Description, cultivation and use of Brown's Honeysuckle Dropmore Scarlet
Dropmore Scarlet honeysuckle is a variety of Brown's honeysuckle. The culture is distinguished by spectacular bright orange or scarlet flowers. After flowering, the decorative effect of the bushes is enhanced by the red-orange fruits collected on the stalk. The plant attracts attention with its lush greenery with unusually shaped leaves and graceful vines densely entwined around the supports. Read on to learn about planting and caring for Brown Dropmore Scarlet honeysuckle.
Description of Honeysuckle Brown Dropmore Scarlet
In the middle of the 19th century, breeders experimented with crossing rough and evergreen honeysuckle. The result made a lasting impression. The plant bloomed for a long time, profusely and amazed with the beauty of its flowers, reminiscent of fuchsia. Gardeners became interested in the plant and began to actively use it for landscaping. Honeysuckle received its popular name - fuchsia.
Honeysuckle Brown Scarlet Dropmore belongs to the group of Brown hybrids. It is a hybrid of the rough Lornicera Hirsuta and the evergreen Lornicera Sempervirens. It was bred in 1950 in the Canadian province of Manitoba. The authorship belongs to breeder Frank Skinner.
The scientific name of Brown's honeysuckle is Lonicera brownii. The plant is a semi-deciduous shrub about 2.5 m high. Young shoots are purple.
The leaves are oval-shaped, leathery, dark green in color. The back side of the leaf blade is bluish. The leaves grow together in pairs at the tip of the shoot in the form of an elliptical disk.The foliage blooms in the second ten days of May.
Flowers are collected in whorled clusters of 6-35 pieces and have a tubular-bell-shaped shape. Flower length - 6 cm. The outer side of the petals is colored orange, red-scarlet or purple-pink, the inner side is yellow or scarlet. Flowering is abundant, begins in early June - July and ends in September - October.
The fruits are inedible, spherical, red-orange in color, collected in clusters on the stalk. Bright fruits prolong the decorative appearance of honeysuckle for 2-4 weeks after flowering. Contains small seeds up to 3 mm in size.
Reference. Abundant fruiting occurs in places with long summers.
Features of cultivation
Brown's honeysuckle is hardy, frost-resistant and easy to care for. The plant is resistant to short-term drought, spring frosts and diseases. Thanks to its dense branching and neat crown, it takes up little space on the site. This allows summer residents in the middle zone to use Dropmore Scarlet for landscaping their local area on trellises.
Site selection and soil preparation
The plant prefers illuminated areas with shading of the lower part of the bush. To do this, use mulch - tree bark, straw, sawdust. On the south side, a low fence is placed in front of the bush or meter-high flowers are planted densely.
Honeysuckle loves moisture, so it can be planted in lowlands where melt and rainwater accumulates. The only requirement for the soil is that it should not be swampy. Permissible soil acidity is pH=3.9–7.7, optimal — pH=5.5-6.5. The plant prefers areas with neutral or slightly acidic soil.
The soil mixture is prepared from garden soil, peat, compost and sand in equal parts (1:1:1:1), although Dropmore Scarlet honeysuckle grows on any type of soil. On poor soils, bushes are watered 1-2 times depending on weather conditions, and fertilizing is applied 3-4 times a year.
The plant does not like drafts, so it needs reliable protection from gusty northern winds. Honeysuckle can withstand frosts down to -27°C in the absence of wind.
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Landing algorithm
The plant is planted on the southeast or southwest side of the house. Seed propagation of Brown's honeysuckle is rarely used due to the slow results. The plant enters the flowering period 3-4 years after planting. Often the crop is propagated by cuttings or layering. Flowering occurs in the year of planting or the next.
Lignified cuttings are harvested in early spring when pruning the bush. They are cut into 20 cm pieces, leaving three buds on each. In mid-March, the cuttings are planted in moist soil at half their length. Soil moisture is maintained constantly and excessive dryness is avoided.
Propagation by green cuttings is carried out after flowering. Select the thickest shoots (3-5 mm) and cut them into 20 cm pieces, leaving 3-4 pairs of leaves. The distance from the bottom sheet to the cut should be 1-1.5 cm. The bottom leaves are removed, and the top ones are cut in half. Green cuttings are planted in the soil at an angle and covered with plastic bottles, having previously cut off the bottom or neck. Rooting takes 1-2 months.
Planting of seedlings is carried out in the fall at the end of the growing season.Seedlings with a closed root system are planted at any time of the year, except winter.
Planting technology:
- On the site, holes are dug 25x25 cm in size for two-year-old seedlings and 50x50 cm for seedlings aged 5-6 years.
- 5 cm of gravel is placed at the bottom as a drainage layer.
- In a large container, mix turf, sand and humus in a ratio of 3:1:1 and partially fill the hole with this substrate.
- A seedling is placed on top of the fertilized soil and the remaining part of the soil is covered so that the root collar is on the surface.
- The distance between seedlings should be 1.5 m.
Care
Young plants are covered for the winter with agrofibre, folded in 2-4 layers. The insulation is removed when the snow melts to prevent condensation. The same applies to mature bushes when grown in regions with harsh winters.
Rules of care:
- Brown's honeysuckle is watered as the soil dries out and arrange sprinkling in especially hot weather. Water consumption per bush is 10 liters. Watering is done in the evening so that the plant receives more moisture. During the day, water evaporates under the influence of sunlight.
- Fertilizers are applied three years after planting. From the moment of sap flow until the second decade of June, the bushes are fertilized with nitrogen once every two weeks. Dissolve 30 g of urea in 10 liters of water and water the soil. It is not worth adding nitrogen more often - it stimulates the growth of buds and greenery and leads to thickening of plantings. It is recommended to add 200 g of wood ash or 30 g of superphosphate to a bucket of solution when growing plants on poor soils.
Dropmore Scarlet honeysuckle is resistant to diseases and insect attacks. To maintain health, it is enough to follow the rules of agricultural technology.
Trimming
In the first year of growing season, honeysuckle needs support to form a crown. Climbing vines are distributed over a fence or trellis. After reaching the desired height, gardeners trim the tops, allowing the plant to grow wider due to the activation of side shoots.
Pruning is performed in early spring or late autumn. During the first five years of growth, sanitary pruning is carried out - dry, damaged, frozen branches are removed. In the future, old shoots are cut off at a level of 30-50 cm from the point of growth of dense shoots.
Application in landscape design
Brown's honeysuckle is used to create hedges, decorate fences, and walls of buildings. In the first year, the crop gives a slight increase, but later the vines quickly entwine the supports to a height of 2-5 m.
The plant is combined with poppies, roses, peonies, cypress spurge, and coniferous shrubs. Honeysuckle is used in landscape design: it is planted on a fence or hedge, flowering carpets are built, the vine is planted on a net stretched between two posts.
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Reviews
Gardeners are delighted with the decorative properties of Dropmore Scarlet honeysuckle; they often use it to decorate their garden plots and value it for its ease of care.
Irina, Bryansk: “Three years ago, my husband and I planted Brown’s honeysuckle in our summer cottage. We spend the summer outside the city, so I wanted to improve the area around the house. I do a little landscape design and decided to experiment and put out a “green carpet”. For planting, we used seedlings with a ready-made root system; we wanted to get quick results. My experiment was a great success - the honeysuckle bloomed the next year and grew very quickly. It blooms with amazing orange-red flowers, long and abundantly.”
Pavel, Vologda: “The Dropmore Scarlet honeysuckle has been growing with us for more than six years. It is so easy to care for that even I, a novice in gardening, could handle it. I planted seedlings in the fall, and in the spring the plant bloomed. I now have a beautiful green hedge hiding an unsightly chain link fence. Every year I carry out sanitary pruning and feed with wood ash.”
Maria, Voskresensk: “Brown's honeysuckle is an ideal plant for those who want to improve their home area. It can withstand severe frosts provided it is covered. I use a tarp and remove it in the spring. Sometimes the tips of the branches freeze, but after pruning they quickly recover. Maintenance is not burdensome, it is enough to water once a week, feed with nitrogen and carry out sanitary pruning.”
Conclusion
Honeysuckle Brown Dropmore Scarlet is an ornamental hybrid characterized by winter hardiness and easy care. The plant is used in landscape design for the purpose of landscaping garden plots. A flowering vine densely entwines the supports, creating a hedge. Bright orange or scarlet flowers make a pleasant impression and attract the attention of passers-by. Caring for bushes is not burdensome even for novice gardeners; it is enough to water the plant on time, apply fertilizer and perform pruning.