Types of decorative honeysuckle and its cultivation

Ornamental honeysuckle cannot be used for food. It is designed to decorate the garden, and culture copes with this mission perfectly. What do not create compositions with decorative honeysuckle, and all those troubles that are associated with caring for it, as if they pay off with interest.

It should start with the fact that decorative honeysuckle is not a specific variety, but a large number of forms that differ from each other in appearance, place of growth, and resistance to frost. They are good for fencing a plot, for creating green compositions, for decorating certain accent zones in the local area. If honeysuckle curls, it is impossible not to use it to decorate gazebos and arches. Ornamental bushes will bloom from late spring to mid-summer, but closer to autumn, fruits will appear on them: not just inedible, but often poisonous.

Here's how to tell the difference between decorative and edible honeysuckle:

• if the form is garden (that is, the berries can be eaten), then its fruits will be dark blue, oblong, having a noticeable waxy coating, and they ripen at the end of June;
• in landscape varieties, the fruits are smaller, they are round, black or dark red, located in pairs and often fused with each other;
• the berries of the ornamental plant seem to be glued to the leaves, because their stalk is short, and inedible berries ripen in August.

It makes sense to understand a little about the classification of landscape honeysuckle. The most popular division among gardeners is a liana-like plant and a shrub, and each species is good in its own way on the site.

The varieties of climbing honeysuckle will be as follows.

• The most famous type of such honeysuckle is "Caprifol". It grows in well-lit areas with moist soil and blooms with very large and fragrant flowers. The smell of such a plant is especially strong in the evenings. The plant is also winter-hardy and unpretentious. It needs good vertical support, be it a wall, arch or pergola. The flexible and long stems of the plant will need to be straightened from time to time and laid in a certain way so that the vine is neat and demonstrates its decorative effect as much as possible.

• "Brown fuchsia". Exotic, very bright honeysuckle with orange flowers, which cover the bush almost entirely. Blooms up to 2 months. But it is not very large, unlike other lianas, it will hardly reach 3 m here. But the winter hardiness of this variety is far from ideal. In the northern regions, such honeysuckle needs shelter.

• Serotina. This variety is distinguished by bright leaves and very graceful petals. And the aroma is also extraordinary. Cutting off old inflorescences in time, you can organize this plant to bloom until autumn. This beautiful vine also lacks frost resistance, it needs shelter. It is almost impossible to grow it in the northern regions.

• "Japanese". The attractiveness of this species lies in its bright colors and decorative leaves. Frost resistance is low, even under cover, the culture will not winter well. And yet every spring it will grow at least 1 m, although it will not bloom.

The most popular type is “Tatarskaya” honeysuckle. In May, this shrub is covered with white or pink flowers. This plant is quite resistant to drought and frost. And then there is the alpine bush honeysuckle. It is short, it can reach only half a meter, but it is very beautiful: with greenish-white flowers, which will be replaced by blue, but inedible berries.

There is nothing complicated in this procedure. The plant is planted in spring or early autumn. The place should be sunny, without drafts and near groundwater. It's good if this place is on the south side of the site. What kind of soil will be, is not so important for honeysuckle. But loose and limed soils are probably preferable.

Let's see what to consider when planting a plant.

1. Planting holes will have to be prepared in advance. If several vines are planted, the interval between them should be at least 2 m, but if there are bushes, then half a meter or slightly less.
2. In the hole where the plant will go, compost and sand, a handful of lime and the same amount of mineral fertilizer are preliminarily placed. And all this must be mixed well with the garden soil.
3. After that, the hole must be carefully shed. After the water is absorbed into the ground, an earthen mound is poured in the center. A seedling with straightened roots will go there.
4. The hole is covered with earth, compacted, and then watered.
5. The root zone is mulched with peat, sawdust or bark so that moisture remains there. When it is hot, the seedling is shaded.

The plant is not capricious, but still the simplest set of measures for caring for it is required.

Honeysuckle requires moderate watering, because the plant will not tolerate stagnation in the roots. Only "Caprifol" needs abundant hydration, and even then only during the flowering period. If the summer is not the warmest, it often rains, you can water the honeysuckle only once a month. A standard bucket of water should go under each bush.

Feeding is even easier. After planting, you don't need to feed the honeysuckle for 2 years. She will be quite satisfied with what was put into the hole when landing. But from the third year of her life, she needs help: pour 25 g of ammonium nitrate under each bush, and when it melts and is absorbed, send a bucket of humus there. Compound fertilizers containing a lot of potassium and phosphorus are best suited for honeysuckle. But with nitrogen, you need to be more careful: if you overfeed the plant with it, then the vegetative mass will actively grow, but problems will arise with flowering.

If honeysuckle shows weak growth, and development can be characterized as insufficient, then foliar feeding with ammonia and phosphorus-potassium substances will be good. You can spray young landscape honeysuckle with "Epin", "Zircon" and "Immunocytophyte". If the dressing is dry, it is simply scattered evenly over the root zone, but you can also dissolve it in a bucket of water and pour the honeysuckle under the root. Then the soil is loosened and must be mulched, which will help to retain moisture, and in the summer it will not allow the roots to overheat.

It has already been noted that there is no need to prune either after planting or after transplanting. You can not cut decorative honeysuckle on a stump, since then you cannot wait for a rich flowering from it. "Caprifol", for example, like other liana-like varieties, blooms on branches of the second order, so if the plant is cut short, there will simply be no flowers for the next season. And only in the 5-6 year of life it is necessary to carry out sanitary pruning of broken and frozen shoots. Just tying up such shoots is not an option.

But those shrub species that form a hedge require formative pruning. This is good for the decorative qualities of the plant, and for the improvement of the culture as a whole.... It is better to prune honeysuckle in spring.

Seeds, cuttings, layering, dividing bushes - any of these methods is suitable for plant propagation.

The option is the most time consuming and slowest. Seeds must be stratified, therefore they are usually sown before winter. If there is sufficient moisture in early spring, then the culture will begin to grow well, and after 3 weeks you can wait for shoots. After the appearance of the fifth leaf, the seedlings dive 10 cm apart. On hot days, the bushes will need to be shaded and sprayed. In the spring (already next year), plants can be transferred to a permanent place.

This makes it even easier to propagate the plant. In early spring, while the leaves have not yet blossomed, the shoots are cut into pieces with a couple of internodes, after which they are sent to the garden bed (a couple of buds should remain at the top). The plantings are covered with a film, be sure to spray it from time to time. After a month, the cuttings will already take root, and by the fall it will be possible to observe a good increase. The bushes will go to a permanent place next spring.

The method is simple, but still lengthy. Young shoots must be pinned to the soil, sprinkled with it, and moistened. The mound must be mulched and covered with a film. By the fall, the roots should get stronger. In the spring of next year, the branch is separated from the mother bush with the help of a secateurs, and sent to a permanent place. If the root mass is still insufficient, the shoot should be left until autumn.

Rhizome division is only possible for 5-year-old plants and older. Honeysuckle does not need to be dug out, it is enough to detach a piece of root with 3-5 shoots with a shovel, and then transfer it to a new place. Young plants should be covered with foil, sprayed regularly until they adapt. If there are sunny days, the landing will need to be shaded, otherwise there is a risk of burnout. Proper care will ensure that it blooms for the next year.

If the summer is dry and warm, then landscape honeysuckle will rarely hurt. If the weather is cold, there are prolonged rains, then the plant is afraid of powdery mildew, rust, and peronosporosis. A white bloom appears on diseased leaves, spots of gray-yellow color, the leaves simply wither and fall off.

If the plants are overfed with nitrogen, they will become especially attractive to pests: aphids, spider mites, whiteflies, and scale insects. The larvae of these insects suck out the plant sap, contaminating the leaves with the products of their vital activity, and then a sooty fungus attacks them. The affected plant will grow slowly, and a problem called "does not bud" may also become relevant.

Here's what honeysuckle will help:

• top dressing, in which there is a lot of phosphorus and potassium;
• "Topaz", "Skor" and "Previkur" if the plant is affected by a fungus;
• "Fitoverm", "Mospilan", "Aktellik", if pests attacked the honeysuckle;
• "Zircon" and "Epin" (as a means of increasing immunity).

For prophylactic purposes, before sometimes falling leaves, honeysuckle can be sprayed with a 5% urea solution. And in the spring, spraying with "Lepidocide" will not interfere. If summer is not at all happy with the weather, copper oxychloride will be a good support for the plant.

Honeysuckle adapts very well and easily to new conditions. Even in a shaded area, culture is developing well. She is decorated with garden buildings, arches, hedges, all kinds of small architectural structures on the site. For arches, fences, low buildings and terraces, liana-like varieties are just an ideal solution. It is believed that such plants coexist favorably with long roses and coniferous shrubs. Dwarf honeysuckle varieties are ideal in rocky gardens, on alpine hills.

A very interesting emphasis can be made on the aromatic properties of honeysuckle, that is, not only to decorate a particular area in the country, but also to create an aromatic corner. And it will be a gorgeous place on the site where you can relax and spend time with guests. The picture in front of your eyes will be complemented by aroma, and such memories are very long-lasting.

Here are some additional tips from landscape designers.

• Honeysuckle "Tatarskaya" - an excellent choice for the formation of hedges. In spring, this bush will stretch up to 4 m in height, and you can expect the appearance of white-pink flowers on it, and after flowering it will give red-orange fruits. The leaves of this variety are bluish. For a group composition, this is a very interesting solution.
• Amazing combinations create honeysuckle and undersized juniper, you can also use undersized spruce.
• For the decoration of borders and groups that will be in the active sun, they are well suited "Amphora", "Provincial", "Caramel"... And the best companion for border honeysuckle will be Japanese spirea, as well as cinquefoil.
• If the site is moist and fertile soil, then honeysuckle will go well with hydrangea (both paniculate and tree-like).
• For alpine slides and retaining walls, it is convenient to use honeysuckle "Kunashirskaya", and chaenomeles, liverwort, ash tree will become ideal neighbors for her.
• An absolutely self-sufficient and excellent solution for the site will be variety "Halls Prolific"... Even without any companions, this sample will decorate any territory, it will grow well both in the Moscow region and in other regions similar in climate.