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Cinquefoil Red Ice (Ace) is an elegant shrub plant known to many gardeners as Kuril tea. Cinquefoil is not only a decorative adornment of gardens, but also a real storehouse of useful substances.
Description Potentilla Red Ice
Kuril tea Red Ace belongs to the genus Five-leafed, grows as a shrub with numerous branches. The bark of the branches is colored brownish-red, and the leaves are light saturated green. The Red Ice shrub grows up to 65 - 70 cm in height, and the crown is 2 times larger than this size. The plant has beautiful and original flowers that look like corollas, consisting of 5 petals. In early summer, when Red Ice begins to bloom, the buds turn red-orange, and from the middle of flowering to the end (early October), the flowers acquire a yellow tint, bright orange blotches appear on their petals.
Red Ice cinquefoil in landscape design
Red Ice cinquefoil potentilla fruticosa red ace is a perennial crop, which is considered unpretentious in care. Cinquefoil can get along well on any soil, as long as there is enough sunlight. Therefore, Red Ice is the kind of plant that can be planted even in urban conditions. Potentilla is used for growing in flower beds, as well as in containers and pots. You can also use it to create alpine slides.
Red Ice cinquefoil, a photo of which makes it possible to appreciate the beauty and grace of the plant, in landscape design is most often planted along the curbs, thereby creating a hedge that delights with its flowering from early summer to mid-autumn.
Planting and caring for Red Ice Potentilla
Red Ace shrub cinquefoil is unpretentious in care and cultivation, therefore there are no special requirements for its cultivation. The main thing is to follow the general rules of cultivation and follow a number of recommendations.
Landing site preparation
Since Red Ice loves the sun, it is best to breed it in areas with good lighting. If a slight shading is present at the planting site, then this is quite acceptable: the main requirement is that moisture does not stagnate in the soil.
It is worth noting that Red Ice Potentilla tolerates cold winds and drafts well, therefore it is not necessary to build additional protection from these natural phenomena.
Landing rules
You can plant the Red Ice shrub not only in the spring, but also in the fall. Moreover, for young seedlings, the optimal planting time is precisely the middle to the end of September. During this period, many nutrients are present in the soil, which has a beneficial effect on the rooting of Potentilla. A month after landing, Red Ice will be completely ready for wintering.
If planting is carried out in spring, then it is necessary to wait for warming so that the soil is sufficiently warmed up. But it is not worth delaying with this, because the plant needs time for the good development of the roots, otherwise the shrub, first of all, will let the foliage grow.
Despite the fact that Red Ice Potentilla is unpretentious to soil fertility, one should be wary of planting in clay soil, since it can strongly accumulate moisture, which negatively affects the growth and development of the plant.
After a suitable site has been selected, you can begin to prepare the soil.
- You need to dig holes for the Red Ice shrub 2 weeks before planting so that the soil has time to settle. The depth of the holes should not be more than 50 cm, the width of the holes should be about the same. When planting a shrub as a hedge, it is necessary to dig small trenches of the same depth instead of holes.
- Next, you should prepare the drainage system so that the roots of the plant do not rot from excess moisture. For these purposes, crushed stone, pieces of tiles and expanded clay are used. Lay out no more than 20 cm of drainage in each hole. This is quite enough for the water to come out in a timely manner.
- The soil dug out of the hole (1/2 part) must be mixed with dried foliage and humus, adding a little mineral fertilizers and sand. The prepared mixture should completely cover the lined drainage.
- Before planting, it is important to inspect the Potentilla root system. All damaged areas must be removed. The roots can be soaked for 40-50 minutes in a manganese solution to disinfect the planting material.
- Red Ice cinquefoil is planted in a special way: you need to make a hill in the middle of the hole, put a sprout on it, spread the roots in different directions and sprinkle with the remaining earth. Then the soil is tamped a little, watered with warm water at the rate of 1 bucket per bush.
- The final step is mulching.
Watering and feeding
Shrub cinquefoil Red Ace is a completely unpretentious plant. But to achieve the most abundant flowering, it is worth making some effort.
Immediately after planting, seedlings need frequent watering (once a week in the presence of rainfall and every 3 days in a dry season). Moisture is necessary for the plant to root and start growing the stems. Adult specimens can only receive moisture from nature. If there is no precipitation for a long time, then you can water the plantings - about 10 liters of water for each bush.
It is necessary to loosen the soil near Potentilla only if the soil has not been mulched. The procedure is carried out the next day after watering or precipitation. In addition, weeds can be removed during loosening.
As for fertilizers, they are needed for Red Ice only in the second year of life. Top dressing is applied in the spring, until the plant is in bloom. Most often, ready-made fertilizers are used, which contain phosphorus and potassium. The method of application and the proportions of dilution are indicated on the package.
Pruning
Cut the bush in stages:
- The first pruning is done to sanitize the plant. Shoots and twigs that have lost their strength are pruned throughout the entire growth period. After wintering, all damaged or dried out shoots are also removed.
- Every 3 years, starting from mid-April and ending with its last numbers, a shaping pruning is carried out, in which the tops of the branches are cut off by 5-10 cm, giving the shrub the most preferred decorative appearance. If necessary, the formation is carried out in the month of October.
Preparing for winter
Usually Red Ice does not need special preparation for the winter period. In climatic conditions where winters are not too frosty, Potentilla is not even covered, since it is a frost-resistant specimen. If winters in the growing region are more severe, then Red Ice must be covered with peat or some other protection against frost must be created.
Reproduction of Potentilla Red Ace
Shrub cinquefoil has many ways of reproduction. Gardeners themselves choose the best option for themselves, since each method has its own characteristics:
- Seed propagation - the process is lengthy and extremely laborious. In this case, seedlings can get into open ground only 4 years after sowing the seeds. In addition, there is a risk that the varietal characteristics of the crop may not be preserved.
- Reproduction by layering - the more frequent method used by flower growers. In the autumn period, the most developed shoot is chosen near the bush, free it from the petals, bend the sprout to the ground, making a small depression, fix it with hairpins and sprinkle it with soil. Until spring, the shoot will take root. And already in April it will be possible to separate it from the mother bush and transplant it to a permanent place. With this method of reproduction, Potentilla will delight with its flowering only after a year.
- Reproduction by dividing the bush. To carry out the process, you will need a bush at least 5 years old. In the spring, it must be completely dug up, divided into parts (each part must have a good root system), and transplanted. With this method, the bushes will begin to bloom this year.
- Propagation by cuttings. It is also a very lengthy and painstaking process. In order to carry out the cuttings of Red Ice Potentilla, it is necessary to select the lignified part of the branch, cut it off. In a container, mix peat and sand in a 1 to 1 ratio, plant a cutting there so that no more than 2-3 cm of a plant remains on the surface. After a year, it will be possible to plant Potentilla in open ground.
Diseases and pests
Red Ace cinquefoil is one of the plants that show themselves as very resistant crops to various kinds of diseases. But even such a persistent plant can suffer from a number of ailments and pests.
- Rot. With improper care and stagnation of moisture in the soil, rot can develop. It is detrimental to Potentilla, so it is better to avoid such a life-threatening process for the plant. When the first signs of pathology are found, it is worth treating the bush with insecticides. In some cases, this procedure does not help. To save the rest of the plants, you have to destroy diseased specimens by digging up and burning them.
- Rust can comprehend cinquefoil if there are conifers on the site. Brown spots on the green parts of the plant are a formidable symptom of infection, therefore, if they are detected, it is necessary to treat the shrub with preparations with boron and sulfur.
- So that the Potentilla does not attack aphid, it is better to carry out preventive treatment. To do this, in early spring, the bush must be watered with special products that can be purchased at the store.
- Too dry and hot summer can provoke development on Potentilla spider mite... To combat it, you will also need special preparations and the destruction of already damaged parts of the bush.
Conclusion
Red Ice Cinquefoil is an elegant shrub that does not require special care, gets along well on any soil, and is not only the most beautiful decoration of the garden, but also a very useful plant.
