Spirea: photo and description of the shrub, varieties and types, winter hardiness

Gardeners of Russia, professionals and amateurs, looking at the photo and description of the spirea bush, set themselves the goal of acquiring and planting a seedling on their site. The variety of varieties and species, ease of care for them - these are the main criteria that allow spirea to occupy a leading position in the market of ornamental plants.

What does spirea look like?

The history of the appearance of the shrub goes back to Ancient Greece, where it got its name, literally meaning "spiral".

Spirea or in common parlance meadowsweet is a deciduous shrub from 15 cm to 2.5 m (sometimes up to 3 m) in height with creeping, erect, outstretched or recumbent branches. Shrub bark is characterized by longitudinal flaking.

The variety of forms of the meadowsweet leaf plate is due to a specific variety or species. Meadowsweet leaves are:

petiolate;
next;
three-bladed;
five-bladed;
lanceolate;
rounded.

The flower stalks of the shrub also have differences, depending on the shape, structure and species. The resulting inflorescences can take various forms:

shields;
spikelets;
pyramids;
panicles.

The color palette of flowering spirits is also incredibly rich - from virgin white to deep crimson, with an arrangement throughout the entire branch or only at its end.

Root formation in meadowsweet passes rather quickly, which is due to the easy survival and unpretentiousness of the shrub. The roots do not go deep, but are located more in the horizontal plane, closer to the surface of the soil, and have a fibrous shape.

Absolutely any methods are suitable for breeding meadowsweet:

Generative - reproduction by seeds.
Vegetative - reproduction by layering, dividing the bush and cuttings.

Unpretentiousness, stress resistance and the ability to form a shrub - these are the most important factors for which the meadowsweet and landscape designers fell in love.

Varieties of spirits

The meadowsweet genus has from 80 to 100 varieties, which are subdivided among themselves according to the timing of flowering:

Spring blooming.
Summer blooming.
Autumn flowering.

Depending on the timing of appearance, the color of the peduncles is also different:

in spring flowering flowers are painted in various shades of white;
in summer flowering, the color of inflorescences ranges from snow-white to red-pink;
in autumn flowering purple colors prevail.

Many gardeners believe that spiraea is an excellent honey plant. This opinion is correct, but only half - it attracts bees with its aroma only partly, because it blooms during the period of mass flowering of other melliferous plants. It is safe to say that spirea honey does not exist in nature, but when purchasing acacia honey, you can be sure that meadowsweet pollen is also present in it.

Types and varieties of spirea

Meadowsweet shrubs are so diverse in their appearance, forms and in the number of hybrids that each species and variety should be described in more detail.

Spirea white

Called Spiraea albiflora or white spirea is quite justified, due to the presence of virgin white peduncles on it. Their appearance is more like a 15-centimeter pyramid panicles.

The main habitat of this species is North America, and on the territory of Russia under natural conditions it can be found extremely rarely.

The shrub grows slowly and only after 10 years can it reach 2 m in height, while acquiring a spherical shape. This is due to the flexibility of the shoots, the ribbed shape and red-crimson color, the location of the peduncles, which are located at the ends of the shoots.

The leaf plate has curly shapes, thanks to pronounced notches and rather large dimensions, 7 cm long and 2 cm wide.

By the timing of flowering, white meadowsweet can be attributed to autumn flowering, since flower stalks appear closer to the end of July and last until the end of August. This variety of meadowsweet is capable of producing fruits, and their appearance begins in late September or early October.

Attention! The excellent flexibility of the branches was most appreciated by landscape designers.

White meadowsweet, in their opinion, is great for both solitary and combined landscape projects.

White meadowsweet is not only a variety, but also a species. Spireas also belong to white-flowering shrubs:

Wangutta (Spiraea x vanhouttei);
nippon (Rainbow Girls spirea);
Thunberg (Spiraeathunbergii);
gray (Spiraea x cinerea).

These varieties are united by the presence of white peduncles, and the fact that they are all early-flowering spireas.

Spirea pink

The decorative appearance of the shrub is due to its relatively low height, and we can safely say that this is a bush spirea. An adult, formed bush reaches 1.5 m in height and forms a crown of 1.5 m in circumference. Shoots located strictly vertically can grow 20 cm in a year.

The leaf plates look like a 10-centimeter ellipse, the color of bright spring greenery. As the name suggests, the peduncles are painted in pale pink tones and look like lush panicles.

Of all the varieties of meadowsweet, it is pink that is most resistant to low winter temperatures. This factor was the main reason for the popularity of rose meadows among gardeners in Siberia.

Pink-flowering shrubs, as well as white-flowering ones, include the following varieties of spirits:

Japanese (more than 20 types);
Macrophylla;
willow;
Douglas;
Boomald.

Spiraea Kandelite, belonging to the group of Japanese miniature spirales, deserves special attention.

This shrub is very compact and slow growing. At 5 years of age, it reaches a maximum size of 0.5 m in height and width. The leaf plates are yellow in color with a light creamy tinge; rather large shields of pinkish inflorescences up to 8 cm in diameter stand out brightly against their background from June to August.

This type of spirea blooming all summer has won respect among landscape designers. It is one of the few varieties that copes well with the polluted air of urban conditions and severe winter frosts.

Important! The meadowsweet prefers fertile and well-drained areas.

Spirea yellow

The name of meadowsweet "yellow" is due to the color of the leaf plates of the shrub. Some species do not change it throughout the season, while in others, the color of the leaf plate changes from bright yellow to fiery orange.

Spireas belong to yellow-leaved species:

Goldflame;
Gold Mount;
Golden Princesses;
Sparkling Carpet;
Golden Carpet;
Valbuma (Magic Carpet);
Fire Light;
Golden Fontaine.

Spirea average

Spiraeamedia or medium spirea is a tall shrub, reaching 3 m. The natural area of distribution is the Eurasian temperate belt.

Branches growing straight up form a rounded crown. The leaf blade has a slight pubescence and resembles an elongated pointed ellipse with jagged edges along the edges of a green-yellow color.

Average meadowsweet blooms only for 5 years, forming white shields with flowers, evenly spaced on a branch with a distance of 3-4 cm between themselves. Flowering begins in mid-May and ends by early June.

A distinctive feature of this variety of meadowsweet are:

frost resistance;
drought resistance;
gas resistance.

The combination of these factors makes it possible to use medium meadowsweet for landscaping parks, gardens and flower beds in any city and industrial enterprises.

Rowan-leaved spirea

The spirea shrub got its name because of the leafy plates, reminiscent of mountain ash, and sometimes the people call this variety simply "mountain ash".

At a younger age of the shrub, the color of the leaves is closer to pink, and as it grows, it changes to a bright green color.

The mountain ash meadowsweet blooms from June to September, with beautiful, fragrant, white pyramid panicles up to 25 cm in length.

This species is endowed by nature with a magnificent root system, which allows you to plant shrubs on loose cliffs in order to strengthen the soil on the slope.

The variety of varietal forms of this species makes it possible to use the shrub in landscaping. In group plantings, rowan-leaved spirea looks great with euonymus, dogwood, weigela and conifers.

Spirea Kalinolistnaya

Judging by the name, you can immediately imagine this type of shrub. It is thanks to the similarity with viburnum leaves that this name has become popular among the people. This variety of meadowsweet has up to 10 species. Several of them, in addition to the viburnum-shaped leaves, form inflorescences that from afar resemble clusters of viburnum.

The meadowsweet shrub is rather large and can reach 4 m in height. The decorativeness of the bush entirely depends on the color of the leaf plates, which can be:

colors of spring green or yellow-lemon shade;
burgundy, scarlet or orange color.

Spirea crenate

It cannot boast of the high growth of Spiraeacrenata or spirea crenate, at the maximum it reaches only a meter in height, while forming a rather loose crown shape. The southeast of the Russian Federation, the Caucasus region and Altai - only in the climatic conditions of these regions can a crenate meadowsweet be seen in natural growing conditions.

The leaf plate is elongated, reaching a size of 5 cm, it is distinguished by a green color with a slight ash bloom. Sometimes, due to the similarity of the color of the leaf plates, this variety is confused with the Gerstein spirea and Dubolistnaya spirea.

Peduncles, white with a slight yellowness, appear by mid-July for only 3 weeks in the form of a small umbrella.

This plant rarely appears on personal household plots, but for landscape designers, the meadowsweet has become a godsend.

Important! When choosing a site for planting shrubs, you should give preference to well-lit places or light partial shade.

Spirea Japanise Dwarf

This type of shrub belongs to the border spireas, since even in adulthood, the growth of the plant does not exceed 30 cm.

Peduncles have a pale pink color and are located at the tops of the branches. The shrub is capable of pleasing the first flowers by mid-June, and by the end of July, the peduncles similar to small saucers disappear.

The leafy plate of the shrub changes its "green dress" to an "orange sundress" only by autumn. It was this feature that made it possible to draw the attention of landscape designers to the Japanese Dwarf bush.

The same ability to change the color of the leaf plate is present in the spirea Magnum Rose. But it is impossible to confuse them with each other, insofar as the Magnum Rose shrub is not stunted, its growth reaches 120 cm in height, and the Japaneese Dwarf shrub can be described as a creeping spirea.

Spirea Manon

The beauty of the compact Manon meadowsweet shrub lies in the varied coloration of the leaf plate. The bush is rather small in height and width, 80 and 60 cm, respectively.Throughout the season, the color of the leaves can change:

blooming, the leaves turn reddish;
in summer, the color changes to emerald green;
in autumn, the leaves are covered with a red-orange crimson.

Manon meadowsweet can be attributed to the autumn-flowering varieties, since the pale pink shields of the inflorescences are pleasing to the eye throughout the summer and autumn months. The shields are located on the tops of the branches, which gives the shrub a regular rounded shape, and from afar it looks like a pink ball.

Gardeners noted a great similarity in size, color of leaves and peduncles between the spirea Zigunerblut and Manon. This sometimes leads to some confusion.

Spirea densely flowered

The meadowsweet received this name because of the dense and rather large corymbs-inflorescences of pink color, capable of reaching 10-12 cm in diameter. The shrub itself is not very tall and can grow only 80 cm, while the diameter of the crown will be at least a meter.

The color of the leaf plates by autumn changes from emerald green to fiery orange.

The variety of Japanese multicolored spirea Shiroban, which has thick shields of two-colored inflorescences, can be attributed to the type of dense-flowered meadowsweet.

Spirea Sparkling Champagne

A relatively short shrub of this variety is able to decorate the garden with almost all colors of the rainbow during the entire growing season. In spring, the leaf plate is colored in red-pink tones, which, closer to summer, become similar to the color of lime. Peduncles look like small clusters located at the ends of the branches and keep throughout the summer.

The growth of the shrub does not exceed 80 cm, and because of this, it has gained popularity among landscape designers.

Spirea Cantonese

This shrub can grow up to 180 cm. But the main beauty lies in the drooping branches that can form a spherical crown. In June, the Cantonese meadowsweet looks like a snow-white ball, thanks to the lush medium-sized peduncle shields.

Red-leaved spirea

The red color of the leaf plates boasts a shrub of the Frobeli variety, which is most often called red-leaved meadowsweet.

In spring, the leaf plate is painted in purple mother-of-pearl, in summer it changes color to brilliant green, and by autumn the foliage is transformed, from afar, the shrub becomes like a burning fire.

The bush blooms throughout the summer and in September, covered with crimson flower stalks.

Important! The shrub needs pruning, both rejuvenating and sanitary.

Spirea sharp-toothed

The shrub got its name because of the beautiful shape of the carved leaf plates - the edges of the elliptical leaves have pronounced jags. Most often it is called "Argutta". A tall shrub, capable of reaching 200 cm in height and 300 cm in width. And drooping branches with snow-white peduncles make the shrub look like a waterfall. Sometimes Argutta is confused with water-bearing spirea due to the similarity of the branches and the color of the peduncles.

Spirea Pink Spuckler can also be attributed to the category of sharp-toothed, since its leaf plate is very similar to the leaves of Argutta.

Spirea paniculata

A tall shrub capable of reaching 200 cm in height, it is extraordinarily beautiful during flowering. The lilac peduncles that have appeared in the spirea are similar to large panicles up to 20 cm in height, which is the reason for the name "panicle".

Paniculate inflorescences have many spirales, in which peduncles vary in color of inflorescences - white, pink or lilac. These include Billard's meadowsweet and willow meadowsweet.

Spirea June Bride

The shrub belongs to the nippon spirits variety. Sometimes in the descriptions you can find the name of the shrub, like "spiraea Junia Bright".

The bush is medium, reaching 150 cm in height and diameter. Two-color plate:

on top - the color of rich greenery;
below - a smoky ash shade.

Peduncles appear in spring in the second decade of May and stay on the bush until mid-June, decorating the bush with small shields of milky flowers.

June Bride meadowsweet is resistant to air pollution and can beautify any garden area with its presence. An important factor is the shade tolerance of this variety's spirea.

Spirea Mount

A shrub called "Mount" is more popular under the name "Gold Mount". This name was given to the plant because of the color scheme of the leaves, which can change color, depending on the planting site:

in sunny areas, the color is golden with a yellow tint;
in the shade, the foliage is painted only in emerald green.

Despite its miniature growth, which does not exceed 60 cm, the plant has a rather chic pillow-shaped crown, reaching 120 cm in diameter. Regardless of the place of planting, by the fall, the leaf plate changes color to fiery red.

Peduncles of a pale pink color appear in July, and by October the shrub enters the fruiting phase.

Spirea Neon Flash

A shrub with a height of 90 cm three times per season is able to change the color of the leaf plate:

In spring, the color is closer to red.
In summer it transforms into emerald green.
In the fall, he plays with a red crimson.

Peduncles are pleasing to the eye throughout the summer, and after shaping pruning of meadowsweet Neon Flash is able to show new thyroid inflorescences of a fiery red color by the end of September.

Important! The shrub is quite drought tolerant and requires moderate watering.

Spirea dwarf

The shrub is a hybrid that was obtained by crossing the Hacket and creeping spirits. The height of the plant never exceeds 0.3 m and is considered precisely a ground cover. Of all the variety of varieties and species, dwarf meadowsweet is the only variety of such a low growth.

Despite all its attractiveness, this plant has not received wide distribution and popularity among gardeners.

Spirea St. John's wort

Meadowsweet is one of the tallest shrubs of this family, capable of growing up to 3 m in height. For the similarity of leaf plates with St. John's wort, the medicinal plant was given such a name. The shrub blooms for only 15 days, starting in May, with white rather small flowers located along the entire length of the branches.

Spirea Country Red

The shrub belongs to the type of Japanese spirits, no more than 80 cm high. Throughout the growing season, the leaf plate remains painted in dark green tones, and by autumn it changes its “green outfit” to a fiery orange “dress”. The prefix "Red" in the name does not mean that the red color predominates in the shrub, but large shields of peduncles that appear and do not disappear all summer are the closest to this range.

Spirea Fujino Pink

Most often, the name of this shrub can be found with the prefix "Thunberg". Meadowsweet Fujino Pink attracts attention with drooping branches and changing color of peduncles - from pink to snow-white. The maximum height is a mark of 150 cm, with a mandatory size of 200 cm in crown diameter. Meadowsweet Fujino Pink tends to change the color of the leaf plates throughout the season:

Spring - greenish yellow;
summer - bright green;
autumn - fiery red.

Spirea Densiflora

Meadowsweet Densiflora belongs to the type of dense-flowered spirits. Shrubs, like two drops, are similar to each other in shoots, leaf plates, shape and size of peduncles. The only difference between them is the color range of the emerging inflorescences - in the meadowsweet of Densiflor they are virgin white, for which the bush is popularly nicknamed "the bride".

Spirea three-lobed

The decorative appearance of the three-bladed meadowsweet is given by leaf plates, which look like 3 fused figured blades, painted from below in a smoky green color. The shrub is covered for 15 days with small white shields, starting in mid-June, and at the end of September, fruits ripen on the branches.

Winter hardiness spire

Meadowsweet belongs to winter-hardy shrubs. And even branches that are frozen in winter are able to quickly recover after sanitary pruning. In most cases, the spirea is not covered for the winter, but if such a desire arises in the gardener, then you can cover the meadowsweet and cover in the fall with spruce branches, peat or covering material.

Conclusion

A photo and description of the spirea shrub and the varieties and species considered in the article allow us to conclude that this plant is unpretentious and rather decorative. Minimal care and high winter hardiness have long been noticed by gardeners and landscape designers, which is why the shrub has become so popular in recent years.

Spirea: types and varieties, photos, description