Contents
Potentilla Danny Boy is unpretentious and compact, it is perfect for creating rock gardens and decorating borders. She decorates flower beds, flower beds, decorates a garden plot. Landscape designers use culture in their compositions. A bright, luxuriant and long-blooming cinquefoil bush Danny Boy always occupies a central place in it. The plant is in easy contact with creeping perennials and looks interesting in hedges. For its healing properties, it is also called Kuril tea, for the shape of the leaves resembling a paw – cinquefoil.
Description lapchatki Danny Boy
Potentilla Danny Boy is a shrubby, densely branching plant with bright crimson flowers, the diameter of which is about 5 cm. The petals are wavy at the edges. The crown is erect, formed from many branches covered with small light green leaves in the shape of a foot, divided into 5, less often into 7 leaves, 2-2,5 cm long. They are twisted and grow close to each other. When pubescent, the leaf darkens and acquires a silver tint.
Potentilla of the Danni Boy variety is a deciduous plant, undersized, with abundant long flowering, which lasts from June to the end of October. An adult bush has a height of 30 to 80 cm, and the same in diameter. The variety was bred in England, it is unpretentious, tolerates a haircut well, and is frost-resistant. Winters easily, withstands frost down to -30 °C.
Potentilla Danny Boy can be grown in pots or flowerpots – on the balcony, window sill, in the gazebo or in the winter garden.
How Potentilla Danny Boy breeds
Potentilla Danny Boy is propagated by layering, cuttings and dividing the bush.
They are engaged in cuttings and propagation by layering in the summer – from late July to early August, and by dividing the bush in spring (April, early May) and autumn (in the first half of September). The autumn period for this purpose is preferably used only in warm regions.
Potentilla cuttings Danny Boy are best done on a cloudy day. Cuttings must be cut early in the morning, before sunrise. Cut them only from a healthy plant, along with the leaves. It is advisable to use small shoots with two or four internodes that do not have flowers.
The lower cut line should be no higher than 10 mm from the living kidney, and the upper one should be immediately above it. Then it is recommended to place them in a growth stimulator, which will significantly increase the quality of the selected planting material. If planting is done immediately in the ground, then the cuttings should be used immediately so that the leaves do not wither. Delay is allowed for a maximum of 2 days. Ideally, if the weather, at the time of the landing of Potentilla Danny Boy, is rainy or cloudy.
The cuttings will take root in 6-8 weeks. With good care in 1-2 years, they will reach the right size for transplanting to a permanent place of growth.
Layers are made from strong, healthy and flexible shoots. The branch is bent to the ground and where it comes into contact with it, a small incision is made. Having dug the layering with earth, they press it down with a stone. Within 10 days it will take root. The cuttings and the parent bush should be fed and watered together. It is possible to separate the layers for transplanting to a permanent place only for the next spring.
For reproduction by dividing the bush, a root fragment of 20-30 cm tall is required. Having dug up the roots, you should choose a healthy branch with three buds, cut off a part of its root system with a shovel. The parent bush is again buried and watered. The resulting planting material must be planted in a hole prepared in advance, watered and slightly loosened the surface. It will be ready for transplant next year.
Planting and caring for Potentilla Danny Boy
Gardeners recommend planting Danny Boy seedlings in drained, humus-enriched soil. The variety is unpretentious in care. It is enough to carry out the following activities:
- water and weed the plant;
- loosen the soil;
- 3-4 times to introduce top dressing;
- remove wilted flowers.
To prevent diseases, Potentilla bushes are sprayed with Bordeaux mixture after flowering. Seedlings for the winter should be covered with a film, and adult plants no longer need this.
On balconies, in arbors and in the winter garden, the flower does not require additional protection from the cold either in winter or in summer. Care requirements are the same. Abundant flowering continues until late autumn, after which the flowers wither along with the leaves.
Recommended dates
It is advisable to plant the Potentilla Danny Boy into the ground in the spring, in the ground warmed up after the snow has melted. Usually it is the end of April. Pits for her need to be prepared two weeks before planting. In autumn, it is allowed to plant cinquefoil only in the first decade, so that the seedling has time to adapt before the onset of cold weather.
Site selection and preparation of soil
For Potentilla Danny Boy, you need to choose drained, fertile soil. Since the plant is photophilous, it is planted in a well-lit place, but direct sunlight is harmful to it, the bush will wither and wither, the flowers will burn out. If the landing site is located in an open sunny area, then artificial shading should be created to protect the plant from the aggressive midday sun.
The soil for seedlings is prepared in advance. Having dug a hole, drainage is poured, with a layer of about 20 cm. It is better if it is limestone gravel, it is saturated with calcium necessary for the growth of cinquefoil. Drainage should be covered with soil consisting of 2 parts of humus, 2 parts of earth and 1 part of sand.
How to plant
It is desirable to plant a shrub in the evening, with high humidity. The planting hole needs to be made twice as large as the container with the plant. The depth of the hole should be at least 50-60 cm. The pot is watered with settled water at room temperature and the seedling is carefully removed from it. Having placed the bush in the hole, straighten the roots and dig in, the root node should peep out of the ground by 1 cm. The soil around it should be slightly crushed and mulched with sawdust or peat to keep moisture longer. The first month after planting, Danny Boy’s cinquefoil should be regularly watered and loosened the ground around it.
When planting several bushes, you need to maintain a distance of at least 70 cm between them.
Growing rules
Potentilla Danni Boy is tolerant of urban conditions. However, the first wintering for her can be difficult, it is better to take care of warming the shrub. Having spudded it, and insulated it with humus or peat, it is necessary to put a covering material on top. Adult plants do not need these measures, they only need to remove dry leaves and flowers. Compliance with the basic rules of care: watering, loosening, weed removal and the right place for planting will achieve the desired results. To compare the results and subsequently work on the mistakes, experienced gardeners recommend keeping a diary of Danni Boy’s Potentilla care and taking a photo every year.
Watering
Variety Danny Boy is drought-resistant, but does not tolerate dry air well. Watering of young saplings of Potentilla is carried out once a week, at least 1 liters will be required per bush. On hot days, water 3 times a week. Care must be taken to ensure that the water for irrigation is not ice cold. An adult plant is moistened only in hot weather, it has enough moisture received from rains. In the rainy season, watering is not necessary at all.
Loosening, mulching
After each watering, Potentilla Danny Boy must be loosened and mulched. A mulched plant creates less hassle, and further care for it will be minimal. Mulch retains soil moisture and inhibits weed growth. Mulching is carried out with a layer of 5-6 cm, within a radius of half a meter. You can use straw, sawdust, peat for this purpose. You need to loosen the bush carefully, trying not to touch the roots, to a depth of about 10 cm. Loosening provides air flow to the roots, so it is very important to do this immediately after watering, when the earth, nailed by the weight of the water, lies tightly on the root system.
Additional fertilizing
It is recommended to fertilize Potentilla Danny Boy 3-4 times per season:
- in spring, for active plant growth, a phosphate mixture is applied 1-2 times (30 g of potassium sulfate and the same amount of phosphate fertilizer per 1 bucket of water);
- before flowering, when buds are formed, the shrub is fed 1-2 times with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers; a mixture of ash and mullein can be used for feeding.
For 1 bush, it is enough to apply 1 bucket of nutrient fertilizer.
Pruning, bush formation
Pruning Potentilla Danny Boy is enough to do once every 1 years, old bushes over seven years old need to be rejuvenated annually. Pruning of damaged, affected, weak and dried branches is carried out at the end of April. Additional molding of the bush with the removal of branches that violate the shape of the crown is carried out in early September. 3/1 of its length is removed from the shoot. Potentilla of the Danni Boy variety has a good regenerative ability, so the branches can be cut fairly low.
Plants take longer to come out of hibernation, and it’s often difficult to tell which branches really need to be removed and which don’t.
Pests and diseases
Potentilla Danny Boy is resistant to diseases and pests. The most serious for her are 3 types of lesions:
- Scoop – a butterfly, outwardly similar to a moth.
- Insecticides will help in the fight against it: “Fitoverm” or “Decis”.
- Caterpillars – you can get rid of them by treating the cinquefoil twice with Oberon, Aktellik or Akarin insecticides. Between treatments it is necessary to withstand a two-week break.
- Fungal disease – rust. For treatment, you can use a soap, boron solution or 5% potassium permanganate.
Conclusion
Potentilla Danni Boy is surprisingly hardy, resistant to diseases and very beautiful. It will decorate any landscape and interior. An additional bonus for gardeners is its unpretentiousness in care.