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Large-leaved Brunner Silver Heart (Brunneramacrophylla Silver Heart) is a new flawless variety that keeps its shape perfectly all season, grows quickly, does not lose its attractive appearance. It is a frost-resistant, shade-loving crop, with a flowering period in late May or early June. The new variety of silver brunner Silver Hart is very popular and in demand among landscape designers and florists. The culture is used to decorate the coastal zones of artificial reservoirs, spectacular borders, well-moistened rockeries, as a ground cover plant for shady areas.
Silver Heart Brunner is an amazing plant that in early summer delights with airy “clouds” of blue-blue inflorescences, and from the middle of the summer season it hypnotizes with luxurious, large silvery foliage
Description
A new variety of large-leaved brunner Silver Heart is a unique herbaceous perennial of the Borage family (Boraginaceae). The plant is characterized by the following features:
- rhizome thick, long, with numerous basal leaves;
- bush height up to 30 cm;
- leaves are large, heart-shaped, on elongated petioles, rough to the touch;
- leaf color is silvery with greenish veins and light green edging;
- inflorescences paniculate or corymbose, with small flowers;
- flower diameter 5-10 mm;
- corolla of buds forget-me-not;
- the color of the flowers is blue with a white center;
- height of peduncles up to 20 cm.
The Silver Heart variety differs from the Sia Heart brunners in a paler edging (on the leaves of the SeaHeart variety, the edge of the leaf is more contrasting – dark green, and the leaf plates are silvery with veins).
The name of the Brunner Silver Hart culture comes from the name of the famous Swiss botanist and researcher Samuel Brunner, who first discovered the genus Brunnera.
Landing
The most suitable for the large-leaved Silver Heart brunner is an area with predominant shading in the afternoon. Total shading can cause stretching of the shoots and poor flowering of Silver brunners. Sunny areas with a lack of natural air humidity are detrimental to moisture-loving and shade-loving crops.
The plant needs periodic rejuvenation every 3-4 years. Planting is carried out at any time (during the growing season), but no later than September. Experienced flower growers recommend planting Silver Heart brunners from July to August (after the end of flowering) on loamy, slightly acidic soils. Plants are transplanted on a cloudy day along with a clod of earth according to the following algorithm:
- the ground part is completely removed from the mother bush, up to 10 cm of the height of the basal leaves are left;
- the root system is dug up and immersed in a container of water at room temperature;
- peeled roots are inspected for damage that is cut;
- rhizomes are divided into parts;
- plots are placed in the prepared holes;
- the roots are carefully sprinkled with soil, leaving the neck of the root system outside;
- the plots are plentifully watered and mulched with sawdust, foliage or peat.
It is not recommended to transplant the Silver Hart brunner in the spring, since a weakened plant is more susceptible to the influence of pests and pathogens of various diseases.
Care
Brunner large-leaved variety Silver Hart is a rather unpretentious culture, subject to the right choice of site for its placement. The main phases of caring for ornamental culture are reduced to the following activities:
- natural moistening (with sufficient precipitation, additional watering is not needed);
- careful, manual removal of weeds (there is a risk of damage to the root system located under the soil surface);
- mulching the space under the bushes;
- top dressing with complex fertilizers in early spring before flowering;
- removal of faded inflorescences;
- autumn mulching of the earth around the bushes with fallen leaves before frosts.
When reverse shoots with leaves appear on the Silver Heart brunner, they should be removed immediately, otherwise there is a risk of a complete loss of varietal characteristics
Diseases and pests
Like many other horticultural crops, Silver Heart ornamental brunners are susceptible to fungal infections:
- Powdery mildew is manifested by a characteristic white (in the form of flour) bloom on sheet plastics. Affected areas should be treated with fungicides.
Leaves affected by the fungus brunner Silver Hart must be removed
- Brown spotting also affects beautiful leaf plates, which subsequently wither and lose their decorative appeal. For the treatment of perennials, a Bordeaux mixture solution or suitable fungicidal components are used.
To prevent the manifestation of brown spotting on rainy summer days, Silver Hart brunner bushes are treated with fungicidal solutions twice a month.
Of the insect pests, aphids, whiteflies, moths, and slugs are dangerous for silver brunners. Insect larvae quickly eat tender and juicy foliage, therefore, when pests are found, the bushes are treated with insecticides (karbofos, actellik).
Quite often, vole mice “eat” delicious rhizomes of the Silver Heart brunner.
Trimming
To maintain an attractive appearance, after the end of flowering, the Silver Heart brunners are cut off. Neat and well-groomed bushes delight with exquisite heart-shaped leaves outlined in bright green paint. The second time pruning is carried out in late autumn, as part of the general measures to prepare plants for wintering.
Periodically, dried leaves should be cut off, which spoil the overall picture of the silver sheen.
Preparation for winter
To prepare the bushes of the large-leaved Silver Heart brunner for wintering, the plants are pruned. Above-ground shoots and leaves are to be removed, which are cut off, leaving up to 15 cm of stumps. Plants require universal “shelter”. The soil around the bush is mulched with compost, foliage or peat.
Mulching helps protect the ground part of plants from sudden temperature changes.
Reproduction
Brunnera large-leaved variety Silver Hart can be propagated in two main ways:
- vegetative (rhizome division);
- seed (sowing seedlings and sowing seeds in open ground).
The seed method rarely gives the desired result due to the late maturation of seeds and the low probability of preserving varietal characteristics.
Brunner grains purchased in specialized stores can be planted directly in open ground in the fall (before the first frost). There is also a spring method of propagation by seeds: sowing for seedlings, slight germination of seedlings and planting seedlings in open ground.
When sowing seeds of Brunner Silver Hart in spring, the seeds are pre-stratified in a refrigerator or in a special box placed in the snow for 2 months
The division of the rhizome is the most acceptable and easiest way to propagate the Silver Hart ornamental culture. Separation and planting of plots in open ground is carried out after the end of perennial flowering.
Plots with a sufficient number of healthy roots and buds are planted in small holes
Conclusion
Large-leaved Brunnera Silver Heart and its pale blue flowers are associated with forget-me-nots. In the natural environment, plants grow in Asia Minor, the foothills of the Caucasus, so the second name of the decorative culture is forget-me-not, or Caucasian forget-me-not. Unlike other flowering plants, Brunner is able to decorate the local area not only with the tenderness of the inflorescences, but also with the spectacular, unique coloring of curly foliage.
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