In our article we want to talk about a plant such as honeysuckle. What it is? Surely you have more than once seen on the plots of beautifully flowering shrubs that produce fruit.
Honeysuckle. What it is?
Honeysuckle - erect or climbing, creeping shrubs belonging to the family of honeysuckle. Flowers can be blue, white, pinkish, yellow. Berries of different varieties differ in taste. Fruits have a sweet or sweet and sour taste with a slight bitterness. The homeland of the plant is Southeast Asia, where many of its species are currently growing.
Recently, such a culture as honeysuckle has become very popular among gardeners (what we will describe in the article). Why did this plant win the hearts of summer residents? People are primarily interested in beautiful honeysuckle flowers. Climbing plant, braiding fences and gazebos, create beautiful vibrant flowering hedges. However, in addition to decorative meaning, fruits are of particular interest. Some of them can be eaten.
Of the two hundred species of plants, only a few species have edible fruits. Inedible varieties are popularly called "wolf berries." They have a red or orange color. These berries are not only not edible, but also poisonous. In no case should they be eaten.
Honeysuckle berries
The cultivation of edible honeysuckle has gained popularity only in recent years, although this is not surprising, because the fruits of the plant are a storehouse of different vitamins and minerals useful to the body. The amount of their content in these berries is much larger than in blueberries and blackberries.
Useful properties of the plant
Experts say that the fruits of the plant treat anemia, scurvy, and indigestion. Berries are also recommended for use in cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, atherosclerosis. Honeysuckle is very useful as cleansing the body of various harmful substances. A kind of strong antioxidant. And this is not the whole list of advantages of the berry.
This is a good honeysuckle. Its properties have long been known in folk medicine. Healers often resort to the help of this plant, which contains such substances necessary for humans as fructose, glucose, sucrose, galactose, organic acids, as well as vitamin A, B vitamins, ascorbic acid. The berries are rich in magnesium, potassium, calcium, copper, iodine, pectin and tannins.
Honeysuckle is good because it has an early ripening period, which means vitamins can be obtained much earlier than from other berries and fruits. Despite the presence of light bitterness, children really like the fruits of the plant.
Honeysuckle application
In addition to the decorative purpose of honeysuckle in parks and gardens, it also received quite worthy use in cooking. Naturally, only edible varieties are used.
Mistresses have long learned to make jam from honeysuckle, jelly, jam, toppings for baking. Juices and wine are also made. And also dried and frozen berries.
Honeysuckle jam is not only very tasty, but also healthy. Berries are also used in medicine, as they have anti-inflammatory, choleretic, diuretic effects.
Honeysuckle, whose properties are so unlimited, is used in folk medicine. It is used for diseases of the gallbladder, bleeding, malaria, hypertension, indigestion.
It should be noted that not only berries have healing properties, but also decoctions from roots and branches. They are used in dropsy as a diuretic. But tinctures from leaves and flowers are used as anti-inflammatory and disinfectant for problems with eyes and throat. Honeysuckle juice is a good medicine in the treatment of skin ulcers and lichen.
It is believed that honeysuckle extract has antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral effects. It is used in the treatment of eczema and psoriasis. And baths from young branches help with articular rheumatism.
Honeysuckle: properties and contraindications
Honeysuckle, of course, is a very useful plant, but in all respects it is good to observe the measure. Do not eat too much even edible berries. Especially if you are trying them for the first time. Sometimes, however, side effects can occur in the form of allergic skin rashes, muscle cramps and indigestion. Remember that only blue and black berries are edible. And red and orange fruits are poisonous, they should never be tasted, even one such berry can greatly harm a person.
Honeysuckle: plant description
If you want to have a beautiful flowering plant with healthy fruits on your plot, then you definitely need to plant honeysuckle. What it is? This is a tall bush of two meters in height, which can grow in one place for up to twenty five years. It has a compact crown with erect or slightly curved shoots. Branches have a red or brown hue.
Honeysuckle begins to bloom in early May. The plant needs cross pollination, so if you want to get a crop of berries, gardeners plant several of its varieties on one site. The bushes have the most decorative appearance during the flowering period. At this time, the plant is very beautiful. After flowering, ovaries form, and after a while dark-blue fruits with a wax coating appear. Under good conditions, one bush can produce up to three kilograms of berries.
For the first time, the plant begins to bear fruit only in the third year after planting. Berries ripen in late spring. Their taste resembles blueberries or blueberries. The fruits exude a wonderful aroma.
Honeysuckle varieties
Speaking about what is honeysuckle (varieties, description), it should be noted that there are many varieties of it. Of course, not all fruits are edible and bushes are appreciated by gardeners exclusively as a beautiful ornamental plant.
These varieties include Tatar honeysuckle. This is a tall shrub with dark green leaves that grows up to three meters. In nature, Tatar honeysuckle grows in Central Asia and China. Its fruits are bright red, but they are extremely poisonous. However, during the fruiting period, the bushes look very beautiful.
This variety has a lot of varieties that are perfectly used in landscape design.
Brown's red honeysuckle, which is a winding vine with beautiful, bright, red fruits, is no less beautiful. The plant reaches a length of five meters. A feature of decorative creeper is abundant and very long flowering from July to September. With proper care, you can also achieve repeated flowering in late autumn.
Currently, edible species are available for sale in the following varieties: Atut, Vitamin, Duet, Karina, Lydia. All of them differ in their taste and ripening period. If you decide to plant honeysuckle (varieties, a description is presented in your article), first decide which plant you want to get: only decorative or with edible berries. Based on preferences and care options, choose the appropriate variety. In principle, all plants of this species are not particularly whimsical, but nevertheless, it is necessary to know in advance the characteristics of growth.
Planting a plant
Let's figure out how to get honeysuckle. Planting and care, reproduction of this plant, in principle, do not differ in great complexity. So, for the bush, you need to choose a flat sunny area. Almost all varieties of honeysuckle love the sun, although there are species that tolerate light partial shade. But it should be understood that in a shaded place the plant will not bloom profusely and even less bear fruit. But as for the land, the honeysuckle grows on any soil. It is best to plant a plant in mid-October.
It is categorically not recommended to plant bushes in late autumn, the plant will not have time to take root before the cold weather and may die.
How to plant honeysuckle? Planting and care, plant propagation, in principle, is not very different from other shrub species. If you plan to acquire more than one, several bushes, then planting should be carried out at a distance of two meters. Dig holes with a depth of at least forty centimeters. Between the rows leave a distance of three meters. Before planting, a nutrient mixture is put in the wells. It can be prepared as follows: a bucket of humus is mixed with one hundred grams of double superphosphate and thirty grams of sulfate. One hundred grams of the mixture will be enough to add to each well.
After planting, the earth around the plant must be well drowned and poured in the calculation of ten liters for each bush. The final step is mulching. Before planting, in no case do you need to cut the bush, as this can provoke a growth retardation in the future.
Plant care
The first years the plant will grow slowly, but anyway it needs to provide proper care. Since honeysuckle is a moisture-loving crop, it will require frequent, but not too plentiful watering in the hot season.
On average, ten liters of water are poured under one bush. With a lack of moisture, the berries may be bitter.
Honeysuckle is very responsive to organics, so it should be fertilized regularly. Humus, urea is well suited for such purposes. But before flowering, you can carry out foliar dressing with special preparations: "Master", "Aquarin", "Mortar".
Breeding honeysuckle
How can honeysuckle be propagated? Planting, reproduction - these are the moments that gardeners are most interested in. New plants can be obtained in several ways - cuttings, layering, division of rhizomes, seeds.
However, the most effective is the method of root division. This can be done either in autumn or in early spring. The bush is first dug up, and then divided by secateurs and planted. This method is good for young plants that are less than five years old. Old bushes may not tolerate such a procedure.
Good results are obtained by reproduction by layering. The lower shoots are pressed to the ground and sprinkled with earth. In this state, they remain until early spring. After they take root, they should be separated from the bush and planted in a new place.
Green cuttings propagate the plant in May. However, this method is quite troublesome. Cuttings are first lowered into a growth stimulator, and then, after a day, they are planted in soil or seedlings. After that, they are covered with a film on top. Further care involves watering and airing the cuttings. For the winter, planting is covered with foliage. And in the spring, plants are transplanted to a new place.
As for seeds, reproduction with their help is a very complex process, therefore they are practically not used.
