МОДИФИЦИРОВАННАЯ КЛАССИФИКАЦИЯ ЖИВЫХ ИЗГОРОДЕЙ НА ПРИМЕРЕ MORUS ALBA L. И ЕЕ ДЕКОРАТИВНЫХ ФОРМ

Abstract

MODIFICATION CLASSIFICATION OF HEDGEROWS ON THE EXAMPLE OF MORUS ALBA L. AND ITS DECORATIVE FORMS

Formulation of the problem. Hedgerows have several functions: protective (protecting owners of the territory from intruders, some eyes, noise and dust); aesthetic (along with other plants create harmony between man and nature giving this area unique “created” beauty, being one of the elements of landscape architecture).

Possibilities of using hedgerows with formed trunks of different height and prospects of creating their variants combined with alternating leafage and trunk (polled areas) that are used in topiary art (polling individual trees and shrubs) remain unexplored. Given the characteristics of planting and shaping hedgerows there is a need for their more practical classification that fully shows their differences.

State of studying problem. Specialists in Landscape Architecture classify hedgerows by type of used plants, its composition, height and care techniques.

Hedgerows by existing classification currently are distributed on the following key indicators:

– Height – high or wallpaper borders (in height from 2m up to 5-6m), medium (from 0.5 up to 2.0 m) and low (curbs) – height less than 0.5m;

– Biological peculiarities of type – evergreen or deciduous, prickly or non prickly, flowering and climbing;

– Its composition – homogeneous, combined, wallpaper;

– care techniques – untrimmed and formed;

– number of rows in a hedgerow – single-row and double-row.

The purpose of research is to develop a classified modification of hedgerows on the example of Morus alba L. and its decorative forms: Morus alba ′Pendula′, M. a. ′Globosa′, M. a. ′Pyramidalis′, M. a. ′Contorta′, M. a. ′Macrophylla′.

Research results. In the study of the existing classification of hedgerows we paid attention to the fact that there is no their sharing by trunk features (there are cases when you need to use hedgerows of different trunk height).

Example 1. It is necessary to open the near prospect of contemplating park areas or other territory and close distant one where you can see old buildings and other unattractive buildings that look unsightly on the background of established landscape compositions.

Example 2. In countries where there are a lot of snakes which like to rest on lower branches of small trees and shrubs on hot days, coniferous and deciduous plants are cut forming hedgerows at low and medium trunks for safety.

Example 3. It is necessary to form a hedgerow with large and medium trunks to saturate plant compositions using a variety of flowers and soil stabilizing vegetation.

Based on the growth characteristics of Morus alba L. and its decorative forms: M. а. ′Pendula′, M. a. ′Globosa′, M. a. ′Pyramidalis′, M. a. ′Contorta′, M. a. ′Macrophylla′ і M. a. ′Tatarica′ we propose the following modified classification scheme of hedgerows.

This modified classification of hedgerows includes seven key indicators: biological characteristics; composition; method of planting; care technique; number of rows; availability of trunk and height.

1. Biological characteristics. Decorative forms of M. а. are referred to the hardwood and have large (M. a. ′Macrophylla′, M. a. ′Contorta′), medium (M. а. ′Pendula′, M. a. ′Globosa′, M. a. ′Pyramidalis′) and small (M. a. ′Tatarica′) leaves.

2. Composition. As for the composition hedgerows of the above plants are divided into wallpaper (special variant of hedgerows such as wallpaper, palmettes and borders) where trees growing near are interwoven with branches up from 2 to 5 meters); combined (it is a combination of several types or forms of plants that grow in multilevel and complex plantings); homogeneous or equal formed (consisting of one type or form of plants that are planted in one or more rows).

3. Method of planting. Based on the method of planting for hedgerows they are planted in a row (row planting with a certain distance between plants) or check-row planting (check-row order of placement).

4. Care technique. As for the care technique there are two types of hedgerows: formed (created by systematic pruning of plants giving their leafages clear geometric shapes); free growing (single row or multi-row plantings of decorative plant forms which independently (without human intervention) form the leafage.

5. Number of rows. Depending on the number of rows hedgerows are divided into: single row (planted in places where there is no need for protection from the constant wind, noise or dust); double row (planted where more significant protection is necessary and hedge row width is 0.6-1.0 meters).

6. Availability and height of trunk. Depending on the availability and height of trunk on the example of studied plants, hedgerows are divided into: low trunk (0.2-0.7 m), medium trunk (0.7-1.5 m), high trunk (1.5-2.0 m and more) and non trunk (there is no trunk at all) (plant branching starts right at the surface of the soil). For the non trunk hedgerow it is the best to grow M. a. ′Globosa′ in the root neck area.

7. Height. Depending on the trunk height hedgerows are divided into: low (0.2-0.7 m), medium (0.7-1.5 m) and high (1.5-2.0; 3.0; 4.0 and more m).

Given the variety of decorative forms of M. a. (M. a. ′Macrophylla′, M. a. ′Contorta′, M. а. ′Pendula′, M. a. ′Globosa′, M. a. ′Pyramidalis) flexibility of the leafage it is appropriate to create double row hedgerows with or without trunks. For these purposes separate forms and their combination of the above plant diversity should be used.