Spiraea Firelight: description and characteristics of the variety, planting and care, reproduction with photo

When growing shrubs in the garden, you always want to plant only the best varieties. For example, you should pay attention to such a plant as spirea. Firelight spirea is an unpretentious plant that is easy to care for and grow. This shrub will be a real decoration of any garden.

Description and characteristics of Firelight spirea

Before purchasing a seedling, you need to study the description of the plant. The spirea variety Japonica Firelight is characterized by an unusual shade of foliage - it changes throughout the growing season.Freshly blossomed leaves have a reddish tint with an orange tint. Then they turn yellow-green. Foliage turns blood red at the end of the growing season.

The variety has a long flowering that lasts from June to September. Inflorescences are bright pink. The shrub is small in height, grows up to 60 cm. The stems are arched, the bush itself is rounded. The crown is spreading and strongly thickened.

Pros and cons of a plant

Benefits of Japanese Spirea Firelight:

• High winter hardiness.
• Long bloom.
• Easy to grow.
• Unusual appearance.
• Compact.
• Combines with almost all plants in the garden when decorating the site.

No significant deficiencies were found in spirea.

Features of growing varieties

Japanese Spiraea Firelight is very unpretentious in cultivation. The main condition is to find the most favorable place for the bush and prepare the seedlings for planting.

Preparation of planting material

Only he althy seedlings with a well-developed root system are suitable for planting. The bushes should not be damaged. The roots are firm and not dry. Before planting for several hours, the root system can be placed in a growth activator. And just before landing in open ground - in a liquid clay solution.

Selecting and preparing a landing site

Spirea Firelight prefers to grow in well-drained loose soils. Grows poorly in poor soil. It is recommended to plant a shrub in the sun. This also applies to cultivation in the southern regions, where the scorching sun.

In the shade, the foliage is not as saturated as it is in the sun. It also thrives in partial shade. Can be planted under trees (provided that they do not have a sprawling and thickened crown). It is best to plant a seedling in September in cloudy rainy weather, when the soil is well saturated with moisture

Scheme and planting process

The first stage of planting a Firelight P9 spirea seedling is preparing a pit. The size of the hole depends on the type of soil. If the soil is favorable for the plant, then the hole is dug 45-55 cm deep. And if the substrate is not suitable for planting, then the hole is dug three times larger than the root system of the bush. The pit should be larger both in depth and in width.

Preparation of soil and pit:

• After the hole has been dug, drainage is poured to the bottom.
• Then the hole is covered with a mixture of peat, river sand and turf or leaf soil (one part of sand and peat, two parts of earth).
• The distance at which seedlings will be planted depends on how many are planned to be planted on the site.
• The distance between the bushes is left at least 40 cm.
• If there are a lot of bushes, the distance is increased to 70 cm.

Planting spirea:

• If a seedling is planted with a clod of earth, water the soil abundantly with water before planting.
• If the roots are bare, in this case, the seedling is soaked for 12 hours in a growth activator (succinic acid or "Heteroauxin").
• Put the seedling in the ground and cover it with soil.
• Tamp near the base of the trunk.

At the end of planting, water the seedling abundantly with warm water. If planting is done in autumn, then immediately after planting, you can mulch the soil.

Further crop care

After planting, do not forget about caring for the bush.

How to water the bush?

Spirea watering should be regular. It is undesirable to allow overdrying of the soil. Especially strongly in irrigation spirea needs dry weather.

Fertilizer and top dressing

For rapid growth and lush flowering, spirea is regularly fertilized with mineral or organic top dressing. After planting, potash-phosphorus fertilizers are applied to the soil. In early spring, before bud break, the soil is fertilized with nitrogen.

A mixture of manure and chicken manure is suitable for spring dressing. Fertilizers are diluted in water, insist 10 days. Before watering, dilute with water and water the bushes with them. Superphosphate and mullein are also used as fertilizers.

Cutting

Firelight variety is pruned in early spring. In powerful, well-developed stems, a part is cut off to he althy buds. Small and weak branches are removed completely. In the fourth year of growing a shrub, the stems are cut by 25-30 cm.

For pruning use sharply ground scissors that do not leave creases on the branches. Before each procedure, the scissors must be wiped with alcohol. The cuts are dusted with wood ash to prevent infection.

Possible diseases and pests

Although spirea is rarely affected by diseases and insects, such cases do happen. From insects on the bush are found:

• aphid;
• spider mite;
• whitefly.

Spraying the bushes with Fitoverm helps from the whitefly. You can get rid of aphids if you treat the plant with Kronefos or Aktellik preparations. Spraying with a solution of laundry soap also helps. The drug "Arex", "Phosfamide" or "Metaphos" will help get rid of the spider mite.

Of the diseases on the plant, there are various types of spotting and gray mold. In order to get rid of these diseases, they use the preparations "Fundazol", Bordeaux liquid or colloidal sulfur.

But it is better not to allow the development of diseases at all. To do this, it is undesirable to thicken the plantings, you need to organize watering and regularly destroy weeds on the site.

Breeding Methods

There are three ways to propagate spirea. These are seed, cuttings and layering.

Methods of reproduction:

• Cuttings are carried out in the spring. For propagation by cuttings, young specimens are cut in mid-June. They are installed in containers filled with river sand and peat. They are watered almost every day. The next year, the cuttings are planted outside.
• Layers are also grown in the spring. To do this, the lower stems are bent to the ground and covered with soil. To keep the branch in place, it is fixed. In autumn, the branch is covered with foliage. The next year, by spring, the cuttings will take root, and by autumn they can be planted.
• To grow spirea from seeds, containers are filled with a mixture of river sand and peat. Then the seeds are planted. After 10 days, shoots should appear. After 3-3 months, seedlings can be planted outside. Before the onset of cold weather, it is better to cover young bushes with something.

The most difficult thing is to propagate the plant with seeds, especially collected by yourself. The seed method is not suitable for propagating hybrid varieties.

Landscape use

Firelight Spirea Shrub is suitable for creating hedges and flower arrangements from perennial shrubs and other plant species.

Looks good in single plantings and together with spireas of other varieties. The shrub is also combined with conifers, lavender, barberry, St. John's wort.

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