Shrubs not for the Moscow region garden

These shrubs are most often brought from countries with a milder climate – Italy, Turkey, Holland – and are not at all adapted to our conditions. And no matter how you look after such plantings, they are still doomed.

Landscape designer Natalia Dudareva tells about which varieties to buy and which ones to refrain from.

Wisteria (Wisteria)

An incredibly spectacular plant – when you see a photo of a plant covered with blue flowers, it is impossible to resist buying. Take your time, a spectacular liana will not grow with us – no matter how hard you try, the winter near Moscow does not suit it.

Kampsis

A spectacular blooming vine with many varieties, widely sold in stores and markets. It will not please with flowering and growth, since it is unlikely to survive the first winter.

Highlander (fallopia)

A beautiful liana, a favorite of the British. Alas, it is prone to freezing in our conditions. Each winter, the aboveground part will perish and recover only by the fall. It is unlikely to bloom.

The Buddha of David

It will freeze every winter to the height of the snow cover. Recommended for planting in flower beds in the background. It recovers and blooms in July – August on the shoots of the current year.

Weigel

There are many varieties of this shrub on sale. But in fact, we can grow only two varieties without problems – Eva Rathke (a resistant shrub with pink flowers) and Bristol Ruby (weaker, with red flowers). All other varieties freeze out in winter, and then recover from the root for a long time.

Action

Saplings of all sorts of this very beautiful shrub with small bell flowers flooded the markets and shops. Please note – in the conditions of the middle lane, only the rough action will survive. And then it will freeze in winter to the height of the snow cover, and then slowly recover.

Forsythia

A spectacular shrub covered with yellow flowers does not like our winters. Forsythia can be taken if there is a place protected from the wind and very sunny on the site. But be prepared that in some years the bush will freeze out anyway. The only thing is that Middendorf’s forsythia takes root in the Moscow region, but it is not so beautiful.

Kerriya Japanese

Nice bush with yellow double flowers and thin shoots. Every year in the middle lane it will freeze slightly, but recover. Requires special care.

Climbing roses

They are incredibly popular now, they are sold by many large chain stores. There is also a problem with these roses – many varieties grow well, but do not bloom in our conditions. The fact is that some varieties are bred by mutation from a bush rose and bear the same name. It is these roses that do not bloom in our country – apparently, they lack the total amount of heat. They are gaining leaves, height, but will not bloom.

Therefore, if you need a climbing rose, then choose varieties tested in our conditions: Polka (orange flowers), Bear (yellow), Eric Taberly (dark red strong double rose with a strong smell), Pierre de Ronsard (pink, romantic rose series, abundantly flowering), Sympathetic (German or Polish selection, dark red, strongly double with a strong odor).

Rhododendron (azalea)

The markets are full of rhododendron seedlings, many of which do not hibernate in the middle zone. But even those varieties that take root require special care. Pay attention to deciduous azaleas – as a rule, they are quite winter hardy. From evergreens in our conditions live well:

• rhododendron Katevbinsky (this is the specific name of a group of tall and rather winter-hardy plants), varieties: Fastozum Flore Plena, Alfred, Bieber, Gesse, Ligo, Roseum Elegance;
• reddening rhododendron (undersized varieties): Violetta, Azourvolke;
• deciduous rhododendron Kamchatka;
• rhododendron Ledebura;
• dense rhododendron, varieties Azurika and Bloomiria;
• rhododendron Smirnova, cultivar Delila and Ligava.

Lilac

It would seem that our “native” shrub, take any variety and plant it. But no – varieties from the southern regions (for example, Ukrainian) will freeze out in our country, they are more often sold on the road. The second problem is a very large re-grading even among the plants brought from Germany, not to mention domestic varieties. Therefore, you need to take bushes either directly from the nursery, equipped with a tag with the name of the variety – by the way, excellent lilacs are sold in Timiryazevka, or choose already flowering bushes to have an idea of ​​the flowers.

What varieties are the most beautiful for the Moscow region? Charles Jolie is a dark double lilac, Ludwig Spets is dark, with simple flowers, but the size of a ruble coin, dark lilac.

Lighter terry – Katarina Hevmeer, Michelle Buchner. Of the white terry, Madame Lemoine and the Beauty of Moscow are appreciated. Sensation – a two-color variety, dark lilac flowers with white edging, looks festive, non-double, large.

In our conditions, varieties of Hungarian, Persian and Chinese lilacs live well.

Winged euonymus

They are sold everywhere, and the description says that it survives well in the middle lane. But only in the last, very mild winter, this shrub did not suffer. And so they freeze over very severely, shoots survive only to the level of snow, and the plants lose their decorative effect. Therefore, take the European euonymus, but not the winged one.

Heather

Evergreens such as heather and erica have become very fashionable now. These plants need a special “bed” to grow – a 40 cm layer of sour peat! If you do not have the opportunity to prepare it, then it is better not to take heathers. Please note – we will have only common heather varieties Carmen (red flowers), Dark Star (pink) and Long White (white). Erik varieties – Erica Bright red and some varieties of Erica Rosova.

Do not take peeris (there are many in the markets) – these evergreen low-growing plants bloom like azaleas. They freeze badly, require special shelter and care. Kalmia is an evergreen plant for heather gardens, also not for us, except that the narrow-leaved calmia will survive.

Perennials

It is worth refraining from buying two types.

The first – Anemones in pots. They all freeze. Poor germination of tubers (they are planted only fresh, harvest last year, but sellers rarely withstand this condition). Anemones should be taken only in spring, only white and only Polish – only under this condition they grow and live.

The second type is a cereal called pampas grass, grows up to 2 meters tall, incredibly beautiful. Alas, it freezes completely.

Barberry

Not all varieties of barberry are suitable. It is a super resilient plant, but the golden varieties with yellow leaves are difficult to grow and will suffer from winter in the first few years. They need a sunny place, special care. Ottawa barberry Superba is beautiful, but it can freeze over a lot and grows slowly.

Magnolia

Of course, a couple of magnolias grow in our Botanical Garden – under the supervision of a dozen specialists. But they sell seedlings in the markets! And an ordinary gardener should not take them, no matter how sellers advertise the winter hardiness of these plants.

True, in our conditions, one species – the magnolia Kobus – theoretically grows, but when grown, its torment is complete, and you will never get flowering. Especially if the seedlings are small, they will certainly freeze out.

Evergreens are capricious

Novice gardeners mistakenly think that pines and firs are unpretentious and will take root without problems in our conditions. In fact, just like deciduous plants, they prefer climatic conditions close to their “native” ones. And therefore they suffer from our rather cold winter – they endlessly undermine, freeze slightly, they are not comfortable in the middle lane. Which plants have the highest risk of not taking root?

Samşit

It is very decorative, so imported boxwood is considered a hot commodity among traders. They sell it in an already grown bush of a decent size, and it is expensive. But an expensive purchase is unlikely to please – the bush will instantly freeze out in the first winter.

By the way, there are zoned varieties of boxwood near Moscow, they are sold in tiny twigs – in the same Timiryazevka. But keep in mind, boxwood is still growing extremely slowly, and you will receive beauty only after a few years.

Tiss

Berry yew and medium yew are spectacular evergreens. They are sold everywhere and are very expensive. In England, they make famous hedges, cut out sculptures of unthinkable beauty. In our conditions, the yew grows old and suffers greatly from the sun, this is a plant for shade.

Tuya plikata

In another way, the thuja is giant or folded, very similar to the thuja western. It winters very badly, the plant is not at all for our zone. It is categorically impossible to buy the eastern one, although it is much more beautiful than the western one.

But with us thuja western feels well (varieties of Smaragd, Varean, Wagner). Thuja brabant and fastigiata are also good.

Therefore, always buy a plant with a name tag on it. If there is no tag, ask the seller for the full name of the tree and refrain from buying if he finds it difficult to answer.

Cypress

It will not grow with us, no matter how hard you try, except in the winter garden. Most large supermarkets sell tiny cypress trees in pots and are inexpensive.

But we have a pea-fruited cypress (except for one variety of this cypress – bowlevard). True, every time it comes out from under the snow is rusty, it needs to be well cleaned of dead needles. There are beautiful weeping varieties of this plant, in human growth, for example, the filiphera.

Tsuga Canadian

This ephedra is sold very actively, despite the high prices. If you take a large size and plant it in shade, the plant can grow. But when they take a small hemlock and plant it in the sun, it burns out instantly, and freezes in winter. Therefore, it is better to take larger plants, the young ones freeze slightly.

Black pine

At a young age, the plant requires complex care and suffers from all the vagaries of the weather. You should not take soft coniferous pines, even dwarf ones, most of them do not take root well with us. The needles should be tough, short, 2 needles in a bunch – such a plant will live in the Moscow region. Be sure to plant in shade. Verified varieties: Mugas, Compression, Pug, Gnome, Pumilio.