Japanese spirea is the most popular species. It blooms profusely throughout the summer season, while maintaining a pleasant appearance in the fall, is unpretentious in care. Japanese Spirea does not harm its "neighbors" and is often used in landscape design.
Description of popular varieties
Among flower growers, the following varieties are very popular:
Spirea Japanese Golden Princesses
Compact shrub up to half a meter in height. It has many small leaves of bright yellow color. Leaves retain their tint 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
Spiraea Japanese Little Princesses
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, green leaves change color to bright scarlet.
Japanese Spirea Goldflame
From English translates as "golden flame". The variety was named for its similarity to the tongues of fire, as the shoots are colored with a gradient: from bright yellow to red. When blooming, the leaves have a bronze-orange color. In the fall of spirea, Goldflame gains a bright red tint. On young shoots, deep pink flowers are formed. The height of an adult plant is about 70 cm. Visually similar to the Magic Carpet variety of spirea, it has a similar color, but larger leaves.
For your information! The plant grows rapidly and is unpretentious to soil moisture and the amount of sunny color.
Gold flame
Japanese Spirea Shirobana
Relatively high grade of spirea. In height, the bush grows by 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.
Japanese Spirea Crispa
It has jagged, sharp leaves and large fuchsia inflorescences. Inflorescences are at a great distance from each other. By autumn, the leaves of the shrub change color to lilac-red. The height of the bush is 60-75 cm. Flowering in the second half of summer. Crispa prefers a shaded place. Soil moisture should be moderate, as excess water adversely affects growth and flowering.
Decorating a personal plot with Japanese spirea plantings
Other plants, such as minimalistic conifers and lush flowering shrubs, complement well spirea. Bright spirea attract attention, they can hide leafless and bare parts of trees.
Compact shrubs, complemented by textured stones, fit perfectly into the alpine hill. 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.
Note! In rockeries and rock gardens it is better to plant small bushes with a dense crown. They can be supplemented with small fir trees, thuja.
The elongated shrubs can be used as hedges or planted singly, for example, near a gazebo, pond, children's area.
Next to the lilac, you can plant a variety of Goldmound spirea. Its juicy green leaves and soft purple flowers are similar to her in color. Goldmound blooms in the summer and, after fragrant lilac flowers have fallen, will replace it in the landscape composition.
Spirea in the rock garden
Gray Spirea Grefsheim (Grefsheim)
The main difference of this variety is the abundant spring flowering. The shrub is growing fast, unpretentious in care. For delicate lush flowers, the people call it "May snow" or "bride."
Grefshame
The origin and appearance of the plant
Large deciduous shrub with flowing long branches bending to the bottom. Has a wide spherical crown. Small narrow leaves have a pointed tip and denticles along the edges. At the beginning of the summer season, the leaves have a dusty green tint. In the fall they turn bright yellow.
For your information! Ash Spirea was created in Norway in the 1950s. For hybridization, spirea whitish-gray and St. John's wort were taken.
Flower description
It has snow-white terry flowers (similar to cherry flowers) that tightly encircle the branches. Flowers of small diameter up to 1 cm are grouped into umbrella inflorescences. Flowering lasts 7-8 weeks from May to June. Dry flowers easily fall off.
Landscape design application
It is reasonable to plant a relatively large shrub alone, supplementing it with small plantings of tulips or daffodils. So that after flowering is complete, the place is not empty, you can also plant Wangutta spirea, which also has snow-white flowers. Most elegantly, Grefshame looks like a hedge.
Spirea Bumalda
Bumalda Spirea (in Latin "Spiraea Bumalda") is a hybrid of Japanese and white-flowered spirea. It is widely used due to its unpretentiousness and vibrant appearance. It is characterized by a small height (up to 70 cm), spherical shape, raspberry or bright pink (fuchsia) flowers.
Bumalda is lower than Japanese varieties. Has ovoid leaves, inflorescences in the form of panicles.
In flower shops, they mainly offer:
Spirea Bumald Anthony Waterrer
It has a pleasant combination of shades. In summer, during flowering, saturated raspberry flowers are combined with emerald green leaves. Autumn leaves turn purple. In the conditions of Central Russia, it reaches a height of 50 cm. Flowering from July to early autumn.
Spirea Bumalda Frobely
Shrub about 50 cm high. Some specimens grow up to a meter. The diameter is approximately two times the height. In spring and autumn, the leaves have a red purple hue, in the summer - saturated green. At the beginning of flowering (May-June) the flowers have a crimson color, at the end (September) - delicate lilac.
Spirea Bumald 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 have a wine color, turn green by summer, and turn red by autumn. The flowers are dark purple.
Note! Repeated flowering in September is possible in warm weather.
Spirea Bumalda Darts Red
Straight shoots. Inflorescences of the corymbal shape have a juicy pink color, by the end of flowering they do not change color. Leaves during flowering with pink veins, in the summer - dark green, in the fall - scarlet. Flowering from mid-July to October. Spirea Darts Red prefers sunlight without a shadow. Watering requires moderate. During planting, a drainage layer is recommended.
The variety is similar to Macrophilus spirea. Its flowers also have a deep pink color, and the leaves acquire a bright scarlet hue by autumn.
Darts Red
Spirea Bumalda in garden design
Spirea Bumalda is suitable for any landscape style. Inflorescences are combined with garden flowers in yellow and purple. Particularly elegant is the low hedge of plain pink shrubs.
Important! Bumalda with rich bright raspberry flowers can be planted solo. Varieties with flowers of a muted shade are best combined with other plants.
Features of agricultural technology
Caring for the bush does not require much time and effort. Spirea is unpretentious enough to soil and light, almost never needs fertilizing. If the bush was planted in the autumn months, it is recommended to provide shelter for it, so it will more easily survive the frosts.
The shrub planted in the 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 cold, so it needs additional care:
- pruning
- fertilizer application;
- shelter.
Note! Watering is not the most important part of the preparation for wintering. Spirea tolerate a lack of moisture. Before the cold, the shrub should be fed with phosphorus-potassium fertilizer.
Every year, the bush is pruned. With the onset of heat, this will positively affect its flowering and appearance. Dry and diseased shoots are removed in the fall. Healthy shorten by 1/3. Such procedures should be carried out with a plant older than four years.
How to arrange shelter:
- Shoots are collected together and tied.
- The area around the table is covered with 10 cm peat or fallen leaves.
- Spirea is bent to the ground, fixed with metal hooks and again covered with a layer of dry foliage.
Breeding methods
Like most artisanal plants, spirea can be propagated in several ways:
- cuttings;
- layering;
- by seeds;
- dividing the bush.
For your information! The division of the bush and propagation by cuttings are complex options that take more than a year and a half. It is faster and more convenient to get a new plant using seeds, a layering or a young seedling.
Seed propagation
You will need containers of large diameter with low sides. They add peat mixture (peat and leaf land in a 1: 1 ratio). In them in an arbitrary position the seeds fall asleep. 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 earth and sprouts are treated with a potassium permanganate solution 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. The young seedling needs to be watered abundantly.
In the first few years of the life of the shrub, the soil under it must be regularly loosened. In the third year of cultivation, the plant begins to bloom.
Important! Young spirea have a fragile root system that is easy to damage with a chopper.
Propagation by layering
One of the easiest ways to reproduce. The procedure should be carried out in the spring. On the side of the shoots used, furrows are preliminarily made. The shoots located at the very bottom are pressed to the ground in the area of the furrows and are attached with a pitchfork. The other side is cut with a sharp knife. Cut off the shoot completely sprinkled with soil.
In winter, 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 purchased seedlings are processed: unhealthy and very long roots are cut by pruning shears or knives. The cut should be even, so the roots will not disperse 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 and only then planted.
Important! If the lump of earth on the roots of a seedling is petrified, it must be soaked in water for 3-4 hours.
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, pits should be made in advance, two days before planting, so that the soil can be aired.
A mixture of sand, grain land and peat is poured to the bottom in a ratio of 1: 2: 1. The seedling is pitted, the roots must be straightened and covered with soil. From above the earth is poured 3-4 liters of water.
Landscape design application
Spirea is often used in landscape design. A dense flower cover adorns the bush for several months. Even after flowering, it attracts attention with the contrast of scarlet, yellow and green leaves. Some tips for decorating the garden with Japanese spirea:
- For solo planting, it is worth choosing varieties with a spherical crown or with flowing long shoots, for example, Wangutta. Shrubs with vibrant colors are placed as a color accent in the composition.
- Contrast group plantations look beautifully, where shrubs of different shapes, widths and heights are combined.
- Combine plant varieties in a group so that at least a few of them bloom at any time in the summer season.
- High-grade Japanese spirea are suitable for Asian-style landscaping.
- Varieties of Japanese spirea are well suited to create a contrast of textures, for example, the alternation of small bushes with stones and thuja.
- Shrubs are combined with any wooden structures: fences, bridges, swings, flower beds.
- Modern landscape designers often use mixborders combining plants of different shapes and shades. The best neighbors from garden flowers: tulips, daffodils, irises, roses, daylilies.
- Complementary trees: pines, spruces, junipers, broom, multiflower sucker.
Important! Spirea is suitable for any landscape design: borders, alleys, massifs, rock gardens, rockeries.
Diseases and Pests
The plant does not often suffer from pests and diseases. Most often, spirea harms aphids, spider mites, meadowsweet sawflies.
The spider mite breeds by 7-10 generations in one summer season. It is easy to recognize it: first, white spots appear on the leaves, then the leaves lose their color, dry and fall off. The peak of spider mite attacks is the beginning of August. In the fight against it, you can use fosalon, phosphamide, metaphos.
Aphids deprive a bush of nutrients by sucking juice from it. Pests are especially active in mid-summer. It is quite simple to get rid of aphids: such folk remedies as onion and garlic juice, soapy solution, pepper tincture will help.
Of the diseases of spirea, fungal infections are most often overcome. Fungicidal drugs are used against them: colloidal sulfur, foundationazole, etc.
Japanese Spirea is the best choice for an amateur gardener. You can easily get new plant instances, grow and preserve them for many years. Bright magnificent spirea will fit into any garden and will delight with its appearance in spring, summer and autumn.
