The moisture-loving and lushly flowering decorative perennial shrub - tree hydrangea - appeared in Russia from North America, where it grows in the wild. Breeders received many varieties and hybrids that differ in color and size of the crown.
Tree hydrangea: planting and care in the open ground
A wild shrub (Latin name "Hydrangea Arborescens") in its natural habitat can grow up to 3 m, but cultivated species are much more modest in size.
Blooming tree hydrangea
The crown lends itself well to forming pruning, after which it will look tidier. Therefore, these bushes are frequent guests of garden compositions with the participation of various cultures: flowers, conifers, etc. If desired, you can form a tree or a lush bush, in both cases it is very easy to get an excellent result.
The origin and appearance of the plant
North American ancestors provided the basis for the work of breeders around the world. The modern cultural tree-like hydrangea is a bush of not very thick pubescent shoots covered with ovoid leaves, bright green on the front side and bluish green on the inside.
Flower descriptions
Inflorescences have a diameter of about 15 cm and the shape of a convex shield. They are collected from small whitish flowers, each of which is no more than 2 cm wide. The usual flowering season lasts from the second half of July to the end of September. In October, the seeds ripen.
Hydrangea inflorescences
Note! Large barren flowers are the most noticeable in inflorescences. Their neighbors are much smaller, but it is from them that the boxes filled with seeds are formed. Fruiting flowers bloom white, and eventually turn green.
Species and varieties
Cultivated tree hydrangeas do not have as many varieties as other types of ornamental shrubs. The color of the inflorescences is mainly white or pink. But hybrid novelties also have more interesting unusual colors. You can guess about them by the name of the seedling. They all feel great in most climatic zones of Russia, including the Moscow Region, the Urals and Siberia.
White
This group is the largest. It includes the following well-known and popular varieties:
- Annabelle is a white tree hydrangea, its creamy flowers form spherical inflorescences with a diameter of up to 20 cm. The height of the drought-resistant bush is about 1.5 m. Large numerous inflorescences make the branches lean to the ground, so it is advisable to provide them with support. The life span of the bush is up to 50 years. Frost resistance - up to −40 ° С;
White hydrangea tree
- Incrediball differs from Annabelle in even larger inflorescences, up to 30 cm in diameter. In this case, the flowers initially bloom in a greenish hue, and then turn into snow-white hats. The plant is taller - it reaches 3 meters in height;
- Hayes Starburst is also a frost-resistant shrub with strong branches. Its inflorescences with double flowers have a dome shape and first have a greenish color, gradually becoming white. The height of the bush is about 1.2 m.
Pink
Such a color is not typical for tree hydrangea, but breeders do their best to diversify the natural shades of inflorescences. The result of their work were grades:
- Invincible is a tree-like shrub with inflorescences of a bright dark pink color, almost red. Most of all, a bush of blooming hydrangea resembles a lilac, since the size and color of the foliage practically coincide. Over time, the saturated color shade becomes much lighter. The variety is characterized by drought tolerance, frost resistance and is suitable for cultivation in a gassed urban environment;
- Pink Pincushen is a compact shrub up to 1.5 m high and 1.2 m wide. Pyramidal inflorescences have a soft pink color that remains unchanged throughout the season. The variety is resistant to pests, withstands drought and frost up to −35 ° C.
Sterilis
This variety of hydrangea differs from all the others in that the chopped cuttings root extremely well. The bush grows rapidly, blooms from July to October. The adult plant reaches a height of 2 m and a width of 2.5 m.
Hydrangea treelike Sterilis
Lush inflorescences when blooming have a delicate beige-green color. Gradually, it brightens, becoming completely white. It can withstand temperature extremes: both prolonged rains and long dry periods.
Transplant after purchase in the open ground in the country
When choosing a seedling in a nursery, specimens with a height of 50-100 cm should be selected. Their roots should be at least 30 cm long. It is best to buy wood hydrangea in containers with a closed root system, as this is the best guarantee of successful survival.
What you need for landing
Most often, new bushes are planted in spring or autumn. Spring is preferable, because in this case the plant will have enough time to form a powerful root system. If planting is carried out in the fall, then after the decay of the foliage they must cover the trunk circle with a layer of mulch, and the crown with any available covering material.
The composition of the soil is not critical. Much more important is its acid-base balance, it should be equal to pH = 5.0-5.5. It is recommended to add peat to retain moisture and sand for better breathability.
Note! The color of inflorescences depends on the chemical composition, which can be corrected in such a way in the right direction.
Choosing the best place
Hydrangea is photophilous and hygrophilous. She needs a well-lit area, which in the afternoon will be slightly shaded. This is one of the reasons why most often the bush is planted near the walls of houses, fences, pergolas. Many varieties are fragile branches, so they need protection from gusts of wind.
Large inflorescences bend thin branches to the ground with their weight, so it is worthwhile to foresee a support for them. In the garden centers, you can find a suitable design for each bush or build a fence around it with your own hands from improvised materials.
Hydrangea Tree: A Step-by-Step Planting Process
Instruction:
- A planting pit is dug 40 × 40 cm and a depth of 50 cm. If several bushes are planted in a row, then the crown growth width typical of these varieties must be taken into account. A thickened planting will lead to a deterioration in the decorative qualities of the bush.
- 1-2 buckets of water are poured a day before planting to saturate the soil.
- Prepare a nutritious soil mixture for backfilling into the pit. A large amount of peat and humus are added to it, as well as 50 g of superphosphate.
- At the bottom of the pit, lay a thin layer of broken brick or expanded clay as drainage, and also establish a support for the garter of the bush to prevent it from skewing.
- Dip the roots of the seedling in the pit and fill it with soil, immediately watering abundantly and sprinkling with mulch.
For your information! If the seedling has taken root, then it will soon give a plentiful growth, and during spring planting in the same year it will already be possible to admire beautiful flowers.
Breeding
It will not be difficult for owners of at least one hydrangea bush to propagate it on an arbitrarily large scale. The shrub is beautifully cut, and the inflorescences give a lot of fresh seeds every year.
Propagation by cuttings
It is believed that there are two optimal seasons for harvesting cuttings:
- At the beginning of June. Cut the shoots of the current year with a piece of last year's growth;
- in July. The apical shoots are cut, not having time to completely lignify.
A quality stalk has 2-3 pairs of leaves, from which the lower one is removed, and the remaining leaves are shortened by half to reduce the area of moisture evaporation. The crown is gently nipped.
Slices are dipped in a root stimulator. Cuttings are planted on a bed in partial shade with loose soil or in a greenhouse. Buried to the level of the lower pair of kidneys. Successful rooting takes 20-30 days. During this time, the leaves should remain green, and the buds will start growing.
Important! It is very important to monitor the high level of humidity, so the cuttings are immediately covered with plastic bottles to create a greenhouse effect.
Seed cultivation
The method is not very popular, because for two years a young seedling will have to be grown at home, after which it will only be transplanted into the open ground for the third year. Seeds are taken the freshest, and sown in February. Pre-soaked for two days. During this time, the roots should hatch.
Sowing is carried out almost without penetration into containers with a total height of 30 cm. The soil is taken with pH = 5.0. Until the green shoots appear, the containers are kept covered with a film. This usually takes two weeks. Care for young seedlings consists in top dressing with a complete complex fertilizer twice a month, watering, as well as daily spraying with water.
Tree Seedlings of Hydrangea
As they grow, seedlings are transplanted into deeper pots. At the same time, they drop foliage in the fall. They are immediately transferred to a room with a temperature of no higher than 5 ° C until spring. From time to time, moisten the soil in a pot to prevent the roots from drying out. In the spring they return to heat. A seedling ready for transplanting into open ground should have a height of about 30 cm.
Care
Even an inexperienced gardener will have no difficulty growing a lush tree of hydrangea in his plot. She needs regular watering, forming pruning and periodic top dressing.
Watering mode
The shrub is extremely hygroscopic, it needs to be in moist soil, but waterlogging is unacceptable. Because of this, the roots can rot. If the bush does not have enough moisture, it can lose all of its buds and even already blossoming inflorescences.
The usual watering regime in the warm season is from 1 to 2 times a week, depending on the amount of rain. Watered with settled water with a temperature of 20-25 ° C. To do this, it’s worth holding a barrel nearby, filling it with rainwater or tap water.
Top dressing
Before budding, a mixture of superphosphate (40 g), potassium (30 g), urea (20 g) is introduced into the soil in spring. Re-feed is required during budding. You can do without urea, and potassium and superphosphate contribute 40 g and 70 g, respectively. In the autumn, before the leaf fall under each bush, 15 kg of manure rotted over the summer in the fresh air are introduced.
Note! If the bush shows excessive fragility of the shoots, then watering with a weak pink solution of potassium permanganate helps.
Features of care during the flowering period
The severity of the inflorescences is the main problem. So that the branches do not break, they need support. If you haven’t bothered about it in advance, you will have to install it in June.
Cut wilted inflorescences
As the inflorescences wither, they must be carefully cut with a secateurs. They leave them only if they want to get seeds.
Features of care at rest
The peculiarity of hydrangea is that the buds appear only on the shoots of this year. If you do not trim, the bushes gradually thicken, and the number of buds formed is steadily declining.
The most serious pruning is carried out in the spring - in March-April. Its purpose is to remove all branches growing inside the crown, frozen and broken during the winter, violating the symmetry of the crown. If you see that the bush is thickened, cut out all the excess. Usually, the tops of the shoots are cut off for 3-5 buds so that the top pair looks out. Immediately after this, you can carry out scheduled dressing.
Winter preparations
In autumn, it is important to remove all dry inflorescences, as well as most of the shoots of this year. Young branches hardly tolerate wintering, so it is best to cut them so that a new young shoot appears from the buds of the lignified branches.
Note! Shelters are required for bushes only in the first year or two. To do this, take any available covering material, cover the crown with it, fixing it with bricks. Hulking and mulching is quite enough for older plants.
Treelike hydrangea looks very beautiful in the garden area, especially when paired with other varieties, for example, panicled. A wide selection of shapes and shades of inflorescences, pleasing with their flowering from July to October, allows everyone to purchase a novelty to their taste. It’s not difficult to take care of her.
