In the garden, the snowberry is grown because of the high decorative effect of the shrub, densely covered with white berries. Even when the leaves fall for the winter, the berries remain on the branches and serve as food for some species of birds. But it is strictly forbidden for a person to eat these fruits – they are poisonous, they can cause vomiting and dizziness. Here you can see the photo and description of the snowberry, as well as learn about the correct pruning of the plant.
Description of the snowberry shrub
Snowberry (Symphoricarpos) belongs to the Honeysuckle family. Homeland – North America, China, Siberia, the Far East, the European part of Russia.
Snowberry white (S. albus), or cystic (S. gasemosus), Is the most common type. It is a small deciduous shrub up to 1,5-2 m high, with thin curving shoots. Leaves are glaucous or light green, simple, opposite. The flowers are small, pink-red in color, very graceful, they can be seen on the shrub already in the middle of summer, it blooms during June – July and half of September. Collected flowers in multi-flowered umbrellas. When describing a snowberry, its fruits deserve special attention, which are white berries up to 1 cm in diameter. They ripen in late summer and autumn, in September, and the berries hang on the branches all winter. The plant is unpretentious and very winter hardy.
Except with. brushy for growing in garden plots the most interesting species is from. rounded (S. Orbiculatus).
As you can see in the photo, the snowberry shrub is used for single and group plantings:
Most decorative when flowers and especially berries appear. You can make beautiful curbs and hedges from a snowberry.
Pruning when caring for a snowberry (with photo)
The snowberry has a dense, dense crown, consisting of thin shoots. Therefore, many experts believe that this plant does not require any pruning at all. However, in order to emphasize the beauty of the plant, especially during the fruiting period, minor pruning should be carried out.
Due to the fact that the snowberry, like many other shrubs, blooms in mid-summer with the growth of the current year, it should be cut in early spring, in March – early April.
When doing pruning when growing a snowberry, they basically remove the entire upper part of the shoots, leaving only stumps 10-30 cm high. After such a strong pruning, new, young shoots begin to grow rapidly, differing in the strength of growth and an abundance of flower buds.
After the end of flowering, you can remove all faded shoots with a pruner. Snowberry, if not limited by anything, forms a dense, impenetrable growth. To prevent this, you should regularly remove any excess growing shoots. To prevent the spread of shoots around the perimeter, you can dig into the ground any material that limits growth, for example, pieces of tin, slate, thick sheets of plywood, etc.
The formation of a snowberry is carried out in the same way as for privet, hawthorn and other crops described above.
Take a look at the photo “Snowberry Care” to better understand how to form a bush:
