Tatar honeysuckle is one of the ten most demanded plants in landscape gardening. In this shrub, decorative properties are successfully combined with endurance and unpretentiousness. This type of honeysuckle is ideal for creating hedges. We will learn how to plant and grow this beautiful shrub in your backyard.
after flowering of the “Tatar” honeysuckle in place of bright flowers, equally beautiful and bright berries appear
berries of the "Tatar" honeysuckle are not edible, moreover - they are poisonous
The origin of the Tatar honeysuckle
Honeysuckle was grown in parks and gardens in the 18th century. In Europe, it was planted as an ornamental culture. The natural range is the European part of Russia, Siberia, Altai. Therefore, the plant easily tolerates the most severe climatic conditions.
Ornamental and unpretentious plant quickly conquered Europe, Japan, America. Today, Tatar honeysuckle is an active participant in modern landscape design.
Edible or not?
Among the two hundred species of honeysuckle, only a few are edible. And the Tatar honeysuckle is not one of them. Its berries are not edible, moreover, they are poisonous. They contain hydrocyanic acid. The only use of the fruits of this plant is the preparation of drugs for alternative medicine.
If you eat a handful of honeysuckle fruits, you won’t get poisoned. To get an upset stomach, you need to eat at least 400 grams of berries.
Description
Brief botanical description of Tatar honeysuckle:
- Bushes. Arboreal shrub. In the wild, it can reach 4 m in height. Crown width - 2.2.5 m.When grown in garden plots, the bush is more compact, its height is up to 3 m, width is 1-1.5 m.
- Leaves. Small, dark green, oblong-ovate. Length - 3-6 cm. Do not require a large amount of ultraviolet radiation. They are located on short petioles - often the leaves encircle the shoots.
- Flowers. Small size two-lipped bells. Shades depend on the variety - they range from light pink to dark red. The flower is 1.8 cm long. The upper part of the lips is dissected into lobes. The flowers have a wonderful aroma. Flowering lasts for several weeks. The first flowering is in the third year of planting.
- Fruit. Globular, small, usually deep red, less often yellow, orange. Maturation - from July to September.
- Shoots. Inside is hollow. In young shoots, the cortex is light brown, slightly yellowish. Over the years, the bark turns gray and exfoliates longitudinally.
Under natural conditions, honeysuckle is often found in the form of many kilometers of dense thickets. It settles mainly on hills, in river valleys and on the outskirts of forests. This plant has adapted to grow in shade and is often an undergrowth in deciduous forests.
Tatar honeysuckle is a culture that drops foliage. Late in the autumn, the bushes are exposed, losing some of their aesthetics.
Honeysuckle varieties
All varieties of Tatarskaya honeysuckle are inedible. Their application is gardening design. Varieties differ in the color of berries and flowers. Using a variety of color variations, designers create interesting landscape compositions from different varieties.
Today there are 12 forms of Tatarskaya honeysuckle, differing in color and shape of leaves, fruits, crown shape and other morphological features. All varieties are solo and drought tolerant, highly immune to diseases and pests.
Rosea
Bushes are tall, up to 4 m in height. The crown is pyramidal, grows intensively, up to 2 m wide. Flowers are large, pink, up to 2 cm in diameter. Pink buds that appear in May turn into bright pink bell flowers by June. Flowering lasts about 3 weeks. The berries are orange, inedible.
Hack Red
Bush with a spreading crown. The flowers are deep purple. It is characterized by abundant flowering - the bushes are covered with a dense layer of flowers, as if shrouded in a colored veil. The berries are dark purple, inedible.
Elegans
The variety is distinguished by the original color of the petals - they are richly red with pink stripes. The plant looks exquisite, the leaves are dark and small.
Zabelii
It is highly decorative. Flowers - burgundy, fruits - light red. The bush stands out well against other plants, looks beautiful in plant compositions.
Arnold red
The variety is easily identifiable by its oval-lanceolate leaves and paired fruits. Fruit color is red. The variety is characterized by increased gas and smoke resistance - ideal for growing in urban environments.
Morrow (L. morrowii)
This variety has a dense crown, and a height of 1.5 m. The leaves are dark green, pointed. White flowers with delicate petals bloom in late May. The fruits are paired, dark red in color.
Grandiflora
This honeysuckle has large white flowers. The plant is unpretentious, well tolerates any neighborhood. It tolerates gas pollution well. Great honey plant.
Do you need pollination?
Honeysuckle is an ornamental shrub, so yield is not important for it. On the other hand, berries are an additional decorative effect. The bright fruits give the bushes a special beauty throughout part of the summer and throughout the fall.
For the fruits to appear, the flowers need cross-type pollination. To do this, it is necessary to plant 2-3 varieties at a time.
Honeysuckle flowers are a source of pollen that attracts insects. Collecting nectar, honey plants pollinate flowers qualitatively. The presence of an apiary nearby is a guarantee of the formation of many fruit ovaries.
Important aspects of growing
Before planting honeysuckle, it is important to decide for what purpose the plant is planted:
- to create a hedge;
- to decorate the facade or arbors;
- as a standalone installation;
- as part of multilevel compositions.
Depending on the purpose of the planting, a variety of Tatarskaya honeysuckle is selected. The color of flowers / fruits is taken into account - it must be in harmony with neighboring plants. Flowers and fruits appear in the third year of planting.
How to choose seedlings?
60% of success depends on the quality of seedlings. Buy them at specialized retail outlets, where consultants will provide you with all the information you need - about the characteristics of the purchased plant, as well as about the origin of the planting material.
How to choose a healthy seedling for outdoor planting:
- Age - 2-3 years.
- There should be 3-4 shoots 30-40 cm long.
- Healthy appearance - well-developed roots, elastic branches, green buds, smooth and intact bark. If there are traces of rot or damage on the roots, the seedling is not suitable.
When buying honeysuckle seedlings, do not forget to take 2-4 different varieties at once - so that the flowers are pollinated with high quality.
Honeysuckle can have peeling bark - this is common in this crop. Because of this feature, the bush was popularly called "shameless".
Landing dates
Tatar honeysuckle is usually planted in the fall, at the end of September they take root especially well. It should be cool outside, but the temperature should not drop below + 10 ° C.
Seedlings with closed roots are planted throughout the growing season. The transshipment method allows you to transplant the plant to a permanent place without stress.
How to choose a place and soil?
The culture can grow on any soil and under any conditions - in the shade, in a gas-polluted atmosphere, in arid areas. This plant can withstand temperatures down to minus 34 ° C. But for good development and a beautiful appearance, for lush flowering and fruiting, it is recommended to create at least minimally favorable conditions for honeysuckle.
What honeysuckle loves:
- Good lighting. Temporary shading is allowed. The less light, the smaller the flowers and the poorer flowering.
- The optimal soil is loose, moist, fertile, with normal acidity and drainage. Salinization is allowed.
Honeysuckle does not like wet, heavy, damp and poor soils. Permissible depth of groundwater is 1 m. Recommended soil pH is 7.5–8.5.
Planting a bush step by step
A pit is prepared 3-5 days before disembarkation. Its volume should be 1.5-2 times more than an earthen coma. Usually, holes are dug with the same depth and width - 40 cm. Between neighboring seedlings, an interval of 1.5-2 m is observed for low-growing varieties, 2.5-3 m for tall varieties.
The order of planting a honeysuckle seedling:
- Pour a drainage layer to the bottom of the pit - broken brick, gravel, expanded clay will do. The layer thickness is 10-15 cm.
- A nutritious soil mixture is poured on top. Its composition for one plant:
- fertile land - 3 parts;
- humus, peat or compost - 1 part;
- river sand - 1 part;
- ash - 1 kg;
- superphosphate - 50 g.
- Let the hole stand for a day - let the soil be saturated with oxygen.
- Pour the soil mixture in the pit with a solution of potassium permanganate - for disinfection and better development of the rhizome.
- Transfer the root ball onto a plastic film. Inspect the roots for rot before placing the seedling in the hole. If everything is in order, put the seedling in the prepared hole.
- Fill the roots of the seedling with fertile soil. The tillering node must be flush with the ground.
- Sprinkle ash around the trunk circle. If desired, you can spray the crown with a solution of potassium permanganate.
- Sprinkle peat, humus, sawdust, pine needles, hay in a near-stem circle. But it is not recommended to sprinkle the trunks with pebbles or brick chips.
Tatar honeysuckle care
Caring for Tatarskaya honeysuckle does not require much effort from gardeners.
Watering
Adult bushes are not particularly needed for watering, they are supplied with moisture unless with prolonged drought. But at first, the seedlings are watered regularly:
- The first month is every day.
- From the second month - about once a week or as needed.
- From the second year of life - 2-3 times per season.
The bush needs 10 liters of water. Each time the soil is moistened, it is mulched. The winter mulching of the soil protects the roots from frost, and retains moisture in the spring.
Top dressing
If the soil is well fertilized and moist, it does not need fertilizers for a long time. For a young plant within 2-3 years of life, there is enough top dressing made during planting. Subsequently, an adult plant is fed in the spring with nitrogen-containing fertilizers (before buds are advanced) and complex preparations (before flowering). In autumn, it is enough to scatter wood ash for digging - 200 g per 1 sq. m.
Read our article on how to care for honeysuckle during the fall. Blue honeysuckle is it or ordinary - there is no difference in care.
Pruning
Principles of pruning Tatar honeysuckle:
- In early spring, before bud break, sanitary pruning is carried out. All frozen, broken, as well as branches located close to the soil are removed. Annual sanitary pruning is carried out on honeysuckle that has reached 6 years of age.
- In autumn, the honeysuckle is cut off after the leaves fall. But it is not recommended to correct the shape of the bush in the fall - you can cut off the flower buds that will bloom next year. Late pruning leads to the loss of inflorescences, in addition, the plant does not have time to get stronger - the pruned plant runs the risk of freezing.
- Forming pruning is carried out throughout the season. The bushes tolerate the forming haircut well, keeping their shape long enough.
- Old bushes are rejuvenated by cutting out drying and weak shoots. The procedure is performed every 2-3 years.
Protection against diseases and pests
In unfavorable weather - damp and warm, honeysuckle can be affected by fungal diseases. Powdery mildew is especially dangerous for her.
Recently, various pests affect honeysuckle, although this has not been observed before. Perhaps this is due to the deterioration of the environment. The most dangerous diseases for the Tatar honeysuckle are in the table.
Honeysuckle disease and pest control measures:
Diseases / Pests | Symptoms of defeat | How to fight? |
Powdery mildew | White bloom and dark brown spots appear on leaves and branches. The tops of the shoots dry up, the plant weakened, freezes in the winter. | Damaged shoots are removed - cut and burned. The bushes are sprayed several times per season with various preparations - they are used in turn. Honeysuckle is sprayed with Topaz, Ordan and other preparations for powdery mildew. |
Cercosporosis | A fungal disease that causes leaf spots. First, the spots are dark green, then grayish with a burgundy border. | Destruction of foliage. Spraying with Bordeaux liquid, solution of copper sulfate and soap, Fundazol. |
Honeysuckle-apical, honeysuckle-cereal and other species of aphids | Drying and curling of leaves and tops of shoots. | Spraying the bush with Actellic - before the awakening of the kidneys. Repeatedly, during the season, the bushes are treated with Aktara. |
Wintering
The cultivated plant fully preserved the winter hardiness of its wild ancestor. The plant can withstand the harshest winters. Flowers and leaves of this shrub tolerate temperatures down to -8 ° C without damage.
The bush does not need insulation. Only young plants, in the first two years of life, are recommended to be covered with spruce branches.
Reproduction
Honeysuckle multiplies easily, it can be planted in almost any known manner - cuttings, layering, seeds. When the bushes grow, the honeysuckle can be propagated by dividing the bushes.
Cuttings
Reproduction order by cuttings:
- In summer, annual shoots are cut, in the autumn - lignified. Cuttings cut in the fall are dropped in for the winter.
- Shoots of the current year are suitable for reproduction. They are cut into processes of 10 cm.
- The cuttings are placed in a nutritious sandy-peat substrate. Before planting, the cuttings are treated with a root growth stimulator. Cuttings are placed in a box with a substrate at an angle of 45 degrees.
- The box is covered with a thick film - it turns out a mini-greenhouse.
- When the cuttings give the first leaves, the boxes are covered with spruce branches - so they winter until spring.
- In the spring, the cuttings are planted in a permanent place when a positive temperature is established.
Layering
For propagation by layering, honeysuckle bushes 3-4 years old are used. Layers are formed by tight fit of the lower shoots to the soil. If the plant does not have root formation points, they are artificially initiated.
Order of propagation by layering:
- Choose a healthy and strong branch. Tilt it so that the kidneys touch the soil.
- The escape is fixed with a hairpin. Sprinkle with soil on top.
- When third-party shoots appear, growing vertically, it becomes clear that rooting is successful.
- The next spring, the seedling is separated from the mother bush, and planted in a permanent place.
The survival rate of cuttings is 100%, since during the development of the root system, the seedlings continue to feed from the mother bush.
Seeds
Propagation by seeds is too time-consuming method, so it is not popular among gardeners. If you use your seeds, rather than specially purchased, you can grow a wild plant that has lost its parental characteristics.
Reproduction methods of Tatar honeysuckle seeds:
- Fruit ripening period. By winter, the seeds have time to germinate and form a crown of 3-4 leaves. Saplings are covered for the winter. They continue to grow in the spring.
- Late autumn - in October-November. Seeds germinate in spring.
- Sown early in spring - in March-April. They are planted in a substrate. Dive into small containers after two leaves appear.
Tatar honeysuckle in landscape design
The main purpose of the Tatar honeysuckle is to decorate the territory. Its shrubs are tall and dense, used for hedges:
- high - the bushes are not cut off;
- middle - cut to a height of just over 1 m;
- low - height up to 70 cm.
Bushes are also planted one at a time, or tied to trellises, forming various installations from them. For such purposes, varieties of Tatar honeysuckle are suitable, characterized by special elasticity of the branches.
The medium-sized bushes of the Tatar honeysuckle are in perfect harmony with the Alpine hills. Tall bushes decorate and shade gazebos, arches, pediments.
Reviews
Daria T., Omsk region. Tatar honeysuckle planted 10 years ago. She has purple flowers and blooms wonderfully, decorating my front garden for several weeks. Her fruits are not edible, but this did not stop all my neighbors from planting this beauty. In the evenings, blooming honeysuckle smells especially brightly.
Alla P., Barabinsk. The plant is very hardy. I didn't buy seedlings - I dug in the shade of the trees. I really liked the shrubs with delicate flowers. All 12 seedlings taken from the bushes took root. The bloom is amazing. No care is required, it grows in the country without watering.
Hide
Add your review
Tatar honeysuckle is not yet very popular among the people. The best use of honeysuckle in household plots is hedges and decoration of front gardens. For landscape design, this hardy and beautiful plant is simply irreplaceable - with its help it is possible to create unpretentious, but aesthetically attractive compositions.
Posted by
12
Russia. City Novosibirsk
Publications: 276 Comments: 1