Content
Cinquefoil Pink Beauty (Lovely Pink) or Kuril tea is a low, up to 0.5 m shrub, densely covered with emerald greenery and soft pink flowers. This is the only cinquefoil of its genus that blooms pink - in other representatives of the species they are predominantly yellow.
The plant's homeland is the northern hemisphere, so the crop is extremely unpretentious and tolerates any weather conditions, urban gas pollution, and drought. This type of cinquefoil shrub is considered the best ornamental shrub of its kind. Designers and florists love the culture for its unpretentiousness and long flowering period - from May to early November.
Description of Potentilla Lovely Pink
This is a low shrub (up to 50 cm) with a dense, lush, creeping crown. It can reach up to 80 cm in diameter. After planting a seedling, its shoots grow up to 15 cm per year.
During the flowering period from May to early November, the branches of the bush are densely dotted with large pink flowers up to 5 cm in diameter. These can be either single buds or inflorescences collected in a brush. The core of the flower is always bright yellow.
The leaves are small, oblong, length varies from 2 to 3 cm. Their color is dark green, the leaves grow in bunches of 5 pieces.
The shoots are long, well branched, creeping, covered with red-brown bark.
The root of the cinquefoil is superficial, branched with a large number of small shoots.
Cinquefoil Pink Beauty in landscape design
This crop is perennial and long-lived. After planting, it will delight with its flowering for about another 30 years. Therefore, the place for planting shrubs must be chosen especially carefully.
Cinquefoil shrub Lovely Pink is often used for landscaping urban landscapes: parks, gardens, public gardens. The plant looks good as a natural border or hedge. It looks organic in group plantings of ornamental shrubs and trees. Pink Beauty shrubby cinquefoil goes well with coniferous and evergreen plants. It is better to place them near rockeries, near an alpine hill, at the edge of a forest area.
For landscaping a personal plot or flower bed, several different types of decorative cinquefoil are used. They all bloom at different times, and the garden changes picturesquely in accordance with the changing seasons. The photo shows how bright the landscape looks with the Lovely Pink cinquefoil located on it, surrounded by other representatives of the species.
All cultivated varieties of cinquefoil are unpretentious, have high decorative qualities, and bloom for a long time - from June to November. Cinquefoil Pink Beauty is suitable for compositions that use flowering perennials.
Planting and caring for cinquefoil Lovely Pink
Cinquefoil bush Lovely Pink or, as it is also called, Kuril tea, is undemanding to the composition of the soil and easily tolerates frost and drought. But on loose soils it develops and blooms better.
Preparing the landing site
Cinquefoil shrub is planted in open sunny areas; it will tolerate shrubs and light shading well. Before planting, carefully dig up the soil and add a small amount of lime.
Landing rules
Lovely Pink cinquefoil in the form of seedlings is rooted in early spring after the snow has melted. A hole is dug 2 times the volume of the roots of the young plant. The rhizome of the cinquefoil is highly branched; it is important not to damage the shoots when transferring the seedling to a new place. The distance between seedlings is 30 cm, ideally 50 cm.
The soil that remains after digging the planting hole is mixed with humus, leaf soil and sand in a ratio of 2:2:1. It is also good to add about 100-150 g of complex mineral fertilizers. At the bottom of each planting hole, it is necessary to make drainage by laying out a thin layer of limestone expanded clay, and sprinkle it on top with a small layer of prepared soil mixture.
Landing algorithm:
- A Beauty shrub seedling (Lovely) is installed in the center of the planting hole. Make sure that the root collar rises above the soil level.
- The rhizome of Lovely Pink is covered with soil mixture to the top of the planting hole, and the earth is compacted.
- After planting, each seedling is thoroughly watered.
Watering and fertilizing
After a month after planting the cinquefoil, watering is reduced to 2 times a month. It is especially important to water the shrub during periods of prolonged summer drought. In spring and autumn, Pink Beauty cinquefoil does not need frequent watering.
Water the crop only with warm water in the evening, after sunset. Water consumption per bush – 10 liters. After watering, the tree trunk circle is sprinkled with large sawdust or wood chips. In this case, you will have to loosen the soil and remove weeds much less often. Potentilla Lovely Pink has a superficial root system - loosening is carried out with great care, and do not go deeper than 10 cm.
In the spring, after the snow melts, as soon as the ground warms up, any complex fertilizer for flowering shrubs is applied under the root of the Lovely Pink cinquefoil. It is important that it contains nitrogen. In the summer, the shrubs are also fed once, but with phosphorus fertilizers; in the fall, potassium fertilizers are applied. Mineral fertilizers can be replaced with organic ones.
Trimming
To beautifully form the crown of the Pink Beauty cinquefoil, bring its shape to the classic description, and stimulate flowering, pruning is carried out in the spring. The bush is processed from April to May. First, dry and damaged shoots are removed, then long and weak ones.
If the bush grows slowly, cut off 1/3 of the length of the shoots; with accelerated growth (more than 20 cm per year), the shoots can be shortened by half. Repeated pruning of Lovely Pink, if necessary, is carried out in the fall, at the end of the flowering period.
Preparing for winter
Only the Beauty (Lovely) seedling of the first year of life can survive wintering poorly. In the fall, at the end of October, it is watered, the area around the trunk is covered with a thick layer of mulch.Shoots and leaves of Lovely Pink must be treated with a solution of Bordeaux mixture. The procedure will prevent the development of fungal diseases under the snow. Pink Beauty will be absolutely healthy in spring. You can tie the branches into one bundle and wrap them with any covering material.
Reproduction
Cinquefoil shrub Lovely Pink can be propagated by seeds, cuttings, layering, and dividing the bush. Seed propagation is suitable for this species crop, since varietal characteristics are not transmitted with this type of propagation.
Pink Beauty seeds are germinated at the end of February, planted in seedling boxes under film. At the same time, a strict temperature regime of + 18-22 ᵒС is observed. After 15-20 days, the first shoots appear. Lovely Pink seedlings are transplanted into open ground the next year; flowering will begin after 2 years.
You can easily propagate Pink Beauty cinquefoil by dividing the bush. The procedure is carried out in the fall, immediately after the bush fades. An adult Pink Beauty plant (over 3 years old) is dug up and the rhizome is divided into 2-3 parts. It is important that each separated bush has at least 2 shoots. The cut area must be treated with ash. The separated Lovely Pink shrubs are immediately rooted in a new place.
Propagation by cuttings is carried out in mid-summer. Cut off a young, green shoot of Pink Beauty, divide it into sections of 15 cm. One end of the separated part is soaked in the Kornevin solution for an hour. Then the cuttings are planted in the ground, in the shade, and covered with glass jars. After 20 days, the Lovely Pink cuttings will take root.
Cinquefoil Pink Beauty is a creeping plant and can be easily rooted by layering.To do this, the bark of the young shoot is peeled off in the center, the area of damage is no more than 0.5 cm. In this area, the shoot is pressed to the soil and moistened regularly. After a month, roots will appear at the site of the clutch. The young plant can be separated from the mother bush and replanted.
Diseases and pests
Cinquefoil shrub variety Pink Beauty is resistant to most garden pests and diseases. But it may suffer from fungal infections: spotting, rust or powdery mildew. At the first signs of leaf damage, the appearance of yellow or whitish spots, wilting, curling, the bush should be treated with a fungicide solution (for example, Bordeaux mixture).
For preventive purposes against fungal infections, foliar treatment of Lovely Pink cinquefoil is carried out with a solution of manganese or boric acid. Make a weak solution and water the tree trunk area with it.
Insects shy away from Lovely Pink's pink cinquefoil (Beauty), but cutworms love to feast on its lush greenery. The latest generation of chemicals are used against harmful insects.
Conclusion
Cinquefoil Pink Beauty is a lush, long-lived flowering shrub. This crop is suitable for those gardeners who do not like to delve into the intricacies of caring for ornamental plants. Cinquefoil takes root well and grows in almost any region of Russia; it is not afraid of winter frosts. Using a minimum of effort, you can add greenery to your garden, alley, or park for many years to come. Cinquefoil is suitable for growing in cities and countryside.
