Table of contents:
- Zhivuchka - botanical information
- The most popular varieties of tenacious
- Tenaciousness in landscape design
- The best partner plants for tenaciousness
Video: Tenaciousness In Garden Design - Modern Varieties And The Best Partner Plants. Photo
2024 Author: Ava Durham | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 00:23
In May-June, in meadows and glades, one can often observe how, as if out of nowhere, dense spike-shaped inflorescences of blue-purple flowers appear over a carpet of green grass. The foliage of this miniature plant cannot even be discerned among the dense grass. But in the decorative forms of the tenacious, on the contrary, it is the unusual leaf blades that come to the fore, and flowering is only an additional bonus. In this article I will talk about the decorative qualities of the most popular varieties of garden tenacious and the features of its use in garden design. Indeed, flower growers often have the question of where to plant and what is the best way to combine this charming rug.
Content:
- Zhivuchka - botanical information
- The most popular varieties of tenacious
- Tenaciousness in landscape design
- The best partner plants for tenaciousness
Zhivuchka - botanical information
Tenacious, or Ayuga (Ajuga) - a creeping ground cover plant from the family Lipoceae. Each point of growth of a tenacious is a small rosette of foliage. Ayuga is constantly growing, producing many young rosettes, each of which also takes root and, in turn, forms new rosettes. Thus, rather large colonies of plants grow.
This growth feature makes the breeding of the tenacious very easy: just dig up a few outlets and transplant them. Ayyuga leaves are very close together and the internodes of the plant are also very short, which creates a dense cover ideal for preventing weed growth.
Although the tenacious is an excellent ground cover, it cannot stand strong trampling, and will not work as a substitute for a lawn. But if it is stepped on occasionally, then nothing terrible will happen.
A tenacious plant is a plant with very little maintenance requirements. Due to its small stature, it does not need to be pruned every spring, and the flowers after flowering also do not need pruning. In temperate climates, Ayyuga can be semi-evergreen. So if you have a mild winter, foliage from last fall may still look good in spring and beautify your garden.
The tenacious prefers moist, well-drained soil, it can tolerate mild drought, but it is best not to let the soil dry out completely. However, when the roots are blocked, the plant can also die. Depending on the variety, the tenacious can grow well both in the bright sun and in partial shade or even in the shade. Pests and diseases practically do not affect plants, and additional feeding for the tenacious is usually not required.
Most varieties have high winter hardiness, but the more exotic the variety looks, the worse the “black winter” (severe frost without snow) is for it. More adapted older varieties usually survive even such winters.
The most popular varieties of tenacious
Tenacious Atropurpurea
The tenacious Atropurpurea is the most common variety among gardeners. You can meet such a tenacious person in almost every second summer cottage and in almost every front garden. A distinctive feature is dark burgundy leaves, whose shade can vary depending on the light (in partial shade, the leaves can turn almost green).
In the gardens, the tenacious Atropurpurea very often gets out of control and lives its own life. However, this is a low-growing creeping plant, unable to crush its taller counterparts. Therefore, even becoming practically a "weed", it does not cause problems, and does not grow as fast as dangerous weeds.
Due to its wide distribution, the appearance of this tenacious animal has already become familiar a little, and it may seem like a "grandmother's" plant. Nevertheless, unlike more exotic varieties, this cultivar is more hardy and reliable, and with skillful use in landscape design, it can look very impressive.
Hardy "Burgundy Glow"
The tenacious Burgundy Glow is a very picturesque variety: the leaf blade combines several colors and their shades at once - burgundy, cream, yellowish, light green, pink. Sometimes gardeners can make the mistake of considering this tenacious as shade-tolerant as the Atropurpurea variety, and plant it in the shade. However, in this case, the bright variegated color practically disappears, and thus the value of the variety is lost.
The Burgundy Glow tenacious is a plant only for sunny places. Also, the level of soil fertility can affect the brightness of the color (with a lack of nutrition, the colors are paler). The flowering of this cultivar is somewhat paler than that of Atropurpurea, but the blooming tenacious of this variety also looks very pretty.
Hardy "Chocolate Chip"
Tenacious "Chocolate Chip" - has evergreen foliage with deep burgundy-chocolate tones. The main distinguishing feature of the cultivar is the leaves of an unusual shape (much narrower than that of most tenacious varieties). In cooler weather, the brownish-burgundy leaves of the plant become rather dark, and during the summer heat they acquire a slight sheen.
In the spring, charming spikelets of lacy blue flowers rise above the foliage. This variety can also repeat flowering in milder climates. Such a tenacious does not grow too quickly, this variety is distinguished by an average growth rate.
Metallica Crisp survivor
Hardy "Metallica Crisp", unlike most popular varieties of hardy, which belong to the species creeping hardy (Ajuga reptans), this variety belongs to a different species - the pyramidal hardy (Ajuga pyramidalis). Among gardeners, it can also be known by the names "toad" or "reaper", which reflects the main varietal feature.
The plant quickly forms a low carpet of dark purple, sinuous and highly wrinkled leaves with a metallic sheen. The foliage of this variety takes on a particularly strong metallic hue on mature leaves in mid-summer. This shine will be very strong when planted in bright sun.
This very cute slowly growing ayuga forms narrow rosettes. But, unlike varieties of creeping tenacious, they are slightly raised above the ground and grow in the form of pyramids. Such a tenacious bloom is not too abundant, and it is quite possible not to notice that at the beginning of summer, violet-blue flowers in dense curls appear from the center of the rosettes.
Tensioner "Multicolor"
"Multicolor" tenacious is another variegated variety of creeping tenacious 10-15 centimeters high. The main tone of the leaf is dark purple, and on it one can observe unevenly scattered numerous specks, strokes and swept away cherry, cream, pink, yellow and orange colors. The variety blooms relatively abundantly, blue small flowers are collected in a low spike-shaped inflorescence, flowering time is the second half of May.
This variety can freeze out in winter with little snow, so it is recommended to organize a light shelter for it. In one place the "Multicolor" tenacious can be grown for at least 3-4 years.
Tenaciousness in landscape design
As with all rug plants, it is most important for the tenacious to find a good place and suitable partners so that it does not get lost in the flower garden and reveals its full potential. The best places for planting a tenacious:
- rock gardens and rockeries, where it will effectively creep between not too large stones;
- the edge of the flower garden, in this case the tenacious will become a wonderful living frame for the flower bed;
- carpet flower beds in combination with other creeping plants when landscaping coastal (but not flooded) areas;
- in container floriculture - as a stable color accent in the company of annual flowers;
- along paths and between slabs in step paths;
- on retaining walls;
- when landscaping roofs.
The best partner plants for tenaciousness
The best partner plants for tenaciousness are as follows.
Loose mint "Aurea"
These two creeping plants seem to be created to grow as a duet. The tenacious and loosestrife become an ideal match not only because they have a similar growth pattern, but also because of their complementary coloration. Almost all varieties of tenacious have burgundy shades, they are in perfect harmony with the bright yellow foliage of the loosestrife "Aurea". The size of the leaf blade does not differ too much from each other, the propagation rate is also approximately the same, which means that the plants do not shade or clog each other and grow well together.
In addition, the loosestrife "Aurea", like the tenacious, also needs a sunny place and sufficient watering. On my site for many years there has been growing the duet of the loosestrife and tenacious "Burgundy Glow", and it is impossible to take your eyes off this bright couple. The duo begins to decorate the garden from spring and continues until late autumn, and when the tenacious and loosestrife bloom alternately, this spectacular rug takes on new shades and accents.
Hosta
The tenacious cultivars that can remain showy in partial shade can serve as good partners for the host. Of course, with very massive and rapidly growing hosta varieties, such a neighborhood will not last long, and the tenacious will have to get out from under the powerful foliage to get at least a little sunlight. But there are quite a few host varieties that grow relatively slowly. Some of them also have long petioles and not too large leaves.
Thus, the land under the hosts, until they grow densely enough, can remain bare for several years and require mulching. The tenacious can serve as such live mulch for hosts. Aesthetically, the hosta and the tenacious are also a great pair - after all, the small foliage of one contrasts very effectively with the large leaf plates of the other.
Their colors also seem to be made for each other. Plain green hosts, or those with white or golden patterns, go well with the purple color of the tenacious. To achieve a quick effect, it is better to plant the most vigorously growing and shade-tolerant tenacious "Atropurpurea" to the hosts.
Sedum
By combining various types and varieties of ground cover sedum and tenacious, you can create a real living carpet, which has no analogues. As they grow, dividing the territory and intertwining with each other, the plants will create unprecedented patterns, striking the play of their shades and textures.
Almost any creeping stonecrop will look spectacular together with the tenacious, but especially harmonious combinations with the tenacious form stonecrops with bluish foliage (stonecrop evers). It is better to plant monochromatic sedum, blue or green, for example, false sedum, to the variegatedly colored varieties of tenacious. And two or three colored ("Tricolor") or having bright red foliage are selected for monochromatic zhivuchiks.
The only nuance of such a duet is different requirements for the level of humidity, therefore, in the absence of precipitation, the tenacious must be watered, but not flooded, so as not to harm sedum, which, as you know, is a succulent.
Conifers
Dwarf varieties of conifers or seedlings of tall conifers at a young age are very miniature in size and need partners who could effectively shade them, but without shading or suppressing their growth. If you plant a tenacious next to medium-sized conifers, then it will become a wonderful background for their green, golden or bluish needles. This living carpet will prevent crust formation and weed growth.
From the point of view of landscape design, the tenacious will serve as a good unifying element between medium-sized conifers, which at a young age can look somewhat scattered, and will create the effect of a finished composition. The tenacious will look best together with varieties of spherical, columnar and conical shapes, but creeping coniferous cultivars can shade a rug from a tenacious.
Small-bulbous
Most of the early flowering small-bulbous plants (scillas, crocuses, Pushkinia, dwarf tulips and many others) do not require annual digging, so perennial companions can be selected for them.
If you plant a small-bulbous rug over the plantings of a tenacious, then in early spring it will become an excellent background for these beautifully flowering plants, and after flowering, under its foliage, you can disguise the fading bulbous leaves. In May, the tenacious herself will decorate this flower corner with her flowers, and throughout the season you can admire its brightly colored foliage. Thus, the planting site of spring-flowering bulbs will remain stably decorative.
Stunted bells
The genus of bells consists of many representatives greatly varying in height - from real giants to very crumbs. Among the undersized "alpine" bells, the most popular are the Carpathian, Pozharsky, gargan and spoon-leaved bells. Due to their small size, these bells are also not so easy to combine with other plants. But with tenacious bells, each of these bells is able to form a magnificent duet.
The leaves of the bells are usually smaller than the foliage of the tenacious, it may even seem that this tenacious bloomed with bell-shaped flowers, and the color of the white or violet color of the petals is simply ideally combined with the purple tones of the leaves of the tenacious. By the time of flowering, the tenacious and bells will pass the baton to each other, because the time of flowering of the tenacious is May, and the bells - June.
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