Actual topic

Variegated trees and shrubs

Variegated, or variegated (Variegata), are called plants, the leaves of which are covered with spots, stripes and specks of various sizes and shapes. Such varieties are found in all natural plant forms - grasses, shrubs, trees, lianas. Variegation may be of natural origin, but most often selection is involved in it, one way or another.

Leaves instead of flowers

Although the first variegated plants were isolated more than two centuries ago, their finest hour came in the last third of the 20th century. By this time, the variegated community had expanded so much that it became possible to create complete decorative compositions from them. It was found that variegated leaves have at least one, but a very significant advantage over flowers - the period of their decorativeness lasts exactly as long as the leaves live. That is, from the moment of their dissolution in early May until they fall in October.

This quality was highly appreciated by European gardeners. Variegated plants became popular, and their varieties were literally snapped up. The increased demand for variegates stimulated breeders to develop new varieties, gave rise to a kind of "arms race", as a result of which the assortment of variegated leaves was replenished with many dozen new products.

And if at first the variegated ones did not spoil too much with a color variety, then over time varieties appeared that compete in brightness with flowers. Almost the entire color palette is now represented in their coloration, with the exception of a pure blue coloration.

Spots, stripes, specks, borders, streaks ...

Actinidia kolomikta. The variegation of actinidia kolomikta is of natural origin, and is equally characteristic of both male and female plants. Coloring on the leaves appears in early June and lasts until leaf fall. Coloring starts at the top and gradually takes over most of the leaf. Sometimes the leaf blades are completely colored. At first, only white is present in the color of the leaves, then they gradually turn pink, and by the middle of summer they become pale pink. The leaves are most brightly colored when the direct rays of the sun fall.

Actinidia kolomikta

Barberry Thunberg "Kornik" - the variety was bred in Poland. Dense, almost spherical shrub about 100 (maximum up to 150) cm high. The branches are ringed with short, sharp thorns. The leaves are spatulate, smooth. The background of the leaf blade is pastel green, with numerous distinct white spots of various shapes. Variegation persists throughout the season.

Differs in high winter hardiness, drought resistance and unpretentiousness to growing conditions. Resistant to gas pollution. Sun-loving. Very promising for landscaping courtyards and city streets.

Barberry Thunberg KornikBarberry Thunberg Golden Ring

Barberry Thunberg "Golden Ring" - the variety has been known for a long time, but does not lose its popularity. The crown of the bush is sparsely spherical, up to 80-100 cm high. The leaves, depending on the light, are colored beetroot, brown or red. A narrow golden border runs along the edge of the leaf blade. Moderately hardy, but only slightly damaged in severe winters. It tolerates haircuts and shaping well. Interesting both singly and in mixed compositions. Effective next to the golden forms of the Thunberg barberry.

Barberry Thunberg "Admiration" - the name "Admiration" among barberries is as famous as "Smaragd" in the western thuja, or "Gold Flame" in the Japanese spirea. This is the best-selling variety among Thunberg barberries, equally popular with both ordinary gardeners and professionals.

Coloring of leaf blades "Admiration" is similar to "Golden Ring", but compares favorably with it in low growth (about 40 cm) and dense crown.Add to this miniature red leaves with a pronounced golden border, and it becomes clear why the designers awarded the title "Mr. Barberry" to "Admiration".

Although the variety is not completely winter-hardy, it also surpasses the Golden Ring.“Admiration” simply has an immense niche in garden design. It looks organic in a traditional front garden, and on an alpine slide, and in a variety of mixed compositions. From it, colorful borders are obtained, and its dense groups and arrays from a distance look like abundantly flowering flower beds.

Barberry Thunberg AdmirationBarberry Thunberg Pink Queen

Barberry Thunberg "Pink Queen" (Queen of Pink) - sprawling shrub 60-80 cm high and up to 120 cm in diameter. The branches are thin, hanging in an arcuate manner to the periphery of the bush. Leaves of medium size; the background of the blades is pink or brownish pink, with creamy white spots and brushstrokes scattered randomly over it. Among the varieties similar in color, it is considered one of the most decorative. Average winter hardiness. In severe snowless winters freezes over.

Fortune's eonymus Emerald Gayeti - There are about 200 species of euonymus on Earth, and more than half of them are evergreen. Since evergreen is directly related to thermophilicity, most of them can only grow in the subtropics. Fortune's euonymus is not just an exception to the rule, but also one of the most decorative evergreen euonymus. The winter hardiness of Fortune's spindle tree stems from its mountainous origin and its manner of creeping low on the ground. The Emerald Gayeti variety is perhaps the most winter-hardy among all the varieties of this euonymus. Usually he freezes no more than once a decade.

It is a creeping evergreen shrub 20-30 cm high, with thin cord-like shoots. The leaves are small, about 20 mm long, ovate, with a leathery satin surface. The main background of the leaf blades is pastel green, and pure white spots of various shapes are fancifully scattered over it. Sometimes the white component of the leaf reaches half of the area of ​​the leaf blades and more.

Growing, the shrub forms dense cushion thickets up to one meter in diameter. Shade-tolerant, but grows best in half-open places with intermittent or lateral penumbra. Prefers moderately moist, fertile, loose soils. With a dense square-nesting planting after 25-30 cm, it closes into picturesque, never losing decorativeness carpets.

Fortune's euonymus Emerald GayetiEuonymus Fortune Emerald in Gold

Fortune's euonymus "Emerald in Gold" - Fortune's euonymus has several yellow-variegated varieties, but they, as a rule, are not very hardy. "Emerald in Gold" is almost the only one of the "golden" ones who can tackle the Central Russian winter. Leaves are ovoid, about 20 mm long, with a smooth satin surface. The background of the leaf blades is dark green, and random bright golden spots are distributed over it. The shrub looks very colorful.

"Normal" winters endure practically without damage, freezes only in severe and snowless. It grows less actively than Emerald Gayeti. Forms bushes about 20 cm high, up to 40 cm in diameter.

Derain white "Shpeta" - this variety is already more than 120 years old, and it was bred in Germany in the nursery of Ludwig Shpet, famous all over Europe. The variety turned out to be so successful that to this day it is the best golden variety of this shrub. The bush is moderately vigorous, 2.0-2.5 m in height, about 1.5-1.8 m wide. Are the leaves green? with a wide irregular yellow border along the edge. Widely used for informal and trimmed hedges. It tolerates urban gas pollution well. It is in great demand among both ordinary gardeners and professional gardeners.

Derain white ShpetaDerain white Elegantissima

Derain white "Elegantissima"... The first thing that derain takes is its rare unpretentiousness. Almost everywhere where any tree can grow, its varieties will also grow. Thanks to its hardiness, this shrub has already become the best-selling shrub in Russia.

Meanwhile, the derain attracts not with flowers, but with leaves.He has a dozen of white and motley varieties. And the most striking of them is "Elegantissima". The leaves of "Elegantissim" have a wide irregular border of pure white color. The bush is short, usually no more than two meters, and grows more slowly than most other varieties. The variety is more demanding on growing conditions than others. It requires fertile soil and regular watering. In the hedges of "Elegantissima", as a rule, they do not cut their hair. Especially attractive and even mysterious bushes of "Elegantissima" look from a distance of several tens of meters, when its foliage merge into one white and variegated background.

Whole-leaved willow "Hakuro Nishiki"... From a distance, "Hakuro Nishiki" looks like an exotic abundantly flowering shrub. But close up it turns out that there are no flowers at all, the leaves are to blame for everything. "Hakuro Nishiki" is a kind of variegated masterpiece, one of a kind. Its leaves have a slightly elongated ovoid shape, without serration along the edge (hence the epithet whole-leaved). Pastel green leaf background. White paint is poured over the leaf blades. Individual leaves are almost entirely white. At the same time, all tones are distinguished by a pleasant-looking purity. Most of the leaves appear white with small green spots and specks. And what is generally incomparable, the young leaves are painted in a charming pinkish color. An attractive feature of "Hakuro Nishiki" is that the "bloom" does not last two weeks or a month, but the whole season.

The most advantageous "Hakuro Nishiki" looks on the trunk. The Dutch, by the way, were the first to understand this, and at the beginning of the century they flooded Europe with such trees, thus giving birth to a kind of fad among beauty lovers. When "Hakuro Nishiki" is grown in its own rooted form, it grows as a spreading bush about a meter high.

At the foot of "Hakuro Nishiki" there are organic low hosts with bluish, yellow and white variegated leaves. But its combinations are especially good with low-growing compact plants with purple leaves: Thunberg barberry "Atropurpurea Nana" and "Admiration"; heychera; tenacious Atropurpurea, Burgundy Glow; etc.

Whole-leaved willow Hakuro-NishikiKalina gordovina Variegata

Kalina gordovina "Variegata" - this cultivar is simply unique in the variety of spotted patterns. The leaves themselves are the same as those of the "wild" gordovina: the "classic" oval shape, rather large, up to 12-15 cm long, densely pubescent with short hairs. On the surface of the leaf blades, spots, strokes, specks of various shapes and sizes are richly and fancifully sprayed.

Gordovina is sun-loving and drought-resistant, resistant to urban gas pollution, undemanding to soil conditions. Add to this the absolute immunity to leaf-gnawing and powdery mildew - the scourge of the common viburnum. Isn't it more than strange that such a character is still absent from the landscaping of our streets and courtyards!

Common horse chestnut "Variegata" - the leaves of this variety are so colorful that the eyes simply refuse to believe that this is possible. But “Variegat” also has its own “skeleton in the closet” - its leaves burn in the sun in the middle of summer, and the tree loses much of its decorative effect. And yet, even one and a half to two months of such a miracle is worth planting a tree in the most conspicuous place as an "ephemeral" tapeworm. The tree itself, with its warehouse and size, as well as agricultural technology, is similar to the natural species. By the way, if you plant it out of reach for the direct rays of the midday sun, for example, from the east or north side of the house, then the degree of burning of the leaves is significantly reduced.

Horse chestnut variegata

Rowan-leaved fieldberry "Sam"... Strictly speaking, "Sam" got into the company of variegated by accident, because its variegation is temporary, seasonal, and concerns only young leaves of the bush from the beginning of their dissolution to mid-June. Then its leaves are almost completely discolored, and only young leaves, which, by the way, appear on the bush until August, have a slight brownish-pink tint.But in the spring of plants, equal to "Sam" in the color of the leaves, can not be found. Almost all the colors of the spectrum are intricately mixed in their color drawing. The impression is enhanced by the very shape of the complex, fern-like leaves of fieldfare. Their maximum brightness falls on the first month of plant development. Then "normal" greens return to the leaves. In July-August, the shrub receives an additional decoration in the form of dense pyramidal panicles of creamy white small flowers.

It should be noted that the leaves of this field ash are attractive in and of themselves. They are imparipinnate, openwork, consist of 9-13 pairs of graceful leaves with a sharply drawn apex, finely serrated edge, and a beautiful deeply depressed venation. Therefore, the wild form of fieldfare has long been planted by Russians in the front gardens.

"Sam" has a height of 100-150 cm, and retains the ability to grow in breadth like sod, characteristic of a wild ancestor. By the age of twenty, one plant captures a "patch" of more than 2 m in diameter. He loves fertile moist soils, tolerates the proximity of groundwater. It is advisable to plant field ash alone in the open. The shrub is promising not only for private gardens, but also for public landscaping. Designers are attracted to this shrub by stable decorativeness, low maintenance and absolute winter hardiness, thanks to which it is stable even in the north of the forest zone.

Fieldfare mountain ash-leaved SamFieldfare mountain ash-leaved Sam

Crown mock "Innosens" Innocence», Innocence) - the main decoration of chubushniks, of course, are flowers. Ornamental deciduous varieties can be counted on one hand. The Innosens variety was bred by Emile Lemoine in 1927. The leaves of "Innosens" are rather large, with various forms of white or whitish-cream spots and stains. Its flowers are very large, up to 4 cm in diameter, simple or semi-double, wide open - "wheel-like". During flowering, white-variegated leaves from a distance merge with the flowers and create the effect of abundant flowering. The bush is slightly spreading, rather loose, up to 2 m high. It is unpretentious, drought-resistant. It should be planted in the open sun. In landscaping, it looks good against the background of firs and spruces.

Innosens Crown Chubushnik

Cross-pair microbiota "Gold Spot" - coniferous shrub with a creeping crown. The branches of the bush extend arcuately from the center to the periphery. It differs from the main species by its lower stature: the height of the natural form is 60-80 cm, and the "Gold Spot" is no more than 15-25 cm. And in diameter the shrub reaches 2 m. The needles are small-scaled. It is lighter than that of the specific shrub, and, remarkably, does not change color during the cold period. The attraction of the variety is the tips of the shoots painted in ivory shades. Numerous yellow "veins" in the crown, in combination with a low cushion-shaped crown, create a unique look for this cultivar.

"Gold Spot" is completely winter-hardy, does not burn at all under the spring sun, and is quite unpretentious. And, as a consequence of all of the above, this variety has a bright perspective in the Russian ornamental garden.

Microbiota cross-pair Gold Spot

Juniper Cossack "Variegata" - this cultivar has at least two attractive features. Firstly, it is much smaller in size than its wild parent: it is about 50 cm high and no more than 130 cm in diameter. Thanks to this, the shrub fits into ordinary front gardens and goes well with other conifers in mixed compositions. Secondly, its appearance is original due to the vase-shaped crown and creamy-white tips hanging from the center to the periphery of the bush. The needles are small-scaled, of a pleasant bluish color.

Prefers full sun or light inconsistent partial shade. Reaches the best development on fertile sandy loam soils.

Juniper Cossack VariegataJuniper horizontal Andorra Compact

Juniper horizontal "Andorra Compact" - shrub 20-25 cm high, forming dense thickets up to 120 cm in diameter. It grows slowly. The needles are needle-like, 5-7 mm long, tightly pressed to the shoots, not prickly, dark green with a purple tint.Part of the needles, usually the tips of branches from 1 to 5 cm long, are painted in an intense creamy white color, which attracts everyone's attention to the shrub. Does not burn in the sun. This juniper is interesting in coniferous compositions based on combinations of crown shape, color and texture of needles.

Thuja western white-tip

Thuja western "Belokonchikovaya", synonym for "Elegantissima" - a cone-shaped tree 3.0-3.5 m high with a strong single trunk. The branches grow obliquely upward, like a spruce. Scaly needles, relatively large. The tips of the shoots are creamy white, which gives the tree a unique charm. Young growth is especially brightly colored in June-August, in winter the needles become discolored. It is one of the most elegant varieties of western thuja.

Shears well and forms well. Resistant to heavy snow. Can be used for informal and trimmed hedges, form into dense columns. It is unpretentious, but grows better on deeply fertile light loamy soils, in the open sun or in a light, unstable partial shade.

Thuja western "Marmorata" (Marble) - a single-stemmed tree up to 3.5-4.0 m high with a thinned conical crown. By the type of branching, it resembles a spruce. Resistant to heavy snow. Scaly needles, medium-sized, light green. Individual scales, and evenly throughout the crown, are whitish in color. This gives the whole rump a motley "marble" pattern.

Excellent shear and shape, good material for hedges, both informal and trimmed. Sun-loving, requires more or less fertile, light or medium loamy moist soils. Responsive to organic fertilization.

Photo by the author

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