Western flower head, a rare star

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Among the shrubs that can surprise not only with very plentiful, but also with unusual flowering, there are many plants that did not become stars of the first magnitude. Despite the limited distribution and even the status of rarity, they have all the necessary advantages in order to become the basis of any composition in landscape design. Among such flowering, winter-hardy, unpretentious in care, but not too popular species - a unique shrub, western flower head. Its inflorescences are similar to the original prickly spheres.

Original flowering and other talents of the flower head

Western flower head (Cephalanthus occidentalis) we are better known as golovacha western. The flower head in regions with severe winters in height will not exceed one and a half meters, although in nature it looks much more powerful. The flower head is ranked as a decorative deciduous shrub of compact sizes. It is distinguished by the accuracy and beauty of the crown, quite dense and delicate. In order to give the flower head special beauty or maintain a spherical shape of the crown, you can resort to pruning, which this shrub tolerates surprisingly well.

The shoots of the flowerhead become dark with age and become covered with grooves, very large, up to 15 cm long ovoid leaves with a beautiful light color look spectacular on them. The leaf veins are colored, they repeat a slightly reddish tide of branches, so the whole bush looks very original. The foliage of the golovach does not lose their color until mid-autumn, when all his neighbors have long changed their outfit to crimson or gold.

But despite the beauty of the crown and leaves, still the main pride of the golovach remains flowering. This species blooms in summer, during the whole half of the hottest time of the year its shoots are crowned with fancy spherical inflorescences of white tubular flowers with very long needle-shaped stamens. The lucid arrangement of flowers in inflorescences creates the effect of an ideal sphere and fluffiness. The diameter of the inflorescences varies from 3 cm, they seem even more original against the background of large leaves of the bush.

Conditions necessary for the color head

The Western flower head can be grown both in open soil in the form of an ordinary flowering landscape accent, and planted in containers to decorate terraces, balconies, recreation areas. This is a surprisingly unpretentious plant that adapts very well to various forms and growing conditions.

The flower head has a good ability to adapt to places with different lighting. He will be comfortable both on sunny and semi-shaded areas in the garden, and any of the wet and cultured ones (even not too fertile) will do for them. The flower head feels great also in dry areas, especially when watering during drought, but is best suited for decorating places with high humidity and fresh soils.

The unpretentiousness and lack of regular care needed by this shrub are its important advantages, which only make this unique plant even more promising. Golovacha is best planted in the middle and late spring, so the bushes are much better adapted and less capricious.

The flower head is completely winter-hardy and will not cause trouble in the middle lane. Young shoots may freeze in him, but the bushes are quickly restored.

Golovach in garden design

The flower head can rightly be ranked among the most original in the form of flowering shrubs and the most spectacular large crops that can bring the perfect spheres to the design of the garden. It is valued primarily for exotic capitate inflorescences, but large leaves and a spectacular crown miracle are both good.

The flower head looks great in splendid isolation, as a soloist on the background of ground cover and lawn glades or on flower beds and in the front garden. But by no means worse, it will look in groups with both compact and rather large shrubs and tree trees. It can be used for the edge, as a contrast shrub for plants with a sheared and small-leaved crown, to create bright compositions with different shades of green. The flower head is especially good in compositions where the spheres of its inflorescences support similar forms of partner cultures - sheared boxwood spheres, hydrangea inflorescences, decorative bows, etc.