Cinquefoil Abbotswood - description and care
Content:
The Potentilla bush covered with bright flowers looks very decorative, which is very much appreciated by gardeners. A perennial plant with numerous medicinal properties, it has many popular varieties. One of them is Abbotswood shrub cinquefoil.
Description Potentilla Abbotswood
The variety, called Abbotswood (Potentilla fruticosa Abbotswood), refers to undersized. The height of the bush over 7 years old is on average up to 1 m, and the width is up to 1.3 m. With proper pruning, the crown acquires a symmetrical spherical shape. In the first years, the plant consistently shows the fastest growth (up to 20 cm in height and width), and then slows down very much. In just one place, it can grow up to 30 years.
Flowering bush - Potentilla Abbotswood
Leaves are lanceolate, light green with a slight yellowness, up to 3 cm long. The flower is white, up to 2.5 cm in diameter. The buds grow from the interleaf sinuses one at a time and in small clusters. Potentilla blooms in June and its flowering lasts until October, until stable frosts come.
In horticultural culture, Abbotswood shrub cinquefoil is good for its exceptionally high resistance to frost (up to -40 ° C) and prolonged droughts. Diseases rarely affect him, in particular, there is no powdery mildew on the leaves.
Crown of an adult bush 7-8 years old
Planting a plant
Experienced flower growers prefer to purchase Potentilla planting material in the form of adult bushes, which can be planted in any area they like during April, May and all summer. Growing a bush from seeds is a task for a very experienced specialist.
Planting from seeds
Small seeds are sown almost superficially, only slightly dusting with sand. The abundantly moistened soil is covered with foil or glass. Seedlings can be expected from 2 weeks to 2 months.
Further care is that the seedlings need bright lighting, regular watering. After a couple of months, top dressing is applied in the form of a complex mineral fertilizer.
Sprig Potentilla fruticosa Abbotswood
Planting seedlings in open ground
Seedlings of the first year spend summer, autumn and winter indoors. They will not survive a real winter. Only in the second year, seedlings are planted in open ground when the soil warms up to +15 ° C. At least 1 m is left between individual plants, so that in the future the bushes do not interfere with each other.
How to care for Potentilla Abbotswood
Agricultural rules are generally the same for all bush varieties of Kuril tea.
Watering
Cinquefoil Abbotswood is a drought-tolerant plant, therefore it is preferable to rare but abundant watering. If in a given area precipitation is frequent in spring and summer (every week), then watering is not required at all. Spraying with warm water after sunset has a positive effect on decorativeness.
Top dressing
Potentilla's exactingness to soil fertility is high. To stimulate flowering and successful wintering, complex mineral fertilizers are required twice a season.In March, 50-60 g of the complete composition (NPK) is applied under each bush, and before flowering, it is watered with potassium-phosphorus fertilizing.
Shrub Potentilla shoot
Pruning
The bushes rejuvenate every 3-4 years. The shoots are shortened by 8-10 cm in order to restore compactness and neatness to the crown. In the fall, before wintering in September, the upper shoots are shortened by a third. A properly carried out haircut is a blessing for the shrub, as it refines its appearance.
Reproduction methods
Much more often than seed, other breeding methods are used.
Dividing the bush
In autumn (only in the south) or in spring, an adult plant over 3 years old is dug up and the rhizome is divided into 2-3 parts with a shovel. Each is immediately planted in a new place, having previously cut off and leaving only 20-30 cm of shoots with several pairs of buds.
Cuttings
At the end of June, branches without buds 15 cm long are cut from young shoots of this year. They are dropped into the substrate almost to the full length, leaving only 3-4 cm of the cutting above the surface. For 2 weeks, you need to keep the containers with cuttings in a dark place, and then put them in the light in a warm room.
Layers
The lower branch is bent to the ground and sprinkled with earth. Roots should form in this place. A young bush is planted next spring immediately to a new place.
Transfer
The strong root system of Potentilla is very viable, but this does not mean that the bush can be transferred to a new place every year. It is necessary to immediately assign it an optimal site with sufficient insolation, and transplant it only if you want to divide the bush into several parts.
Diseases and pests
Diseases of Potentilla are practically not threatened. For preventive purposes, in the spring, the bushes, along with other plantings, are sprayed with Bordeaux liquid or HOM preparation. A weak solution of boric acid, which can be sprayed on young foliage at the end of May, has a similar effect. Pests are not found on the bush.
Flowering period
The first buds open in June. The exact timing depends on the weather conditions and climatic features of the area. Further, new flowers bloom as the old ones wither until the night temperatures drop below 0.
Preparing for winter
Outdoors, winter plants are older than 2 years. In the first year in the fall, the bush is covered to prevent it from freezing. This is no longer required from next winter. To protect the roots from damage, it is recommended to mulch the soil around with fallen leaves or peat.
Use in landscape design
The best use for Abbotswood is to create low but very dense decorative hedges. If the variety is used in group plantings, then tall tapeworms are selected as companions, shading at midday. The shrub looks beautiful in the company of conifers, in rocky gardens, or single plantings in the middle of a green lawn.
Shrub cinquefoil in the garden
Beneficial features
The medicinal properties of Kuril tea are very numerous:
- Hemostatic - applied in the form of leaf applications on wounds and abrasions.
- Anti-inflammatory - an infusion of dried leaves and petals has this effect.
- Soothing - the plant is included in various multicomponent herbal mixtures and teas.
- Toning - you can use dried leaves, flowers, buds in the same way as classic black or green tea.
- Diuretic - the property is only enhanced in the presence of other medicinal plants, for example, mint, raspberry leaves, etc.
- Immunoregulatory - this most valuable quality of the plant is still being studied by scientists, but the positive effect of Potentilla decoction on immunity has been noted in folk medicine for a long time.
Dried Potentilla leaves for making infusion or tea
Cinquefoil Abbotswood is an unpretentious, durable, beautifully flowering medicinal plant that has every chance of becoming a favorite in your garden.Beautiful flowers, a bit reminiscent of wild rose, blooming all summer and autumn, do not leave anyone indifferent.
