The plant, known as viburnum red, or common, belongs to a separate species of Viburnum, class Dicotyledonous. Valued for its fruits and bark, widely used in traditional medicine. In the wild, it is found in most temperate regions, and many prolific and beautifully flowering varieties are bred in the culture.
Viburnum - tree or shrub
It depends on how to form a crown at an early stage of development. For a tree, a height of up to 4 m is typical, and for shrubs - up to 1.5 m. In both cases, the lifespan is about 50 years or a little longer.
Fruits of viburnum red
What does viburnum red look like?
Previously, the plant was attributed to the family of Honeysuckle (Caprifoliaceae), as can be found in the scientific literature. Currently, the viburnum shrub, by description, is part of the Adoxaceae family.
The bark is gray-brown, which has numerous longitudinal cracks. Shoots are round, naked. The leaf is dark green petiolate, broadly ovate up to 10 cm long and up to 8 cm wide; it has 3-5 pointed lobes. Flat umbrella-shaped panicles are located at the ends of young shoots. Usually, white flowers bloom in late May and can bloom for up to 25 days, but more often - up to two weeks. The fruit is a red rounded drupe up to 10 cm in diameter with a single bone inside a somewhat herbaceous sour-sweet taste that ripens from August to October. Seeds remain viable for up to two years.
Healing properties
Ripe fruits are harvested and dried, after which they are used for medicinal purposes. Kalina is a record holder in the number of all kinds of vitamins and minerals (per 100 g of berries):
- ascorbic acid - up to 80-135 mg;
- nicotinic acid - up to 1350 mg;
- carotene - 2.5 mg;
- Vitamin K - up to 30 mg;
- folic acid - up to 0.03 mg;
- molybdenum - 240 mg;
- selenium - 10 mg;
- Manganese - 6 mg;
- iron - 0.3 mg.
Note! Kalina is an excellent honey plant, giving up to 15 kg of nectar from 1 ha of continuous planting.
Fruits are recommended for people suffering from metabolic disorders, with pathologies of the cardiovascular system and digestive tract. The child can drink decoctions and various culinary products with viburnum without restrictions.
Briefly about the history of the appearance
The use of viburnum in medicine and cooking dates back many centuries. In European herbalists, it, as a medicinal plant, has been mentioned since the XIV century, and in ancient Russia the fruit juice was used as an anti-cancer agent.
For your information! In the legends of different peoples, the viburnum shrub is mentioned as a symbol of love and beauty.
Selection of cultivated varieties was on the way to improving the properties of berries. Compared to wild ones, they have a sweeter taste. In decorative gardening and landscape design, the Gordovina variety (Viburnum Lantana) is well known, whose fruits are inedible, but the flowering and crown are very beautiful. View buldenezh does not bear fruit, but within a month pleases the eye with huge snow-white inflorescences. Among the sweet-fruit varieties, the most famous for this characteristic is Red Coral.
Care Features
Since cultivars are not genetically far from wild-growing predecessors, caring for a shrub or tree form is quite simple. In spring, immediately after the snow melts, adult plants are pruned, removing broken and dry branches and giving the crown the desired shape.
Viburnum in the snow
Under each bush in May, 50 g of nitroammophos are added, and a thick layer of mulch is also poured to keep the soil moist for as long as possible. The second top dressing is done at the end of flowering. You can add organic matter, wood ash, complex mineral fertilizer. If the number of rains in summer is large, then watering is not required, and in hot areas, trees are watered every week.
In autumn, the fruits are harvested with brushes, waiting for full ripening, even in frost. A signal of aging is a change in the structure of berries. When pressed, they secrete scarlet juice.
Important! Ripening of ripped fruits in viburnum is bad.
Immediately after harvesting, 20 g of potassium salt and superphosphate are applied under the trees.
When and how red viburnum blooms (shrub)
In most regions, viburnum buds bloom in the last decade of May or a little later, depending on the weather. The hue of the petals is not only white, but also yellowish or pinkish in different varieties.
In decorative varieties of inflorescences have the shape of a ball up to 20 cm in diameter. Their aroma is heard from afar. The duration of flowering can reach 35 days. At this time, bees flock to flowering plants from all around.
How viburnum red propagates
In spring, it is best to purchase a cultivated seedling in a nursery. This will allow you to get a beautiful flowering or valuable fruits in the very first year. In addition, viburnum is propagated by seeds and cuttings.
Important! Kalina prefers slightly acidic soil (pH = 5.5-6.5), as well as well-lit or semi-shady places.
Seed germination
The method is rarely used due to its high complexity. The order is as follows:
- Fresh seeds are mixed with wet sawdust and kept for two months at room temperature, moisturizing again as they dry.
- As soon as the first bones hatch, the entire volume is collected and transferred to the refrigerator, where they are kept for a month.
- Germinated seeds are sown in boxes with soil to a depth of 3-4 cm and wait for the emergence of sprouts.
- In May, when the threat of frost is completely over, seedlings are planted in their permanent places, regularly watering.
Rooting cuttings
Cuttings are harvested in June when they are elastic, not brittle. Cut tops of shoots 10-12 cm long with 2-3 nodes. The lower leaves are removed, and the upper ones are shortened by half.
Viburnum Shank
Plant the cuttings in a mixture of peat and sand. Deepen the tip 1-2 cm at an angle. Then cover with a transparent cap and contain at a temperature of about 27-30 ° C. Then 3-4 times a day, the cap is raised to spray the viburnum with warm water.
Important! Rooting takes on average 3-4 weeks, after which the cap is no longer needed. The grown cuttings are left to winter in a warm room, and in the spring they are planted in the open ground in the second half of May.
Transfer
A planting pit under a three-year-old seedling is dug 50 × 50 cm in size and 50 cm deep. 2.5-3.5 m are left between the plants. A mixture of excavated earth with humus and peat is poured to the bottom. Four buckets of water are poured and left for a week.
Then the remaining soil is poured with a slide so that the crown protrudes from the pit. Spread the roots of the seedling on top and stick a peg for garter. Pour the remaining soil over the roots and pour 1-2 buckets of water. A thick layer of peat mixed with compost and humus is poured on top, so that the root neck disappears by 5-6 cm.
The bush of viburnum that has taken root on the site will eventually require a minimum of attention to itself, every year delighting with an increasing yield of healthy berries. Shade tolerance allows you to set aside almost any free area in the garden, and many planted behind the fence, because the plant looks beautiful all year.
