Cotoneaster - low deciduous plant that is valued for its decorative appearance. The foliage of this evergreen shrub turns from green to red in late autumn. Shrub is actively used in landscape design, having it in various compositions.
Cotoneaster ordinary (Cotoneaster integerrimus)
Cotoneaster ordinary distributed from the Baltic to the North Caucasus, in natural conditions it grows on mountain slopes, sandy and limestone-rich soils. In garden culture - a rare visitor.
The cotoneaster height reaches 2 meters in height, the young branches are pubescent, but then, as they mature, they become bare. The bush has a compact round crown. The leaves are wide, resemble an egg, the length of the leaves is about 5 cm.
The outer side of the leaf plate is dark green, glossy, and the inner side is gray and rough. White-pink flowers are collected in racemes. In autumn, bright red large fruits ripen. This variety is resistant to drought and frost.
Cotoneaster shiny (Cotoneaster lucidus)
Motherland cotoneaster brilliant - Eastern Siberia. This upright deciduous shrub, densely covered with lush foliage. Cotoneaster grows up to 3 m in height. Young branches of a gray-brown tone in the edge, for the winter, the stems become red-brown in color, with age the branches get rid of lint.
The crown of young bushes grows slightly elongated, growing, takes a round shape. The cotoneaster is brilliant, a rather sprawling bush, the diameter of the crown of an adult plant is up to 3 m. The length of the leaves is from 2-6 cm, width - 1-4 cm.
The leaves in the shape of an irregular ellipse are dark green in the summer with a yellowish inner side, and take on a reddish hue in the winter. Flowering bushes begins in May, lasts about a month.
The bush begins to bear fruit at the age of 4 years. He has beautiful, glossy black colored ball-shaped fruit. Most often, the shrub is used for planting hedges or borders. Kizilnik brilliant is known and cultivated since the beginning of the XIX century.
Cotoneaster horizontal (Cotoneaster horizontalis)
This plant belongs to the prostrate species of cotoneaster. Evergreen shrub up to a meter in height, its crown grows up to 2 m in diameter. The location of its strong branches resembles a fish ridge.
The leaves of a shrub are round, glossy, green in summer, bright red by autumn. Flowering begins in May, small white and pink flowers delight the eye for 22 days. Bright red fruits ripening in September keep on the branches until spring.
Important! This kind of cotoneaster is very picky about soil composition.
Cotoneaster horizontal is represented by two types:
- Variegatus - low shrub up to 30 cm, with a crown growing to 1.5 m in diameter. On the green leaves of the bush on the edge is a white strip;
- Perpusillis - A dwarf plant (up to 20 cm), as the crown grows, it grows to a meter. Slow-growing shrub blooms in June with pink flowers. At the end of the summer Perpusillis is covered with scarlet berries. Green leaves in summer, fall burgundy in autumn.
Cotoneaster Dammer (Cotoneaster dammeri)
Dammer's Cotoneaster externally similar to the previous, horizontal view. Under natural conditions, it grows in the mountainous terrain of China. This shrub has branches spreading on the ground, which allows it to spontaneously multiply.
The shoots branch in the same plane and grow in diameter, not rising above 30 cm. The leaves of Dammer’s cotoneaster are dense and small, the shape of the leaves is ellipsoidal. In the fall, like many cotone killers, the plant changes the green color of the leaves to red.
Blooms red inflorescences, subsequently fruits fruits coral-colored. The cotoneaster fruits can hold on to the branches for a long time. This species has been popular since 1900. The most popular varieties:
- Eicholh - up to 60 cm tall, with reddish-orange fruits;
- Coral Beauty - up to 40 cm, with red fruits, large, but single;
- Stockholm - tall, up to a meter long, bush with bright red fruits.
Cotoneaster pressed (Cotoneaster adpressus)
This is a stunted cotoneaster growing to half a meter. The diameter of its crown - meter. Its branches as if spread along the ground, the crown looks pressed to the ground. The cotoneaster leaves are small, round-shaped, light green, in the fall - scarlet. Type of slow-growing, maximum growth reaches within 10 years.
Did you know? In Tibetan medicine, the fruits, bark and leaves of the cotoneaster are widely used for medicinal purposes. Decoctions and infusions from different parts of the plant treat skin diseases, nervous disorders and problems of the digestive system.
Cotoneaster many-flowered (Cotoneaster multiflorus)
The birthplace of a multicolored cotoneaster is the Caucasus, Central Asia, the western territories of China and Western Siberia. Shrub high, grows up to 3 m in height. He has curved thin shoots. The broad leaves in the shape of an irregular ellipse change color seasonally: in summer, they are green with a silvery sheen, and in autumn, they are purple.
Inflorescences are small, white, shrub during flowering seems to be covered with snow. The fruits are large, round, bright red color. The plant loves lit areas, because of the small size of the species is protected in the reserves. In Europe, the culture is grown in botanical gardens.
Attention! Despite frost resistance, young plants for the winter must be sheltered from frost.
Cotoneaster black-fruited (Cotoneaster melanocarpus)
Cotoneaster black-fruited gets along well in the middle lane. It is quite winter-hardy, lives in the natural environment in the Caucasus, in the north of China, in Europe and Central Asia. Plant height reaches 2 meters, branches are brown with a red tinge.
Leaves in the shape of an egg up to 5 cm in length. The upper side of the sheet is saturated green, the lower side is whitish. Calyx inflorescences with pink flowers, blooming in May, last up to 25 days. This culture has edible black fruits. They cultivate the black agycane from 1829.
Interesting! Various decorative accessories are made from the wood of the black fruit cotoneaster: souvenirs, pipes for smoking, spectacular carved canes.
Cotoneaster pink (Cotoneaster roseus)
Cotoneaster pink common in India, Iran and Pakistan. Low, up to one and a half meters, shrub. Thin red shoots at the young age have an edge, in mature - they become naked.
Leaves in the shape of an ellipse up to 6 cm in length and up to 4 cm in width. The upper side of the plate is green, the bottom is gray-green. Flowers pink, small and collected in large inflorescences. Bloom about a month, starting bloom in June. Flowering and fruiting begins at 8 years of age.
The fruits are small and round, painted pink-red, it is noteworthy that the fruit has 2-3 seeds. The fruits ripen in October and remain on the shrub until the winter cold.
In decorative gardening they use many varieties of cotoneaster, the most popular of them are:
- "Dwarf"- ground cover species used in rock gardens, on stone hills;
- Cotoneaster spiral "Schneider"- creeping shrub, no more than 20 cm tall, ideal for decorating walls and rocky gardens.
- Cotoneaster "Alaunsky"- a rare species listed in the Red Book. Tall - up to two meters bush with red berries that become black at the end of ripening.
No less interesting are such varieties: olfactory, small-leaved, one-flowered, Henry, bubbly, Franche, krastsvetny.
Cotoneaster is represented, as you can see, by a variety of varieties. All these plants are beautiful in their own way and worthy of decorating any area in the garden.
