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Every gardener dreams of decorating his garden, but this is not always possible due to its small size. In summer cottages, fruit trees and shrubs occupy a large and better part of the territory. One of the ways out of this situation is to plant Tatarskaya honeysuckle. This shrub does not take up much space, does not require special care, it will become the main ornamental plant in your favorite garden. Check out our tips and tricks for growing ornamental honeysuckle and you'll be sure it won't give you a lot of trouble.
Story
Cultivation of various types of honeysuckle began in the 18th century of the last century. In European countries, honeysuckle was used exclusively as an ornamental culture to decorate gardens and parks, and only a century later Europeans learned about the edible species of this plant. Russian gardeners knew about it from time immemorial, wild honeysuckle bushes grew everywhere in the forests of Siberia, the Urals, the Middle Volga region.
History is silent about the specific data on the breeding of the Tatar honeysuckle variety, we also did not find information about why this species has such a name - Tatar. According to our assumptions, this is due to the territorial halo of the growth of wild honeysuckle, because Tatarstan is the very heart of the Middle Volga region. The second assumption is that it was in the Tatar plant-growing farms that work began on the cultivation of wild-growing honeysuckle and selection for the development of new varieties of it.
Description of the subspecies and photos of popular varieties
Types of honeysuckle are divided into two main types: decorative (inedible berries) and fruit with excellent berries. Ornamental honeysuckle, in turn, is cultivated in several forms: shrubs, climbing vines and cauliflower.
Tatar honeysuckle, which we are talking about today, refers to shrub ornamental plants. Variety differences within a species are the height of the bushes, the shape and shades of flower petals and fruits. The main morphology in all varieties of Tatarskaya honeysuckle is identical:
- roots - the root system is branched, fibrous, the depth of occurrence is up to 1 meter;
- shoots are hollow inside, young shoots have a light brown, slightly yellowish color, in subsequent years the bark on the branches of honeysuckle becomes gray, exfoliates in longitudinal stripes;
- the leaves are oval, slightly elongated at the ends (ovoid), the edges of the leaves are smooth, the average length is from 3 to 6 cm, the color is rich green, there is a pronounced vein in the middle of the leaf, they are located on the stems in pairs;
- flowers - grow from leaf sinuses, their shape resembles bells with a narrow neck below and petals diverging to the sides, depending on the variety, the color of the petals can be pink, red, purple, the main advantage of flowers is a fragrant aroma, flowering occurs from early May to mid-June from the third year of life;
- fruits - inedible ball berries, bright red or orange, their diameter is up to 6 mm, ripening of berries begins in July and lasts until the end of August, sometimes until the beginning of October (depending on the variety).
Tatar honeysuckle bushes belong to deciduous crops, completely shed their leaves at the end of autumn, in contrast to some "evergreen" counterparts in appearance.
Popular varieties
Varieties of Tatarskaya honeysuckle differ mainly in the color of the petals and the color of the fruits, knowing the individual differences of the variety, the designers skillfully use them in their compositions. In the photo you can see exactly what shades there are flower petals and berries of this ornamental shrub.
The decorative value of Tatarskaya honeysuckle is not only fragrant and bright flowers, in their place are equally beautiful and no less bright berries, so looking at the honeysuckle bushes you might think that flowering continues until the very late autumn days.
The fruits of the Tatarskaya honeysuckle (red and orange).
Pollination
For ornamental varieties of honeysuckle, the harvest of berries is not so important, but in order for the berries to decorate the shrub with their beautiful appearance until late autumn, its flowers need cross-pollination. For these purposes, gardeners several varieties are planted (2-3 varieties) shrubs in their areas.
Flowers of Tatarskaya honeysuckle attract with their aroma and delicious pollen of bees - our hardworking honey plants, which pollinate each flower during the collection of nectar, thereby ensuring the formation of fruit ovaries.
Growing secrets
Before planting Tatar honeysuckle, it is necessary to determine exactly for what decorative purposes it will be planted:
- Creation of a hedge.
- Decoration of facades of houses and gazebos.
- Free-standing installation.
- Use in multi-storey landscape compositions.
Having determined the purpose, you can already choose the required variety of Tatar honeysuckle so that the color of its flowers and fruits is in complete harmony with other plants in the garden. It should be borne in mind that honeysuckle begins to bloom and form fruits only 3-4 years after planting.
How to choose seedlings
Gardeners who first decided to plant decorative honeysuckle bushes can purchase seedlings in specialized stores and nurseries. When buying, you need to carefully examine the planting material offered to you, because the further growing of the plant depends on its quality:
- the most suitable for planting are honeysuckle seedlings of the second year of life;
- the root system of the seedling should have at least 2-3 branches with a fibrous net, if the plant is sold with a closed root system, that is, together with the substrate packed in bags, check that it is sufficiently moist;
- the height of the seedling should not exceed 50 cm, but also not be too small (up to 30 cm);
- branches should be flexible, elastic, with healthy buds (from 5 to 12 at least);
- if the appearance of the honeysuckle seedling completely satisfied you, then you need to buy right away a pair for cross-pollination.
The plant constantly renews the bark, discarding the old one, therefore, when buying seedlings, you should not be afraid of such a phenomenon, it does not affect the quality in any way.
Landing dates
There is one more feature of honeysuckle, which is noted by many gardeners who have grown more than one seedling of Tatar honeysuckle - the highest degree of culture survival is achieved for autumn planting seedlings. In this case, the germinated shoot is planted at the end of September, when it is quite cold in the garden, but the thermometer has not yet dropped below + 10 ° C.
This is the best option, but you can plant a plant both in spring and in summer without fear that the seedlings will take root badly, honeysuckle is a very unpretentious culture, especially ornamental varieties.
Site and soil selection
Honeysuckle grows well in lighted areas, but temporary shading during the day will not harm it either.All types of this culture love well-moistened soil, but low-lying wetlands are not for it, these bushes can be planted near an artificial reservoir: a pool, a pond, a stream.
The unpretentiousness of the shrub to the composition of the soil allows the plant to be planted on loam and sandy loam soils, but the best composition is a good garden soil of normal acidity.
Planting a bush
To create a hedge, you need a sufficient number of seedlings, you can get them from one adult bush, propagating by layering or cuttings, and now we have the next technology for planting seedlings:
- Dig holes (for hedges - furrows) up to 40 cm deep.
- Fill them 1/3 with ripe compost, add dry mineral fertilizers on top, mix with a shovel.
- Water is poured into the holes (furrows) per hole - one 10-liter bucket, into the furrow - 2 buckets per 1 meter.
- The seedlings are placed in the hole, straightening the roots (they are placed in the furrows every 1-1.2 m from each other).
- Each sprout is covered with soil and slightly compacted, leaving a small distance (up to 10-15 cm) to the surface of the earth, so that when watering the water does not go to the sides.
- Trunk circles are mulched with peat or tree bark.
- On a seedling of the first year of life, 3-4 buds are left from the ground, the entire top is cut off.
Care
It is easy to care for the unpretentious bushes of Tatarskaya honeysuckle, it does not require any special conditions.
Watering
Bushes are watered only during prolonged drought; natural regular rains of honeysuckle are enough for normal growth.
Top dressing
On well-fertilized and moist soils, honeysuckle does not lack fertilizers for a very long time, a young plant does not need to be fed for 2-3 years, for an adult shrub, one feeding is enough at the beginning of flowering.
Pruning
Sanitary pruning of Tatarskaya honeysuckle bushes is carried out in early spring, and molding - throughout the season.
Protection against diseases and pests
Honeysuckle Tatarskaya is resistant to many diseases, harmful insects bypass it due to its specific smell, and the berries are very bitter in taste they do not attract. As a preventive measure, when you are processing other plants in the garden, go once with a spray from the sprayer to the uppermost parts of the bushes, this will be enough.
Wintering
The wild form of this culture initially chose the forests of the Urals, Siberia, the Middle Volga region as its halo, the cultivated plant retained its endurance and winter hardiness, it endures severe winters with dignity.
Reproduction
Tatar honeysuckle reproduces by cuttings and layering, see the attached video for a practical lesson on such reproduction.
Tatar honeysuckle in landscape design
The main purpose of decorative honeysuckle is to decorate a garden plot, so landscape designers often use it in their compositions. Compositions of different types of such plants look good in large areas, because these bushes are tall, spreading and dense.
Shrub honeysuckle is used to form hedges: high (without pruning), medium (pruning slightly above 1 m) and very low (formed no higher than 70 cm). Individual bushes are planted and shaped on trellises in the form of various shapes, but not all varieties of Tatar honeysuckle are suitable for this, but only plants with flexible, elastic branches.
Bushes of medium height are in good harmony with alpine slides, tall ones are used to decorate and shade gazebos, decorate arches and gables. The photo below shows the bushes of Tatarskaya honeysuckle in a hedge, it would not hurt to more clearly form the outlines of the hedge, but the owner of this site has a predilection for the free development and growth of bushes, it is closer to natural nature.
Conclusion
Honeysuckle Tatarskaya is not so popular in private gardening, but gradually it is gaining its place in the sun.There is very little information about this plant, some of the information we gleaned from available sources needs to be verified, there is absolutely no video with recommendations for its cultivation, everything that is, concerns edible honeysuckle, not decorative.
We appeal to our readers, to those who have experience in breeding Tatar honeysuckle, to leave their opinions and reviews on our page.
