Peony Kansas: description and characteristics of the variety, planting and care rules

Kansas peony is growing in popularity. In beauty, it approaches a rose: a bush with terry dense inflorescences will become the true king of the flower bed, its visual center. In addition to the spectacular exterior, the peony is unpretentious, which allows it to be grown outdoors, on a balcony or window. Without requiring special expenses, the flower will delight the owners with chic, spherical buds.

Description and features

Kansas is classified as a herbaceous peony. The plant is low, up to 1 meter, decorated with lush balls of flowers about 20 centimeters in diameter.It blooms in May, continuing to produce buds until the end of June. It grows on almost any soil, does not require an annual transplant. By the way, in one place a bush, under favorable conditions, can exist for a couple of decades.

It is believed that on fertilized soil, the peony will bloom without problems for 3-4 years. The plant is hardened, tolerates frost on the ground up to minus 30 degrees. Branches with flowers are stored cut for a long time, they will stand on the table in a vase with water for up to 7 days.

Landing

There are a few simple rules for planting a peony. Easy to follow and easy to remember:

1. Choose sunny, well-lit places for the future flower garden. Kansas tolerates shade worse than excess light. Therefore, it is not recommended to place bushes near other plants, buildings that shade peonies. Compliance with the same requirement will ensure sufficient circulation of fresh air.
2. The peony has no special claims to the soil, but clay is preferable. Additionally, the presence of nutrients is necessary, they will ensure the normal development of the bush. If there is no ready-made soil mixture with the required characteristics, it is prepared independently. To do this, a small amount of clay is added to sandy soils. With clay, they do the opposite, mixing sand with them.

The optimal time for planting a peony is autumn. It is better to carefully approach the planting site so that in the future the plant does not have to be hastily transferred to another site.

Choosing a seat

The future place of "residence" of the plant will affect its growth, flowering, normal existence. Planting a peony in the shade, among tall trees blocking the sun, is undesirable, as it will negate the gardener's attempts to achieve the ovary of buds.

Selection and preparation of planting material

Since plant division is used more often than other propagation methods, they start choosing a planting stock in the fall, using 3-4-year-old bushes. The requirement for the resulting seedlings is as follows: root length - up to 15 centimeters, at least 3 buds. First, the peony donor bush is dug up. The tuberous part is carefully separated from the earthy coma, transferred to a cool dark place, covered. After about 2-3 hours, pruning is performed, removing damaged or diseased areas, dividing the peony bush into seedlings.

Another popular way to propagate peonies is cuttings. To do this, choose a he althy and strong shoot on the bush. It is carefully cut into cuttings, leaving 2 internodes on each. Next, the seedlings are briefly soaked in a growth stimulator (Heteroauxin), rooted in the ground and covered with a film.

How to prepare the soil

The landing hole, dug at the landing site, will be filled with a special mixture. It consists of:

• aged humus (a couple of buckets);
• bone meal (300 grams), it is permissible to replace with superphosphate;
• ash or sulfate of potassium, magnesium (300 grams).

Fertile land is added to this composition. If the soil is heavy, it is diluted with peat (sand). It is necessary to fill in sandy soils near a bucket of clay, this will balance their structure. The pit is filled with a ready-made conglomerate by about a third, the rest is left for soil fertilized with minerals.

Timing

The optimal planting time is autumn, from the end of August to the first days of October. In exceptional cases, bushes are planted in early spring, at the end of winter in a large pot or a 3-liter glass jar. In this form, the plant remains until the arrival of heat. As soon as the air warms up to a temperature of 10 degrees, "preserved" peonies are planted in the ground.

Plant pattern

When planting plants, keep a step of 1 meter between adjacent bushes. Too frequent planting will lead to the fact that the flowers will interfere with each other to develop harmoniously. In addition, they will not have enough moisture or nutrients in the soil.

Care

Caring for the Kansas variety consists of timely watering, fertilizing with mineral complexes, preventing diseases or pests, and mulching.

Irrigation

Flowers are moderately moisture-loving: for them, overflow can lead to more sad consequences than drought. Usually, up to 3 buckets of water are consumed per plant. The procedure is repeated once every 10 days. In the spring, when sap flow begins, peonies especially need regular watering.

Loosening and weeding

After the peonies bloom, standard procedures are performed - loosening the soil, weeding from weeds. Sometimes this procedure is combined with top dressing. Loosening is also useful after rain to ensure the permeability of the soil, the plant receiving nutrients.

Feeding

During the growing season, Kansas is fed twice: the first time with organics (at the beginning or end of the season), the second - with minerals, before the formation of inflorescences. The growth of young shoots takes a lot of energy, so fertilization is required. It can be ammonium nitrate (about 15 grams per bucket of water).

The best time for the procedure is evening. When feeding "adult" plants with deep roots, it is recommended to carefully drill several wells up to half a meter deep around the bush, into which water-soluble fertilizers will be poured.

Diseases and pests

Peonies are susceptible to pest attacks, as well as garden diseases. Each danger has its own methods of struggle, sometimes harsh. To protect against insects, plants are treated with fungicides.

Grey Rot

The source of gray mold on peonies is a fungus that affects the roots, stems, leaves. Depending on the degree of damage, chemical treatment is used, the removal of damaged parts, followed by burning, deep loosening in the fall.

Rust

Sign of the disease are brown, reddish spots. If you do not intervene, then the spores will spread to neighboring areas, affecting other plants. As a preventive measure, spraying with Bordeaux liquid is used. Affected leaves are separated, piled up and burned.

Transfer

Repotting is not a mandatory procedure for young plants. This is necessary if the place for placing the flower bed is unsuccessfully chosen, when dividing the overgrown bush. They are engaged in transplanting peonies in the fall, carefully taking out the plant along with an earthy clod. You can rinse under running water, being careful not to damage the roots. Then the bush is left in the air so that it wilts, after which they proceed to pruning or dividing.

Mulching

Backfilling the root zone with a layer of dry branches or compost (mulch) allows you to save nutrients in the soil. The main thing is that fungal spores do not develop on this fertile soil.

Cutting

Autumn is the best time to prune a peony. At this time, the stems are cut short. If another, earlier season is chosen for the procedure, then they try to leave strong shoots with 3-4 leaves in the aerial part.

What to do when they have faded

When the peonies have faded, they remove dry leaves, buds, loosen the soil, and also apply top dressing.

Reproduction

Reproduction is carried out by cuttings, layering, dividing the bush, seeds.

Beauty and benefit

Kansas peony is a full-fledged, beautiful plant with characteristic lush flowering. With reasonable care (and the plant does not require so much), bushes with bright buds will decorate the balcony, become a highlight in the design of a flower bed or garden plot.

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