The tree-like peony was always famous for its original and beautiful view, care and cultivation of this flower is a pleasant and fascinating occupation. In ancient times, it was considered a symbol of women's luck, used to decorate the bedroom of Chinese empresses, and now is rightfully one of the most popular plants for a modern garden.
What does a tree-like peony look like?
Adult peonies are hemispherical, reach a height of one and a half to two meters in a warm climatic zone with good care, in Russia they do not exceed one and a half meters. Flowers can be terry, semi-double, simple, globular. The best tree-like peonies are able to please the horticulturist with a huge number of buds up to 22 cm in diameter. There are cases when in the perennial bush in a season, up to 100 flowers unfolding under their gigantic weight green stems.
From small grassy forms, tree-like peony is significant, nursing and growing it have nuances associated with the peculiar structure of vegetative organs and features of the life cycle. Stems it has a powerful, thick, erect type, not dying in the winter. The lignified growth normally tolerates frosts, so the peonies of this species, like roses, belong to high-grade shrubs. Dark purple foliage is original and beautiful, after the end of flowering it looks luxurious and attractive in the garden.
When does the tree-like peony blossom?
In many ways the beginning of flowering depends on the climate and variety. In the suburbs and northern regions, it falls on June and the first days of July, and in the southern regions buds are blossoming by the end of May. In the question of how much the tree-like peony blossoms, a huge role is played by the weather. On average this takes up to two weeks, but in the cooler years a wonderful period can last a few days longer.
Peony treelike - varieties
The total number of varieties of treelike peony reaches half a thousand. For their full enumeration, a voluminous illustrated catalog is required. The specialists divided them for convenience into the main large groups according to the main characteristics. Its zest has almost any tree-like peony, care and growing of seedlings of different species does not differ in essential nuances.
Types of tree-like pions:
- Sino-European tree-like peonies. The flower of plants of this group is heavy, terry-like, can be of any color. Under his own weight, he wilts.
- Japanese tree-like peonies. The main difference of this group is semi-double and non-double air flowers. They are less heavy and do not droop, fastened reliably, elegantly towering over the bush. Externally, the plants of the Japanese group are extremely decorative.
- Hybrid peonies. This group includes varieties obtained by crossing the yellow pion and the Delaway pion with semi-shrub plants. They are popular because of the yellow coloring, which among grassy peonies is considered a rarity.
- Ito hybrids. Sorts of the next group can be attributed to the transitional type. They retain some features, both tree-like and grassy peony. The green mass of them completely dies out by the winter, but the leaves are decorative and keep to the onset of cold weather. The height of the total hybrids is from half a meter to 90 cm, the shape of the plant is sprawling.
How to plant a tree-like peony?
It is desirable to find a well-lit area for a new bush, where it can blossom without a problem for a couple of decades. Fits loose, alkaline, with good drainage soil. Planting a tree-like peony in the spring after the start of shoot growth is risky and undesirable, the optimal planting period is from the second half of August to the last decade of October. If, for various reasons, the seedling came to you late in the autumn before strong frost, then it is placed for winter in a container at a temperature of 5-10 ° C. The peony is planted immediately after the snow cover has fallen.
The most important condition is the soil in which you plant a tree-like peony, care and growing of the flower is preferably carried out in a slightly alkaline earth, improved with sand, organic and mineral components. Prepare a conical pit depth of 70 cm, at the bottom lay a drainage of gravel or broken bricks with a thickness of 20-30 cm. If the earth is acidic, then it is added to the loose lime to 30 g.
How to care for treelike pion?
Saplings of treelike peony are unpretentious, planting and nursing do not take much time and effort. In the summer, all efforts are directed to weeding and loosening the soil, periodic feeding. If the budding has already begun, and there is no rain, then you need to make periodic watering, moisturizing the soil well. High lodging plants tie to the support. On young bushes, the first buds should be removed, so that the peonies do not loosen.
Pruning of a tree-like pion
In early spring, it's time to rejuvenate pruning. This is the most important procedure necessary for any tree-like peony to grow a full-fledged and powerful plant. Large shoots shorten to the first living bud, which causes the awakening of the adnexal kidney near the base. Loose branches of young peonies are cut at an altitude of 10 cm to 15 cm.
Tree-like pion transplantation
Complexities sometimes arise with the transplantation of old plants with powerful roots. For this case you need a pit with a diameter of up to 80 cm at the soil level, it is cone-shaped with a bottom half as large as the size. In the question of how to care for the tree-like pion, one should not forget about the composition of the soil. It is prepared from a mixture of peat, humus, bone meal (up to 400 g), superphosphate (up to 200 g). In the sandy soil, we pour a bucket of clay into one pit, and add a bucket of sand to the clay soil. Between the plants we leave a space of 1.3 m, with a close lying groundwater, we grow peonies on bulk mounds.
Topping of a tree-like peony
In this matter, both mineral complex preparations and organic substances that are available at each dacha are helpful. The first couple of years of strong intervention in the growth of the peony is not required, the introduction of stimulant substances can damage during cultivation. Fertilizers of any type are introduced from 3 years after a small pre-irrigation, so as not to burn the roots of the flower.
How to feed a tree-like peony:
- Helps in the care of infusion of ash, which is recommended to make every 2 weeks.
- After the fall of the leaves, it is desirable to mulch the ground near the plant with peat.
- Since the age of three, tree-like peonies are fed in the process of growing Nitrophus up to 100 g per tree-like peony during the bud buds swelling.
- After the end of flowering into the soil, add a glass of superphosphate and wood ash.
- Growth and care of a tree-like peony is a delicate matter, an overdose of mineral substances causes illnesses and burns in the organs of the vegetative system.
Diseases of treelike peonies
The danger of caring for a pion is gray rot . The disease affects at high humidity, excess nitrogen, growing flowers in the shade. It is helped by April rejuvenating pruning up to 10-15 cm, preventive measures (treatment with copper sulfate), transplantation to a sunny place. Sometimes the florists ask themselves why the tree-like peony does not blossom, lost in conjecture, how to help its pet. This can occur with the death of the kidneys from frost, poor nutrition, rotting rootlets.
Inoculation of treelike pions
In the majority we buy grafted tree-like peonies in trade networks, this method is used on an industrial scale, as a reliable method of reproduction. As a rootstock, the root of the grassy species of the peony is taken. In August, we make the graft of the scion, cutting the site of the shoot on the wedge leaving a pair of kidneys. We cut through the root of the rootstock groove and insert into it a graft. Place the graft tightly wrapped with a film, ready peonies put in storage in the wet filings for a month. The seedlings are planted in greenhouses to a depth of 7 cm, we grow and take care of the grafted pion year and a half.
How to propagate a tree-like peony?
For cultural treelike pions there is a multiplication in several ways. All methods of care with different success can be used for growing at home, if you are able to work with planting material. In the presence of a mature adult bush, these experiments help to quickly obtain seedlings of high quality in the right amount.
Methods of reproduction of a tree-like pion:
- Reproduction by grafting is a complex but widely used method for obtaining a large number of seedlings.
- Reproduction of a pion by seeds is a breeding job that requires patience. Seeds germinate for a long time - up to 2-3 years, and flowering occurs at 5 or 7 years.
- Reproduction by layers - make the procedure from May, pressing and sprinkling the lower shoot to the soil. By autumn you can get a seedling ready to care and cultivation.
- Reproduction by propagation by cuttings - suitable half-aged shoots with leaves and heel, which are germinated in sandy-peaty soil, are cut in July. After 3 months the seedlings are ready for planting in pots for the winter, in the spring a transplant is made to the ground.
- Reproduction of a tree-like pion by dividing an adult bush is the division of the root system into full-length patches with 3 or more shoots. This method is the easiest and most reliable for home-grown peonies.