White turf planting rules and care tips
A great way to create a picturesque corner in the garden or at their summer cottage is to plant a white turf. The shrub is known for an abundance of varieties, each has its own external characteristics. They differ from each other primarily in color and shape of foliage and shoots. Here you can find ordinary green leaves, and light green with a border of yellow, red, pink, purple, white, as well as spotted. Shoots are usually colored in various shades of red, sometimes yellow.
Varieties and features
A very beautiful white dogwood called Aurea Elegantissima. It lives up to its name. It is a truly elegant, sophisticated plant. Elegantissima has light green leaves with white or cream spots and a light border around the edges. This shrub needs shelter before wintering, it does not tolerate cold well. The described variety of Derain belongs to a special type of deren - Dogwood. Elegantissima, like all types of Dogwood, is distinguished by the fact that it has edible fruits. You can cook many delicious dishes from them: jam, compote, jam. Cornelian cherry grows in the wild in the Caucasus, Crimea, in southern Russia. Elegantissima blooms with yellow inflorescences, which are collected in one bunch. Flowers appear before foliage.
Branches of white turf will not yield to tree branches in strength. Bushes can grow up to three meters high and reach 5-6 meters wide. The leaves form a lush dense crown. Another name for the plant is Svidina. Distinctive features of these ornamental bushes are unpretentiousness, easy maintenance, they can grow in the shade, are not afraid of cold and damp, and are undemanding to the soil.
Derain white is also called Siberian. Why? Its relatives in the wild can be found in the Far East or Siberia. Therefore, the shrub is highly resistant to severe frosts. It grows in a wooded wet area. It blooms for the first time at the age of four. Sometimes (when it gets good care) it blooms twice: in spring and autumn.
Closer to autumn, pretty berries appear on the bushes (in most varieties, they are unsuitable for food). In autumn, the foliage changes its color to an even more variegated one. In winter, when the white dogwood sheds its foliage completely, bright unusual shades of shoots are striking.
How to propagate white dogwood
There are different breeding methods:
- seeds;
- layering;
- cuttings;
- root shoots.
Root shoots grow every year near each turf bush. For transplanting, one stalk is selected, pulled out along with an earthen lump, then planting is carried out in a new place. But if a large number of seedlings are required, you must choose a different propagation method.
Cuttings
For propagation of white deren, you can take green cuttings. Thick branches are selected for this purpose, which emit a crisp sound when trying to break them. The time to get cuttings is the summer flowering of the bush. It is necessary to cut the cuttings when the weather is rather warm, but not hot. To begin with, the harvested branches are immersed in water so that they do not dry out. Then each branch is divided into pieces of 10 cm, while the handle should have two internodes. From above, the stalk is cut in place above the kidney, and the lower cut is made under the kidney. The cut must be made obliquely. The leaves are cut in half.
Before planting, hold the cuttings in a special solution: one heteroauxin tablet and a liter of water. Future seedlings are in solution for about 12 hours. When they are removed from the liquid, be sure to rinse well with water. It is also recommended to sprinkle the ends of the cuttings with Kornevin powder.
In order for the cuttings to take root, they need to be properly cared for: placed in a greenhouse or under a plastic bottle. The soil for planting should have the following composition: a layer of turf, a layer of ordinary sand with the addition of sand with large grains of sand. The earth is well moistened and cuttings of white turf are planted. Landing is made at an inclination of half a right angle. Watering during the growth of the roots is carried out constantly in sufficient quantities. When roots appear, the covering film or glass can be removed. Then the usual care is carried out.
In the fall, the cuttings should all be already rooted. But the planting of white turf in a permanent place should take place no earlier than spring.
You can breed white dogwood not only with young green cuttings. Lignified branches are also suitable for this. Cuttings are harvested from such shoots at the very beginning of winter. Fragments of the shoots are stored in a dark, cold room, immersed in wet sand. You can wrap the cuttings in a wet cloth and even on top in plastic wrap. All this will have to be kept in the refrigerator until spring comes. In early spring, the twigs must be divided into cuttings and planted for rooting.
Layers of white deren germinate well too. To do this, in the spring, fresh shoots must be sprinkled with a layer of earth. Roots should appear on the shoots soon. And by the end of the summer season, one such branch will give up to six new bushes. New plants are pruned with a pruner and then planted in a permanent location.
Seed reproduction
If you do not want to preserve maternal qualities in seedlings, seed propagation is also suitable.
- In early autumn, seeds are taken from the fruits of the plant and washed well.
- They can be sown in the fall or spring.
- When planting in the fall, the first shoots can be expected by next summer.
- When planting occurs in the spring, it must be preceded by a stratification process.
- The stratification of seeds is carried out as follows: the seeds are placed in a cloth bag and buried in wet sand. They are kept in the cold for at least two months (temperature is about five degrees).
- They sow seeds in fertile soil. The composition of the soil should be as follows: peat layer (two parts) plus a layer of sand (one part) plus leaf earth (two parts).
- After the first shoots appear, the seedlings can be moved to open ground. Caring for them should be good, especially at first.
Tips
Keep in mind that the seeds can be kept germinating for up to three to five years.
It is advisable to store the seed in dry paper bags. Sign them with the date of collection and the variety name.
Where to plant white turf
It is better to plant the plant in a semi-shaded or sunny place. Derain white loves well moistened soil, with humus.
Advice
Although the plant loves moisture, it needs good drainage. This is also an important element of turf care. Water should not stagnate at the roots.
White derain is not capricious and can grow both on sandy soil and on clayey. It will tolerate drought and frost well. The shrub is not very susceptible to the influence of harmful insects and diseases.
Care
Caring for a white tree is easy. Let's name the main points.
- Watering regularly is necessary for young plants and adults in particularly hot weather. Young bushes are watered daily, and adults up to three times every four weeks. White Derain needs two buckets of water per plant.
- Top dressing. It is optional, but it is desirable to get fast growth and good flowering. Fertilized usually up to two times in one year. Spring is the time for applying mineral fertilizers, and summer is organic.
- White derain must be cut off. Pruning is also care. The bush can be given the most unusual shape. Let your imagination unfold. First, remove old, dried, diseased and damaged shoots. Then they cut off the branches that stick out in all directions and spoil the general appearance of the bush. Pruning cannot be done in winter.
Whichever variety or type of white turf you choose - Aurea Elegantissima, Atrosanginia, Mitch, Viridissima, Albo-marginata (offspring turf) - no doubt, you will be satisfied. This wonderful plant will beautify your garden all year round, and it will not require much effort from you to care for it.
For growing turf in the open field, you can purchase ready-made seedlings in special nurseries. So you will minimize the already simple steps for growing an ornamental shrub.
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