Astilba Amethyst: variety description, planting and care, transplantation and reproduction

Astilbe - decoration of shady places of the site. She is loved by gardeners for unpretentiousness, long flowering, delicacy of foliage. Astilba Arendsa Amethyst is a variety that is very popular among flower growers. This beautiful plant blooms for a month with lilac inflorescences. More information about planting and caring for plantings.

History of breeding Amethyst

The German botanist Georg Arends and the French botanist Emile Lemoine in the 20th century bred many varieties of astilba of different height, flowering period and color of inflorescences. They were the founders of the classification of plant forms and varieties.After their death, the plant was forgotten for some time, but is now experiencing a rebirth.

Currently, selection work continues. Astilbe Arends is a common group of varieties, which is very popular among gardeners for its beauty. In addition to Amethyst, flower growers are planted on the plots of Brautschleiger, Rose Pearl, Diamant, Fanel.

Advantages of use in landscape design

Astilba is a decoration of the garden plot. It is used in mixborders, combined with lily, phlox, aquilegia. The openwork leaves of astilba will effectively stand out against the background of hostas, bergenia, evergreen shrubs. It can be planted in pots, which are then moved to various places in the local area.

Planting a plant next to bulbous crops will bring benefits: daffodils, tulips, muscari, snowdrops, crocuses, hyacinths.When they fade, there remains a clearing with ugly sticking out, drying trunks. Astilbe in the process of development will cover the territory with its spectacular leaves and inflorescences.

Summary and Description

Astilbe Amethyst is a perennial herbaceous shrub reaching a height of 80-100 centimeters. In width, the plant spreads 50-80 centimeters. The leaves are green, lilac narrow inflorescence consists of numerous small flowers. Its length is about 30 centimeters, width is 7-10 centimeters.

Astilbe blooms for 30 days, starting from the end of June. After flowering, seed pods are formed. The plant will grow best in partial shade. Amethyst is a frost-resistant variety, it does not require shelter for the winter.

Necessary conditions for growth

The site for planting astilba should be chosen shaded, with a high occurrence of groundwater.The root system develops well in a humid environment. The plant does not make any special claims to the composition of the soil, but loose soil with normal acidity is preferable. In one place, the bush can develop for about 10 years.

Advice! Although the bush may bloom in the first year after planting, it is better not to allow this. First, the plant must get stronger, grow a rhizome in order to winter well.

How to plant a crop in the garden

For the development of bushes, you need to choose the right seedling, choose a planting site, plant a rhizome in the required period.

Choosing a he althy and strong seedling

Acquire a rhizome with short shoots as early as possible. If the weather is still cool, you can keep it in the refrigerator or other cold place. Being late with the purchase, the gardener runs the risk of acquiring a plant with elongated, twisted shoots. Also, when choosing a rhizome, you need to pay attention so that it is free of rotten and dried fragments.

Preparing the place

Before planting Astilba Amethyst, the site is cleared of debris, dug up, rotted manure is introduced into it. After that, the territory is huge, holes are made at a distance of at least 30 centimeters from one another. Their size should be such that the rhizomes have enough room for growth and development.

Terms and technology of disembarkation

Astilba Amethyst is planted after the earth warms up. This usually happens in May. Planting is done as follows:

• holes are dug, the earth in them is mixed with ash, mineral fertilizers, as well as with a hydrogel that helps retain moisture in the soil;
• pits are watered, rhizomes are planted in them;
• landings are covered with earth.

Astilba's root system is shallow, so the plant does not plant deep into the ground. To preserve moisture in the soil, plantings are mulched with peat or tree bark.

Plant care

Care consists in frequent watering, especially in dry summers, careful loosening, mulching of the soil. In addition, for the richness of colors you need to feed the plant. Bushes are also inspected to identify pests and diseases. If necessary, overgrown plantings are transplanted.

Irrigation

Astilbe Amethyst is a moisture-loving plantation. Therefore, it should be watered often, in a dry summer twice a day: in the morning and in the evening. If there is not enough moisture in the soil, the plant reduces its decorative qualities: the inflorescences become smaller, lose their juiciness of color.

Feeding

Young plants need enough top dressing applied at planting. Adult bushes are fertilized with nitrogen immediately after the shoots appear. It helps plants to adapt faster after winter, and also promotes the growth of openwork foliage.

The following top dressing is done directly during budding with a phosphorus-potassium mixture. It will contribute to the abundant and long flowering of astilba Amethyst. In order for the bushes to endure wintering well, in the fall they make another top dressing with fertilizer with a predominance of potassium.

Important! For the winter, bushes, especially those planted in autumn, need to be mulched with peat, tree bark, dry foliage, and also covered with spruce branches.

Shaping a bush

Astilba does not require pruning: it forms the crown on its own. For an aesthetic appearance of the plant, it is necessary to remove faded flower stalks, leaves that have dried up for some reason. Leave the flower arrow is not necessary: the resulting seeds weaken the development of the plant.

Prophylactic treatments for diseases and insects

Astilba Amethyst is rarely attacked by pests and diseases, but sometimes it does happen. A plant, for example, can be chosen by a penny. A sign of its appearance is the presence of abundant foam on the stems.

You can get rid of the penny by treating the plant with an insecticide. To prevent the appearance of pests, it is necessary not to thicken the plantings, as well as remove weeds and plant debris from the site. To prevent diseases, the bushes are sprayed with a fungicide in the spring.

Transfer to a new location

If the astilbe does not fit the place on the site, it needs to be transplanted. The procedure is performed in spring or autumn as follows:

1. The landing pit breaks out in advance. In size, it should be 2 times larger than the root system of the bush.
2. Astilba is dug up and immediately transplanted to a new place.
3. The roots are neatly straightened, covered with soil.
4. The bushes are watered, mulched with peat to preserve moisture.

Astilba should be transplanted as early as possible. So the plant adapts more easily to a new place.

Methods of reproduction

On their plots, gardeners most often propagate astilba by dividing the bush. To do this, an adult bush is dug up in spring or autumn, divided into parts, each of which must have a rhizome and shoots. Delenki are planted in a permanent place, watered, mulched.

Another way is reproduction in the spring by renewal buds. In this case, the kidney with the rhizome is planted in a substrate consisting of peat and sand, watered, covered with a film. Bushes are planted in open ground in the fall. Reproduction of astilba by seeds is long-term, and is usually not used by gardeners. It is used by breeders to develop new varieties.

Main problems when growing astilba

The most common problems when growing a plantation are:

1. The bushes are not developing well. This can happen when astilba is planted in a place that is too sunlit or, conversely, in the shade. The best place for her is partial shade.
2. Astilbe does not bloom. This can happen for several reasons: the bush is too old and needs a transplant; the plant is too young, it blooms the next year after planting; excess nitrogen fertilizer.

Pay attention! An excess of nitrogen can lead to the fact that the bush will not bloom, but only abundantly grow foliage.

Planting Astilba Amethyst will help the gardener to decorate the plot in an unusual and spectacular way. It is easy to care for, rarely exposed to pests and diseases. In the landscape, astilba is planted next to the same shade-loving plantings. It is especially indispensable in plantings with bulbous plants, after flowering of which, it covers an unsightly clearing with its openwork foliage.

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