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Potentilla Pink Beauty (Lovely Pink) or Kuril tea is a low, up to 0,5 m shrub, densely covered with emerald greenery and pale pink flowers. This is the only cinquefoil of its kind that blooms in pink – in the rest of the species they are predominantly yellow.
The homeland of the plant is the northern hemisphere, so the culture is extremely unpretentious, endures any weather vagaries, 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. In diameter, it can reach up to 80 cm. After planting a seedling, its shoots grow up to 15 cm per year.
The branches of the shrub during the flowering period from May to early November are densely dotted with large pink flowers up to 5 cm in diameter. It can be either single buds or inflorescences collected in brushes. The center of the flower is always bright yellow.
The leaves are small, oblong, the length varies from 2 to 3 cm. Their color is dark green, the leaves grow in bunches of 5 pieces.
Shoots are long, well branched, creeping, covered with red-brown bark.
Potentilla root superficial, branched with a large number of small processes.
Potentilla Pink Beauty in landscape design
This culture is a perennial, long-liver. After planting, it will delight with its flowering for about 30 more years. Therefore, a place for planting a shrub must be chosen especially carefully.
Potentilla shrub Lovely Pink is often used for landscaping the urban landscape: parks, gardens, squares. The plant looks good in the form of a natural border or hedge. Organically looks in group plantings of ornamental shrubs and trees. Potentilla shrub Pink Beauty goes well with coniferous, evergreen plants. It is better to place them at the rockeries, at the alpine hill, at the edge of the forest area.
For landscaping a personal plot or flower beds, several different types of decorative Potentilla are used. All of them bloom at different times, the garden changes picturesquely in accordance with the change of season. The photo shows how bright the landscape looks with Lovely Pink Potentilla located on it, surrounded by other representatives of the species.
All cultivars of cinquefoil are unpretentious, have high decorative qualities, bloom for a long time – from June to November. Potentilla Pink Beauty is suitable for compositions that use flowering perennials.
Planting and caring for Potentilla Lovely Pink
Potentilla shrub Lovely Pink or, as it is also called, Kuril tea, is undemanding to the composition of the soil, easily tolerates frost and drought. But on loose soils it develops and blooms better.
Site preparation
Potentilla shrub is planted in open sunny areas, it will tolerate shrubs and light shading well. Before planting, the soil is carefully dug up, a small amount of lime is added.
Rules of landing
Potentilla Lovely Pink in the form of seedlings is rooted in early spring after the snow has melted. The hole is dug 2 times the volume of the roots of a young plant. The rhizome of Potentilla is highly branched, it is important not to damage the shoots when transferring the seedling to a new place. The distance between seedlings is chosen 30 cm, ideally – 50 cm.
The land that remains after digging the landing pit is mixed with humus, leafy 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 pit, it is necessary to make drainage by laying out a thin layer of calcareous expanded clay, sprinkle it on top with a small layer of the prepared soil mixture.
Landing algorithm:
- Beauty shrub sapling (Lovely) is installed in the center of the landing hole. Make sure that the root neck rises above the soil level.
- The rhizome of Lovely Pink is covered with soil mixture to the top of the planting hole, the earth is rammed.
- After planting, each seedling is thoroughly watered.
Watering and top dressing
After a month after planting Potentilla, 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, Potentilla Pink Beauty does not need frequent watering.
Water the culture only with warm water, in the evening, after sunset. Water consumption for 1 bush – 10 liters. After watering, the trunk circle is sprinkled with large sawdust or wood chips. In this case, loosening the soil and removing weeds will be much less common. Potentilla Lovely Pink has a superficial root system – loosening is carried out with great care, they do not go deeper than 10 cm.
In the spring, after the snow melts, as soon as the earth warms up, any complex fertilizer for flowering shrubs is applied under the root of the Potentilla Lovely Pink. It is important that it contains nitrogen. In summer, shrubs are also fed once, but with phosphorus fertilizers, and potash fertilizers are applied in autumn. Mineral fertilizers can be replaced with organic ones.
Trimming
In order to beautifully form the crown of the Potentilla Pink Beauty, bring its shape to the classical description, stimulate flowering, pruning is carried out in the spring. The shrub 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. Re-pruning Lovely Pink, if necessary, is carried out in the fall, at the end of the flowering period.
Preparation for winter
Only a seedling of Beauty (Lovely) of the first year of life can badly endure wintering. In autumn, 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 liquid. The procedure will prevent the development of fungal diseases under the thickness of the snow. In the spring, Pink Beauty will be absolutely healthy. You can tie the branches into one bundle, wrap them with any covering material.
Reproduction
Potentilla shrub Lovely Pink can be propagated by seeds, cuttings, layering, dividing the bush. Seed propagation is suitable for this species culture, since varietal characteristics are not transmitted with this type of propagation.
Pink Beauty seeds are germinated at the end of February, planting them in seedling boxes under a film. At the same time, a strict temperature regime of + 18-22 ᵒС is observed. After 15-20 days, the first shoots appear. In open ground, Lovely Pink seedlings are transplanted the next year, flowering will begin after 2 years.
It is easy to propagate Pink Beauty Potentilla by dividing the bush. The procedure is carried out in the fall, immediately after the bush has faded. An adult Pink Beauty plant (over 3 years old) is dug up, the rhizome is divided into 2-3 parts. It is important that each separated bush has at least 2 shoots. The cut point must be treated with ash. Separated Lovely Pink shrubs are immediately rooted in a new place.
Propagation by cuttings is carried out in mid-summer. A young, green shoot of Pink Beauty is cut off, divided into sections of 15 cm each. One end of the separated part is soaked in Kornevin’s solution for an hour. Then the cuttings are planted in the ground, in the shade, covered with glass jars. After 20 days, the cutting of Lovely Pink will take root.
Potentilla Pink Beauty is a creeping plant, it is easy to root it with layering. To do this, the bark is peeled off in the center of the young shoot, the damage area is no more than 0,5 cm. The shoot is pressed against the soil in this place and regularly moistened. A month later, roots will appear at the site of adhesion. A young plant can be separated from the mother bush and transplanted.
Diseases and pests
Potentilla shrub variety Pink Beauty is resistant to most garden pests and diseases. But it can suffer from fungal infections: spotting, rust or powdery mildew. At the first sign of damage to the leaves, the appearance of yellow or whitish spots, wilting, twisting, the bush should be treated with a fungicide solution (for example, Bordeaux mixture).
As a preventive measure against fungal infections, foliar treatment of Potentilla Lovely Pink with a solution of manganese or boric acid is carried out. Make a weak solution and water it around the trunk circle.
Insects shy away from pink Potentilla Lovely Pink (Beauty), but scoops love to feast on its lush greenery. The latest generation of chemicals are used against harmful insects.
Conclusion
Potentilla Pink Beauty is a lush flowering long-lived shrub. This culture is suitable for those gardeners who do not like to delve into the intricacies of caring for ornamental plants. Potentilla takes root well and grows in almost any region of Our Country; winter frosts are not terrible for it. With a minimum of effort, you can plant greenery in your garden, alley, park for many years. Potentilla is suitable for cultivation in the city and in the countryside.
