Rhododendron Daursky - decoration of a summer cottage
Rhododendron Daursky is the name of a deciduous or evergreen shrub belonging to the heather family. It grows in Northern Mongolia, Japan, Korea, the Far East and Sakhalin, Manchuria, Transbaikalia. In Russia, the plant can be found in nature only in the regions located east of the Altai Mountains.
The external forms of the shrub are so different that sometimes it is very difficult to distinguish it from other species - the Sikhotinsky or Ledebour rhododendron. Even experts for a long time could not determine the exact area of growth of the Daursky rhododendron. In 1978 this issue was solved by the botanist-dendrologist G.P. Tafintsev.
The plant grows separately or forms large thickets. There is especially a lot of Daursky rhododendron in deciduous forests, on wastelands, in oak groves, in rocky terrain, where there is a lot of rubble.
Rhododendron Daursky, plant description
The leaves of the Daursky rhododendron are oval in shape. Their length is 1.3–4 cm, width is 0.5–1 cm. The petioles are short, appear on the plant at the end of flowering. Young leaves are light green, later turn brown. With the onset of autumn cold snaps, the leaves begin to curl into tubes and fall off. Only a few remain on the plant until spring.
Inflorescences are mainly apical, as they are most often located at the ends of the shoots, but there are also axillary ones, which are located at the outer leaves. The flower buds are grouped from one to three, from each only one flower emerges, the length of the pedicel of which can be from 3 to 5 mm.
A rhododendron flower has a small, scaly calyx. Light pink, with a lilac tint, the corolla has a funnel-bell-shaped shape. Ten stamens.
The shrub blooms in late April, earlier in good weather conditions.
The fruits are egg-shaped capsules, no more than 1.2 cm long. The growing season of rhododendrons growing in the Moscow region is approximately 135 days.
Daurian rhododendron, is it wild rosemary or not
Beginning in the 90s of the last century, many Western botanists began to include all species wild rosemary in the genus of rhododendrons. This classification is not supported in the Russian special literature. Scientists from the international group APG (angiosperm phylogeny group) presented a classification based on DNA molecular analysis. In it, the wild rosemary genus is singled out as independent and has nothing to do with rhododendrons.
How to grow Daurian rhododendron
The plant is undemanding to growing conditions. Although the rhododendron is quite light-requiring, it easily tolerates shading and is not afraid of frost. Withstands cold temperatures down to –45 ° C in winter without any problems.
The fruits of the plant ripen in October. In the conditions of the Non-Black Earth Region, lignification of the shoots is 100% complete by winter. In the Nizhny Novgorod region, winter hardiness is relative; in winter cold, annual shoots can freeze slightly. Rhododendron does not tolerate winter thaws, it can die after a warm winter. Winter frosts also damage shrubs.
Planting the Daursky rhododendron and caring for it is not difficult. Its seeds should be stored in a paper bag or tightly sealed glass container in an unheated room. Their germination capacity lasts for 3 years. Stratification not required.
Sowing is usually done as follows:
- sown in greenhouses from December to February, at a temperature of 18–20 ° C, they are not embedded in the soil;
- seed germination should begin in 20 days, seedlings are almost always uncooked;
- when grown in a greenhouse, plants bloom in the third year;
- planting on the beds is carried out when the seedlings reach the age of four.
In the planting pits for the Daurian rhododendrons, it is necessary to add a mixture of peat and sand, in a 1: 1 ratio. Their size is 50x50 cm.
The easiest way to propagate plants is cuttings. For better rooting, they are placed for 15 hours in indolylbutyric acid (0.01%) or succinic acid (0.02%). Preference is given to cuttings obtained from the upper part of the shoots.
The work is carried out in stages:
- The cuttings that have managed to take root by the fall are planted in boxes with soil. The composition of the soil includes: sour peat (2 parts), sand (1 part), leafy soil (2 parts), coniferous litter (1 part).
- They are stored throughout the autumn-winter period in basements, at a temperature not exceeding 5 ° C.
- At the end of May, they dive into a bed of soil or a pot of soil with a similar composition, double the acidic content is allowed peat and replacement of leafy land with sod.
- The seedlings are shaded, shields are installed over the bed.
In the nursery, the seedlings are kept for 2 or three years. Then they are planted in a permanent place.