteris is unpretentious to soils, but, on sandy, high humidity or acidic soil, it will grow sluggish and shy away from flowering.
He can grow under the rays of the sun or in partial shade, but he really does not like a gust of wind, and therefore places are selected for him where the nosy wind has no access.
It can be planted in open ground in spring or autumn, so that the soil at the planting site is moist or well compacted, do not forget to add compost or other organic fertilizers. If the soil is not too scarce, then during the active period of growth, you can do without mineral fertilizing, because in the wild, karyopteris generally grows on stony soil. Watering the soil is carried out only during the dry season.
Given the branchiness of the plant, it is not worth saving on free spaces between seedlings, leaving 1, 5, or even 2 meters between them.
Although the plant shows enviable resilience, winter frosts, enemy number 1, can overdo it and destroy the branches. In this case, the plant survives at the expense of many shoots, which in the spring fearlessly crawl out into the light, surrounding the base of the bush. For safety net, it will be safer to cover the bush for the winter with leaves, straw, spruce branches.
Reproduction
The shrub is propagated by semi-lignified cuttings in August, rooting them in a container with a mixture of sand and peat, taken in equal quantities. When the roots appear, the cuttings are moved to the soil, in which half the land and a quarter of sand and peat. Fortified seedlings in the same fall, or next spring, are planted in open ground.
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