Planting and caring for tiarella outdoors - what a gardener needs to know when decorating a plot

Tiarella is an ornamental evergreen that prefers shady areas and decorates garden areas with lace. Planting and caring for tiarella outdoors have their own characteristics. When properly grown, tiarella will become a bright decoration of landscape design, with which shady corners of the garden are often filled.

Botanical description of tiarella

Tiarella is a low-growing evergreen of the Saxifrage family, native to North America. Under natural conditions, this culture "prefers" a cold, temperate climate and shady areas where other plants do not take root.

The main features of tiarella:

1. Depending on the variety, the plant height is 15-85 cm.
2. The leaves are five-lobed, carved, up to 10-15 cm long, dark green in color. In winter, they acquire a rich red or bronze hue.
3. Inflorescences are spicate or conical, consisting of miniature flowers that bloom in summer.
4. Tiarella bloom, depending on the variety, lasts 4-6 weeks.
5. After the end of flowering, oblong "boxes" with seeds are formed.

For planting and caring for tiarella in the open field, you can choose almost any area, because this plant is distinguished by good frost resistance and drought resistance, without losing its decorative appeal even in winter frosts.

Popular tiarella varieties

There are many varieties of tiarella, each of which has its own characteristics and specifics of cultivation.

Tiarella cordifolia or tiarella cordifolia is a popular and widespread cultivar that is a perennial plant with creeping stems. The leaves are heart-shaped, rounded, collected in neat rosettes. Flowering begins in early May and lasts up to 5-6 weeks.

Varieties popular with gardeners:

1. Tiarella Neon Lights belongs to the varieties of heart-shaped tiarella. This species is characterized by the large size of the leaves and the snow-white shade of flowers with dark purple veins.
2. Black Snowflake is an equally common variety, characterized by light pink inflorescences and carved leaves with a glossy surface.
3. Spanish Cross is an interesting variety with pink inflorescences that gradually acquire a snow-white hue.
4. Tiarella Pink Skyrocket is a perennial plant up to 30 cm high with conical inflorescences consisting of small pink flowers. The foliage is light green, reminiscent of maple, with purple centers.
5. Jeepers Creepers is an unusual variety of tiarella with delicate, light green foliage, which at the beginning of autumn acquires a rich purple hue.

Tiarella Timbuktu - this variety is distinguished by rosettes up to 35 cm long. It has an unusual color of leaves - green with purple veins and a burgundy center. The inflorescences are fluffy and paniculate, consisting of small, pale pink flowers.

Planting and caring for tiarella outdoors

To grow tiarella, it is best to choose slightly shaded corners of the infield, or plant the plants in the shade of trees, shrubs, buildings or fences.The plant will grow and develop well under the sun, but direct rays negatively affect the decorative qualities of tiarella - its leaves fade faster and the flowers fade.

For planting and caring for tiarella outdoors, it is advisable to choose zones with neutral, loose, nutritious or slightly alkaline soils.

Lowlands or places with high groundwater levels are not suitable for perennial thiarella.

Planting tiarella step by step

For planting tiarella, strong and healthy seedlings purchased from specialized stores or nurseries are used.

Planting the plant can be carried out immediately after the snow has melted - this will speed up the flowering process:

1. Before planting seedlings, you need to prepare the site. Dig up the soil in about 15-20 days, add peat and sand, as well as organic fertilizers - humus or compost.
2. Mulch the plot under the beds - this will ensure long-term retention of moisture in the soil.
3. Prepare the planting holes - their depth should be 3-4 cm more than the rhizome of the tiarella seedling.
4. Fill the bottom of the planting holes with a layer of drainage - broken brick, expanded clay, sand.
5. Leave a distance of at least 25 cm between the pits.
6. Lower the seedling together with the earthen lump into the hole, straighten the roots and sprinkle with soil, lightly tamping.

Then loosen the topsoil around the thiarella bush, sprinkle with ashes, mulch and pour abundantly with room temperature water.

Growing tiarella from seeds

Tiarella can be grown from seedlings. For this, seeds are used that are harvested after the ripening of the seed "bolls" or purchased in flower shops. You can sow seeds for seedlings in the second half of February or early March.

Growing seedlings:

• for sowing seeds, plastic containers with drainage holes in the bottom are used;
• pour the ready-made nutrient substrate for ornamental plants into the container;
• spread the tiarella seeds on top and sprinkle with a thin layer of sand;
• spray crops from a spray bottle;
• cover with plastic wrap, making several holes in it;
• remove the film and ventilate the crops daily.

After the appearance of 2-4 true leaves, young seedlings can be dived into separate plastic cups or other containers. When the seedlings get strong enough and take root, and the soil warms up enough and the risk of recurrent frosts disappears, it can be transplanted into open ground.

Tiarella care rules

For abundant and long-lasting flowering of tiarella, several rules for caring for the plant must be observed. A perennial does not tolerate both a lack and an excess of moisture, so you need to monitor the frequency of its watering. In hot, dry weather, tiarella is watered abundantly after 2-3 days, at other times the plant needs no more than 1-2 waterings per week.

Top dressing rules:

1. Feeding tiarella is carried out twice a season.
2. The first application of fertilizers is before the start of the active growth phase, the second after the end of flowering.
3. For this purpose, complex mineral fertilizers for ornamental crops, which are applied immediately after watering, are best suited.
4. Before the start of active growth, it is better to feed the perennial with nitrogen-containing fertilizers.

Organic feeding - chicken droppings, dry grass, rotted manure - also give good results.

Preparing for winter

Most thiarella varieties are highly cold-resistant and tolerate winter frosts well. But there are varieties that need additional shelter. Plant preparation can begin in October or the first half of November.

Cut the bush almost to the very base, then mulch with a layer of dry leaves, peat, spruce branches, or cover with a special covering material. The layer height should be at least 7-10 cm.

Tiarella is an unpretentious perennial plant that is widely used in landscape design.It will be equally effective in combination with hosts, spiraea, ferns, rhododendrons, barberry and other cultures, becoming an attractive accent in original landscape compositions.

Planting and caring for tiarella in the open field in the country - video