Potentilla shrub Red Ice: description, cultivation, photo

Potentilla Red Ice (Ace) is an elegant shrub plant known to many gardeners under the name Kuril tea. Potentilla is not only a decorative decoration of gardens, but also a real storehouse of useful substances.

Description of Red Ice chips

Kuril tea Red Ice (Red Ace) belongs to the genus Five-leaved, grows as a shrub with numerous branches. The bark of the branches is colored brown-red, and the leaves have a light saturated green color. Shrub Red Ice grows up to 65 – 70 cm in height, and the crown exceeds this size by 2 times. The plant has beautiful and original flowers that look like corollas, consisting of 5 petals. In early summer, when Red Ice begins to bloom, the buds turn a red-orange color, and from the middle of flowering to its end (early October), the flowers turn yellow, bright orange blotches appear on their petals.

Potentilla Red Ice in landscape design

Bloodweed Red Ice potentilla fruticosa red ace is a perennial crop that is considered unpretentious in care. Potentilla can get along well on any soil, as long as there is enough sunlight. Therefore, Red Ice is the plant that can be planted even in urban conditions. Potentilla is used for growing in flowerbeds, as well as in containers and pots. You can also use it to create alpine slides.

Potentilla shrub Red Ice, the photo of which makes it possible to appreciate the beauty and elegance of the plant, is most often planted along the borders in landscape design, thereby creating a hedge that pleases with its flowering from early summer to mid-autumn.

Planting and caring for Potentilla Red Ice

Potentilla shrub Red Ace is unpretentious in care and cultivation, so there are no special requirements for its cultivation. The main thing is to follow the general rules of cultivation and follow a number of recommendations.

Site preparation

Since Red Ice loves the sun, it is best to plant it in areas with good lighting. If there is a slight shading at the landing site, then this is quite acceptable: the main requirement is that moisture does not stagnate in the soil.

It is worth noting that the Red Ice cinquefoil tolerates cold winds and drafts well, so it is not necessary to build additional protection against these natural phenomena.

Rules of landing

You can plant Red Ice shrubs not only in spring, but also in autumn. Moreover, for young seedlings, the optimal time for planting is precisely the middle-end of September. During this period, many nutrients are present in the soil, which has a beneficial effect on the rooting of Potentilla. A month after planting, Red Ice will be completely ready for wintering.

If planting is carried out in the spring, then it is necessary to wait for warming so that the soil is warm enough. But you should not delay this, because the plant needs time for a good development of the roots, otherwise the shrub, first of all, will let the foliage grow.

Despite the fact that Potentilla Red Ice is unpretentious to soil fertility, you should be wary of planting in clay soil, as it can greatly accumulate moisture, which negatively affects the growth and development of the plant.

After a suitable site has been selected, you can begin to prepare the soil.

1. Holes for Red Ice shrubs need to be dug 2 weeks before planting, so that the soil has time to settle. The depth of the pits should not be more than 50 cm, the width of the holes should be about the same. When planting a shrub as a hedge, it is necessary to dig small trenches of the same depth instead of holes.
2. Next, you should prepare the drainage system so that the roots of the plant do not rot from excess moisture. For these purposes, crushed stone, pieces of tiles and expanded clay are used. No more than 20 cm of drainage is laid out in each hole. This is enough to ensure that the water comes out in a timely manner.
3. The soil dug out of the hole (1/2 part) must be mixed with dried leaves and humus, adding a little mineral fertilizer and sand. The prepared mixture should completely cover the lined drainage.
4. Before planting, it is important to inspect the root system of Potentilla. All damaged areas must be removed. The roots can be soaked for 40 – 50 minutes in a solution of manganese to disinfect the planting material.
5. Potentilla Red Ice is planted in a special way: you need to make a hill in the middle of the hole, put a sprout on it, spread the roots in different directions and sprinkle with the remaining earth. Then the soil is slightly tamped, watered with warm water at the rate of 1 bucket per bush.
6. The final step is mulching.

Watering and top dressing

Potentilla shrub Red Ace is quite unpretentious plant. But in order to achieve the most abundant flowering, it is worth making some effort.

Immediately after planting, seedlings need frequent watering (1 time per week in the presence of precipitation and every 3 days during the dry period). Moisture is necessary for the plant to root and start growing stems. Adult specimens can only receive moisture from nature. If there is no precipitation for a long time, then you can also water the plantings – about 10 liters of water for each bush.

It is only necessary to loosen the soil near Potentilla only if the soil has not been mulched. Carry out the procedure the next day after watering or rainfall. In addition, weeds can also be removed during loosening.

As for fertilizers, for Red Ice they are needed only in the second year of life. Fertilize in the spring before the plant is in bloom. Most often, ready-made fertilizers are used, which contain phosphorus and potassium. The application method and dilution ratios are indicated on the packaging.

Trimming

Cut the bush in stages:

1. The first pruning is carried out as a sanitization of the plant. Shoots and twigs that have lost their strength are cut off throughout the entire growth period. After wintering, all damaged or dried sprouts are also removed.
2. Every 3 years, starting from mid-April and ending with its last days, they carry out shaping pruning, in which the tops of the branches are cut off by 5-10 cm, giving the shrub the most preferred decorative look. If necessary, the formation is carried out in the month of October.

Preparation for winter

Usually Red Ice does not need special preparation for the winter period. In climatic conditions, where winters are not too frosty, Potentilla is not even covered, since it is a frost-resistant specimen. If winters are more severe in the growth region, then Red Ice must be covered with peat or other frost protection.

Reproduction of Potentilla Red Ace

Potentilla shrub has many ways of reproduction. Gardeners themselves choose the most optimal option for themselves, since each method has its own characteristics:

1. Reproduction by seeds The process is long and extremely laborious. In this case, seedlings can get into open ground only 4 years after sowing the seeds. In addition, there is a risk that the varietal characteristics of the crop may not be preserved.
2. Reproduction by layers – a more frequent method used by flower growers. In the autumn, the most developed process is selected from the bush, freed from the petals, the sprout is bent to the ground, making a small depression, fixed with studs and sprinkled with soil. Until spring, the shoot will take root. And already in April it will be possible to separate it from the mother bush and transplant it to a permanent place. With this method of reproduction, Potentilla will please with its flowering only after a year.
3. Reproduction by dividing the bush. To carry out the process, you need a bush at least 5 years old. In the spring, it must be completely dug up, divided into parts (each part must have a good root system), transplanted. With this method, the bushes will begin to bloom this year.
4. Reproduction by cuttings. It is also a very long and painstaking process. In order to carry out cuttings of Potentilla Red Ice, it is necessary to select the lignified part of the branch, cut it off. In a container, mix peat and sand in a ratio of 1 to 1, plant a cutting there so that no more than 2-3 cm of the plant remains on the surface. After a year, it will be possible to plant cinquefoil in open ground.

Diseases and pests

Potentilla shrub Red Ace is one of the plants that show themselves as very resistant crops to various kinds of diseases. But even such a resistant plant can suffer from a number of ailments and pests.

1. Rot. With improper care and stagnation of moisture in the soil, rot can develop. It is detrimental to Potentilla, so it is better not to allow such a life-threatening plant process. When the first signs of pathology are found, it is worth treating the bush with insecticides. In some cases, this procedure does not help. To save the rest of the plants, you have to destroy diseased specimens by digging and burning them.

   

2. Rust can comprehend cinquefoil if there are coniferous plants on the site. Brown spots on the green parts of the plant are a formidable symptom of infection, therefore, if they are found, it is necessary to treat the shrub with preparations with boron and sulfur.

   

3. So that the cinquefoil is not attacked aphid, it is better to carry out preventive treatment. To do this, in early spring, the bush must be watered with special means that can be purchased at the store.

   

4. Too dry and hot summer can provoke the development of Potentilla spider mite. To combat it, special preparations and the destruction of already damaged parts of the bush will also be required.

   

Conclusion

Potentilla Red Ice is an elegant shrub that does not require special care, gets along well on any soil, and is not only a beautiful decoration of the garden, but also a very useful plant.

Potentilla Red Ice Reviews