Hydrangea Dolly (Dolly) - description and care
Content:
Lush caps of panicle Dolly hydrangea look wonderful in the greenery of a garden or an ephedra. The picturesque Dolly hydrangea bush will adorn any corner of the yard or garden for many years. Growing a bush does not require a lot of effort. About the features of planting, care, reproduction and growth periods of Dolly hydrangea in the article below.
Dolly hydrangea description
Many gardeners among shrubs prefer to plant panicle hydrangea (Hydrangea Paniculata), which blooms compactly and luxuriantly, with a delicate aroma from the second half of summer until frost.
Hydrangea paniculata Dolly
Hydrangea was brought from Japan in 1820. In southeast Asia, it grows into a tree up to 10 m high. Its selection is ongoing, there are more than a hundred varieties. One of the latest results of the work of breeders is the Dolly panicle hydrangea, surprising with its beauty and unpretentiousness.
It blooms compactly and luxuriantly
How Dolly's hydrangea blooms
The panicles are wide, pyramidal in shape with a pointed apex 15-25 cm long. The inflorescences bloom white at the crown, sunny greenish with oblong sepals, then turn into light pink, and by September they turn into a dark pink color along the edges.
At the beginning of flowering, the bush looks like an openwork, as if strewn with beads. In the inflorescences there are many small unblown buds the size of a small pea.
Inflorescence
Most often, Dolly's multi-stem spreading bush grows no more than 1.6 m.
Transplanting Dolly hydrangea after purchase outdoors
In spring and autumn, hydrangeas are transplanted into open ground, and closer to the north only in spring.
What you need for landing:
- determine the landing time;
- choose a place for a seedling with appropriate soil;
- prepare the soil in the selected place on the site (dig up, select weeds, fertilize, add peat crumbs);
- process the purchased Dolly sapling, create conditions for its preservation until the moment of planting in the ground;
- prepare tools, fertilizers, compost, peat, sand, water for irrigation.
Choosing the best place
Before planting Dolly's hydrangea in the ground, you need to remember its Far Eastern origin and provide a semi-shady place protected from the wind. In the scorching sun, the leaves will be lighter, and the inflorescences are slightly smaller.
The soil needs to be moist, fertile, loamy, loose (pH 5.5-6.5). She will not like sandy soil as it is too alkaline and dry.
Step-by-step planting process
Several buckets of water are poured into a wide hole (70 cm) up to 35-50 cm deep under the Dolly hydrangea seedling the day before planting to soak the soil with moisture.
During planting, fertile soil, peat, compost and a little sand are introduced into the finished hole. Organic and mineral fertilizers (potassium sulfate, superphosphate, urea) are added.
They form a tubercle of fertile soil in the hole, moisten it. The roots of the seedling are cut a little and up to five pairs of buds are left on young shoots. The roots of the seedling are evenly distributed on the mound and sprinkled with soil mixture. The root collar should not be buried; it must remain flush with the ground.
When planting, the soil is compacted under the hydrangea, tamped and poured abundantly.
Mulched bush
The distance between tall seedlings should be 150 cm. The root system of the plant is widespread in the upper layer and even outside the crown. The flowering of a grateful plant is possible in the first year, but for a hydrangea it is better to remove the first peduncles to strengthen and develop all shrub systems. In the early years, young plants develop slowly, they are protected and covered.
Reproduction
Dolly hydrangea, a perennial ornamental shrub, propagates vegetatively, while maintaining the characteristics inherent in the mother plant. There are several such methods: propagation by cuttings, growing from layering, dividing the bush.
Propagation by cuttings
The number of Dolly hydrangeas is increased by cuttings. For reproduction, shoots (10 cm) are used from pruning a shrub in early spring with four or more buds. The shoots are kept for 2 days in a solution of the root of a weak concentration and placed in a fertile soil with compost, sprinkled with sand. The cuttings are deepened by 2-3 cm into light moisture-absorbing soil with peat, leaving a distance of 3-5 cm between them.
They are covered from the sun with non-woven material and watered. Peat promotes root growth, therefore, after 3-4 weeks, the cuttings of the hydrangea take root, the cover is removed after the heat subsides. With good care, the proportion of rooted cuttings reaches 100%.
Growing from cuttings
The plant can also be propagated by layering. An escape from an adult bush is slightly incised in the place of future roots. Then they are bent to a groove in the ground (20 cm deep), the layering is fixed with a hairpin and sprinkled with soil. Falling asleep the groove, leave part of the layering not sprinkled. Near the groove, the crown can be tied to a peg for verticality. It is necessary to moisten these layers, and separate the grown young growth later.
Dividing the bush
Dolly hydrangea can be bred by dividing the bush. In the spring (before the shoots grow back) or in the fall (long before the soil freezes), the bush is dug up. It is divided into several parts, so that 2-3 buds and 5-6 root suckers remain on each. Craftsmen-gardeners separate part of the bush for breeding, without even digging up the main bush, which will continue to grow.
Care
Dolly's panicle hydrangea grows well and blooms with sufficient moisture, sunlight, feeding, and pruning is simply necessary for it.
Blooming hydrangea Dolly
Watering mode
Watering Dolly abundantly is required 2 times a month, and in hot weather 2 times a week. Requires 1 m² of soil up to 30 liters of water around the bush, you can add potassium permanganate or nettle infusion.
Avoid a dry state around the bush, after moistening, loosen the top layer and remove weeds.
Top dressing
For good growth and flowering of Dolly hydrangea, it is necessary to feed it, especially during the growing season. If there is not enough top dressing, then few inflorescences are formed.
It is advisable to alternate the types of fertilizer complexes when feeding one-time in 10 days. Manure and a mineral complex of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus will be beneficial for the Dolly hydrangea.
In the first days of summer, carry out the first application, and the second top dressing should be done after 2 weeks. This top dressing will be enough until a cold snap. If the bush is young, then fertilizers are further applied, but without the inclusion of nitrogen.
Once every 2 weeks, when watering, a mullein infusion is useful (1 liter of infusion is diluted in 10 liters of water). It is prepared in advance (a bucket of manure is poured into 3 liters of water and insisted for three days).
Features of care during the flowering period
Pruning Dolly's hydrangea bushes before flowering will have a beneficial effect on its splendor and duration.Weak shoots are cut off completely.
During the formation of inflorescences, mineral fertilizer is applied 2 times with a break of 14-15 days. During the flowering period, you must regularly water the bush.
Blooming hydrangea Dolly
Features of care during the rest period
In early spring, the Dolly hydrangea bush is cleaned of old and frozen shoots. Cut the bush before the start of sap flow. If you are late, then pruning is carried out during the blooming of the leaves.
Preparing for winter
Before winter, all panicles and extra shoots are cut off, the strongest branches are left on the bush. Before the onset of cold weather, abundant watering is carried out to protect the root system from freezing. After that, the plant is spud.
Dolly's young plants are sure to be sheltered from the cold. The roots, the most important and vulnerable part of the plant, are carefully covered with a thick layer of insulation made of peat, rotted manure or dry leaves. The frost resistance of the variety is high (up to −29 ° C), but this is in adult bushes, it is better to prepare young ones for winter, covering them from all sides so that frosts do not harm Dolly's hydrangeas.
To plant this variety on his site or not, each grower decides for himself. But, if you were bribed by the beautiful flowering, the height of the bush and easy breeding methods, then why not try it ?! In addition, caring for this variety is not as difficult as described above.
