Ease of care - this is probably one of the main criteria that can make a plant a favorite of gardeners. For example, astilbe perfectly grow in a shady garden, decorating them with unusual buds of different shades. They do not require increased attention to themselves, and if you follow the elementary rules of agricultural engineering, you can get lush and spreading bushes.
The basics of proper planting astilb
In order for the plant to quickly settle down and grow well, you should choose the right place for planting, and how fast it grows depends on enough moisture and heat.
Choosing the right landing site
Despite the need for large amounts of heat, open sunny areas with maximum sun should be avoided. Cultivation of astilba in open ground should be practiced in areas with sparse shadow, because only in this case it will bloom profusely and for a long time.
The exceptions are light varieties that feel great in the open sun, but delight in flowers a little less. Early and late varieties grow well under sunshine, and those species that bloom in July should be planted in the shade.
Did you know? Astilbe (Astilbe) - a decorative perennial, which belongs to the family of stone-sawing. Depending on the variety, the height of the plant varies from 15 to 200 cm. The leaves are gathered in an open bush, which may have a bronze, burgundy or dark green color. The flowers also have a diverse shade: from white to purple. They are panicle inflorescences, which grow to 60 cm in length. All summer bloom, have a powerful branched rhizome.Astilbe can be planted in any soil but for best results, you should choose areas where groundwater flows closer to the soil surface.
How to prepare the plot
Before planting astilba on the selected area, it is necessary to dig up, removing the rhizomes of other plants. Then the soil should be fertilized with rotted manure or peat at the rate of 2 buckets of fertilizer per square meter. Make sure that the topsoil is sufficiently saturated with potassium and phosphorus. Bone meal (2 handfuls per meter) or complex fertilizers (30 gr. Per meter) are added to the beds. Try not to plant a plant near trees with a shallow root system. They may have competition for moisture, in which the flower will surely lose.
Landing technology
Planting is carried out in the autumn, at a time when the average daily temperature of 2-3 weeks is not lower than 5 ° C. Choosing the distance between the bushes, focus on the type of plant. So, low varieties are planted at a distance of 30 cm from each other, and high - 50 cm.
For the landing they prepare holes up to 30 cm deep, at the bottom of which lay fertilizer and pour water. Delenki (part of the bush with rhizome), placed in the hole and covered with mulch about three centimeters.
Important! Keep the plant without a transplant for more than five years is not recommended. Astilbe transplantation is necessary, even if you plan to leave it in the same place. The fact is that the plant rhizome grows upwards, respectively, the buds are on the surface of the earth. In winter, this feature can destroy the flower.
Basics of proper plant care
Proper care of the plant is not so difficult, but in order to grow a chic astilba, you must follow these rules.
Watering: what it should be
In the care of astilba, it is important to provide her with a sufficient amount of moisture, with regular watering. Even a small delay and short-term drying of the soil lead to the fact that the leaves wither, the inflorescences become smaller, the flowers lose their richness of color, and the plant itself takes on a somewhat sloppy look.
Weeding and loosening the soil
Astilba perfectly suppresses weeds, as it has very powerful branchy rhizomes. But while the plant is young, weeding is simply necessary for it, since fragile flowers have a hard time fighting weeds. After rain and watering, it is advisable to loosen the soil around the astilbe so that the crust does not appear. However, if it is mulched, then these manipulations will not be required.
By the way, thanks to the mulching with peat and annual hilling, it is possible to slow down the aging of the bush, because the buds will be under the ground all the time.
When and how to feed
To preserve the decorativeness of the plant, it is also necessary to feed astilbe. It is carried out every year, but the choice of means for feeding depends on the land in which the plant was planted. So, if it was planted in wet soil, complex additives should be used, and potash and phosphate fertilizers - after flowering. If the plant is planted in dry land, then take peat or compost.
Separate fertilizers are used for a specific result. For example, to keep leaves and petals juicy, use diluted manure or other organic fertilizers. It is added at the beginning of the sap flow, that is, in the spring. To the plant developed well, make mineral fertilizers. It is important to observe the correct concentration: 25-35 grams per liter of water. This fertilizer is applied in the fall before wintering. Potassium sulphate or urea with superphosphate will help increase the period of flowering and give the plant pomp. These mixtures must be added to the beds in the summer.
Seed collection
It is necessary to collect flower seeds in the fall, when the plant fades (usually in September). Despite the fact that they are quite small, it is easy to assemble them. Faded and dried inflorescences should be cut, wrapped in paper and put in a warm place. After two weeks, it is enough to shake the inflorescences, and the seeds of them will pour out. Astilba seed storage is carried out in a paper bag.
Did you know? Astilbe is ready to bloom in the first year after planting, however, it is advisable not to allowof this, pre-cut flower stalks. The fact is that an immature plant can die, putting all its strength in the first flowering. In the case of removal of young flowers, all the juices go to the formation of healthy buds, rooting and growth of rhizomes. At the end of the season, the entire bush is cut off under the rhizome, and mulched with peat or soil. This manipulation is carried out every year.
Astilba preparation for winter
Astilba spends wintering without problems. She perfectly adapted to the severe frosts, but temperature fluctuations during the spring period can be dangerous for her. therefore it is better to mulch, covering two layers of natural materials. It can be sawdust, small pebbles, last year’s lovely leaves, straw, bark, fir twigs, or other materials. Between the bushes and the soil should be mulch, for which spruce branches are perfect.
In addition to heating the plant in winter, mulching helps to preserve the friability of the soil, its moisture, and also reduce overheating in the summer.
Basics of proper transplant
It is possible to engage in plant transplantation both in early spring and in autumn. This is done as follows. A hole is dug in advance, then a shrub is carefully taken and put into it. The hole should be large enough so that the roots of the bush can be freely spread in it. The plant must be covered with earth, water and mulch. The last manipulation helps to preserve precious moisture and prevent the appearance of a crust, which is very undesirable for a young plant.
Important! Astilbe plantations do not rejuvenate immediately, but in parts, but they do it regularly. The older the plant, the more difficult it is to divide its rhizomes, but it easily tolerates the transplant and is ready to bloom the next year after planting. Replanting can be replaced by sprinkling soil over the kidneys after autumn pruning.
The combination of astilbe with other plants
In terms of "friendship" with other plants, astilba is undemanding - it coexists well with the other "inhabitants" of the garden. therefore It is worthwhile to select neighbors for purely aesthetic reasons. So, astilba openwork leaves look great in combination with whole leaves of hellebore, podophyllum or bergenia. From flowers, the plant can be combined with a bath, irises, late tulips, mountain flowers, lilies of the valley.
As a rule, it is planted on stony hills, in ridges along lawns, off the coast of water bodies and half-shaded mixborders.
Methods of reproduction astilba at home
Astilba is reproduced in one of three ways: seeds, buds or division of the bush.
Seeds
With the help of seeds, the plant is propagated exclusively for breeding. It does not make sense to collect seeds of hybrid varieties in my garden, as they quickly degenerate. However, you can purchase high-quality varietal seeds for planting on your site.
To improve seedlings, seed must be properly prepared for planting. To do this, the seeds are placed for 20 days in a place where the temperature is kept at +/- 4 ° C. Then transferred to a well-lit warm room with a temperature of 18-22 ° C. Seeds are sown on moist soil, and after the procedure, the soil is not buried. After a couple of weeks, small shoots should appear that can be planted in shaded beds. It is important to constantly observe watering.
Cuttings
By astilba grafting is meant its reproduction by the kidneys, which allows you to reproduce the plant much faster than seed. When the shoots grow in spring, they are carefully cut with a part of the rhizome and treated with cuts of ash. The resulting cuttings are planted in a mixture of gravel and peat (1: 3) and covered with a transparent material, for example, plastic wrap. The depth of planting should correspond to the size of the root, but so that the kidney is half a centimeter covered with soil. Shank rooted about a year. That is, it will be possible to land it in the open ground the next spring.
Dividing bush
In most cases, using this method of reproduction, as the division of the bush. To this end, in spring, while the plant has not yet blossomed, or in the autumn after its flowering, the leaves are cut, a bush is dug out and divided into so-called delenki. Each of them should include at least one faded stem for 3-5 buds. You can use and not faded stems, but in this case you should not expect flowering next year. Delenki are planted at a distance of 30 cm from each other, not forgetting to water them regularly.
Astilba resistance to diseases, how to treat them
The plant is very resistant to disease. With proper care, it is extremely rarely sick, but the pests on it like to settle. For example, often it will attack slobbering penny which begins to occupy the plant with the axils of the leaves. Moreover, insects themselves do not bear any particular danger, since their larvae bring much greater harm, which grind off the green part of the plant, leaving it without oxygen and the possibility of further growth. You can fight them only by manually removing the nests.
Also dangerous gallic or earth nematode. This parasite settles on the rhizomes of plants at temperatures above 20 ° C and high humidity. You can determine its invasion by the appearance of the bush - it begins to turn yellow. Fighting a pest is not easy and most often gardeners prefer to dig up a bush with the surrounding land and completely destroy it so that the parasite does not spread to other plants. You can also try to clean the rhizome well from the ground and rinse it in warm water (50-55 ° C).
Astilba is a very beautiful, gentle and undemanding plant. A huge selection of varieties allows you to choose the shade that is most suitable for your garden. The most important thing in the care of a flower is to ensure that it is sufficiently watered and to prevent the soil from drying out. Astilba is reproduced simply enough, so you can always have new cuttings for planting.
