- The classic in the garden
- The garden becomes a bird paradise
- The right firethorn care
- Practical gardening tips
The firethorn is an important design element in the garden. A plant that can be used singly, as a hedge or as a climber. For today's hobby garden, hedges are indispensable elements for a variety of tasks.
The classic in the garden
Evergreen hedges, which include the firethorn, are the classics of garden design. They take up little space even in small gardens, but offer you year-round privacy. A special feature is the firethorn with its thorns. Especially in rural areas, the plant offers you protection from unwelcome visitors, for example from deer, which like to peel off the bark of fruit trees and eat flower buds. The solid and very large thorns make every firethorn hedge almost impenetrable and so you not only get a living fence, but at the same time a very natural protection against burglary.
The garden becomes a bird paradise
The choice is yours and you can choose from different Pyracantha species. Firethorn is a strong plant that thrives in almost any soil. The different firethorn varieties have one thing in common: they form white umbels of flowers in spring and glowing berries in autumn. You can use the Pyracantha coccinea Red Column variety as a hedge plant, but also as a climbing plant. The red berries are characteristic of this firethorn. Firethorn Orange Glow produces orange berries and Pyracantha Golden Charmer produces bright yellow berries.
The right firethorn care
Firethorn is a fairly undemanding plant that thrives just as well in the sun as in the shade and partial shade. The good news first: Watering and fertilizing don't play such a big role with Firethorn. The plant also copes well with drought. Because of the widely branched root system, the plant is able to provide sufficient nutrition. But you have to keep in mind that the evergreen firethorn must also be watered on frost-free days in winter.
Practical gardening tips
Always cut the evergreen firethorn with garden shears, never with hedge shears. (€24.99) Because hedge shears not only cut through branches, but also leaves. Large leaves turn brown at the cut, affecting aesthetics.
Songbirds delight us with their singing and eat aphids and caterpillars. The birds like to nest in firethorns because the thorns protect them from martens and cats. Prune the firethorn before the spring breeding season. Until the end of July, you should leave the hedge and the birds nesting in it alone.