Spirea Japanese and gray - description, planting and care

Japanese spirea is the most popular species. It blooms profusely throughout the summer season, maintaining a pleasant appearance in autumn, unpretentious in care. Japanese spirea does not harm its "neighbors" and is often used in landscape design.

Description of popular varieties

The following varieties are very popular among florists:

Spirea Japanese Golden Princess

Compact shrub up to half a meter in height. It has many small bright yellow leaves. The leaves retain their hue throughout the growing season: from mid-spring to autumn. Flowering in the second half of summer. Spirea Golden Princess grows slowly and loves sunlight.

Japanese spirea

Spirea Japanese Little Princess

The little princess is a rounded shrub of small height (about 50 cm). From May to August, the bush is covered with small pink flowers collected in inflorescences. In autumn, the green leaves change color to bright scarlet.

Spirea Japanese Goldflame

It is translated from English as "golden flame". The variety was named for its resemblance to tongues of fire, as the shoots are colored with a gradient: from bright yellow to red. When blooming, the leaves are bronze-orange in color. In the fall of Spirea, Goldflame takes on a bright reddish hue. Deep pink flowers are formed on young shoots. The height of an adult plant is about 70 cm. Visually similar to the Spirea variety Magic Carpet, it has a similar color, but larger leaves.

Goldflame

Spirea Japanese Shirobana

A relatively high grade of spirea. The shrub grows to a height of 80-90 cm. Red, lilac, white and pink flowers bloom on one bush. The leaves are small, deep green. Flowering in the first half of summer.

Spirea Japanese Crisp

Has jagged sharp leaves and large fuchsia inflorescences. The inflorescences are located at a great distance from each other. By autumn, the leaves of the bush change color to purple-red. The height of the bush is 60-75 cm. Flowering in the second half of summer. Crispa prefers a shaded area. Soil moisture should be moderate, as excess water is bad for growth and flowering.

Decorating a personal plot using Japanese spirea plantings

Spirea is well complemented by other plants, both minimalistic conifers and lush flowering shrubs. Bright spireas attract attention, they can hide leafless and bare parts of trees.

Compact shrubs, complemented by textured stones, fit perfectly into the alpine slide. In addition, small specimens can be planted along the curb. For this, varieties with dense flowering are suitable, there should be a small distance between the inflorescences.

Elongated shrubs can be used as hedges or planted alone, for example, near a gazebo, pond, children's area.

Next to the lilac, you can plant the Goldmound spirea variety. Its luscious green leaves and delicate purple flowers are similar in color to her. Goldmound blooms in summer and, after the fragrant flowers of the lilac have fallen off, will replace it in the landscape composition.

Spirea in the rock garden

Spirea gray Grefsheim (Grefsheim)

The main difference of this variety is the abundant spring flowering. The shrub grows quickly and is easy to care for. For its delicate lush flowers, the people call it "May snow" or "bride".

Grafsheim

The origin and appearance of the plant

Large deciduous shrub with long, flowing branches curving downward. Has a wide spherical crown. Small, narrow leaves have a pointed tip and denticles at the edges. At the beginning of the summer cottage season, the leaves have a dusty green tint. In autumn they turn bright yellow.

Description of the flower

It has snow-white double flowers (similar to cherry blossoms) that tightly encircle the branches. Flowers of small diameter up to 1 cm are grouped in umbellate inflorescences. Flowering lasts 7-8 weeks from May to June. Dry flowers fall off easily.

Application in landscape design

It is reasonable to plant a relatively large shrub singly, supplementing it with small plantings of tulips or daffodils. So that after the end of flowering, the place is not empty, there you can also plant the Wangutta spirea, which also has snow-white flowers. Grefsheim looks most elegant in the role of a hedge.

Spirea Bumald

Spirea Bumalda (in Latin "Spiraea Bumalda") is a hybrid of Japanese and white-flowered spirea. It has become widespread due to its unpretentiousness and striking appearance. It is characterized by a small height (up to 70 cm), a spherical shape, crimson or bright pink (fuchsia) flowers.

Boomalda is lower than Japanese varieties. Has ovoid leaves, inflorescences in the form of panicles.

The flower shops mainly offer:

Spirea Bumald Anthony Vaterer

Has a pleasant combination of shades. In summer, during flowering, rich crimson flowers are combined with emerald green leaves. In autumn, the leaves turn purple. In the conditions of Central Russia, it reaches a height of 50 cm. Flowering from July to early autumn.

Spirea Bumald Frobeli

Shrub about 50 cm high. Some specimens grow up to a meter. The diameter is approximately twice the height. In spring and autumn, the leaves have a red purple hue, in summer they are rich green. At the beginning of flowering (May-June), the flowers are crimson, at the end (September) - a delicate lilac.

Spirea Boomald Crisp

The height of the bush is about 50 cm. The pubescent shoots are brown. Flowering in the second half of summer. At the beginning of the season, the leaves are wine-colored, turn green by summer, and turn scarlet by autumn. The flowers are dark purple in color.

Spirea Bumalda Darts Red

Shoots are straight. The corymbose inflorescences have a juicy pink color; by the end of flowering they do not change their color. Leaves during flowering with pink veins, in summer - dark green, in autumn - scarlet. Bloom from mid-July to October. Spirea Darts Red prefers sunlight without shade. Watering requires moderate. It is recommended to provide a drainage layer during planting.

The variety is similar to Macrophil's spirea. Its flowers also have a deep pink color, and the leaves acquire a bright scarlet hue by autumn.

Darts Red

Spirea Bumald in garden design

Spirea Bumald is suitable for any landscape style. The inflorescences are combined with garden flowers of yellow and purple shades.A low hedge of monochromatic pink shrubs looks especially exquisite.

Features of agricultural technology

Shrub care does not require much time and effort. Spirea is quite unpretentious to soil and light, almost never needs additional feeding. If the bush was planted in the autumn months, it is recommended to make a shelter for it, so it will more easily survive frosts.

A shrub planted in spring needs abundant watering throughout the summer. If the soil is infertile, you can feed the plant in early to mid-March.

The plant does not tolerate winter colds well, therefore it needs additional care:

• pruning;
• fertilization;
• shelter.

The shrub is pruned every year. With the onset of warmth, this will have a positive effect on its flowering and appearance. In the fall, dried and diseased shoots are removed. Healthy ones are shortened by 1/3. Such procedures should be carried out with a plant over four years old.

How to organize a shelter:

1. Shoots are collected together and tied.
2. The area around the table is covered with 10 cm of peat or fallen leaves.
3. The spirea is bent to the ground, fixed with metal hooks and again covered with a layer of dry foliage.

Reproduction methods

Like most artisanal plants, spirea can be propagated in several ways:

• cuttings;
• layering;
• seeds;
• dividing the bush.

Seed propagation

You will need large diameter containers with low sides. A peat mixture is poured into them (peat and leafy soil in a 1: 1 ratio). Seeds are poured into them in an arbitrary position. After sowing, the seeds are covered with peat. Layer thickness 1 cm.

Seedlings appear around the end of the first week. Further, in order to avoid the occurrence of fungal infections, the soil and sprouts are treated with a solution of potassium permanganate or a similar agent.

After 2 months, small shrubs can be moved to the site. During this period, the plant should be in the shade, later it can be moved to a sunny place. A young seedling needs to be watered abundantly.

In the first few years of a shrub's life, the soil under it must be loosened regularly. In the third year of cultivation, the plant begins to bloom.

Reproduction by layering

One of the easiest breeding methods. The procedure should be carried out in the spring. From the side of the shoots used, furrows are preliminarily made. The shoots located at the very bottom are pressed to the ground in the furrow zone and attached with a pitchfork. The other side is cut off with a sharp knife. The cut off shoot is completely covered with soil.

In winter, the layers are covered with fallen leaves. The next season, with the onset of heat, the shoot takes root. It must be cut off and transplanted to the place where the spirea will grow.

Plant seedlings

The acquired seedlings are processed: unhealthy and very long roots are cut with a secateurs or a knife. The cut should be straight, so the roots will not separate into fibers. The top of the seedling is shortened by ¼.

If the plant has a closed root system, then it must be well watered with water and only then planted.

For each seedling it is necessary to make a separate hole, its size depends on the root system. As a rule, an area of ​​50 × 50 cm is sufficient. Ideally, the pits should be made in advance, two days before planting, so that the soil has time to ventilate.

A mixture of sand, grain soil and peat is poured into the bottom in a ratio of 1: 2: 1. The seedling is placed in a hole, the roots must be straightened and covered with soil. From above, the earth is watered with 3-4 liters of water.

Application in landscape design

Spireas are often used in landscape design. A dense flower cover adorns the shrub for several months. Even after flowering, it attracts attention with the contrast of scarlet, yellow and green leaves. A few tips for decorating a garden with Japanese spireas:

• For solo planting, it is worth choosing varieties with a spherical crown or with falling long shoots, for example, Vangutta. Shrubs with bright colors are placed as an accent color in the composition.
• Contrasting group plantings look beautiful, where shrubs of different shapes, widths and heights are combined.
• It is necessary to combine plant varieties in a group so that at any time of the summer cottage at least a few of them bloom.
• High varieties of Japanese spirea are suitable for Asian-style landscaping.
• Varieties of Japanese spirea are well suited for creating a contrast of textures, for example, alternating small shrubs with stones and thuja.
• Shrubs are combined with any wooden structures: fences, bridges, swings, flower beds.
• Modern landscape designers often use mixborders that combine plants of different shapes and colors. The best garden flower neighbors: tulips, daffodils, irises, roses, daylilies.
• Complementary trees: pines, spruces, junipers, broom, multiflorous elk.

Diseases and pests

The plant does not often suffer from pests and diseases. Most often, spirea is harmful to aphids, spider mites, and meadowsweet sawfly.

The spider mite reproduces for 7-10 generations in one summer season. It is easy to recognize it: first, white spots appear on the leaves, then the leaves lose color, dry out and fall off. The peak of spider mite attacks is early August. In the fight against it, you can use fosalone, phosphamide, metaphos.

Aphids deprive the shrub of nutrients by sucking the juice out of it. Pests are especially active in the middle of summer. Getting rid of aphids is quite simple: such folk remedies as onion and garlic juice, soap solution, pepper tincture will help.

Of the diseases, spirea is most often overcome by fungal infections. Against them, fungicidal preparations are used: colloidal sulfur, foundationol, etc.

Japanese spirea is the best choice for an amateur gardener. You can easily get new copies of the plant, grow and save them for many years. Bright lush spirea will fit into any garden and will delight with its appearance in spring, summer and autumn.