Perennials For Saline Soils. The Best Plants For Salty Soil. Photo

2023 Author: Ava Durham | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 07:13

Soil salinity is one of the biggest problems you can face on your own plots. Even trees or bushes for such a soil are difficult to pick up, and perennials and flowering plants at all. True, this is not entirely fair: just among the herbaceous plants there are also such Spartans who are not afraid of the abundance of mineral salts and a polluted environment. The correct selection of plant species will allow you to create a full-fledged landscaping, even in such problem areas.

Content:

• Problems of saline soils and their landscaping
• The most spectacular perennials for saline areas
• Methods to combat soil salinization

Problems of saline soils and their landscaping

Salinity of soils, like polluted air, gas pollution, are considered very dangerous factors that complicate landscaping and lead to great difficulties in the selection of plants. The accumulation of salt in the soil cannot be noticed without special research; it is evidently manifested only in its effect on plants and their development.

In private gardens, the problem of salinization is typical not only where areas are laid out on salt marshes, located near the sea or the ocean coast. Salinity is a problem of improper icing or the proximity of a garden to sidewalks, roadsides, public roads - any facility where salt is used to de-icing in winter.

Salinization can also occur when unsuitable water with a high concentration of minerals is used for irrigation. Any soils are considered saline if the concentration of readily soluble mineral salts exceeds 0.1%.

The accumulation of salt in the soil leads to damage to the roots, disruption and cessation of growth, drying out and loss of decorativeness in most of the cultivated plants we are accustomed to, but not all. The assortment of horticultural crops is wide, not only in terms of size, style, type of foliage, flowering characteristics, lighting preferences, but also in terms of soil characteristics.

Along with plants that are sensitive to the composition and parameters of garden soils, there are also crops that are undemanding to the soil, and even more, they are ready to put up with conditions unfavorable for most of their competitors. Choosing the right plants allows you to find suitable candidates for landscaping even the most problematic areas. And soil salinization is no exception for them.

When choosing plants that can withstand an increased level of salts in the soil, they always focus on bushes and trees that can be used for hedges and protective plantings around the perimeter of the site. But it is not necessary to limit yourself to giants, as well as abandon plans to create lush narrow flower beds or ridges, colorful and cheerful compositions.

The style of the garden, its color scheme, the design concept, including for saline areas, has not been canceled. And the task of landscaping in areas with a high salt content will help to solve correctly selected herbaceous perennials.

Despite the bias, it is herbaceous plants, rather than evergreen conifers or typical garden shrubs and trees, that cope better with salinity. This is due to several factors:

1. Until the time comes to deal with snow patches and icing, herbaceous perennials are already dying off, drying out, and the period of their complete rest begins.
2. In order for the salts to go deep into the depths, below the level of the roots of perennial plants, it is enough to be well moistened with melt water (or in the spring, it is enough to carry out several very abundant watering).
3. Such crops are easier to replace and adjust plantings if the early selected species grow poorly and do not live up to expectations.

When choosing options for lush landscaping of saline areas, you should simplify your task as much as possible and provide for the possibility of changing the compositions in the future. For saline areas, it is better to select not complex compositions, but to choose a combination of 3-7 most reliable plants that contrast with each other and reveal the style of garden design, making up a simple rapport (in the sense of a repeating pattern) - a rectangle, square or circle.

To fill the entire area, the selected scheme is simply repeated, duplicated, beaten off, reaching the desired size. The same planting scheme will allow, if necessary, to easily replace some plants with others, determine the amount of planting material and make the necessary adjustments in time.

When growing herbaceous perennials in saline areas, it is important not to forget about timely care. Removing dry and damaged parts of plants in spring, timely rejuvenation and planting, maintaining a high-quality mulch layer of organic fertilizers will allow the plants to maintain their decorative effect for many years. Watering in the spring will help to deal with new salt deposits, and during the summer, keep the greenery attractive.

The rest of the care is similar to any other flower garden and comes down to weeding, loosening the soil, and removing wilting flowers. If the plants are planted in places where they can get splashes of dirty water from under the wheels of cars, then a protective layer of straw, spruce branches, pine needles is used as mulch, which are periodically changed and destroyed. In winter, this mulching will help to reduce the level of salinity along the road.

The most spectacular perennials for saline areas

Daylily (Hemerocallis) is one of the favorite universal herbaceous perennials, whose flowering is by no means inferior to the beauty of linear basal leaves collected in dense bunches.

Already at the moment of regrowth of young daylily foliage, the bushes look very elegant. The greenery of this perennial, creating a kind of massifs, brings order and elegance to any flower garden. The daylily looks great in summer, and the leaves accentuate the beauty of the bloom, reminiscent of royal lilies in shape.

Daylily flowers bloom for just one day (it's not for nothing that we call the plant a beautiful day), but continuous flowering continues from the beginning to mid-summer, and sometimes daylilies also allow you to enjoy a second wave of flowering. In the fall, they leave the garden stage rather quickly, but forgetting their summer parade is not easy.

This salt-tolerant plant can only be used to decorate well-lit areas.

Steller's wormwood (Artemisia stelleriana) is a spectacular perennial with widely spread shoots and surprisingly beautiful carved greenery, whose silvery lace can delight anyone. This is an excellent ground cover that demonstrates its talents on saline soils.

Even young wormwood looks like luxurious silver lace. Wormwood pleases with young leaves in the first half of spring, without losing its attractiveness until the end of the garden season. The foliage looks especially luxurious in summer, when the beauty of the fringe on the leaves is fully manifested.

The bloom of wormwood is inconspicuous, the greenish-yellow apical inflorescences do not spoil the plants, but they also do not draw attention from the main stars in the neighborhood. Pruning inflorescences, light haircut will allow wormwood not only not to lose its attractiveness throughout the summer, but also to remain a decoration of the site even with the arrival of winter.

This salt-tolerant plant can only be used to decorate well-lit areas.

Coreopsis verticillata (Coreopsis verticillata) is one of the brightest perennials with basket inflorescences, which conquers primarily with its dense and lush greenery. It is a hardy species characterized by its durability.

In height, the whorled coreopsis may not be limited to 1 m. Branched shoots are not visible due to the abundance of narrow, needle-shaped, bright green leaves, forming a continuous lace texture. Inflorescences are star-shaped, radiant, light yellow, they seem to be scattered over dense greenery like shining stars.

Coreopsis will delight with decorative foliage only in the second half of spring. But on the other hand, you will not find such a bright, dazzling color of greenery in other perennials. And when at the beginning of summer the baskets of inflorescences begin to bloom, they seem to highlight the places along the paths and sidewalks.

This salt-tolerant plant can only be used to decorate well-lit areas.

Sedum conquers with their undemandingness and endurance. The possibility of using sedums in garden design is not limited even by saline areas. But no other species can boast of greater resistance to salinity than rock sedum (Sedum rupestre).

The sedum sedum is one of the compact types of sedum, capable of forming continuous rugs. Height is limited to a maximum of 25 cm. Shoots are recumbent, with subulate-linear leaves. The colors are usually very bright. Sedum with their light juicy leaves in neat pillows in the second half of spring pleasantly enliven the compositions. To achieve even greater expressiveness and splendor, it is better to prune stonecrops at the beginning of summer.

This salt-tolerant plant can be used to decorate both well-lit and shaded areas.

Euphorbia (Euphorbia epithymoides) is one of the most spectacular species of Euphorbia. Dazzling flowering and neat hemispheres of lace bushes make this euphorbia the best spring plant for decorating any area, including those with saline soils.

This species of milkweed can exceed half a meter in height. Milkweeds reach their greatest decorative effect in spring. The multicolored spurge with its bright, yellow tops of shoots in young bushes attracts attention already in early spring, although it reaches the peak of decorativeness only closer to summer.

Milkweed fading in early summer significantly spoils the decorative effect of the plant. But it will already fulfill its function in saline areas in full, and growing neighbors can easily compensate for this disadvantage. Pruning at this time will allow you to preserve the splendor and beauty of the greenery, enjoying the fall autumn palette.

This salt-tolerant plant can only be used to decorate well-lit areas.

Aquilegia canadensis (Aquilegia canadensis) is one of the "special" species of the catchment area. Its flowering, and the splendor of the bushes, are pleasantly different from other varieties and modern hybrids, as well as undemanding to growing conditions.

Canadian aquilegia is a tall perennial (up to 60 cm) with a densely spreading bush, reddish or green shoots, beautifully dissected dark leaves and single, large, narrow drooping flowers up to 5 cm long with atypical red-yellow color and yellow stamens sticking out of the flower. Aquilegia blooms by mid-spring.

It is not in vain that the touching and magical caps of her inflorescences have given rise to so many fabulous nicknames. Elven caps, although of an unusual shape and color, look great not only in landscape design. And to keep the aquilegia looking great, it can be cut off partially or completely after flowering to stimulate the growth of new greenery and shoots.

This salt-tolerant plant can be used to decorate partially shaded or shady areas.

Liriope muscari is one of the most unusual perennials in any garden collection. Non-standard foliage and flowering, high decorativeness, the uniqueness of the growth form allows using lyriopa as a unique accent. And the resistance to salinity pleasantly surprises even experienced gardeners.

Unusual roots and stolons on the roots of lyriopa are just one of the features of this non-standard perennial. Rigid, linear, dark emerald green leaves, gracefully curving in curtains and dotted with small bead-like flowers, inflorescences up to 30 cm in height attract admiring glances to the muscari lyriope.

Liriope's spectacular inflorescences and slender leaves look great throughout the summer, while the plant itself looks like green fountains. Violet-blue Liriope candles place touching accents on the turf and emphasize the freshness of the plant. Liriope looks good even in winter, so it's better not to rush to cut the plant in autumn.

This salt-tolerant plant can be used to decorate areas with both good and secluded lighting.

Soft cuff (Alchemilla mollis) - one of the main decorative deciduous perennials and partners for flowering plants. Undemanding to conditions, the ability to grow are equally valuable for her.

The cuff is soft - an erect perennial up to half a meter high with rounded, soft, pleasantly velvety bright green leaves. The spring bloom of the cuff looks like solid lace. The green and yellow lush show looks amazing and illuminates even the darkest corners. After flowering, it is better to cut the cuff in order to enjoy a second colorful show a little later. Its bright foliage looks great; in the fall, the cuff dies off only when the air temperature drops to -5 degrees.

This salt-resistant plant can be used to decorate any area, including shaded areas.

Nippon Kochedzhnik (today reclassified as Anisocampium niponicum, but the outdated name Athyrium niponicum is also common) is one of the most beautiful ferns. Its leaves are so beautiful and unusual that it is very difficult to believe that a pleasant "bonus" is also attached to the spectacular appearance of the plant - the ability to grow on saline soils.

The young leaves of the cochinacea attract admiring gaze already in the spring, effectively unfolding from the shoots with a purple tint. But in summer, the gray carved leaves look just fine. Red or reddish-brown soruses, surprisingly graceful feathery lobes of wai, invariable metallic tint turn the green of the Nippon cabbage into a perfect shade decoration. Carved miracle kochedzhnik looks great and is highly frost-resistant. Usually the plant height is limited to 40-60 cm.

This salt-tolerant plant can be used to decorate places with secluded lighting.

It is also worth paying attention to other plants that are promising in terms of their tolerance of saline soil - erythematosus, veronica, gaillardia, cimicifuga, yellow ashberry, Chinese astilba, hellebore hybrids, santolina, periwinkle, Schmidt's wormwood, evergreen iberis, armeria, seaside, seaside felted, foxglove large-flowered, trifoliate valdsteinia, Kamchatka sedum, Byzantine chisetz.

Methods to combat soil salinization

It is very dangerous to ignore the very problem of soil salinization. For any area in the garden, you can pick up suitable plants, but these problems are severely neglected, the absence of measures to minimize the level of salinity will lead to the fact that even the most hardy stars cannot withstand the concentration of salts. Therefore, in addition to choosing suitable crops, it is worth taking care of measures to prevent the aggravation of such a situation:

• refuse to use salts or minimize their amount;
• try to timely deal with excess snow and remove it from sidewalks and paths in order to avoid situations when it is impossible to cope without anti-ice chemistry;
• replace the usual salts with safer means - sand, potassium chloride or calcium-magnesium acetate;
• install windscreens and high fences if your garden is located in coastal areas, etc.