Snow berry shrub. Fairytale snowberry: the breath of winter. The healing properties of the snowberry

Plant snowberry (lat. Symphoricarpos), or snowberry, or wolfberry- a genus of deciduous shrubs of the Honeysuckle family. In culture, this plant has been decorating parks and squares for more than two hundred years. There are about 15 species in the genus that grow in nature only in Central and North America, except for one species - Symphoricarpos sinensis - whose homeland is China. The scientific name of the plant is derived from two Greek words that translate as “gather together” and “fruit”, and if you look at the snowberry berries tightly pressed together, you will understand why it was called that. characteristic feature shrubs are precisely its berries, which remain on the bushes almost all winter and whose seeds serve as food for waxwings, quails, pheasants and hazel grouses.

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Planting and caring for a snowberry (in short)

Landing: spring and autumn.
Bloom: from July or August.
Lighting: bright light or partial shade.
The soil: any, including stony and calcareous.
Watering: only in drought, in the evening, with a consumption of 1.5-2 buckets of water for each bush.
Top dressing: in early spring, 5-6 kg of humus or compost, 100 g of potassium salt and the same amount of superphosphate are added to the root area. In the middle of summer, if necessary, the bush is fed with a solution of 50 g of Agricola in 10 liters of water.
Pruning: in early spring, before the start of sap flow, sanitary and formative pruning is carried out.
Reproduction: root shoots, dividing the bush, layering, cuttings, less often - seeds.
Pests: do not amaze.
Diseases: powdery mildew And gray rot fruits.
Properties: the plant is poisonous.

Read more about growing a snowberry below.

Snowberry shrub - description

In height, the snowberry shrub reaches from 20 cm to 3 m. It has rounded, entire, opposite, short-leaved leaves one to one and a half centimeters long, with one or two lobes at the base. Flexible branches in winter do not break under the weight of snow. Flowers of the correct form, greenish-white, red or pink color are collected 5-15 pieces in axillary or terminal racemose inflorescences. The flowering of the snowberry begins in July or August. The fruit of the snowberry is an ellipsoidal or spherical juicy drupe 1-2 cm in diameter, red, black-violet, but most often white, with oval laterally compressed pits. The pulp of white fruits resembles sparkling granular snow. The fruit of the snowberry is inedible. The plant is a honey plant.

In ornamental horticulture, the most popular snowberry has become white, or brushy, due to its gas and smoke resistance, and the hedge of the snowberry most often attracts the eye. The snowberry flower with pink fruits does not feel comfortable in a cool climate, it prefers warm winters and black soil.

Planting a snowberry in open ground

When to plant a snowberry in the ground

One of the main advantages of the shrub, in addition to decorativeness, is its unpretentiousness. It can grow in both full sun and partial shade, both in moist soil and in dry soil. If you plant a snowberry on a crumbling slope, its dense rhizomes will stop erosion and shedding of the soil. Planting a snowberry open ground produced both in spring and autumn, but whenever you start doing this, the soil on the site must be prepared in advance.

How to plant a snowberry

If you are planning to plant hedge, choose two to four-year-old snowberry seedlings for this purpose. Pull the twine along the line of the intended fence and dig a trench about 40 wide and up to 60 cm deep along it. 4-5 bushes are planted per linear meter of the trench. For solo or group planting, the bushes are placed at a distance of 120-150 cm from each other. The size of the pit in this case should be 65x65 cm.

Pits or trenches are dug in advance: for autumn planting- in a month, for spring - from autumn. Preliminary preparation is especially important if the site has loamy or clayey soil - before planting the seedlings, the soil in the pit should settle. A layer of crushed stone and a fertile soil mixture prepared from coarse-grained river sand, peat and humus or compost are placed in the pit with the addition of 200 g of dolomite flour, 600 g of wood ash and 200 g of superphosphate for each plant. The planting of the snowberry is carried out in such a way that after trampling down the soil in the near-stem circle, watering and settling the soil in the pit, its root neck is at the level of the surface of the site, but half an hour before placing the plant in the pit, it is advisable to dip its roots in a clay mash. The seedling is watered daily for the first 4-5 days.

Caring for a snowberry in the garden

How to grow a snowberry

Due to the absolute unpretentiousness of the snowberry, one could not take care of him at all, but if you give him a minimum of time and attention, he will reward you for this with a well-groomed and luxurious beauty. Caring for the snowberry consists of mulching the near-stem circle immediately after planting with a layer of peat 5 cm thick, loosening the soil to a depth of 8-10 cm, removing weeds, fertilizing, pruning, watering and protection from insects and pests, if necessary. Watering the snowberry is carried out only in the dry season - one and a half to two buckets of water are poured under each bush in the evening. If the summer is relatively wet, then you do not need to water the snowberry at all. It is more convenient to weed and loosen the soil in the near-stem circle after rain or watering. In autumn, the soil around the snowberry is dug up.

In the spring, 5-6 kg of compost or humus, 100 g of superphosphate and the same amount of potassium salt are added to the near-stem circle of the plant. The second time, if necessary, the snowberry bush is fed in the middle of the season with a solution of 50 g of Agricola in 10 liters of water.

Transplanting a snowberry in the garden

If for some reason you decide to transplant a snowberry, do it as quickly as possible until the bush has grown a powerful root system. The plant transfers the transplant easily, and it is carried out in the same order and at the same time as the primary planting. The main thing in this process is to properly dig a bush, causing as little harm to its roots as possible. The fact is that the radius of the feeding area of an adult snowberry bush is from 70 to 100 cm, that is, to dig it out without sad consequences for health, you need to dig it in a circle at a distance of at least 70 cm from the bush.

Snowberry haircut

The snowberry tolerates pruning easily. Most good time for cutting the crown - early spring before the start of sap flow. Remove all broken, dry, frozen, thickening, too old and damaged by disease or pest branches, and healthy ones are shortened by half or at least a quarter. Do not be afraid to cut the bush - flower buds near the snowberry, they are laid on the shoots of the current year, and after pruning, the shrub is easily restored. Sections on branches thicker than 7 mm must be treated with garden pitch. On bushes older than eight years, the leaves and flowers are small, the shoots are weak and short. If you notice this, then it’s time to carry out rejuvenating pruning “on a stump” at a height of 50-60 cm. Over the summer, young strong shoots form from dormant buds on the remains of branches.

Pests and diseases of the snowberry

The snowberry is very resistant to diseases and pests, and most likely they bypass it, because the snowberry is poisonous. It is extremely rare, but still the plant is affected by powdery mildew and gray rot of fruits. To prevent infection of the snowberry with these fungal infections, in early spring, before the buds swell, the bushes are treated with a three percent solution of Bordeaux liquid. If you didn’t carry out the treatment and the plant got sick, spray the bush with one of the modern fungicides - Thiovit Jet, Fundazol, Topaz, Skor, Quadris, Topsin, or some other drug from this series.

Snowberry breeding

The snowberry propagates by seeds, cuttings, layering, root shoots and dividing the bush.

Seed propagation of the snowberry

This breeding method is the most time-consuming of all, in addition, it will take a lot of time, but if you are not in a hurry, then why not try it? Separate the seeds from the fruit pulp, put in a nylon stocking and squeeze well. Then place the seeds in water poured into a small container, shake well and let the suspension settle: the remnants of the pulp will float and the seeds will settle. Take them out and dry them.

It is better to sow seeds before winter, but not in open ground: the seeds are very small, and during the melting of snow, they can come off with it. The seeds of the snowberry are sown in boxes filled with fertile soil from equal parts of river sand, peat and humus, and they are “salted” on top with sand and tightly covered with glass. Water the crops from a fine sprayer or into a pan so as not to wash the seeds out of the substrate. The first shoots will appear in the spring, and at the end of the season they can be dived directly into the open ground.

Reproduction of the snowberry by root shoots

There are many root suckers around the snowberry bush - large dense curtains are formed from them. This feature of the snowberry allows it to move from its landing site and grow. Dig one of these curtains and transplant. This will also save the bush from thickening.

The division of the snowberry bush

In early spring, before the start of sap flow, or in autumn after leaf fall, an overgrown snowberry bush is dug up, divided into parts and planted in the same way as seedlings during the initial planting. Each part should have well developed roots and strong young branches. And do not forget, after dividing the bush, process the cuts on the roots with crushed coal.

Reproduction of the snowberry by layering

In early spring, bend a low-growing young branch, lay it in a groove made in advance in the soil, fix it in this position and cover it with soil, leaving the top above the soil surface. Take care of the cuttings all summer: water with the bush, fertilize, loosen the soil around it. In autumn, rooted cuttings are separated from the parent plant with a pruner and transplanted to a permanent place.

Propagation of the snowberry by cuttings

The snowberry can be propagated by green and lignified cuttings. Lignified segments 10-20 cm long with 3-5 buds are harvested in late autumn or early winter and stored until spring in the basement, placed in the sand. You need to cut off the upper edge above the kidney, and the lower one obliquely.

Green cuttings are harvested in the early morning, at the beginning of summer, as soon as the flowering of the snowberry ends. You need to cut off large, well-developed and matured shoots. It is very simple to determine whether a shoot is ripe enough for propagation by cuttings: it is bent, and if the shoot breaks with a crunch, this confirms its maturity. After cutting, the cuttings are immediately placed in a container of water.

Green or lignified cuttings are planted in boxes with a substrate of the same composition as for seed propagation. Planting depth no more than 5 mm. A box with cuttings is placed in a greenhouse or hotbed and rooted in conditions of high humidity and moderate humidity of the substrate. By autumn, the cuttings will acquire a stable root system, and they are transplanted into the ground, covered with leaves and spruce branches for the winter.

Snowberry after flowering

The snowberry endures winters in the middle lane without shelter - even highly decorative hybrid plant varieties can withstand colds down to -34 ºC. But even if the plant freezes during more severe frosts, it will fully recover during the growing season. It is desirable for young bushes to spud high with earth for the winter.

As you probably already understood, planting a snowberry and caring for it will not take you much time and effort, but its unusual fruits will decorate your garden and feed the birds almost all winter.

Types and varieties of snowberry

The most famous species of the genus is the white snowberry, also known as carpal snowberry, he is snowberry bushy, native to open slopes, riverbanks, and mountain forests in North America from the West Coast to Pennsylvania. The height of the white snowberry reaches one and a half meters. This is a deciduous shrub with thin shoots and a rounded crown. The snowberry leaf of this species is ovate or round, simple, notched-lobed or entire, up to 6 cm long, green on the upper side of the leaf plate and gray on the bottom. Small, pale pink flowers are collected in dense racemose inflorescences, located along the length of the entire shoot. Flowering is plentiful and so long that both buds and fruits can be seen on the bush at the same time - white, elegant and juicy spherical berries up to 1 cm in diameter, which stay on the bush for a very long time.

The winter hardiness of the snowberry is as high as its unpretentiousness to growing conditions. In culture, this species since 1879, most often it is used for group plantings, hedges and borders. Our readers ask: is the white snowberry poisonous or not? Its fruits are inedible, and the substances they contain can cause dizziness, weakness, and vomiting. Attractive for gardeners is a variety of cystic snowberry - white slightly shiny snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus var. laevigatus).

or snowberry round, or snowberry pink, or coral berry (Symphoricarpos orbiculatus), in its homeland was called "Indian currant". It grows in North America in meadows or along river banks and is a large shrub with thin shoots and small dark green leaves with a bluish underside. His pink flowers, like the flowers of the white snowberry, are collected in short dense inflorescences. The plant is very beautiful in autumn, when coral or purple-red hemispherical fruits begin to ripen along the entire length of the shoots, covered with a bluish bloom, and the leaves acquire a purple hue.

This type of snowberry is not as winter-hardy as white, but its resistance to cold is quite enough for wintering in conditions middle lane. The common snowberry is very popular in Western Europe, especially its varieties Variegatus with an uneven yellowish stripe along the edges of the leaves and Tuffs Silver Age with a white border.

Western snowberry (Symphoricarpos occidentalis)

from eastern, western, and central North America, where it forms thickets along rivers, streams, and on rocky slopes. The plant reaches a height of one and a half meters. The leaves are pale green on the upper side and felted pubescence on the underside. The flowering of white or pale pink bell-shaped flowers, collected in dense and short racemose inflorescences, lasts from early June to late August, gradually giving way to the appearance of soft, almost spherical berries of a pale pink or white hue.

Lush shrub with white berries - white snowberry - will be a great decoration garden plot. Despite the fact that it is not recommended to eat it, the bush performs its decorative function perfectly. Large fruits appear in autumn and do not fall off until spring. Gardeners will benefit from information about snowfield varieties, how to plant and care for shrubs.

Description and varieties

The white snowberry came from North America, where it has been grown for a long time and is still being grown. The plant has several names, including a snowman or a snow berry. There are several varieties of snowberry: Chinese, black, pink. But the most popular is the white snowfield.

White snowfield - low bush round shape, which is valued among gardeners for its unusual appearance. The bush has a long flowering period - almost all summer. And in the fall on the spot pink flowers white berries appear, collected in heaps on the stem. The plant is unpretentious both to the location and to the conditions for caring for it, which is a definite plus.

The fruits of the snowberry are not only white. Currently, several varieties of plants with pink, cream, lilac berries have been bred:

This plant has a very sonorous name - the snowberry, which already in absentia gives a picturesque idea of \u200b\u200bits appearance. Due to its endurance and unpretentiousness in care, it is a frequent companion of our streets and squares. The main advantage of this ornamental shrub is snow-white berries that will decorate the garden until they disappear under the snow.

The Latin name of the snowberry sounds like "symphoricarpus", which means "berries fused next to each other." And that is exactly how it should be called, because in fairness only one of its 15 species can be called a snowberry - Symphoricarpus Albus. Only he has "snow" berries, the remaining 14 are painted in a wide variety of colors: pink, raspberry and even black, which is found only in China.

Popular types

Symphoricarpus white, or cystic. The favorite and the most recognizable representative of its kind. Graceful shrub with thin long shoots up to 1.5 m, strewn with miniature bell-shaped pink flowers throughout the summer. And in September, snow-white berries appear at the place of flowering, which is a rarity in nature. The snowberry bush spreads symmetrically in the form of a ball and can reach several meters in diameter. During flowering, this shrub is very harmoniously combined with perennials that are simple in shape and color: phlox, aquilegia, various bells, irises, hostas, astilbes. , dressed in white "bubbles", creates a successful ensemble with dahlias, New Belgian asters, and other bright shrubs: mountain ash, elderberry, viburnum and various coniferous plants.

Symphoricarpus vulgaris, or coral has very beautiful purple fruits with different color intensity. Slow-growing shrub from 1 to 2 m tall with thin shoots, initially vertically growing. The leaves of the snowberry are medium-sized, ovate-round, dark green or bluish-green above, gray below, almost do not change color in autumn or become reddish. Flowers have a classic shape and color for symphoricarpus, and the same plants as for the classic Albus variety are suitable for the nearest neighbors.

Symphoricarpus Dorenbosa. White with a pink blush on the sunny side, the berries have such a delicate appearance that, willy-nilly, a picture arises: an association with vanilla fruit ice cream. Spreading shrub up to 1.5 m tall with hanging shoots and dark green foliage that remains on the bushes until November. The flowers are pale pink, inconspicuous, appear in late July - early August. Fruits with an intense lilac-pink color, collected in numerous clusters, are stored until frost. The bush is photophilous, grows well both in the open sunny place and in the shade of trees. The culture is quite winter-hardy, and if it freezes, it quickly recovers.

Caution - "wolfberry"!

Many probably have a question about the edibility of berries, because some types of snowberry really look very appetizing. The answer is unequivocal - no, the berries are poisonous! No wonder they have another name - "wolfberry". "Wolf berries" are the fruits of other plants with poisonous or inedible fruits: wolfberry, brittle buckthorn, common honeysuckle, belladonna, etc. This must be told to children who love to play with the fruits of the snowberry.

Where to plant?

On any soil, in dryness and in the shade, in harsh or wet winters, the snowberry will always and everywhere look good!

He will be wonderful both by himself and in the company. ornamental shrubs, complementing the winter pictures of hanging bunches of mountain ash or viburnum.
A good place for a snowberry -. Here it occupies the background of the flower garden and acts as a backdrop for all flowering perennials with its foliage and modest bells that constantly appear.
A third good spot for a snowberry will be long rows and curbs along paths or buildings. Looks good both in clipped hedges and in its natural sprawling form. It is best to plant young plants at a distance of half a meter from each other - after a couple of years they form a continuous dense line.

It is best to plant young plants at a distance of half a meter from each other - after a couple of years they form a continuous dense line

I propose to move away from the stereotypical hedges, consisting of one type of plant. And try to decorate the fence with a “variegated ribbon” with the participation of a snowberry and which will maintain a picturesque view throughout the season.

Scheme of group landing "variegated ribbon"

Elderberry - Sambucus racemosa
Norway spruce - Picea abies Inversa
Viburnum ordinary - Viburnum opulus Compactum
Norway maple - Acer platanoides Royal Red
Buckthorn alder - Rhamnus frangula Asplenifolia
Chinese juniper - Juniperus chinensis Japonica
Single color fir - Abies concolor Compacta
Shrub cinquefoil - Potentilla fruticosa Tangerine
Snowberry rounded - Symphoricarpos orbiculatus Variegatus

How to grow?

You can divide an adult bush into several divisions or sow seeds for the winter.

Of course, the easiest and cheapest way to propagate will be sowing seeds. Especially if you are planning to plant a whole hedge from a snowberry, but the budget does not allow you to buy 10-15 seedlings at once. In late fall, gather a few handfuls of snowberry fruit. By pressing the berries, remove the seeds and immediately sow them in the ground along the selected path or house. In spring, the seeds give a very large percentage of seedlings that develop quite quickly. By the end of their first summer, each of the plants that have emerged will be about 30 cm, and some will already begin to bush. The first "snowballs" appear in the third year after sowing, and in the fifth year they will be full-fledged plants with a weighty "fruit snow cover".

The snowberry is one of the most beautiful plants, which can please the eye in a flower bed even in cold weather. Below we give the most common types of snowberry, along with photos, according to which you can easily choose a plant for your flower garden.

White snowberry (symphoricarpos albus BIake)

is the most common species, which can often be found in flower beds in different climatic zones. The branches of this shrub are yellowish-gray, under the weight of the fruits they hang beautifully to the ground, thereby forming a spherical crown.

The leaves bloom in early spring, they are oval or egg-shaped, the color is bluish-green, the length is up to 6 cm. Distinctive feature of this variety - the presence of pink leaves on the edges, which makes the white snowberry especially attractive.

The flowers of this plant are small, collected under the axils of the leaves in small groups. Their color is greenish-pink. This type of snowberry blooms for a very long time - from July to September, when large fruits begin to form from the flowers, which are about 1 cm in diameter. Very often, these fruits are stored on shrub branches in winter.

The advantage of growing a white snowberry is its unpretentiousness to the soil, so it can be planted even in those areas where the soil contains a lot of lime and stone. It can grow near the road, in the shade and for a long period to do without watering. All this makes it a versatile plant for decorating a garden plot.

Did you know? The snowberry is easy not only to grow, but also to propagate. To do this, you can use not only seeds, but also make cuttings from shrub shoots. With strong growth, the snowberry can be propagated even by dividing the bush.

Mountain snowberry (Symphoricarpos oreophilus Gray)

This type snowberry is a tall shrub that can reach a height of up to 1.5 m. Motherland snowberry mountain-loving- North America. The plant is unpretentious in cultivation, although during severe winter frosts its shoots can be significantly affected, and therefore they should be cut almost to the ground and covered.

Differs in oval green leaves, which have a slight pubescence. The plant begins to bloom in July. The flowers are bell-shaped and can grow in pairs or singly. The color of the flowers is usually pink, although white ones are also found. After flowering, this snowberry transforms into a bush with white balls.

Important! Despite all the attractiveness of the snowberry berries, they are not edible and do not carry any nutritional value. When fully ripe, only seeds for plant propagation are obtained from them.

Western snowberry (symphoricarpos occidentalis Hook)

This type of snow-white shrub is distinguished not only by its high height - about 1.5 meters, but also by its large crown diameter, which can be 110 cm. The leaves on the bush are small, pale green, with a slight pubescence on the underside.

Flowering is formed already in early July, when the bush is densely covered with delicate flowers. Flowers last up to last days August, when they gradually begin to transform into round white berries (sometimes they have a soft pink color).

This type of snowberry is great for use as a hedge, as it lends itself well to pruning and shaping a bush. It retains its attractive appearance for a very long time due to frost-resistant berries.

Common snowberry (symphoricarpos orbiculatus Moench)

This plant cannot be described otherwise than as a bush with white berries, which are formed on it closer to autumn and persist almost all winter.

common snowberrydiffers in rounded leaves of small size and thin shoots, which, during the appearance of fruits, bend down to the ground. At the top of the bush, the leaves usually acquire a dark green color, and below - gray.

Flowers appear already in July and are completely different small size. They have White color and collected in small short inflorescences. After flowering, purple-red fruits (sometimes coral) with a slight bluish bloom are formed on the bushes. In autumn, the leaves on the shoots also turn purple, which makes the plant especially attractive.

The only drawback of the common snowberry is its weak resistance to frost, which still does not prevent its cultivation in Ukraine. It takes root well on any type of soil, including dry sands and rocky soil.

Did you know? The snowberry is very fond of birds that winter in our area, since the fruits of this plant become an excellent top dressing for them. Therefore, when planting a snowberry, be prepared for the fact that many birds will settle in your yard in winter.

Chenot snowberry (symphoricarpos x Chenaultii)

This kind is a hybrid of the pink rounded snowberry, so the fruits are also pink. The advantage of this species in cultivation is its excellent resistance to frost, since during growth the bush rarely exceeds 1 m in height.

At the same time, the thin shoots of the snowfield are quite long, but completely bent to the ground. They are usually used for plant propagation, as the shoots are well suited for rooting. Snowberry Chenot also refers to honey plants. In cultivation and care unpretentious.

Dorenboz hybrids (Doorenbos Hybrids)

The homeland of the snowberry is North America, but in order for the plant to adapt well to other conditions and have a more attractive appearance, Dutch scientists bred hybrid species of this bush, which include Dorenbosa snowberry. ABOUT this species is distinguished by very bright pink fruits, but low resistance to frost, as a result of which their bushes have to be well covered for the winter.

The white snowberry is so called for its completely white round fruits. Despite their family ties with honeysuckle, the berries of this shrub are not edible, but the whole bush is very decorative.

General description and main features

The snow berry belongs to the honeysuckle family. In spring and summer, this shrub does not stand out in anything special, but in autumn, after the first frosts before the appearance of snow cover, the snowfield begins to justify its name - it is covered with white balls that stay on it almost all winter.

You can describe this peculiar shrub as follows.

It is a dense shrub growing up to 2 m in height. Grows fast. The branches are thin, hanging down. The whole appearance of an adult plant resembles a large ball with weeping branches.
The leaves are opposite, ovate or oval, entire, up to 2-5 cm long. On the upper side they are green, bare, on the lower side they are gray and slightly pubescent.
The flowers are small, pink with lobed bell-shaped corollas. They form racemes in the leaf axils. Flowering occurs all summer, from May to September.
The fruits are represented by white berries with a diameter of about 1 cm. There are two seeds inside the fruit. They, like all berries, are not edible.

Thus, this shrub with white berries is suitable only for ornamental plantings especially as a hedge.

Demanding to environmental conditions

Since this shrub is native to North America, it is well adapted to life in temperate climates. Moreover, this plant is particularly tolerant of its environment.

Illumination. Since at home these shrubs grow in dense mixed or deciduous forests, they are well adapted to different lighting conditions. They, like all normal plants, need the sun, but they do well with side and even top shading.
Temperature. As said, this plant can withstand our frosts. Moreover, it is able to survive in conditions of heat.
The snowberry grows well with moderate moisture, but easily tolerates short-term drought.
This species is not picky about the quality and composition of the soil. It grows well on rocky and calcareous soils. However, in order for the original hedge from this shrub to grow quickly, you first need to create soil rich in organic matter. Having become stronger, bushes with white berries can maintain the optimal condition of the hedge in extreme conditions.

The unpretentiousness of this shrub also affects its relationship with pests. It is rarely affected by diseases and is almost not affected by pests.

The biggest problem with the snowberry is its white berries. The thing is, they are poisonous. So if you have small children in your house, who are notoriously difficult to keep track of, you need to take measures to ensure that the child does not put beautiful balloons in his mouth.

Relatives of the white snowberry

In addition to the species described here, there are other guests from America who have their own characteristics and considerable decorative appeal.

Snowberry pink (aka ordinary or rounded). This is a tall shrub with thin flexible shoots covered with small dark green leaves. In July-August, pink flowers bloom in the axils of the leaves, collected in brushes. Of these, round and relatively large berries are formed by autumn. They do not acquire a snow-white, but a coral or purple-red color. In autumn, when all the leaves fall and nature becomes wet and gloomy, pink balls perfectly enliven the landscape. The only drawback of this plant is its low resistance to frost, so it should be planted where the frosts are not severe and the winters are not long.

In Holland, on the basis of wild snowfields, a varietal group was bred, which is distinguished by special decorative properties. The Dorenboz snowberry got its name from the breeder Dorenbos, who was engaged in improving the characteristics of the original shrub.

This varietal group is distinguished by a particularly compact bush, which grows to no more than 1 m. Sometimes, if the land is highly fertile, over time the bush can reach a height of 1.5 m. With such a small height, the crown of this shrub can be very sprawling. It seems that this is not a bush, but a head with rapidly overgrown hair that scattered on the ground. The leaves of the Dorenboz snowberry are rounded, simple. In length, they reach no more than 6 cm. The color of the leaves is contrasting - they are dark green above, bluish below. Inflorescences are placed along the entire length of the branches. Each flower does not have a special decorative effect, but with such a compact arrangement, it gives the impression of an extraordinary elegance of the bush.

The flowers are white and pink shades. Flowering time - 2 months. The fruits appear by autumn and appear porcelain. Rounded berries resembling porcelain beads, located in comfortable conditions, reach a size of 1 cm in diameter. Those berries that are unlucky are smaller. As a result, one bush can be strewn with many fruits. different sizes.

Flowers in this varietal group are predominantly Pink colour, but the berries are diverse. In different varieties, they are purple-red, white, white-lilac with an uneven color.

A few words should be said about another shrub growing on Far East. We are talking about white pork (Swida alba). This is a tall shrub, reaching 3 m at its peak. Its shoots are reddish in color with large whitish lenticels. The leaves are large, elliptical. The inflorescence is corymbose, dense, with delicate white flowers of medium size. The fruits, like those of the snowberry, are round and white, sometimes with a bluish tint. This plant can rightfully take its place in landscape design territory. However, it has not yet found a worthy application. Meanwhile, white svidina is distinguished by great frost resistance and tolerance to environmental conditions.

How and where is it better to plant a snowberry

You can place these plants:

a continuous strip, forming a hedge;
a separate bush in the center of the site with special functions (for example, small space in the center of the convergence of the tracks);
in the composition of plants with different decorative properties, framing the paths leading to the entrance to the house.

First of all, the landing site must be prepared. Particular attention should be paid to drainage. Snow berries cannot stand stagnant water.

Before planting bushes with white berries, you need to dig a square hole with sides of 50 cm. The distance between bushes of the same type should be at least 1 m.

The concept of "preparation" includes the introduction of organic and mineral fertilizers. This will create good starting conditions for the plant.

A pit of 1/3 of the volume can be covered with a mixture of compost or humus with the addition of dolomite flour, wood ash and superphosphate.

It is recommended to plant this shrub on fertile loams that have a slightly alkaline reaction. Seedlings need to be dug up with a large clod of earth. If you are using purchased seedlings that cannot have a large clod of earth, place the roots in water with fertilizer before planting so that they can straighten out and pump water into the ground part of the seedling. If the culture is purchased from a nursery and it takes some time to transport it, then the root system will need to be wrapped with a damp cloth. To prepare such a nutrient mixture in water, you need to dilute a little clay to a mushy state, and then add "Heteroauxin" or just a little manure.

In order to create a living fence, you need to choose young seedlings. Their age should not exceed 3 years. To ensure the correct landing line, the rope must be pretensioned as a guide. Under it, they dig a trench 70 cm deep and 45 cm wide. Planting is carried out by 4 seedlings on each running meter. After that, the soil around the landings is well compacted.

If there is no need to form a hedge, then planting is carried out not so tightly - at a distance of 1 m from each other.

How to care for a snowberry

Despite the tolerance of these bushes, care for them is necessary. It consists of traditional activities - watering, weeding, top dressing, pruning.

For adult plants, watering is carried out in an amount of at least 3 buckets. warm water per 1 sq. m. Since this plant withstands short-term drought well, the snowberry is watered only during a long drought. The exception is young plants that cannot withstand prolonged lack of water. If the bushes have not received moisture for a long time, then it is necessary to water so that the water passes to a depth of at least 60 cm.

Top dressing should be carried out once per season with "Agricola" at the rate of 50 g of funds per 10 liters of water. You can water with a mixture of manure diluted in water (0.5 kg per bucket of water) with the addition of 1 tbsp. complex mineral fertilizer. Instead of mineral fertilizers, wood ash can be added. However, do not forget that ash makes the soil alkaline, so it is often not recommended to resort to this remedy.

If your snowberry acts as a fence, it needs to be trimmed periodically. Since the value of this plant lies not only in the presence of a green barrier, but also in flowers, and most importantly, in fruits, then during pruning, you need to choose those shoots where there are no flower ovaries. Usually they are tied on the shoots of a given year.

Here, perhaps, are all the main care steps. Snowberries are little exposed to diseases and pests, so you may not have to fight for their lives.