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Danny Boy's cinquefoil is unpretentious and compact, it is perfect for creating a rock garden and decorating borders. She decorates flower beds, flower beds, decorates the garden area. Landscape designers use culture in their compositions. Danny Boy's bright, lush and long-flowering Potentilla bush always occupies a central place in it. The plant easily contacts creeping perennials and looks interesting in hedges. For its healing properties, it is also called Kuril tea, for the shape of the leaves resembling a paw - a five-leafed leaf.
Description of Potentilla Danny Boy
Cinquefoil Danny Boy is a shrub, densely branching plant with bright crimson flowers, the diameter of which is about 5 cm. The petals are wavy at the edges. The crown is erect, formed from many twigs covered with small light green leaves in the form of a paw, dividing into 5, less often into 7 leaves, 2-2.5 cm long. They are twisted and grow close to each other. When pubescent, the leaf darkens and takes on a silvery tint.
Cinquefoil of the Danny Boy variety is a deciduous, undersized plant with abundant long flowering, which lasts from June to the end of October. An adult bush has a height of 30 to 80 cm, and the same in diameter. The variety was bred in England, it is unpretentious, tolerates a haircut well, and is frost-resistant. It overwinters easily, withstands frost down to -30 ° C.
Danny Boy's cinquefoil can be grown in pots or flowerpots - on a balcony, windowsill, in a gazebo or in a winter garden.
How Danny Boy's Potentilla reproduces
Danny Boy's cinquefoil reproduces by layering, cuttings and dividing the bush.
Cuttings and propagation by cuttings are carried out in the summer - from the end of July to the beginning of August, and the division of the bush in the spring (April, early May) and autumn (in the first half of September). It is preferable to use the autumn period for this purpose only in warm regions.
Cutting Potentilla Danny Boy is best done on a cloudy day. Cuttings should be cut early in the morning, before sunrise. They are cut only from a healthy plant, along with the leaves. It is advisable to use small shoots with two or four internodes that do not have flowers.
The lower cut line should be no higher than 10 mm from the living kidney, and the upper one should be immediately above it. Then it is recommended to place them in a growth stimulator, which will significantly increase the quality of the selected planting material. If planting is done immediately in the ground, then the cuttings should be used immediately so that the leaves do not wilted. It is allowed to procrastinate for a maximum of 2 days. Ideally, if the weather, at the time of planting Potentilla Danny Boy, is rainy or cloudy.
The cuttings will take root in 6-8 weeks. With good care for 1-2 years, they will reach the desired size for transplantation to a permanent place of growth.
Layers are made from strong, healthy and flexible shoots. The branch is bent to the ground and a small incision is made where it comes into contact with it. Having dug in the layers with earth, they press it down with a stone. Within 10 days, it will take root. The cuttings and parent shrub should be fed and watered together. It is possible to separate the layers for transplanting to a permanent place only next spring.
For reproduction by dividing the bush, a root fragment 20-30 cm high is required. Having dug up the roots, you should select a healthy branch with three buds, cut off a part from its root system with a shovel. The parent bush is buried and watered again. The resulting planting material must be planted in a well prepared in advance, watered and slightly loosened the surface. He will be ready for transplant next year.
Planting and caring for Danny Boy's cinquefoil
Gardeners recommend planting Danny Boy seedlings in a drained soil enriched with humus. The variety is unpretentious in care. It is enough to carry out the following activities:
- watering and weeding the plant;
- loosen the soil;
- 3-4 times add top dressing;
- remove wilted flowers.
For the prevention of diseases, Potentilla bushes are sprayed with Bordeaux mixture after flowering. Seedlings for the winter should be covered with foil, and adult plants no longer need this.
On balconies, in gazebos and in the winter garden, the flower does not need additional protection from the cold either in winter or in summer. Care requirements are the same. Abundant flowering continues until late autumn, after which the flowers wither along with the leaves.
Recommended timing
It is advisable to plant Potentilla Danny Boy in the ground in the spring, in the ground warmed up after the snow melts. This is usually the end of April. Pits for her need to be prepared two weeks before planting. In the fall, it is allowed to plant cinquefoil only in the first decade, so that the seedling has time to adapt before the cold weather begins.
Site selection and soil preparation
For Danny Boy's Potentilla, you need to choose a drained, fertile soil. Since the plant is light-loving, it is planted in a well-lit place, but direct sunlight is harmful for it, the bush will wither and wither, and the flowers will burn out. If the planting site is located in an open sunny area, then to protect against the aggressive midday sun, the plant needs to create artificial shading.
The soil for the seedlings is prepared in advance. Having dug a hole, drainage is poured, with a layer of about 20 cm. It is better if it is limestone gravel, it is saturated with the calcium necessary for the growth of Potentilla. The drainage should be covered with soil consisting of 2 parts of humus, 2 parts of earth and 1 part of sand.
How to plant correctly
It is advisable to plant a shrub in the evening, with high humidity. The planting hole needs to be made twice as large as the container with the plant. The depth of the hole should be at least 50-60 cm. The pot is watered with settled water at room temperature and the seedling is carefully removed from it. Placing the bush in the hole, straighten the roots and drop in, the root node should look 1 cm out of the ground. The soil around it should be lightly crushed and mulched with sawdust or peat to keep moisture longer. The first month after planting Danny Boy's cinquefoil, it is necessary to regularly water and loosen the ground around it.
When planting several bushes, you need to maintain a distance of at least 70 cm between them.
Growing rules
Danny Boy's cinquefoil is tolerant of urban conditions. However, the first wintering can be difficult for her, it is better to take care of the insulation of the bush. After hilling it, and insulating it with humus or peat, it is necessary to put a covering material on top. Adult plants do not need these measures; only dry leaves and flowers need to be removed from them. Compliance with the basic rules of care: watering, loosening, weed removal and the right place for planting will allow you to achieve the desired results. To compare the results and subsequent work on the mistakes, experienced gardeners recommend keeping a diary of Danny Boy's cinquefoil care and taking a photo every year.
Watering
The Danny Boy variety is drought-resistant, but does not tolerate dry air well. Watering of young Potentilla seedlings is carried out once a week, at least 3 liters will be required per bush. On hot days, watered 2 times a week.Care must be taken to ensure that the water for irrigation is not ice cold. An adult plant is moistened only in hot weather, it has enough moisture from the rains. There is no need to water at all during the rainy season.
Loosening, mulching
After each watering, Danny Boy's cinquefoil must be loosened and mulched. A mulched plant is less of a hassle, and further maintenance will be minimal. Mulch maintains soil moisture, making it difficult for weeds to grow. Mulching is carried out in a layer of 5-6 cm, within a radius of half a meter. You can use straw, sawdust, peat for this purpose. It is necessary to loosen the bush carefully, trying not to touch the roots, to a depth of about 10 cm. Loosening ensures the flow of air to the roots, therefore it is very important to do this immediately after watering, when the earth, nailed by the weight of the water, lies firmly on the root system.
Top dressing
It is recommended to fertilize Potentilla Danny Boy 3-4 times per season:
- in the spring, for the active growth of the plant, a phosphate mixture is introduced 1-2 times (30 g of potassium sulfate and the same amount of phosphate fertilizer per 1 bucket of water);
- before flowering, when buds are formed, the shrub is fed 1-2 times with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers, you can use a mixture of ash and mullein for feeding.
For 1 bush, it is enough to add 1 bucket of nutrient fertilizer.
Pruning, shaping a bush
It is enough to prune Potentilla Danny Boy once every 3 years, old bushes more than seven years old need to be rejuvenated annually. Pruning of damaged, diseased, weak and dried branches is carried out at the end of April. Additional shaping of the bush with the removal of branches that violate the shape of the crown is carried out in early September. 1/3 of its length is removed from the shoot. Cinquefoil of the Danny Boy variety has a good regenerative ability, so the branches can be cut quite low.
Plants take longer to recover from hibernation, and it is often difficult to determine which branches really need to be removed and which do not.
Pests and diseases
Danny Boy's cinquefoil is resistant to diseases and pests. The most serious for her are 3 types of lesions:
- The scoop is a butterfly that looks like a moth.
- Insecticides will help in the fight against it: "Fitoverm" or "Decis".
- Caterpillars - you can get rid of them by treating the cinquefoil twice with Oberon, Aktellik or Akarin insecticides. There must be a two-week break between treatments.
- Fungal disease - rust. For treatment, you can use a soap, boric solution or 5% potassium permanganate.
Conclusion
Danny Boy's cinquefoil is surprisingly hardy, disease resistant and very beautiful. It will decorate any landscape and interior. An added bonus for gardeners is its ease of maintenance.
