The shameless woman is a health resort woman in Crimea, or a unique strawberry tree in Crimea is the only evergreen deciduous tree in the subtropics of Crimea. Strawberry tree in the Crimea.
For the first experiments on the arrangement of parks, lands were chosen from Foros to Laspi, Prince G.A. Potemkin. It was he who laid the foundation for the dispensation of the South Shore, although he had never been to the "midday shore", but only admired it from afar, from the heights of Laspi. But he had a good idea of all these lands from the descriptions, plans, drawings made especially for him.
One of the earliest known descriptions Foros is in Sumarokov's book "The Leisure of the Crimean Judge or the Second Journey to Taurida" in 1805:
« Foros is a two-hour drive from Baydar and from Balaklava ... In the gardens there are fig trees, Volozhsky trees, walnut, apples, pears and rowan berries of all kinds. Arable farming ... because of the mountainous, inconvenient places is not important, cattle breeding is also necessary, excluding goats, which breed in great numbers, income comes only from flax, onions and garlic. The village consists of 13 poorly built houses, sometimes from planks, sometimes from wattle fence, and the Greek name reminds of the inhabitants of this kind who were in it, who were removed from here during the population of Mariupol. The confusion of the local Tatars with them is very noticeable by the excellent features of their faces and the introduction of Greek words into the language.
They also differ from other Tatars in their customs, such as: they wear not a long, but a short dress, they do not mow bread, but reap. The roofs of their houses are replaced by ceilings, on which the smoothly packed earth represents ... terraces, and Tatars go out to sit here in cool hours. We settled down in one of these terraces, put a bench for a tea set, then the Sultan's fish, brought with us, oysters, the best fruits appeared at our dinner, and we, under the heads of the Antipodes, our masters, admired the wonderful location on a clear evening.
The nights are brighter here than inside the Crimea ... because like a mirror the surface of the waters takes on the playful rays of the moon. She, painting herself in fluttering streams, scatters silver sparks in places, conducts different ebb, and darkness after radiance spreads in the distance over the expanse of the sea. Oh, what sweet moments! Everywhere there is beauty, the strangeness of nature: everywhere there are traces of bliss and simplicity. Ahead is a charming picture, behind the back the huge mountains sticking out, I will make one movement of my eyes, and my gaze at that moment runs over millions of miles. Ia am transported to another wonderful world. I see various grooves of hanging clouds, an uncountable number of stars scattered like sparkles on the azure void ... ".
After 87 years, judging by the report of Dr. Weber, Foros turns into a magnificent park with a palace and little resembles a Greco-Tatar village.
With the participation of Yu. Clover, the scientist-gardener of the Nikitsky Botanical Garden Eduard Andreevich Albrecht redesigned and re-laid the park, based on natural forests of tall juniper, turpentine tree, downy oak, ash and maple.
Thanks to the mild climate and the abundance of water, numerous representatives of the subtropical flora have found shelter here: Aleppo pines, Italian pines, Greek fir, Atlas cedars, Himalayan, Lebanese, cypresses, medlar, palms, oleander, magnolia ... - only about 200 species and forms of trees and shrubs. The gardener I.I. Yanin.
For 2 centuries, from Sumarokov's trip to Tavrida to the present day, Foros has experienced everything: ups and downs, luxury and devastation. Today's Foros is what you, dear reader, see with your own eyes. Everyone who has been here at least once and saw Foros will agree that its main treasure and decoration is a unique park, which is protected by the state, and by Decree No. 105 on May 29, 1960, it was declared a "monument of garden and park architecture." This is confirmed by a memorial plaque installed on the eastern side on the way to the central alley and the palace building.
In the past, Foros Park differed from others in that it harmoniously combined orchards and rare exotic plants. Large areas occupied vineyards and three orchards: fig, apricot and peach. The year of its foundation - 1834 confirms that the first plantings were carried out by K.A. Naryshkin in Foros and N.N. Raevsky in Tesseli.
By the beginning of the 20th century, thanks to the efforts of A.G. Kuznetsov and the heirs of the Ushkovs, the Foros estate turns into a fabulous corner, combining a popular resort and an amazingly beautiful park.
To understand how the travelers of that time saw Foros, let us turn to the magazine “Russian Pilgrim” of the early XX century:
Foros. Essay
From the Baydarskikh gates begins the huge name "Foros", owned by the Ushkovs, the former Kuznetsov. A very convenient highway (7 versts) leads from the very Baydarsky gates to the sea, but along the paths it is no more than 2½ versts. From the name "Foros" there is a road that bends around the cape of the same name, which together with the cape Aya form the Laspi Bay. This area was once densely populated; many remnants of houses, ruins of churches and cemeteries have survived to this day. Even before the emigration of the Tatars, there was a vast settlement, bearing the same name Foros, which is translated from the Greek meaning - tribute. They think that this region got such a name because of the beginning of the Geodosia principality. The name "Foros" occupies 300 acres with a large park!
Palace and other buildings, rich; electric lighting; telegraph to Baidary.
The Foros locality is amazingly beautiful; a steep steep bank forms a bay with a dock for boats. The park called "Paradise" is fabulously good; at every step you are amazed by marvelous fountains, cascades, grotto lakes, flowing ponds with a mass of golden fish; shelters, playgrounds, pavilions with canaries, swans, Japanese ducks are arranged. The vegetation is luxurious: huge palms, ferns, araucaria and other plants are abundant here. Draws attention to the huge orch tree, from the rise of which gushes a spring of the purest water!
In the owner's palace there are many expensive paintings of Clover, Makovsky, Orlovsky, Aivazovsky, Sudkovsky, Rizzoni and others.
The park cost Kuznetsov much more expensive than the mansion. Indeed, in those days when there was no modern means movement: planes, trains, cars, - to transport at least one tree from Africa or America cost a lot of money. Saved by the fact that the main supplier exotic plants was the Nikitsky Botanical Garden. It took a titanic effort to create ponds on different levels, build stone and light wooden fishnet bridges, equip waterfalls.
A vivid example of the professional planning of the park is a photograph of the late 19th century, which captured the view from the southern balcony of the palace. It has a beautiful perspective from the staircase descent to the terrace of the lower park, where fountains and flower beds are located.
Everything is open to sight. You can even see the mast of the Kuznetsov yacht "Foros". Later, especially after the war, the park is chaotically planted with trees and gradually turns into their continuous thickets. The same fate befell the territory to the west of the palace.
The most notable place in the park was "Paradise" with its lakes and ponds, connected into a single cascade system. All of them received additional decorative accents in the form of sculptural fountains, bridges, gazebos and banks, decorated with tuff or massive limestone blocks. Water surface the pools were decorated with lilies and yellow irises. At the time of Kuznetsov, the estate resembled a real zoo with Japanese ducks, swans, canaries and animals, even antelopes.
The place "Paradise" is now called "a corner of paradise", and sometimes "a corner of calm and silence", as there is never a wind there. Around reservoirs with lilies now grow: Mexican yucca, cercis-scarlet (Judas tree), Chinese juniper and its variety - Chinese juniper, golden - the only one in the whole Crimea, Balearic boxwood, dendron sequoia, cypresses: evergreen, Lusitanian, Arizona; pines: Italian, seaside and even one birch. The relicts are also carefully preserved: the berry yew and the small-fruited strawberry (shameless).
If you, dear reader, wish to independently take a walk around the corner of paradise and get acquainted with its exotics at a convenient time for you, then the scheme proposed in the book will help you with this:
1. Chinese golden juniper.
2. Thuja western.
3. Sequoia dendron.
4. Multi-stem berry yew.
5. Chinese juniper.
6. Birch.
7. Pine Sabina.
8. Pine Brut, Eldar form.
9. Italian pine.
10. Libocedrus (River cedar).
11. Bamboo.
12. Arizona cypress.
13. Palm tree trachycarpus-forchuna.
14. Bulldonezh.
15. Japanese quince.
16. Japanese spirea.
17. Medlar.
18. Platan.
19. Decorative pomegranate.
20. Photinia Chinese white bordered.
21. Atlas cedar.
22. Atlas gray weeping cedar.
23. Lankaran acacia.
24. Large-fruited juniper.
25. Medicinal rosemary.
26. Spanish fir.
27. Mexican yucca.
28. Shameless (strawberry)
29. Judas tree (Cercis-scarlet).
30. Fluffy oak.
31. Pyramidal cypresses.
32. Boxwood Balearic.
33. Crimean ivy.
34. Pine Coulter.
35. Euonymus.
36. Silvery prickly goose.
37. Lusitanian cypress.
38. Cypress McNaba.
39. Aleppo pine.
40. Himalayan cedar.
41. Atlas silver cedar.
42. Pistachio is dull-leaved.
43. Yew berry fastignata.
44. Evergreen cypress.
Unfortunately, the scope of this book does not allow publishing here full list all the exotic plants of the park.
For comparison, these adjacent pages contain photographs - views of the park in different years. On the bottom two, different photographers captured the central alley of the park ninety years apart.
The total number of plants in the park is approximately 330-350. We will introduce you to just a few of them.
"Shameless" or small-fruited strawberry
People call this tree "Shameless". Its scientific name is "small-fruited strawberry" or simply "strawberry tree". The most amazing thing is that the shameless woman is a relict tree, like a juniper. Nobody planted these trees with red-brown bark - they grow by themselves for hundreds of thousands of years. In the midst of summer, the bark of the tree begins to crack and falls off, after which the branches and trunk of the tree acquire a light green hue. They say that the shameless woman "undressed and blushed with shame." In fact, in this strange way, the tree absorbs maximum light, which promotes its growth. The berries of this tree are similar to strawberries and are quite edible. In addition to its culinary qualities, strawberry also has medicinal properties.
It is interesting that the shameless is an evergreen tree. If it sheds the bark every summer, then the foliage does not subside even in winter - it is gradually renewed throughout the year. This plant is listed in the Red Book, therefore, it must be treated very carefully. The tree should not be touched with your hands, as it starts to hurt from the touch of your hands. In our park, the shameless woman can be seen on the bank of the lower pond in paradise... In the wild, the thermophilic shameless woman grows in the Crimea only on the southern coast.
Juniper - tree - doctor
Hundreds of millions of years ago, the European continent was covered with glaciers. Then the ice melted and life began to revive in new forms. But some areas in the southern part of Crimea were not affected by icing. The juniper has survived here in its original form. Juniper grows not only on the ground, but also on bare stones. Scientists explain this phenomenon by the fact that the roots of the juniper secrete some special substance - it dissolves the stone. And it was not possible to find out what the juniper eats on the rocks. This mysterious tree grows very slowly, weaving its branches into bizarre knots. It lives up to a thousand years, and very carefully hides the secret of its reproduction from people. Juniper does not lend itself to cultivation, and botanists have never learned how to grow it from seeds. Juniper wood does not rot. And the barbecue fried on his coals was once liked by Nicholas II, and since then this barbecue is called nothing else than the royal one. And if you grind a few juniper berries and sprinkle them on fried meat, then it becomes tastier than smoked turkey.
Especially attracted medicinal properties juniper, nobly affecting the functions of the kidneys, heart and especially the respiratory system. Juniper grove restores health to people and prolongs life. The phytoncides secreted by juniper not only add vigor and strength, but perfectly cleanse the air from harmful microbes. Surgeons have repeatedly performed operations under the juniper without any disinfectants, since they were confident in the sterility of the air. The reader is probably familiar with the juniper tincture. By the way, Scottish gin is a vodka made from juniper.
In Foros Park, there are especially many juniper trees growing in its western part and along the road to Tesseli's dacha. You can distinguish a juniper by its small green, blue and reddish (depending on the species) cone-berries.
Mexican yucca
Yucca vodka is mentioned in old books. In America, yucca has been used to make alcoholic drinks and molasses in the past. The most interesting thing is that the first denim was made from the fibers of the leaves of this tree. Some people confuse yucca with small palms. Yucca differs from palm trees in razor-sharp needles at the ends of almost unbending leaves. It is very dangerous to prick these needles as they contain poison. Yucca blooms unusually luxuriantly, the buds of white flowers rise high above the leaves. In Crimea, unlike America, because of the colder climate, yuccas are small.
TYPE FLORA or the plant world.
Sorting the pictures from the Abkhaz vacation, my daddy was formed - "The world of plants". This is about their flora.
Well, what flora? I grew up among her and did not find anything outlandish at that time. He stretched out his hand from the window and ... ate, for example: persimmon, peach, pomegranate or grapes, sometimes he chose the variety - kachich or isabella, there was also a nut growing in the yard. But now, having lived enough in middle lane, i.e. in comparison, the subtropics began to seem to me ... very "quite". Yes, the northernmost subtropics in the world show, sometimes examples of amazing natural fantasy and diversity.
Well, as a preamble, it should be said that all the wealth of the plant world is imported here. At the beginning of the twentieth century, through the efforts of Russian scientists, merchants and patrons of art, especially Smetsky, outlandish samples of tropical and subtropical cultures were brought to Abkhazia. Eucalyptus from Australia, cypress nuts from Greece, aleander from azure, araucaria from South America, and also from there came tobacco, cacti, lianas, tomatoes and corn (by the way, mamalyga, made from corn flour, became the main food among the Abkhz) and beans. Tea, persimmon and feijoa from China, a candy tree from Vietnam, and a bunch of palms and everything - everything came from Africa. In short, och variably and fun turned out. And, almost everything, surprisingly, stuck. Here, for example, is the "work" of the liana, which at once (according to my estimates, it took her thirty years for "this") to "bite" the concrete colonnade of the cafe destroyed by the war, with the ironic historical name "Friendship". And judge the rest of the miracles for yourself.
This is what the trunk of an Australian eucalyptus looks like. It is sometimes called the shameless tree. He periodically changes the bark, shedding old clothes and, as it were, naked all the time. But seriously, this tree is a savior. Previously, the entire coast of Abkhazia was swampy and the malaria mosquito was raging here, rest in Abkhazia then was not so pleasant precisely because of them. The eucalyptus acted as a "pump". Adults "consume" up to 500 liters of water per day. The swamps dried up and began ... paradise.
In childhood, on their high trunks of eucalyptus, punks arrange "nests".
And here is a fig tree or figs. Its seed, even falling into the crack of the house, or garbage, begins to germinate. Fifteen years later - a new tree.
This is how it looks from the outside. By the way, the leaves of this tree were used by artists of the Renaissance, "covering" nature in their paintings, usually of biblical content.
Vegetable luxury.
Or here ... the front view of the Philharmonic.
Plane trees in the park.
Like this climbing plants"crawl" to the fifth floor. And even higher ...
Or like this it will go into the wild.
On the fortress wall ... Tenth century.
So they live by sucking the juices of someone who cannot "give a shock".
Anomaly.
Or here ... this is at Stalin's dacha by Lake Ritsa.
This is how the roots lift the asphalt.
The road goes along the plane tree alley.
This is how plants "intersect" with stones.
This is how the Pomegranate grows.
And here I am examining a blank for a smoking pipe. She was carried away by the sea.
In general, there are many picturesque snags on the beach.
Alpine herbs.
Flowers among the mountains.
And this plant, I do not know the name.
Tall Pitsunda pine.
Fern.
Bamboo alley.
There are also thicker ones.
Still life.
In abandoned orchards the trees are running wild. This is in Tsebelda. The spectacle is wild.
Finita la comedy.
It turns yellow ...
This strawberry is called in guidebooks the witness of the founding of the Nikitsky Botanical Garden. You will find him at the border of the Upper and Lower Parks.
The main event of midsummer in Nikitsky Garden - "shameless woman" sheds bark
Small-fruited strawberry - the only evergreen deciduous tree natural flora Southshore.
The height of the tree is about six meters, and it looks unusually original and decorative all year round thanks to its thin bark, which lacks a crust - the upper coarse layer. Sometimes it seems that there is no bark at all. But in July, on hot, hot days, you can clearly see how the old coral bark cracks and flakes off in thin, papyrus-like flaps, exposing the young, tender, ash-green bark. The discharge of the old bark is completed by the end of summer. Almost simultaneously with the bark, half of last year's foliage falls off. And all these metamorphoses occur because strawberries, like many others evergreens, enters in the middle of summer during the period of partial leaf fall: at the peak of drought, in order to save moisture, it needs to reduce the evaporating surface, and the renewed green bark begins to replace the missing leaves, performing the function of photosynthesis.
It all looks very impressive, but for this feature Every year, the tree has received resounding names among the people: “shameless woman”, “health resort woman”, “stripper”.
In Crimea, it grows only on the southern coast, on coastal cliffs and rocky slopes, which have become a kind of refuge for small-fruited strawberries. Sometimes ancient relics of the Tertiary period are found here. Small-fruited strawberry is included in the list of rare and endangered plants in Europe. According to scientists, only a few thousand small-fruited strawberry trees have survived in the Crimea, one of the places of its mass growth is the Cape Martyan tract, declared a natural monument.
Love tree
"Does the tree of love grow in Nikitsky garden?" - this is perhaps one of the most frequently asked questions. Vera Zykova, head of the NBS-NSC museum, senior researcher at the department of dendrology, floriculture and landscape architecture, usually speaks in response about those trees that were considered symbols or patrons of love in different nations: about peach and orange, loved in China, about pear and pomegranate from the Mediterranean, about viburnum revered by the Slavs ...
But it also happens that people claim that they themselves personally saw the tree of love in the Nikitsky Botanical Garden, and then show it to the guides and even tell stories from their lives, in which this tree played a happy and magical role. So, right before our eyes, a legend is born about the Crimean tree of love - small-fruited strawberry.
The locals, especially the Tatars, which are unusually rich in tannins and tannins, used strawberry leaves for tanning expensive leathers.
Arbutus andrachne
Small-fruited strawberry is probably familiar to everyone who has been to the south Crimean peninsula in its parks and Nikitsky garden. It is known among the local population more as a tree "shameless" or "health resort". In the scientific literature, the species is called "Greek arbutus" - according to the place of distribution, or red arbutus (Arbutus andrachne). "Red" - because most of the year its trunks and branches remain coral or reddish-brown, "strawberry" - because from a distance the fruits resemble strawberries, but this is where the similarity to the berry ends.
In Latin, the name of the genus sounds like "Arbutus" - arbutus. It belongs to the Vereskovs and, according to some data, numbers 11, and according to others, 14 species. The red strawberry is one of them.
Area
Small-fruited strawberry is a very rare species. Like all arbutus, it is thermophilic. In the wild, it is distributed in the Mediterranean, the Middle East, in some regions of South-West Asia, on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus. Its northern border runs along the south of the Crimean Peninsula. Drought tolerant, often occupies rocky areas where other representatives of woody plants do not take root. In the mountains, it very rarely rises above 300-500 meters above sea level. Grows in clearings, in light coniferous and deciduous forests.
On the Crimean peninsula, small-fruited strawberries can be found on the Aya, Martyan capes, in the Koshka, Ai-Nikola mountains (here the largest population in Crimea). The most accessible specimens for tourists in Crimea are in Nikitsky Botanical Garden
and Alupka park. Among the Crimean strawberries there are two centenarians, each over a thousand years old, with a trunk girth of 4 meters. The photo shows one of them while measuring the trunk.
Arbutus is a red relic plant from the Cenozoic era, as evidenced by its remains found during excavations in the Middle East in the layers of the Tertiary earth. Consequently, the plant lived on earth at least one and a half million years ago. The number of small-fruited strawberry plants on earth is decreasing, therefore the species is under the protection of the states in which it grows.
Legend
According to one of the legends, the Latin name for the red strawberry tree is derived from the Arabic words “Ktal AV”, which in free translation means “killed the father”. Perhaps it was based on the association of red bare tree trunks with male bloody hands. The essence of the legend is as follows.
For a long time a family lived in the world: husband, wife and father-in-law, that is, the husband's father. When the father fell ill, the loving son went in search of a drug, but he was looking for it for so long that the father managed to recover and even conceive a child with his daughter-in-law. The returned son, having learned about what had happened, hacked to death his father, on whose grave a tree with a red trunk grew.
Shameless tree
The main feature of small-fruited strawberry is the annual renewal of the bark. The bark is dark red, thin as papyrus paper and peels off easily, revealing greenish "naked" trunks. Cracking and shedding of the bark occurs in July-August. This is accompanied by a slight rustling, which is why in some countries the plant is called a "whisper". In our country, throwing off woody clothes is associated with women undressing on the beach, and for this reason, strawberry small-fruited is called a “resort lady”. An even greater similarity is added by the fact that day after day the young skin appears to tan and eventually turns reddish orange. In this form, the plant stands until next summer, when everything begins to repeat again.
Not all of the above behavior of the strawberry tree resembles beach lovers. Some people call him ironically "shameless" or "stripper" for the annual bare trunk, which looks like a naked female body in the tanning stage.
You cannot touch the naked trunk with your hands. Touching the tree burns, after which ulcers form on it, and it begins to hurt. The photo shows the consequences of such curiosity - the trunk of a strawberry disfigured by diseases.
Description
Although small-fruited strawberries are classified as Heathers, which are mostly shrubs, dwarf shrubs and grasses, it looks like a bush only in childhood when young thin twigs are completely not covered with bark. Mature plants are true multi-stemmed giant trees, capable of reaching a height of 12 meters. They live for several hundred years. The trunks are upright, often curved. Moreover, the diameter of one trunk is relatively small. Instances with a height of about 80 cm are not common. Basically, the trunks are only 20-30 cm or slightly larger in diameter. This can be explained by the slow growth rate of the tree and the small number of specimens remaining on the ground.
Small-fruited strawberry blooms densely and for a long time, is an excellent honey plant and serves as a decoration of the landscape at this time. In Crimea, flowering occurs in April, and in warm winters or farther south - even earlier, in February - March.
The flowers of red arbutus are small, up to 1-2 cm in size, with five petals, whitish, bisexual (there are male and female organs). Collected in panicle inflorescences. In shape, they slightly resemble lilies of the valley, only without a characteristic delicate smell, but sweet-fragrant.
Leaves are medium in size, from 3 to 11 cm long, up to 4 cm wide, with a dense leathery leaf blade of an oblong-ovoid shape, alternate, located on a short petiole. Some leaves may have a pointed edge. In winter, the leaves do not fall off, but remain on the plant. Small-fruited strawberry is the only native evergreen deciduous species of the Crimean peninsula. We also have rare large-fruited and hybrid strawberries planted by humans.
In mid-late summer, when the temperature reaches its annual maximum, the red strawberry tree partially sheds old leaves, which are already replaced by new young leaves. In this way, the tree is protected from exhausting summer heat: the less moisture evaporates from the surface, the less it suffers from drought. At the same time, the old red bark peels off, exposing the thin greenish bark containing chlorophyll. At this time, the green bark performs the function of fallen leaves - it participates in photosynthesis.
The "shameless" fruit-berry forms in June. Round, covered with small tubercles, the size of a cherry (up to 15 mm), from a distance they look a bit like strawberries. They contain many small seeds. Juicy when ripe. Their color is red or orange, and the taste is astringent. The pulp is yellow-orange. Fruits ripen in autumn, then they become dark red. Although the berries of red strawberries are edible, they do not stand out with a special taste, therefore they are popular only among birds, which, after being eaten, help to scatter the seeds. Despite the large number of seeds, new plants hardly grow. The reason may be poor seed germination or death of young seedlings, for example, from drought or low temperatures.
Cultivation
Small-fruited strawberry very showy plant, one of the most beautiful species Arbutus. During its life, its trunks bizarrely bend and twist. Absolutely smooth, coral in color most of the year, they, like hands, soar upward, supporting an openwork crown of leathery green leaves. In spring the trees are covered with numerous white and fragrant flowers. In autumn, the branches are decorated with red "strawberries" (fruits).
Such beautiful plant long ago attracted attention, and from the beginning of the 18th century they began to cultivate it. In Crimea, small-fruited strawberry has been introduced into cultivation since 1813, almost immediately after the founding, by order of Alexander I, of the "Imperial Tauride State Botanical Garden" on the southern coast of Crimea (now Nikitsky Botanical Garden).
In arid regions, small-fruited strawberries are planted in gardens and parks to decorate the landscape. It tolerates drought and high temperatures well, therefore it is considered promising for urban greening and reforestation.
In northern latitudes, the red strawberry tree is grown in winter gardens in tub culture.
Growing
Small-fruited strawberry, slow-growing and light-loving tree. It can grow in partial shade. Suitable for growing from zones 7 to 10 of frost resistance, while zone 7 is recommended very carefully. Trees can hardly withstand a short-term drop in temperature to -10 -15 degrees. Their annual shoots freeze, inflorescences and leaves of adult trees die. In the open ground, with the threat of frost, young seedlings are sheltered for the winter, and also protected from strong winds.
Small-fruited strawberry prefers sandy and loamy soils with a neutral or acidic reaction, well-drained, rich in nutrients, moderately moist. Tolerates moderate pruning.
Reproduction
Small-fruited strawberry reproduces more often by seeds.
Freshly harvested seeds are soaked for 5 days in warm water, sown to a depth of no more than 0.8 cm. The readiness of the seed for sowing can be determined by the cracked shell. It helps to increase seed germination by stratification at 0 degrees in rotted pine needles for 1.5-2 months.
Slightly grown seedlings are planted in separate pots. During the year, they are kept in the same conditions as the crops, but always with good ventilation. V open ground hardened seedlings are planted after the establishment of positive temperatures in the spring. Plants are planted at a distance of at least 3 meters.
Cutting is less successful. It is carried out in the usual way. Green cuttings are harvested in early spring, and semi-lignified (cuttings with bark) are cut from annual shoots at the end of autumn.
Reproduction by layering is also possible. Young shoots are bent to the ground, pinned at one point, sprinkled with soil. The open top of the shoot is directed vertically upward. Rooting takes about two years.
Despite the unpretentiousness small-fruited strawberry, it multiplies difficult. Therefore, for planting, it is preferable to purchase ready-made seedlings with a closed root system. You can find them in foreign nurseries. According to reviews, a hybrid strawberry can be sold under the name Arbutus andrachne.
The difficulty in reproduction of red strawberry arises from certain soil fungi that live under the tree and form mycorrhiza with it. The roots of the strawberry have no root hairs, and the vultures of fungi, attaching to them, in an accessible form supply the roots with the necessary nutrients... A similar symbiosis is characteristic of all Vereskovs, to which small-fruited strawberries belong. Therefore, when growing from seeds, it is recommended to take the soil under the trees, next to which the "shameless woman" grows in nature, or under the strawberry itself. It is important that when the seeds germinate, the vultures of the fungus penetrate into the root of the sprout and thereby provide it subsequently with nutrition.
A long taproot can also cause poor survival when replanting young plants. After all, digging a seedling from the rocky soil of mountainous terrain without damaging root system, very difficult.
Properties
Small-fruited strawberry nature has endowed with a unique wood that is not amenable to decay. Exclusive products were made from it self made, for example, boxes, furniture and other household items. Due to the curvature of the trunks, they were not used in construction.
The leaves and bark of the red strawberry tree contain a high percentage of tannins, which is why they were once used in leather production.
Small-fruited strawberry can grow in the neighborhood of its "brother" strawberry large-fruited ... As a result, hybrids appeared, endowed with the features of each of them.
