Girlish five-leafed grapes: description and cultivation

Parthenocissus quinqueleaf is a great choice for landscape design. This plant becomes especially decorative with the onset of autumn. On the territory of Russia and neighboring countries, the cultivation of Engelman, Star Showers and other ornamental varieties is already successfully practiced. You can choose the appropriate option by studying their description, planting features and methods of reproduction.

Description

Among the popular deciduous vines, Maiden Grapes five-leaf stands out for its decorative effect, unpretentiousness and high covering abilities. The historical homeland of this plant is the eastern part of the United States and southeastern Canada. It is also found naturally in Guatemala and Mexico. Liana belongs to the category of ornamental tree-like plants, its fruit (berry) is inedible, contains oxalic acid, but is actively eaten by birds in winter.

Five-leafed Maiden grapes are also called Virgin grapes. Its main features can be summarized as follows:

  • shoots have a length of up to 20-30 m;
  • color ranges from reddish to deep green;
  • the presence of antennae with a suction cup of about 5 mm;
  • palmately complex form of leaves with 5 segments;
  • color change over the season from emerald to crimson;
  • inflorescences-panicles of 80-150 flowers.

This subspecies of Maiden grapes adapts well to different climatic conditions. It is quite thermophilic, grows best in the southern regions.

Girlish five-leafed grapes: description and cultivation

Girlish five-leafed grapes: description and cultivation

Overview of popular varieties

The five-leafed Maiden Grape, in addition to its wild subspecies, has many cultivars that are highly valued by landscape designers and ordinary gardeners.

Girlish five-leafed grapes: description and cultivation

Among them, the following varieties can be distinguished.

  • Star Showers. In Russian-speaking countries, it is often called “Starfall”. The variety of the American selection looks like an artist’s painting: yellow and green tones are simultaneously present in its motley carpet, and pink colors appear in autumn. The leaves are smaller than those of the wild variety, and it grows very slowly, reaching a height of no more than 5-8 meters throughout its life.

Girlish five-leafed grapes: description and cultivation

Girlish five-leafed grapes: description and cultivation

  • “Engelman”. A variety with reduced size leaves and extremely tenacious tendrils with which the vine clings to supports. The shoots are reddish at first, and become green as they become woody. The green carpet of the Maiden Grape “Engelman” acquires special beauty in the fall, turning into carmine-violet tones. Liana gives an annual increase of about 1 m.

Girlish five-leafed grapes: description and cultivation

  • “I’m sorry.” It reaches a height of 15 m, frost-resistant, very decorative. It is chosen when you need to quickly cover large areas of a wall or make a hedge. Autumn foliage is purple, up to 10 cm in size, effectively shaded by deep black berries.

Girlish five-leafed grapes: description and cultivation

Girlish five-leafed grapes: description and cultivation

  • “St. Pauli”. This variety has a special decorative effect. The elongated leaf plate, combined with strongly branching tendrils, is well suited for braiding arbors, it looks impressive both in summer and in autumn.

Girlish five-leafed grapes: description and cultivation

  • Troki or Red Wall. Under these names one and the same variety of Polish selection is hidden. It is a Parthenocissus with very bright bronze-green foliage in summer. It turns purple in autumn. The variety forms an almost continuous dense carpet on vertical surfaces. The maximum length of the vine is 7,5 m.

The five-leafed subspecies of Maiden Grape has an interesting subtype of Hirsuta. This hairy vine has pubescent leaves and shoots, painted in a bright red tone. The plant is decorative, attracts attention.

Girlish five-leafed grapes: description and cultivation

Girlish five-leafed grapes: description and cultivation

Features of landing

The five-leafed Maiden grape develops well on fertilized fertile soils. For its landing, illuminated areas on the south side are chosen. In this case, in the fall it will be possible to observe how the green leaves of the plant gradually acquire a noble wine-purple hue. Planting is carried out in the autumn period with maintaining a distance of about 1 m to the support and the nearest plants. The optimal type of soil for this type of girlish grapes is considered to be loam with weak acidity or alkalization. When preparing the substrate for the hole, 2 parts of the earth and humus are used for 1 sand.

The pit is formed along the width of the root system, but with a small margin in depth. Be sure to drain the landing hole with large gravel, crushed bricks to a height of 150-200 mm. A sand cushion 20 cm high is laid out on top, and then a prepared soil mixture (up to half). The hole is left for 14-20 days so that the soil settles properly. A sapling of the girlish grapes of the five-leafed is placed inside along with an earthy clod. The root neck should be located above the edge of the pit. If an already rooted plant is transplanted, its lashes are pre-cut. At the end of planting, watering and trampling down the soil around the bush is carried out.

Girlish five-leafed grapes: description and cultivation

Girlish five-leafed grapes: description and cultivation

The nuances of care

The main care that the Virginia variety of Maiden Grapes requires is periodic watering and pruning of overgrown vine shoots. Creating favorable conditions for the plant in stages looks like this.

  • Regular watering. It is produced monthly, 10 liters per plant. Watering is accompanied by weeding, loosening the soil.
  • Hilling. Girlish grapes are prone to bare roots. Periodically, soil should be poured to the base of the vine, and then the near-trunk area should be lightly spudded.
  • Mulching. Sprinkling the soil in the root zone with sawdust, peat and rotten foliage, you can prevent it from drying out.
  • Top dressing. It is required only at the end of spring. It will be necessary to add 50 g of nitroammophoska for each square meter of plantings. Re-feeding, if necessary, is carried out in the summer, in July.
  • Pruning and shaping. This stage of care is relevant for plants from 3 years after planting. The lashes are fixed on a support in the right direction before trimming. Then the crown will be periodically trimmed with a garden pruner over a healthy kidney. In the spring, you will have to remove all unnecessary, frozen and damaged lashes.

Having provided the five-leafed Maiden Grapes with sufficient care, you can not be afraid for the development of the vine, its successful growth.

Girlish five-leafed grapes: description and cultivation

Girlish five-leafed grapes: description and cultivation

Reproduction

The plant allows you to use different methods of reproduction. The easiest way to get seedlings is by cuttings. It is performed throughout the warm season, from April to October. The cutting process looks like this.

  • A lignified lash is selected. She must be strong and healthy.
  • Several pieces of 15-20 cm are cut off, with 3 buds on each.
  • The resulting blanks are transferred to a container with soil. Tie to a support. You need to deepen the seedling up to 1 knot.
  • Before rooting, cuttings need regular watering, protection from drafts and other external threats.

Girlish five-leafed grapes: description and cultivation

Girlish five-leafed grapes: description and cultivation

Reproduction by layering is also practiced, which in the case of vines always gives good results. In this case, a not very deep trench is dug next to a rooted shoot over 3 m long. The future layering is placed in it, pinned to the surface of the soil, sprinkled with earth so that the leaves remain on the surface. Before rooting, the furrow will have to be moistened periodically, but not as often as when cutting.

The seed method for obtaining new plants of the five-leafed Maiden Grapes is the most difficult and long. Sowing is done before winter or already in the spring, with preliminary stratification. Be sure to pre-soak the material for a day.

Girlish five-leafed grapes: description and cultivation

Girlish five-leafed grapes: description and cultivation

Use in landscape design

The five-leafed Maiden grape is perfect for solving various problems in the field of landscape design. With it, you can perform landscaping of a balcony or loggia, veranda, terrace. In this case, it is planted in containers. A hedge is formed according to a pre-stretched mesh, and if you fix it on the wall, you get a surface entwined with a liana.

Also, Maiden grapes are actively used in the design of arbors, arches, pavilions. It can be planted along the fence or used in vertical gardening of the site. Particularly good at covering large areas is the Murorum variety, which grows rapidly in width. Its plantings can make a good background for roses or peonies with large flowers. Autumn compositions look good in combination with shrubs with yellow and green foliage, such as Aurea Thunberg barberry.

Girlish five-leafed grapes: description and cultivation

Girlish five-leafed grapes: description and cultivation

Anna Evans

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