Creeping evergreen cotoneasterdecorates gardens all year round. Delicate, bright flowers and autumn red fruits appearing in spring encourage to plant rock gardens with cotoneaster or to choose it as a ground cover plant. See whatgrowing creeping cotoneasterin the garden, get to know the most interestingevergreen varieties of creeping cotoneasterand learn how toreproduce creeping cotoneasterin amateur conditions.
Creeping cotoneaster evergreen 'Queen of Carpets'
Creeping cotoneaster - evergreen varieties
Creeping cotoneaster(Cotoneaster procumbens) is one of the most popular species among creeping deciduous shrubs. It is perfect both in urban conditions and in a home garden. It can be planted in rock gardens or used as a ground cover plant.
The main decorative element of the creeping cotoneaster is its red fruit, which remains on the shoots for a long time. Another advantage is the evergreen leaves, thanks to which this plant looks impressive all year round. In Polish nurseries there are mainly twoevergreen varieties of creeping irgi- 'Queen of Carpets' and 'Streib's Findling'.
Evergreen variety of creeping Irgi 'Queen of Carpets'has converging shoots and white flowers appearing in May and spherical red fruit. It grows extremely slowly and only reaches 10-15 cm in height. Its shoots crawl along the ground and often take root. The leaves of the creeping cotoneaster 'Queen of Carpets' are rounded and leathery, and glossy on the outside.
On the other hand,the evergreen cotoneaster 'Streib's Findling'grows up to 15 cm in height, has small dark green leaves and white-pink flowers appearing in May. Perfect for planting in containers.
Colloquially as creeping cotoneaster, they are also often referred to ascreeping varieties of other species of cotoneaster , e.g. Cotoneaster radicans, Dammera Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster dammeri) or Cotoneaster cochleatus. Among the creeping evergreen varieties of these species it is worth mentioning, for example,
dammera cotoneaster 'Major'with leathery, dark green and glossy leaves arranged in two rows. In May there are small, white flowers hanging mostly singly on long stalks, and in August bright red, spherical fruits. only 10-20 cm and a width of 80 cm. It has leathery leaves and small white flowers. In September, carmine, spherical fruits appear. Another evergreen, creeping variety of the cotoneaster is the
cotoneaster 'Eichholz'growing up to 0.5 m in height. It has broadly elliptical matte, bluish dark green leaves and blood-red fruit up to 1 cm in diameter.On the other hand,
Spoon Cotoneaster 'Schneider'is an evergreen cushion shrub reaching up to 30-50 cm in height and width . Small, dark green leaves, shiny on the underside, with white hairs. White flowers develop in May. The fruits are spherical and red.
Creeping cotoneaster evergreen 'Queen of Carpets' during flowering
Creeping Irga - cultivation
Cultivation of creeping cotoneasterdoes not cause much trouble, because it is a shrub that does not have special requirements, and is very easy to care for.
Creeping cotoneaster tolerates all types soils. It is not afraid of drought or air pollution, it perfectly tolerates low temperatures.In the cultivation of creeping cotoneaster, it is worth taking care of a sunny position , possibly slightly shaded, and permeable soil, moderately fresh, slightly acidic to alkaline.In the cultivation of creeping irgi, you can limit yourself to seasonal maintenance pruning and fertilizing with multi-component fertilizer at the beginning of the growing season.Trim the evergreen cotoneaster in springThis way we stimulate it to grow intensively. Cutting consists of removing diseased and thickened shoots.
Creeping Irga - reproduction
Creeping Irga is propagatedvegetatively using woody shoots. If we successfully reproduce the plant, we will multiply at a low cost a very interesting shrub that can be used as a plant for planting slopes. However, it must be remembered that this is a long-term process, and we will obtain seedlings ready for planting on the target site only after 3 years from their collection from the mother bush.
Reproduction of the creeping cotoneasteraugust. The procedure consists in cutting a 10 cm long cuttings from well-wooded shoots with a heel or a piece of wood. After preparing the seedling, plant it in the inspection, and before that, immerse it in a rooting accelerator (the so-calledrooting agent). The land for planting should be a mixture of sand and peat in a 1: 1 ratio. Prepared seedlings should be covered with foil, keeping the substrate moist. The next year, in April, we transplant the plants to the seedbed, leave them there for 2 years, and then transplant them to a permanent place.
MSc Eng. Joanna Białowąs
