Rules for planting and propagating pink snowberry, secrets of care

Snowberry is an ornamental shrub of the Honeysuckle family. The foliage plant is a natural inhabitant of the wildlife of China and North America. The bush is called wolfberry because of its poisonous fruits. Their beautiful snow-white color takes on a different hue depending on the variety.

Pink snowberry berries ripen in red, crimson, purple clusters and hang on the branches all winter.

Description and characteristics of the snowberry

Pink snowberry is called ordinary or round.

External features of the plant:

• deciduous perennial;
• bush height – up to 2 meters;
• thin flexible branches in young plants grow straight, in old ones they are lowered;
• bark grey-brown, smooth;
• leaves on petioles grow from 1.5 to 6 centimeters long, oval in shape, sometimes with notches along the edges;
• the snowberry leaf is green on the outside and dark gray-green on the back;
• clusters of inflorescences are formed in the axils between the leaves and the stem along its entire length;
• flowers are small, pink;
• the berries are smooth, shiny, round, 1 centimeter in diameter;
• The berry ripens up to 3 seeds.

Mature plants form dense spreading crowns, so they are thinned out in late autumn or early spring.

Pink snowberry blooms from mid-July. The berries are colored in coral, purple shades and remain on the branches after the leaves fall in the fall. Dark bushes with bright bunches of berries decorate gardens and parks in winter.

Advantages and disadvantages

Positive qualities of the snowberry:

• pest resistance;
• unpretentiousness to lighting;
• decorativeness.

Bees flock to the scent of a blooming snowberry. Honey bushes will decorate the apiary. A late-blooming plant will help hive inhabitants prepare for winter.

The disadvantage of the pink variety is its low resistance to frost. It is suitable for cultivation in the southern regions.

The berries are used in folk medicine as an external remedy for the treatment of skin diseases and wound healing. Fruits eaten from the bush cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and urticaria in humans. Saponins in the pulp and juice irritate the gastric mucosa.Frost destroys toxins, so birds feed on the berries in winter.

An adult will not be seriously poisoned by two berries. But if children are walking in the garden, it is better not to plant a snowberry, as curiosity can cost them their health.

How to properly grow ornamental crops

Planting a snowberry does not require special knowledge or skills. Beginner gardeners can grow an unpretentious, parasite-resistant shrub.

When to plant in the ground

Snowberry is planted in spring, autumn, and less often in summer. In dry weather, bushes require more careful care - abundant watering and loosening.

Location

The plant tolerates shade and sun well. The roots of the bushes strengthen the soil of loose slopes. Pink snowberry will grow in depleted soil if you add fertilizer when planting and feed it throughout the year. Bushes are best suited to soil with neutral and low acidity.

Preparation of seedlings

Young bushes with bare roots are dipped into a clay mash before planting for quick adaptation. The seedlings are taken out of the boxes with a lump of earth and lowered into the planting hole without shaking it off.

How to plant

For a single bush, dig a hole with a diameter of 50 and a depth of 60 centimeters. A trench of the same depth and width of 0.5 meters is prepared for the hedge. The distance between individual bushes is 150 centimeters. There are 4-5 plants per linear meter of trench.

A drainage 10 centimeters thick is placed at the bottom of the hole or trench, and then a soil mixture of equal parts of river sand, compost and peat is added. Mix for one bush:

• dolomite flour - 200 grams;
• superphosphate - 200 grams;
• wood ash - 600 grams.

For bare-rooted seedlings, the site is prepared six months before planting so that the soil is evenly saturated with fertilizers and subsides. Planting of young bushes with a root ball of soil is carried out at any time of the year, and the soil is prepared 2 weeks before.

The bush is lowered into the hole and covered with soil, leaving the root part of the stem on the surface. Then the plant is watered. The wet soil will subside and the stem will droop.

For 5 days after planting, the snowberry needs daily watering. 4 liters of water are poured under the bush.

Flower care

The snowberry grows well and bears fruit if the bush is watered moderately, fed twice a year and pruned.

Fertilizers and fertilizers

The first fertilizing is applied in mid-April. The soil is dug up with humus. One bush requires 6 kilograms of organic fertilizer, to which 100 grams of potassium salt and superphosphate are added. Before flowering in July and August, plants are fertilized with Agricola. 50 grams of fertilizer are dissolved in 10 liters of water and poured under one bush.

Watering, loosening, fertilizing

The snowberry plant does not need to be watered frequently. In rainy weather, the plants will do without watering. In hot weather, one bush requires 15-20 liters of water. After watering and rain, the soil needs to be loosened.

Mulching will help retain moisture in the soil and not have to worry about loosening. The tree trunk circle is covered with a layer of peat 8-10 centimeters thick. In the fall, the soil is dug up.

Trimming

In spring, branches damaged by frost are removed. At the end of May, beginning of June, the bushes are given a decorative shape. Trimming is carried out before flowering begins, so that inflorescences form on the trimmed branches. Without pruning, the bushes thicken and bloom poorly.

Protection from diseases and pests

Pests are not interested in the American poisonous guest, the snowberry. But gray rot and powdery mildew affect berries and leaves at high humidity. For prevention, plants are treated with Bordeaux mixture in the spring. The fungus is treated with fungicides Topaz, Quadris, Topsin.

Reproduction of snowberry

Bushes reproduce by seeds and vegetatively. The easiest way to obtain young seedlings is in a way that is natural for wild nature - by rooting cuttings. Seedlings are also obtained by cuttings. The blanks are cut in autumn or spring. Seedlings from cuttings need to be sprayed every day.

Seeds

The seed propagation method is used in breeding work. Wet seeds from the fruit are squeezed out through a nylon flap and washed in a container with water. They sink to the bottom, and the pulp of the berries floats up. The washed seeds are dried and stratified - kept in the cold. Then they are planted in seedling boxes with soil and sprinkled with sand on top.

It is difficult to germinate seeds at home because you need to control soil moisture. Seedlings are transferred to open ground only after 2 years.

Cuttings

Snowberry is propagated by green and woody cuttings. In the second half of November and early December, branches 10 centimeters long are cut off. The cuttings are buried in containers with sand, which are stored in a cool place. In March, they are kept in a rooting solution and planted in boxes with soil. Green cuttings are cut at the end of May, beginning of June. In order for them to take root, they are kept in spring water at room temperature.

Winter and summer harvests are planted in boxes with soil mixed with sand. They are kept in a greenhouse until autumn, and in September they are transplanted into open ground.

Root shoots, layering, divisions

Snowberry is propagated by dividing the bush in early spring, before sap flow, but this method injures the plant. The bush is dug up, the root part is cut with a sharp shovel so that the main root shoots and branches remain on each segment. The separated bushes are planted. After division, the bushes do not take root well.

Rooting cuttings and replanting root shoots give better results. The branch is bent to the ground, dug in and pressed on top with a stone or secured with wire. The cuttings are planted with a clod of earth. Young plants are replanted after six months, and they take root well.

The use of flowers in garden design

A hedge of snowberry divides the garden into zones. The green lawn is decorated with individual bushes. Bright flowers look beautiful against the backdrop of spreading green thickets in summer. A versatile plant suitable for autumn compositions.

Viburnum, rowan, and hawthorn are planted next to the snowberry. Tall dark green deciduous and coniferous trees will beautifully set off bushes with purple berries.

Snowberry blooms and bears fruit in places with air polluted by exhaust emissions. Decorative shrubs are used to decorate areas near highways and city parks.