Spiraea: types and varieties with descriptions and characteristics, growing rules with photos

Walking in the warm season in the park, you can see beautiful bushes with long flexible branches, densely strewn with small flowers in inflorescences. This is a perennial shrub from the pink family - an ornamental spirea with about 90 species and varieties. The plant is very unpretentious, valued for its high decorative qualities, long flowering period, resistance to extreme weather conditions.

General information about the plant

Spirea vulgaris can be found in nature. The shrub feels comfortable in the temperate climate of the steppes, forest-steppes, semi-deserts, as well as in northern latitudes.In Russia, it is bred as an ornamental plant to decorate parks, gardens and household plots. The plant is also planted to strengthen the soil, as it has a well-branched root system.

Spirea is also a valuable medicinal plant. Some of its varieties are a source of essential oils, minerals, phytoncides, vitamin A and ascorbic acid.

Spirea is a deciduous shrub. Its height can vary from 15 centimeters to 2.5 meters. The plant is unpretentious to the quality of the soil, feels good in the polluted, gassed atmosphere of the city.

What colors can it be?

Each species and variety of spirea has its own flowering time, and during this period it pleases the surrounding with bright colors of inflorescences. The color range - from snow-white, pink, pale beige, to rich colors, including burgundy and purple.

1. Varieties that bloom in spring often have white inflorescences that cover the entire length of the shoots.
2. Summer blooming has all shades of red. At the same time, blooming in early summer are often painted in a pale pink color, late-flowering ones have burgundy or bright crimson hues.

The foliage of the spirea is no less beautiful than the inflorescences. In some species, it changes colors: red becomes green with the onset of summer. In autumn, yellow or orange hues appear. There are varieties with bicolor leaves. The variegated spirea is very beautiful.

Varieties of spirea

Types and varieties of plants please with a variety of forms. Depending on the location of the branches, the crown of the shrub can be pyramidal, weeping, upright, creeping, cascading, spherical.

According to the time of flowering, all plants are divided into two large groups - spring-flowering and summer-flowering. They differ in the nature of flowering, in the form and shape of inflorescences:

1. Spring-flowering varieties bloom very amicably, but for a short time. Flowers bloom on last year's shoots.
2. Summer-blooming spireas bloom much longer. At the same time, newly appeared flowers gradually replace those that have already faded. Inflorescences appear on the shoots of this year.

The shape of the inflorescences is also not the same. It can be corymbose, spike-shaped, pyramidal and paniculate. There are also shrubs with single flowers. Inflorescences can cover the entire shoot, its upper part or the very end.

Billard

Billard's Spiraea is a powerful shrub reaching 2.5 meters in height. It grows throughout Russia - both in its southern and northern regions. The plant is distinguished by a long flowering period, capturing the entire warm period of time. It has straight vertical stems, forming a lush spherical crown.

Billard's Spirea blooms in large inflorescences, composed of 10-20 small flowers of rich pink color. The inflorescences are shaped like a pyramid or a candle.

Average

Spirea medium is a shrub with a large crown formed by branches growing vertically upwards. Natural habitat - forests and forest-steppes of Siberia, Central Asia and the Far East.

Belongs to the spring flowering species, as it begins to bloom in mid-May. By the beginning of summer, flowering ends. Plants have corymbose inflorescences formed by groups of small white flowers. Due to the beautiful rounded crown, the bush is attractive even at a time when flowering is already over.

Paniculata

Spirea paniculata bushes can reach one and a half meters due to straight branches stretched upwards. The beauty of the plant is given by dense foliage of an emerald shade.The plant belongs to late flowering species. In the middle of summer, it blooms with bright pink flowers, collected in rather large inflorescences in the form of elongated fluffy panicles.

Little Princess

The plant got its name due to its small size - up to 60 centimeters in height. It is long-flowering - it blooms all summer and half of autumn (until the end of October). Looks very picturesque as part of garden compositions.

The plant has a curly dense crown due to deep green foliage. With the onset of autumn, the color turns orange, then red.

The bush blooms with corymbose pink inflorescences located at the ends of the branches. Fading inflorescences are gradually replaced by young ones. This ensures the duration of flowering. During the period of active flowering, foliage is not visible due to the large number of delicate inflorescences.

Willowleaf

The shrub has elongated wedge-shaped foliage that resembles the crown of a weeping willow, although the branches are arranged vertically. A dense mass of leaves forms a picturesque spherical crown.

The plant is moisture-loving, and in the presence of good conditions grows rapidly. It has a long flowering period - from the second half of June to mid-September. Small flowers form trapezoid inflorescences at the ends of branches of rich pink or burgundy color.

Willow spirea is known in folk medicine as a medicinal plant. A decoction and tincture of leaves and branches are used as anti-inflammatory, wound healing, antipyretic, anthelmintic.

Wangutta

Spirea Vangutta is a good option for decorating house territories and summer cottages.This shrub is informally called "May snow". At the time of flowering, long flexible branches are covered with snow-white flowers, which are collected in cups of inflorescences. Merging into one mass, they take the form of a snowdrift lying on the branches. Behind the "snow" green foliage is almost invisible. Bending under the weight of the inflorescences, the shoots give the bush the shape of a cascade.

Oak-leaved

The oak-leaved spirea is often used for arranging park areas. The plant is unpretentious, feels good in conditions of low temperatures.

The shrub has a dense round crown. The plant is not long-flowering. Blooming in early May, by the end of the month it is already losing flowers. It blooms in lush white inflorescences that completely cover the branches.

Nipponese

The birthplace of the Nipponian spirea, as the name implies, is Japan, or rather, the island of Shikoku.This is a tall shrub (reaches a height of 2 meters and above). It has a spreading crown formed by flexible branches. The foliage changes color throughout the year from dark olive to green and then to red in autumn.

The plant belongs to early flowering varieties. Pleases the eye with flowering at the end of May, which lasts until August. White flowers are collected in corymbose inflorescences.

Thunberg

Low shrub with an openwork crown formed by graceful curving branches. The homeland of the plant is Korea, Japan and China. The plant is photophilous, belongs to frost-resistant varieties, but freezes at very low temperatures. Does not require frequent watering.

Along with the flowers, Thunberg's spirea's decoration is thick leaves that change color from yellow in spring to green in the heat of summer. With the advent of autumn cold weather, the plant becomes red-leaved.

Clan

Spirea gornate in Russia is found in the steppes, as well as on the mountainous slopes of the Caucasus and Central Asia.

The shrub belongs to undersized varieties (it is no more than a meter in height). It got its name due to the shape of the leaves - oblong, with a characteristic crenate edge. The corymbose inflorescences consist of yellowish flowers, up to five millimeters in diameter. It is a short-flowering species (blooms in June, no more than 15-20 days).

Criteria for plant selection

All varieties of spirea are beautiful and picturesque all year round, whether the plant blooms or not.

When choosing a type of plant for a summer cottage, they rely on the following criteria:

1. Crown shape. It is formed by a graceful interlacing of branches. Bushes with lush crowns are best used as single plants. Planted in composition, they will interfere with the growth of other plants.
2. Blossom time.Plants that bloom earlier bloom for a short time, and late bloomers delight with flowers until mid-autumn. Experienced gardeners, composing compositions, skillfully combine various types of shrubs. This achieves continuous flowering of spirea during a warm period of time.
3. Foliage cover. Many varieties of spirea have original leaves of unusual colors. Foliage color can change many times, depending on the season.

The use of spirea in landscape design

Shrub is popular for landscaping. It is often used as a single object. It is also suitable for creating compositions in combination with other plants. Mostly these are shrubs (lilac, viburnum, willow) or conifers (juniper, spruce, pine).

Spirea is used to create a hedge, mixborder or background for a flower garden. Dwarf varieties successfully frame paths or become an ornament for rockeries. Bushes are often planted in apiaries. Fragrant flowers are honey plants.

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