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Spiraea Little Princess is one of the most popular plants used in landscape design. It is believed that the species is Japanese, which is reflected in its name, but its exact origin is unknown. The plant is very decorative: it has thick leaves and inflorescences; leaf color persists until the end of October.
Spirea is unpretentious in care, tolerates drought well, can grow both in the sun and in partial shade. This article provides a photo and description of the Little Princess spirea and how to use it in landscape design.
Description of Spirea Little Princess
The plant is a typical representative of deciduous ornamental plants of the Rosaceae family. The name of the species comes from the Greek word “spiral”, the form of which in spirea have shoots and inflorescences.
The height of the Little Princess spirea is from 15 cm to 60 cm, rare specimens reach a height of 120 cm. This perennial plant (life expectancy is 25-30 years) has a very low growth rate, no more than 10-15 cm per season, especially in first years of life.
The shrub has a shallow fibrous root system. Its leaves are decorative: during the flowering period, their color is emerald green, and by the beginning of autumn they change color to orange-red. The leaves themselves are alternate, having short cuttings. Their shape is lanceolate, with small teeth along the edges. The size of the leaves can reach up to 8 cm, but mostly they are no more than 3.5 cm in length. The crown of the spirea is round and dense.
Numerous flowers of Little Princess Spirea are collected in close corymbose inflorescences. The buds themselves are small and located exclusively at the ends of the branches. The color is predominantly purple-pink.
The flowering period falls on June-September with the constant formation of new flowers. After the end of flowering, fruits appear at the ends of the branches, the appearance of which is not very aesthetic. They are cut off so that they do not spoil the decorative appearance of the plant, which in the autumn period gives beautiful spirea leaves. Spirea Japanese Little Princess blooms, starting from the third year of life.
Spiraea Little Princesses in landscape design
Since all periods of active life, the Little Princess spirea during the summer season is accompanied by a bright color of flowers and leaves, it has been widely used in landscape design.
Starting from mid-spring, the Little Princess spirea begins a one and a half month growing season, when the entire bush is covered with pale green leaves.
It is replaced by the flowering period (in early June). Despite the fact that the inflorescences appear only at the ends of the shoots, their density is so high that the leaves are almost invisible, and the whole bush is a beautiful pink mound of flowers.
With the cessation of the flowering period (early September), the main role in decorativeness begins to play leaves that have a yellow-red or orange-red tint, which remains almost unchanged for about 2 months.
What the Little Princess spirea looks like in landscape design can be seen in the photo.
Hedge of spirea Little Princess
The Little Princess spirea hedge is a fairly cheap and at the same time very beautiful solution. Its height will not be too large, however, properly designed bushes have sufficient density to enclose the area from animals.
Separately, it is worth pointing out that the Little Princess spirea can be grown in any type of soil, so there should not be a problem with choosing a fence location. In addition, the straight stems of this variety (unlike the falling varieties of spirea) are perfect for hedges without special ways of forming a bush. We can say that Japanese spirea, when planted as a hedge, does not need forming pruning at all.
The only downside to using Japanese spirea as hedge material is its low growth rate. If you take very young seedlings, the process of forming a hedge can take about 10 years. At the same time, do not forget that in the first 3 years of life, spirea does not bloom. To speed up the formation of the hedge, it is advisable to buy already adult bushes aged 4-6 years.
Spirea Border Little Princesses
The height of the Little Princess spirea allows it to be used as a border plant, especially in the first years of life. Spirea bushes already at a young age have sufficient density and can be used as a border.
Such borders can not only be used along the paths, but also “knock out” large tree and shrub groups, act as delimiting plants in vegetable gardens, be used as the perimeter of alpine slides, and so on.
Best of all, in the “curb” performance, the Japanese Little Princess spirea is combined with coniferous crops: thuja, juniper, spruce.
Planting and caring for spirea Little Princess
The plant itself is quite unpretentious, so caring for it is easy. Perennials, with rare exceptions, are quite tenacious plants. In order to bring them not only to death, but even to a bad appearance, one should seriously “try”.
Nevertheless, even when growing them, one should not forget about the main features of caring for bushes of this type, especially those with dense foliage.
This should not be done, since such actions will lead to a significant increase in a large amount of green mass, and the first flowering may not occur in the third year, but much later.
The following discusses in detail the issues of planting and caring for the Japanese Little Princess spirea in more detail.
Preparation of planting material and site
Spirea Little Princess is planted in the spring, starting in mid-April or early May. The choice of seedlings is made according to the following method: it is necessary to take only those specimens that have a bare stem with buds, preferably without leaves. The roots of seedlings should be moist, without rot and dried areas. Good quality seedlings have noticeable flexibility.
Preliminary preparation of seedlings consists in shortening too long roots and removing the ends of shoots located above 3-4 cm relative to the last bud on them. Immediately before planting, the seedlings are soaked in a liquid for a day, and then washed with running water.
The site for spirea is preferably sunny, but this is not critical. The plant tolerates partial shade well. The root system is located close to the surface, so the groundwater level at the landing site is not critical.
The soil on the site can be any, even slightly rocky, but the Japanese Little Princess spirea grows best on moist and loose soils of low acidity. The ideal soil is the so-called “leaf earth”.
Planting Spirea Little Princesses
To plant a plant, dig a hole with sheer walls. The volume of the fossa should be approximately 3-4 times the volume limited by the root system. The pit should be dug 2-3 days before planting, and all this time it needs to just “stand” open.
Drainage is laid on its bottom in one layer of broken brick or expanded clay. Soil for planting can be used like this:
- 4 parts of sheet land;
- 1 part peat;
- 1 part river sand
Planting is carried out on a cloudy or rainy day, while the plant is placed in a hole and sprinkled to the level of the root neck. After that, the soil is compacted and abundant watering occurs.
Completes planting by mulching the soil in a diameter of 30 cm from the center of the bush with peat.
Watering and top dressing
Abundant watering is necessary for the plant only during transplantation and in the first years of life. Plants older than 2-3 years only need a little soil moisture once a week. Naturally, during the period of drought, watering should be more plentiful.
The root system, located close to the soil surface, with abundant watering can quickly begin to rot.
Top dressing is done 2 times per season. The first is carried out after spring sanitary pruning, it includes mineral fertilizers, standard for decorative perennials.
The second is done during the flowering period, it includes the use of organic fertilizers (for example, mullein at a concentration of 1 to 10).
Pruning spirea Little Princesses in autumn
Little Princess spirea care involves pruning, usually performed at the beginning of the season. This is a standard procedure, which consists in sanitary pruning and removal of too old shoots that interfere with the active growth of the bush.
In autumn, only pruning of the fruits of the plant is performed, since they spoil its appearance and take additional resources from it. This pruning is carried out in July-September as the fruits appear.
Older bushes, whose age is more than 10-15 years, are recommended to be cut every 4-5 years to a height of 20-50 cm relative to the soil level. At the same time, 3-4 kidneys should be left on them. If after a similar procedure within 1-2 seasons the bush does not go into abundant growth, it is replaced.
Preparation for winter
In temperate climates, the Little Princess spirea does not need to be prepared for winter. If harsh winters are coming, it is enough to cover the bushes in autumn with a thick (up to 30-50 cm) layer of fallen leaves.
Reproduction of Japanese spirea Little Princess
Reproduction of the plant is carried out by dividing the bush, and it is best to carry it out in the autumn. Planting young plants should be carried out before the end of leaf fall. In this case, it is allowed to separate bushes that are at least 4-5 years old, that is, those that have already bloomed.
They also practice the reproduction of Little Princess spirea using cuttings and layering, however, these methods are too laborious and their efficiency is significantly lower than the previously considered division of the bush.
Diseases and pests
The plant is practically not susceptible to diseases, so it does not even require any preventive treatment. The only thing that can threaten him is the invasion of aphids or spider mites. In both cases, you should immediately apply a tool that gives a guaranteed result: some powerful insecticide or acaricide (for example, Actellik).
Conclusion
Spiraea Little Princess is a beautiful ornamental plant that has simple growing and care conditions. This perennial of the lower tier is perfect for forming hedges and borders and retains its decorative properties throughout the warm season.
