SHRUBS > CARAGANA
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CARAGANA GUIDES
Caragana plants are a top choice when you have no fourth dimension , piteous soils , exposed position , hard freeze , and other circs that most works can not tolerate .
But though it ’s as tough as nails , Caragana has brilliant light-green foliage , merry yellow blooms , and offers up tasty peas in fall .
And it can be grown as a large shrub , screening hedge , or small tree !
C. arborescens
Overview
PreferredFull Sun
ExposureSheltered or discover
Height4 – 8 M
Spread2.5 – 4 M
Bloom TimeMay – July
PreferredLoam , sand
MoistureWell - drained or moist but well - drained
pHAny
This is a genus of about 90 metal money , the huge bulk of which are shrub and only a few are small trees.1Caragana . ( n.d . ) . Kew Royal Botanic Gardens . retrieve March 14 , 2023 , fromhttps://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:21935-1
In nature their heights range from 1 - 6 megabyte – however , most of the shrubs can be grown as small trees ; indeed , the appearance and habit of some is in that grey zone between shrub and modest tree .
study thatCaragana arborescens , the ‘ flagship species ’ is colloquially called ’ Siberian Pea Shrub ’ or ‘ Siberian Pea Tree ’ bet on whom you ask !
It is also called ‘ Russian Acacia ’ .
Genus Caragana is a member of Family Fabaceae or the Pea Family.2Caragana frutex . ( n.d . ) . North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox . call back March 14 , 2023 , fromhttps://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/caragana-frutex/
Not surprisingly , most coinage ’ leguminous yield are eatable .
Indeed , in British gardens those few Caragana species that are of sake are a ‘ two for the price of one ’ deal : they function as cosmetic works as well as edible unity .
Essentially a Sino - Russian genus , Caragana shrubs are deployed for environmental purposes include corrosion control and sand dune - fixation , and as windbreaks .
As the season wears on , the flowers of many of the specie take form into edible leguminous pods – and then you ’re faced with a selection .
you’re able to pick the pods and savor the delicious peas inside . Or you’re able to allow the pods mature on the plant , and wait , and await , and … pop !
Caragana pods have the adorable habit of bursting with an audible audio to scatter their seeds .
Habitat & Growing Conditions
Caragana specie produce in an teemingness of habitat in China , Russia and Central Asia from desert to forest , taking in grasslands , shrublands , steppes , and hills and peck .
C. arborescensand most of the coinage make their homes in infertile and poor soils , including alkaline soils .
They stand firm a fair amount of drought and aridity and they are resistant to exposure and ocean spray .
Many specie grow in frigid atmospheric condition well below zero .
As one may expect , a works with ‘ Siberian ’ in its name is fully audacious with a hardiness rating of Zone H7 , as are most of the other species .
C. arborescensand its cultivars are said to prune reliably and heavily in the eastern part of the UK but not quite as well in the western half , because of the difference in rainfall blueprint .
Where To Grow Caragana
Caragana tolerates , hmmm – everything!Its temper does give the gardener legion choice .
you’re able to use Caraganas to make a decorative shelterbelt that will extend summer colour and also autumn veggies .
A row of fittingly pruned Siberian Pea Shrubs could be used to make a pretty and useful low screen ( though in winters you will lose the screening gist ) .
These plants can be regale as flowering bushes and grown in a bungalow garden and also in a backyard kitchen garden .
The weeping varieties are , of row , extremely ornamental small trees .
They are eminently desirable for a court garden .
They will have aesthetic value if set in a quarrel along a walkway , and also when used as a focal stage at the door or by the dwelling ’s rampart between windowpane .
Finally , if you have short soil , a windswept positioning , a coastal web site , or even all three , Caragana is one of the plants that will forge very well for you .
How To Grow Caragana
Caragana species can be grown from semen , rooted from softwood press clipping , or bought as potted plants .
The drawback to sowing seeds or rooting cuttings is that you will see flowers and pick peas after at least three years , most likely five .
Softwood cuttings too should be root in give .
If you have a potted plant , transplant it in spring , otherwise in summer .
The planting mess should be about as deep as the root system and about twice the breadth .
Put the plant in the hole such that the roots are properly spread out and backfill the hole , making trusted the soil story ( of the primary fore ) is the same as it was in the Mary Jane and not any higher .
Give it a good tearing – water fairly every two or three daytime for a few weeks after which you may water it each week .
“ Good weekly pee during bound , summer , and juiceless fall will help the health and validation of your Caragana and will also give you the good chance of a good crop , ” shares Horticulturist Dan Ori .
Ongoing Care
Caragana species are very tough plant and do not require much care ; the weeping cultivar , on the other paw , do require some attention .
Caragnas should be sit in full sun or at least fond sunshine .
Though they will thrive even in poor soils , a gravel- and George Sand - base loam tending from Neutral to Moderately Acidic with organic compost or humus integrate in will give up the plant to wave .
Above all the soil should be well - drained .
Caragana varieties do not ask fertilising .
However , you may certainly fertilise per annum in former saltation or mid - spring .
Use a 0 - 10 - 10 liquid fertiliser .
Pruning Caragana
How you pruneC. arborescensis entirely dependent on whether you want a Siberian PeaShrubor a Siberian PeaTree .
For the former , you will pinch out the peak , see the height , and further early branching and bushiness ; for the latter , you will raise the drawing card , prune sideshoots , and monish early branching .
Pruning Caragana also strongly depend onhowyou require to expend these multi - purpose plant life .
For example , if you want to make a bloom hedging that function as a shelterbelt using Caragana , then you will have to snip the plants accordingly , by cut back the root to begin with .
Do not prune the weeping cultivars other than to trim branches that may extend to the ground and to hit shoots that may emerge from the side of the trunk .
If you pick the pods when they are untested , very soon after they imprint , the ship’s boat peas in spite of appearance can even be enjoyed raw .
However , it is not a problem if you pick them a lilliputian late , for more matured peas are perfectly fine in cooked dish .
Common Problems
Caragana is not be intimate to support from any pests or diseases .
Birds may take a liking to the pods so you may have to guard your pea from being consumed before you get to them .
Common Varieties
AKA : Siberian Pea Shrub or Siberian Pea Tree
The ‘ trail ’ species , so to speak , of the genus .
Though numerous Caragana species are appreciated and grown for unlike purpose in China , Tibet , and Russia , this is the most well - known one in the UK ( and the USA as well ) .
It typically grows to 3 - 4.5 m but may hit up to 6 m.
Its larder xanthous flowers blossom in May or June , and their fragrance and ambrosia deplumate bees and butterflies .
you’re able to very much decide whetherC. arborescensbecomes a small tree or a bush by crop it per your choice – while this mintage also stool excellent bonsai industrial plant .
AKA : Walker ’s Weeping Pea Shrub
A small tree which has four equidistant stem curve out from the top of the fundamental stem and ‘ weeping ’ downwardly .
It is a cultivar that needs a niggling help from its human acquaintance to start ‘ weep ’ and light upon its form , which is not a instinctive one .
stem turn are grafted on the top of the modernize trunk .
Once grafted , the fore mature outwards and downwardly naturally without get to the ground or coming tight to it .
The bright light fleeceable leaves are minuscule and all right , even middling feathery .
It attain a elevation of only 1.5 - 1.8 metre with a spread of about 1 m.
It was developed in Manitoba , Canada and is becoming a sought - after form in both the United Kingdom and the United States .
The two gens may be mistaken as synonyms for the same change but this is not the case .
‘ Pendula ’ too is a small Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree with a crying form but there are a few decimal point of remainder .
Its pendulous ramification add up very close to the ground , and may need to be dress .
The leaf is quite dense all round out the tree but has an airy and bollocks up - up look .
The bark is perceptibly liquid and sheeny .
Finally , this variety grows from 1.5 molarity to an ultimate height of nearly 3 m with a spreading of 1 - 2 chiliad that is made pronounce by the fluffed - up foliage .
It is also experiencing a rise in demand on both sides of the Pond .
Attains heights of 1.5 - 2 m.
It bears undistinguished yellow flower of only 1 cm .
It has gloomy brown barque and is aboriginal to central and eastern China .
Is , as one might anticipate , a dwarf variety .
It attains a height of only about 50 cm .
Among its curing of special features are golden yellow limb and brilliant unripe leaves .
The yellow flower is 1 - 1.5 atomic number 96 with short upper claw .
It is an first-class no - upkeep deciduous shrub for rockeries with wretched dirt .
