Care for ITO-peonies
ITO peonies are long-lived in comparison with other species; in one place they can live up to 18-20 years. Therefore, competent care is the key to their comfortable existence on your site.
In fact, these luxurious flowers are not at all capricious - they are little susceptible to pests and diseases, they are resistant to weather vicissitudes, heat and frost-resistant. Caring for them is similar to those for ordinary peonies.
Peonies - planting and care, all work by month
Caring for peonies - when and what to do to make peonies bloom luxuriantly.
ITO-hybrids do not need support, their bush is able to "hold" itself.
Watering ITO-peonies should be regular (especially for young seedlings planted in spring), but not excessive - you remember that these plants do not tolerate waterlogging and stagnant water. Peonies need plenty of drink only in severe drought. You can check the need for watering by the condition of the topsoil - it should dry out slightly. On average, an adult plant needs about 15 liters of water per watering. It is better to water ITO peonies without an active sun - in the evening.
After each watering, you need to gently loosen the soil around the plant, which will provide regular oxygen access to the roots and lead to lush and abundant flowering. Simultaneously with loosening, weeds are removed. Also, to prevent moisture evaporation, the soil in the trunk circle should be mulched.
It is important not to overdo it with feeding ITO hybrids. They begin to fertilize these flowers from the third year - at the beginning of the season, nitrogen fertilizers are applied, and at the end of flowering, potassium-phosphorus fertilizers, which contribute to the formation of buds and allow the peony to restore vitality
If the soil on your site in terms of acidity is not ideal for ITO-peonies, do not forget to add dolomite flour or ash under the bush from time to time.
Ash - what kind of fertilizer is it, and how to use it correctly
Ash is not just a non-combustible residue after combustion, but also a valuable micronutrient fertilizer. In our material - everything about how ash is useful to plants, how to use ash as fertilizer, how to dilute ash for feeding, what is spraying with an ash solution ...
In autumn, with the onset of severe frosts (much later than in herbaceous peonies), in dry weather, ITO hybrids are cut off the stems at ground level. This period usually falls in mid to late November.
Young plants for the period of winter dormancy can be insulated with spruce branches, adult plants of ITO-peonies are winter-hardy enough and usually do not need such a shelter.
As you can see, it will not be difficult to settle ITO-peonies on your site. With a fairly low effort, these magnificent flowers will delight you with bright colors for a long time.
Features of cultivation and care
The crop requires a lot of sunlight to bloom well. Henry Bokstos grows well in partial shade conditions. Choose a draft-free location for the hybrid. However, it is better not to place it near buildings, otherwise the spring drops will harm the awakening sprouts.
Planting Henry Bockstoce is recommended in loamy soil with good drainage. At the bottom of the hole, in addition to expanded clay or perlite, a layer of mineral fertilizers is also placed. Peat does not tolerate a flower, since it significantly increases the acidity of the soil, and the plant prefers a substrate with a neutral reaction. At the end of planting, the peony requires abundant watering.
Crop care consists in regular activities such as moistening the soil, weeding, feeding, loosening. Water the flower as often as necessary to maintain the soil in a moderate moisture state. It is better not to allow the soil to dry out, although the plant will be distinguished by sufficient drought resistance.Several buckets of settled water are consumed per bush. During flowering, they adhere to an enhanced water supply regime.
Loosening of the soil is carried out with care and accuracy. Then the soil is mulched with dried grass.
Henry Bokstos needs feeding already in the first year of his life. In the spring, organic or complete mineral fertilizers are used for this purpose. When the buds are tied on the plant, a phosphorus-potassium concentrate is added under the bush. Do the same after flowering.
Pruning should be carried out during the preparation of the plant for winter, that is, in the fall season. The signal for the implementation of this event is the lodging of the shoots. Cut off the stems of the plant, leaving a small stump. There is no need to cover the peony: snow serves as a heater for the culture in winter.
Bloom
Peony Henry Bokstos blooms in the third year after planting. It is recommended to cut off the first buds: the bushes must first get stronger. The flowers of the peony are large, double garnet-red in color. The buds begin to open at the end of May. Flowering lasts 15-20 days.
When the buds begin to crumble, dry out, they are removed from the bush. This will make the plants look more decorative. It happens that the flowering of peonies does not come. This happens under the following circumstances:
- the bushes are planted in a shady, damp place;
- the root collar is too deep;
- an excess of nitrogen in the soil, which contributes to the growth of green mass, but prevents flowering;
- last year, immediately after flowering, the stems were cut at the root. In this case, future flower buds do not have time to start;
- plants are affected by diseases and pests.
Having corrected mistakes in care, the gardener will be able to admire the flowering of peonies for many years.
Henry Bostock's full blooming bud
How can a peony be propagated?
Peonies, including the "Kansas" varieties, can be propagated using seeds, dividing the bush and vegetatively.
Sowing seeds is rarely propagated, since a bush grown in this way will begin to bloom only after 4 years. And the decorative properties of the mother plant are not always preserved.
The simplest and most commonly used method is dividing the bush. 3-4 year old plants are suitable for this procedure. The bush is usually divided from mid-August to September. At the same time, it is desirable that each section should have at least 2-3 buds and a 10-15 cm rhizome.
This is done as follows. The bush is dug up, the tubers are freed from the soil, covered with a cloth and left in the shade for 2-3 hours. Then diseased tissues are cut off on the rhizome and divided so that there are 3-5 buds on each division. The resulting parts are distributed over the planting holes, sprinkled with soil and watered abundantly.
A five-year-old plant can be propagated by layering. They proceed as follows: the peony shoot is pressed to the ground, fixed and sprinkled with earth.
In the summer they water, loosen the soil, and in the fall they separate and plant it as an independent plant.
And you can do that. Separate a powerful green shoot from the bush, then cut it into cuttings so that each had 2 internodes. Sprinkle them with "Heteroauxin" and plant them under the film. They will stay there until spring.
How to plant and care properly?
For planting, you should choose a windless area accessible to sunlight. It is better to choose the soil loose, moderately dry, with good drainage properties, since the flower does not tolerate excess moisture.
You cannot plant a plant near buildings or walls, otherwise they will constantly suffer from dryness of the walls, overheating, drops from roofs or snow blockages. Near trees and shrubs, peonies will lack food and moisture.
Pits measuring 90x90x90 cm need to be prepared a month before planting, fill them with peat, humus and ash. By planting Henry Bokstos in well-fertilized soil, you can not fertilize him at all for the first year, and sometimes several subsequent years. Planting should be done in the fall, so that flowers will already appear by the first half of summer.
When placing the buds in the ground, it is important that they are not lower and not higher than 3-5 cm from the ground level, because if the planting is low or too high, the plant will not bloom
In the first year after planting, the buds should be removed so that the plant can gain strength and develop its root system. It is necessary to water it in a timely manner, loosen the soil and do not forget about weeding. At the first opportunity, it is worth installing supports for the peony so that its thick stems do not break in windy weather or mechanical stress.
Fertilizers and mullein should be applied to the holes around the bush and covered with earth after watering in order to achieve a greater effect.
After transplanting, varietal qualities will appear only after 2-3 years. In August or early September, the rhizomes are divided, and in the fall, with the onset of frost, the peonies are cut, leaving hemp 1-2 cm high above the buds. For the winter, young plants should be covered with a layer of peat or unripe compost, adult flowers are left. As soon as the warm weather sets in again and the soil thaws, the insulation is removed so that the buds can begin to grow at full strength.
Landing subtleties
Landing is performed according to the algorithm:
- Dig a cube-shaped planting hole with an edge of 60 or 90 cm, depending on the size of the seedling.
- Disinfect the pit with potassium permanganate. The solution is prepared at the rate of 5 grams of potassium permanganate per 10 liters of water. Disinfection is necessary to neutralize pests and pathogenic microorganisms that can harm the plant at an early stage of the growing season.
- Place a 10 cm “nutrient cushion” on the bottom, consisting of a mixture of peat and humus. There should not be too much peat, because it acidifies the soil.
- Place the seedling in the hole so that the lower bud is 3-5 cm behind the ground level.
- Fill in the ground, carefully filling the voids between the roots and morning slightly.
- Within a radius of 50 cm from the bush, screw a small earthen mound 5-10 cm high, and then water the plant abundantly at the root.
Despite the fact that Henry Bokstos is highly adaptable to any climate and growing conditions, the choice of site and planting time should be given the utmost attention. In the future, this will fundamentally affect the quality of flowering.
Site and soil selection
Peonies love spacious and well-lit areas. However, prolonged exposure to the summer sun can lead to burns and petals falling off. Therefore, the best option would be an open area, part of the day in partial shade.
Other criteria for placing a flower bed:
- the length of a sunny day is at least 12 hours;
- the nearest buildings are at a distance of at least 2 meters;
- lack of competitive plants with a branched root system;
- groundwater does not approach the ground closer than 1.5 meters;
- the site is protected from gusty winds.
Henry Bockstoce should be loose and nutritious. The optimum pH level is 6.5.
When is the best time to plant?
The best time to plant peonies is in late summer - early fall. At the end of the season, the plant redirects forces to the growth of the root system, which has a beneficial effect on rooting. In early spring, rooted peonies begin to grow rapidly.
However, the seedlings usually go on sale in March-April. For a successful autumn planting, it must be properly prepared:
- dive into a large-diameter pot with a slightly acidic substrate;
- put the pot in a dark, cool room;
- water sparingly until the first buds hatch;
- after the appearance of buds, put the flower on the windowsill;
- take care of the plant according to the classical scheme: watering, loosening, introducing complex dressings once a month.
Landing subtleties
It is necessary to be very careful about planting peonies and choose the most suitable place for growing them, since the plant belongs to perennials and can germinate for more than a dozen years. Therefore, the question of the landing site is so important for peonies.
One of the main criteria for a successful planting is the right time of the year. It is best to plant peonies in the spring. And also planting plants in the autumn season is not a mistake.
The planting site should not be swampy or be in lowlands, since such a site suffers from stagnant water, this can have a very negative effect on the root system of plantings.
Representatives of the Henry Boxtos variety are quite viable plants that can quickly adapt to the climatic conditions of the region where they are grown. Such peonies are distinguished by their endurance to arid places, they tolerate the Russian winter well, and are also quite resistant to a high level of moisture accumulation.
The plant owes such excellent properties to its complex root system, on which the so-called dormant buds are located. The whole point is that they begin to function when their active representatives become unviable. Thanks to this, we can say that peonies have a second wind, which accompanies the good development of all structural components of the plant, and also allows them to bloom intensively.
The soil must be chosen carefully, as the conditions in it must be neutral. Therefore, the choice of fertilizers must be taken seriously. It is strongly not recommended to use peat. Such organic matter largely oxidizes the soil. You can reduce the acidity level with liming.
Peonies are very well accepted in soil with a significant proportion of clay and sand. Before planting, it must be well processed and drained. A small layer of top dressing is best placed at the very bottom of the planting hole, after which you can plant a bush.
Small roots should be straightened in different directions and covered with earth, the average layer should be 6 centimeters. Next, you need to water the plant abundantly.
Description and features
The flowers are a lush perennial plant with dense spreading roots and fleshy buds. The stem height usually ranges from 80 to 100 cm. The plant looks like a shrub with dissected foliage. The flower is on average about 20 cm in diameter, single, double, resembles a ball in shape. In structure, it has a central non-opening bud of petals, moving from small to larger ones.
By color, peonies of the Henry Bockstoce variety are:
- white;
- pink;
- red.
Rarely, but yellow, cream shades come across.
Gardeners love peonies for the fact that they begin to bloom in early to mid-June, when the sun begins to bake. But their main advantage is drought tolerance, resistance to diseases, flowers perfectly withstand January frosts, and they get along without problems in any compositions and alone.
The plant loves to swim in the sun, but tolerates life in a small shade.
Reproduction
Most often, "Bartzella" reproduces through the division of the rhizome. This procedure can be carried out only with adult flowers from the age of three years.
There is nothing complicated in this process, but in all Ito hybrids, their lower part is more like a tree than a flower, and therefore their root is very strong. You may need to grab the saw when dividing it.
In addition, when dividing the root, there is a rather high risk of ruining the plant. Therefore, only people with experience should do this. Better to train on something not so expensive.
This is how the breeding process works:
- first, thoroughly water the ground around the bush;
- then you can start digging, you can dig boldly - the peonies have a very developed root system, which cannot be damaged;
- shake off excess soil;
- then cut the bush into 2 parts (in some cases into 3), so that each of them has several of its buds;
- after that, you need to sprinkle the cut points with charcoal, leaving them for some time in a darkened place so that the coal dries up;
- after that, the bushes are planted according to standard instructions.
If you do everything right, then soon you will have not one, but 2 peony bushes on your site.
In addition to dividing, sometimes peonies are propagated by cuttings. This is done very rarely, but this feature is still worth mentioning.
Peony Henry Bockstoce - what kind of variety, history of creation
This culture was developed in Canada. Paeonia cv Henry Bockstoce belongs to the category of milk-flowering hybrids and is a versatile herbaceous cultivar.
Brief description, characteristic
The plant belongs to terry peonies. It is characterized by thick and strong stems that can hardly hold large inflorescences. On the shoots there are light green leaves that have a yellowish tint. The plant reaches a height of 1 m.
Peony has beautiful and lush inflorescences
The buds form on the tops of the shoots. The flowers are spherical and gigantic in size: up to 20-22 cm in diameter. According to the description of the peony by Henry Bokstos, the center of the buds is pink. It is formed by petals that fit tightly to each other. As they bloom, they deviate from the center. The flowers are characterized by a deep red hue with garnet notes.
The plant blooms once - in the first half of summer. During this period, the peony smells good. Hybrid variety Henry Bokstos is resistant to frost up to 40 ° C and does not suffer from common diseases.
Important! Peonies have strong stems that do not need tying. However, some growers still carry out this procedure to protect the plant from strong wind.
Advantages and disadvantages of the variety
Peony Henry Bockstoce has the following benefits:
- attractive appearance;
- the possibility of using for cutting;
- frost resistance;
- strong immunity;
- drought resistance.
A key crop drawback is the risk that peony stems will fall due to strong gusts of wind.
Use in landscape design
The plant is planted singly or combined with other flowers. The arrangement of peonies near evergreen conifers is considered a beautiful combination. They are also planted near gazebos and in flower beds. Often, peonies are used to decorate mixborders. The combination of plants of different varieties looks beautiful.
Peonies are often used in landscaping.
How to plant?
Before you start planting any plant, you, of course, need to choose the optimal place for it.
For stable growth and lush flowering, Ito hybrids need a sufficient amount of sunlight, but they do not like extreme heat. Therefore, it is best to plant the Bartzella peony where the light will fall on it only in the morning and evening, and at noon, when the sun is shining especially brightly, it would be covered by a shadow.
Do not forget about his dislike of other plants, plant the peony at some distance from them. And also "Bartzella" does not tolerate stagnant water, and therefore it is not recommended to plant it in lowlands.
When it comes to planting time, it is best to plant Ito hybrids as soon as the summer heat begins to subside. For most of the country, it is planted from early August to late September. And in warmer regions, it can be planted until November.
Best of all "Bartzella" grows on loamy soil with low alkalinity. If the soil on your site is not so favorable, then you can fix it by preparing it in advance. Before planting, the soil is fertilized with a mixture of compost and humus, dolomite flour (if the soil has high acidity), wood ash and superphosphate. If the soil in your area is clay, then it is recommended to add a little sand.
When all the preparations on the site are completed, you can proceed directly to planting our peony.
- To begin with, we dig a hole under the seedling. It should be shallow, but wide (from 80 centimeters in diameter).
- At the bottom, drainage from expanded clay or brick is arranged.
- A mixture of peat, sand and prepared soil is poured on top of 2/3 of the entire depth.
- After that, you can start processing the seedling, and the earth needs to be given time to settle a little. Experienced gardeners recommend holding the peony roots for 30 minutes in a potassium permanganate solution to protect the plant from possible diseases.
- You can also treat the roots with biological stimulants to speed up rooting.
- Before direct planting, the soil in the hole is well moistened.
- After that, place the root in the center of the hole and dig in.
It is very important that if the plant has formed buds, then in no case should they be buried deep (maximum 3 centimeters)
You will not have to transplant peonies soon. In one place "Bartzella" can stay for 10 years.