We don’t have this kind of plants in Central Russia - the climate here is too harsh for them. Evergreen deciduous trees are heat-loving. These, with rare exceptions, are inhabitants of subtropical and tropical countries. Having visited the Batumi Botanical Garden in winter, you can get a good idea of ​​this group of plants. Subtropical evergreen trees grow beautifully here right in the open air. Unlike northern trees, their leaves are usually large, dark green, shiny, often like varnished. Try them by touch - they are dense, as if made from thick drawing paper.

Of the evergreen deciduous trees, false camphor laurel (Cinnamomum glanduliferum) is often found in the Batumi Botanical Garden. The hard, shiny leaves of this tree, when rubbed, emit a specific odor somewhat reminiscent of camphor. The wood also has a rather strong characteristic odor. Aromatic wood is not uncommon among trees in warm countries.

False camphor laurel is an inhabitant of mountain forests on the slopes of the Himalayas. At home, it grows in very humid areas - where at least 1500 mm of precipitation falls per year. Therefore, it feels very good in the humid Batumi climate. Perhaps not a single evergreen deciduous tree here can compete with it in terms of growth rates (especially in thickness): 80-year-old trees seem like thousand-year-old giants. Their trunks have several girths. They are not cylindrical, but look like a bunch of individual trees fused together. False camphor laurel is an excellent decorative species. It decorates some streets of the city of Batumi.

In the Batumi Botanical Garden, the false camphor laurel has several close relatives, also evergreen trees. One of them is true camphor laurel (Cinnamomum camphora), which grows wild in China and Japan. It is this plant that supplies valuable medicine - camphor. When rubbed, its leaves emit a real “camphor” smell. The wood is also strongly odorous. Products made from it retain their scent for centuries. Real camphor laurel is very similar in appearance to false camphor laurel.

A relative of the false camphor laurel is the Loureira cinnamon (Cinnamomum loureirii). This tree is interesting because its bark is indistinguishable in smell from the famous spice - cinnamon. The leaves also give off a completely “cinnamon” smell if they are crushed. However, cinnamon does not come from this tree. Its supplier is Ceylon cinnamon, an inhabitant of the tropics. (It is, of course, not in the Batumi Botanical Garden in the open ground.)

All four plants belong to the same genus, whose Latin name is “cinnamomum”. As we can see, nature has endowed representatives of this genus with a wide variety of odors. The genus Cypnamomum belongs to the laurel family - the same one to which the noble laurel belongs, which produces the well-known aromatic “bay leaf”. The laurel family is rich in scents.

Here is another large evergreen tree. It would seem unremarkable: with rather narrow, willow-like leaves and a smooth trunk. Such trees can often be seen in the botanical garden. Oddly enough, this is one of the types of oak. Look at the ground under the trees - there are a lot of small acorns lying there. Can you really think that there are evergreen oaks, and even with smooth bark and “willow” leaves? The plant in question is myrsinaefolia oak (Quercus myrsinaefolia) native to Japan. In the East Asian section of the garden there is a whole grove of such oaks - just a corner of exotic Japan. In winter and summer there is deep shade and it is always humid. And on the ground under the old oak trees there are many small oak trees no larger than a pencil. These oak trees emerged naturally from acorns (forestry experts call them self-seeding).

Strange but true: the Japanese plant produces offspring in the conditions of Batumi. But this is not surprising, because the Batumi climate is the climate of Central Japan. That's why Japanese oaks feel right at home here.

In the garden there are several other types of Japanese evergreen oaks with completely “non-oak” leaves. These include gray oak (Quercus glauca), sharp oak (Quercus acuta), and phylliraeoides oak. If you don't see acorns under them, you'll never say they're oaks.

There are quite a few types of oak trees in Japan. But the middle zone of the European part of the USSR is very poor in them: only one species of oak grows here out of several hundred known on the globe. Yes, and that one is deciduous.

So, we met amazing evergreen oaks, which have leaves that are completely unusual for oaks. These trees are striking in that they have completely “not their own” foliage. But here is another example of the same kind and no less striking. We are talking about an evergreen tree called the oblong maple (Acer oblongum). Its homeland is the Himalayas. The leaves of this tree are not in the slightest degree similar to the leaves of our Central Russian maples: they are almost the same as those of poplar. Even a seasoned botanist will hardly be able to recognize this tree as a maple. Only when you see the typically maple winged fruits on the branches will you understand what kind of plant it is. True, the leaves of the maple in question are located on the branches in the usual way - just like all other maples (opposite, one against the other).

Among evergreen trees, the large-flowered magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) deserves special mention. This is perhaps one of the most common evergreen trees in our south. It is first of all noticed by all those who come to relax on the Black Sea shore for the first time in the summer. And how can you not pay attention? On the branches of this tree there are fragrant white flowers of unusually large size (up to 20–25 centimeters in diameter). These flowers adorn the tree throughout the long southern summer.

Giant magnolia flowers delight all visitors. They're really good. But there is a danger in them - their strong smell has a stupefying effect. Therefore, such flowers cannot be left in the room overnight. For the same reason, passengers boarding planes are not allowed to take magnolia bouquets into the cabin. Luxurious but treacherous flowers!

Fruits and branches of evergreen deciduous trees

A– the fruit of Magnolia grandiflora, b-part of a myrzinophyllum oak branch, V– part of an oblong maple branch

In winter, when magnolia does not bloom, it looks less elegant than in summer. But even at this time of year you involuntarily pay attention to its powerful leaves. They are very similar to the leaves of indoor ficus - just as thick, hard and shiny. In a word, magnolia is like a huge ficus growing in the open air. The leaves that have fallen from the tree are so hard that they resemble thin cardboard in density. In winter, under the tree you can find original magnolia fruits, very similar to the black cone of some coniferous tree. But this cone is not quite ordinary: it has a thick stem - as if with a handle.

Magnolia grandiflora is not only an ornamental tree. From its flowers, unripe fruits and leaves, a fragrant essential oil is obtained, which is used in perfumery. You can get some idea of ​​the smell of this oil even during a winter excursion. Tear off a piece of the leaf, rub it well and bring it to your nose: you will feel a faint pleasant smell. The homeland of magnolia is North America.

There are about three dozen species of magnolias known on the globe, and almost all of them are deciduous. There are very few evergreens like Magnolia grandiflora. The geographic distribution of magnolias is interesting: some species are found in North America, others are found many thousands of kilometers away, in East Asia. So the range (distribution area) of the magnolia genus is, as it were, torn into two pieces, and they are very far from each other. Botanists say that the magnolia genus has a disjunctive (disconnected) range. Isn’t it strange: close relatives ended up on different continents! And this phenomenon is observed not only in the magnolia genus, but also in many others (there are more than 150 of them). Some species of the genus are found in North America, others in Japan and China.

Let's now get acquainted with eucalyptus trees, of which there are quite a lot in the Batumi Botanical Garden. These trees attract the attention of even those who are far from botany. Their appearance is too unusual - whitish trunks, from which the bark peels off in ribbons, a unique, always green, sparse crown, drooping leaves.

Eucalyptus trees are interesting in many ways. These are the inhabitants of the distant continent of Australia and some adjacent islands. There are over 600 species of eucalyptus known around the globe. Almost all of them are evergreen. Among the eucalyptus trees there are tropical and subtropical species, drought-resistant and moisture-loving, tall trees and low shrubs. Some eucalyptus trees are about 100 m high and are considered, along with sequoias, to be the tallest trees in the world. The growth rate of many species is exceptionally fast. Near the building of the directorate of the Batumi Botanical Garden there are several huge eucalyptus trees, striking in their size (Fig. 4). Their diameter is much more than a meter. But these giants are still very young: they are no more than 80 years old.

The leaves of many eucalyptus trees occupy a vertical position. Thanks to this, there is almost no shade in the eucalyptus forest. The structure of the leaves is also peculiar. If in our Central Russian trees the upper side of the leaf differs in appearance from the lower side (it is always darker, veins do not protrude on it), then in eucalyptus trees there is no such difference. Both sides of the sheet are exactly the same. The pronounced diversity of leaves of eucalyptus trees is also interesting: on the same tree you can find both narrow crescent-shaped leaves and very wide, almost round ones. It's hard to believe that these are leaves of the same plant.

Australian evergreen tree branches

A– eucalyptus globulus (part of a branch and a larger bud), b– Blackwood acacia (young plant)

The leaves of all eucalyptus trees contain strongly odorous essential oils, the smell of which is clearly felt when the leaf is rubbed. It often resembles the smell of turpentine, and one type of eucalyptus has the same smell as lemon. Eucalyptus leaves have medicinal value. Local residents in Batumi, apparently, not without reason, consider them to be a very effective remedy against colds, runny nose, flu, etc.

In the Batumi Botanical Garden, several dozen of the most cold-resistant subtropical species of eucalyptus are cultivated, for example, twig-shaped eucalyptus (Eucalyptus viminalis), gray-ash eucalyptus (Eucalyptus cinerea). But many of them freeze over in harsher winters, and some even die. Most eucalyptus species bloom in winter.

Let's meet two other "Australians". Here is a tree with openwork bluish foliage and a smooth grayish-greenish trunk. Each of its leaves is like a loose, lacy feather of some large bird (it is doubly pinnate). This tree is known under the incorrect name “mimosa” (its flowering branches are sold in winter on the streets of northern cities). In fact, this is a silver acacia (Acacia dealbata) - one of the many species of true acacias. In Batumi, this tree feels great: it blooms luxuriantly, bears fruit abundantly and self-sows. Silver acacia is one of the foreign trees that have gone wild in the area.

Another “Australian” is black locust (Acacia melanoxylon). Although this tree is a close relative of the mimosa, its leaves are completely different. They resemble the narrow leaves of some of our willows. The most interesting thing is that these are not leaves at all, but only flat leaf-like petioles, the so-called phyllodes (the leaf blade does not develop). “False” leaves perfectly perform the functions of ordinary leaves. Not only this type of acacia has phyllodes, but also some others. They are called phyllodes acacias. They are very characteristic of the arid regions of Australia. Under these conditions, lacy, feathery leaves with a large total surface area would be unprofitable for the plant - they evaporate too much water. Phyllodes evaporate much less of it. Young specimens of blackwood acacia have true openwork doubly pinnate leaves. In addition to them, on the same branches one can also find typical phyllodes and something in between. In mature trees, only one phyllode develops (Fig. 5).

In the Batumi Botanical Garden there are other representatives of the Australian flora including evergreen trees and shrubs. Among them, a plant called Hakea saligna is of particular interest. This is a tall evergreen shrub with small, dense, narrow-lanceolate leaves (Fig. 6).

What is interesting about this plant? First of all, by its fruits. When you approach hakea bushes in winter, at first you don’t see anything special - all green foliage. But looking more closely, you suddenly notice some strange oval-shaped nodules on the branches (they are slightly smaller in size than a walnut), similar to painful growths. All nodules have the same size and shape, they are all coarsely tuberculate on the surface and each sits on a special short branch. You guessed that these are fruits. But how unusual they still look!

Each of them has a short beak at the end and is very similar in shape to the head of some kind of bird. Hakea fruits are woody and extremely durable. It is simply impossible to split them with a pocket knife (if they are still immature). But when the fruit ripens and dries, it opens into two halves, and several black seeds of an original shape spill out of it. They have wings and resemble pine or spruce seeds.

Hakea blooms in the Batumi Botanical Garden in the spring - in April-May. On the branches, among the “willow” leaves, bunches of white thread-like processes appear, similar to stamens. But each individual thread is not a stamen at all, but a whole flower. Hakea is a member of the remarkable family Proteaceae, which is completely unknown in the temperate latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. There are no Proteaceae in the wild, of course, in the USSR either. And in our botanical gardens they are extremely rare in the open ground.

The geographical distribution of this family is, at first glance, completely paradoxical - the bulk of species are found in Australia and South Africa, some are found in Asia and South America. In short, different species are scattered across different continents, thousands of kilometers apart and separated by vast expanses of ocean.

How can this amazing fact be explained? Only for historical reasons. Scientists believe that in distant geological epochs, Australia, South Africa, South America and Antarctica were a single continent (or at least connected by land). And then each of these sections of the earth's surface separated from the other and took its modern position. It was thanks to this dismemberment of the initially single landmass that the Proteaceae family found itself scattered to different ends of the Earth.

A few words about another Australian evergreen plant called callistemon (Callistemon speciosus). It is a tall shrub or small tree. In winter, the plant attracts attention with its unusual fruits and their interesting arrangement on the branches. The fruits are woody balls resembling a pea, as if stuck to the branches. Moreover, they are located over a short distance of the branch, near its top, in entire clusters. The branch seems to be covered on all sides with a case of these “peas”. The fruit balls sit very firmly on the branches and are not so easy to tear off.

At the beginning of summer, callistemon blooms very beautifully and originally. Fluffy red cylindrical inflorescences appear at the ends of its branches. Each of them closely resembles a bright red bottle brush. This impression is created due to the fact that numerous very long stamens protrude from the small flowers of the plant. In a word, both the fruits and flowers of callistemon look unusual. Such quirkiness in appearance is a characteristic feature of many Australian plants.

Australia is an extremely interesting continent for a botanist. The flora of this part of the world is something completely extraordinary, a real living collection of unique plants. More than 9 thousand species of Australian flora are not found anywhere except Australia. These are endemic to this continent. They make up about three-quarters of the total number of species found on the world's largest island. You need to see what a bizarre, sometimes fantastic look Australian plants have! It's like they're from another planet! Everything is unusual and strange about such plants - their leaves, flowers, fruits. The animal world is just as bizarre. How can one not recall the well-known description of Australia, contained in ancient geography textbooks: “The swans there are not white, but black, the animals there lay eggs like birds, and have duck beaks. The trees there annually shed not their leaves, but their bark, and the cherries grow there with their pits facing outward.”

What are the reasons for the exceptional uniqueness of Australia's flora and fauna? Why are Australian plants and animals so different from their counterparts in other parts of the world? The point here, first of all, is that this continent lost contact with the rest of the continents a very long time ago. It has been separated from them by sea for many millennia. And therefore there is no exchange of plants and animals with the rest of the world. The flora and fauna of Australia developed for a very long time in its own special ways, being separated from the rest of the land. The most ancient animals and plants that have long since become extinct on other continents have been preserved here. Here, in the course of evolution, new species unknown in other parts of the world could appear.

But let's say goodbye to the rare flora of Australia. Let's now get acquainted with two evergreens from New Zealand.

In the vast family Asteraceae (which includes, for example, sunflower and chamomile), almost all plants are herbs. But in New Zealand, an asteraceae of a completely different appearance grows wild - an evergreen tree. It is called Forster's olearia (Olearia forsteri). Its leaves are unremarkable - small, oval-shaped, light green. You see them on trees at any time of the year. In winter, olearia does not attract attention to itself. But at the end of summer, when it blooms, you can see that it is a close relative of the chamomile (in its homeland, in New Zealand, it is even called the chamomile tree). At this time, many miniature whitish inflorescences-baskets develop on the branches (each of them very much resembles a separate small flower). Nature has “deprived” this plant in one respect: in each basket there is only one flower. Almost all other Asteraceae usually have many flowers in their basket.

Another New Zealand plant deserves mention - Pittosporum tenuifolium. In winter, this small tree is always green. Its leaves resemble laurel leaves and are unremarkable. But the fruits are very interesting. It is to them that the plant owes its name. These are small, wide-open boxes with fairly strong wooden doors and completely unusual contents. It is a sticky, dark-colored resinous mass in which seeds are immersed (hence the name “resin seed”). In the plant world, we are accustomed to seeing either fruits where the seeds are enclosed in juicy pulp (for example, tomato, watermelon), or dry fruits, inside of which there are only seeds and no pulp (poppy). But for the seeds to be enclosed in a resin-like substance - it’s unlikely that any of us have ever encountered this!

In the spring, in April-May, pittosporum attracts attention with flowers of unusual colors. Their petals are almost black. This color of flowers is rarely seen in plants.

Let's continue our acquaintance with evergreen trees. Here is another one - paper facies, or paper tree (Fatsia papyrifera). His homeland is China. The appearance of the plant is very unique. It has a woody stem two or three times human height and slightly thicker than a shovel handle. At its top there is a bunch of very large, sometimes almost umbrella-sized leaves of a characteristic shape, sitting on long petioles (Fig. 7). From a distance, the facies can be mistaken for some kind of strange fan palm with an unusual, somewhat twisted and slightly knotted trunk (palm trees do not have such trunks). With its original appearance, this plant attracts the attention of all garden visitors.

In winter, at the top of the stem, in addition to the leaves, you can see a large loose inflorescence, consisting of many small, inconspicuous flowers of a greenish color. The flowers ripen in February-March. But this does not happen every year, but only after a fairly favorable winter.

The facies got its name “paper tree” because all parts of the plant can be used to make high-quality paper. The wide distribution of this facies on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus is hampered by its weak frost resistance (even at minus 5–6° the ends of the branches freeze). In the Batumi Botanical Garden there are more than a dozen specimens of the facies near the garden's directorate building. They are very decorative and retain their original appearance all year round.

Many people are familiar with the word “boxwood”. This is the name of the plant. But not everyone knows what the plant itself looks like. Boxwood (Buxus colchica) is an evergreen deciduous tree with small oval leaves, like lingonberries.

The leaves are dark green, rather hard and shiny, like many other evergreen trees and shrubs. Boxwood foliage has a characteristic smell that you feel when you approach this plant. In the USSR, boxwood grows in its natural state only in the Caucasus. There is even a special reserve here where boxwood thickets are taken under protection (the wonderful yew-boxwood grove in Khosta). Here you can find quite large boxwood trees - up to 30 cm in diameter and up to 15 m in height.

Boxwood is an interesting plant in many respects. It is extremely shade tolerant. Among tree species it has no equal in this regard. When you first find yourself in a protected yew-boxwood grove, you are simply amazed how boxwood trees can grow in the deep shadow of mountain gorges under the dense crowns of evergreen giant yews. Under conditions of such “light starvation,” all other trees would have died long ago.

One cannot help but be surprised by another feature of boxwood - its extremely slow growth. The trunk of this tree thickens every year by no more than a millimeter, and the growth rings are so narrow that they are almost indistinguishable to the naked eye.

Another noteworthy feature of boxwood is its “love” for lime. For normal growth of this plant, a lot of lime is required in the soil. Therefore, as a rule, we find natural thickets of boxwood only where the soil is rich in this substance. Often, as in Khosta, boxwood trees grow directly on wet limestone rocks, barely covered with a thin layer of soil. Not only boxwood, but also some other plants (they are called calciphiles) are distinguished by such “lime-lovingness”. Along with them, in the plant world there are also their antipodes - plants that avoid lime (calcephobes). These include, for example, tea and camellia.

It is impossible not to say about boxwood wood. It has absolutely exceptional properties - unusually hard and very heavy. Fresh, undried wood sinks in water - its specific gravity is greater than one. Due to its exceptional hardness, boxwood wood was widely used for the manufacture of weaving shuttles, printing blocks and other items where special strength of the material was required. Nowadays, various souvenirs are made from this wood - boxes, boxes, powder compacts, etc. Before the revolution, boxwood was rapaciously cut down for its valuable wood, and there are few large specimens of this plant left.

On the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus, we more often find boxwood not in the wild, but as an ornamental shrub. It is highly prized for its beautiful greenery. Boxwood foliage is dense, always green, and the plant tolerates pruning well. A boxwood bush can be pruned into a wide variety of shapes - ball, cone, cube, etc. And this shape is preserved for a very long time due to the slow growth of the plant.

Boxwood borders are especially common. They constitute an indispensable decoration of all our southern coastal cities. In the Batumi region and everywhere on the coast, boxwood is very often found as an ornamental plant. Of course, there is one in the Batumi Botanical Garden.

Among evergreen deciduous trees and shrubs we find not only ornamental plants. Some of them provide humans with valuable food and other products. Let's look at the most important of them.

One of the most useful plants is the tea bush (Thea sinensis). In the Batumi region, huge areas are occupied by tea plantations. Their appearance is peculiar: it is like a dark green sea with many round “waves” similar to each other (Fig. 8). In the Batumi Botanical Garden, tea is planted in the form of a border along the edge of the main alley of the garden along a significant length of it. Externally, tea is the most ordinary evergreen shrub, not attracting any attention to itself. Its leaves are somewhat reminiscent of bird cherry leaves, but unlike it they are dark green in color and thicker. In winter, you can see not only leaves of this shrub, but also flowers (tea blooms in autumn and winter). They are somewhat similar to half-open apple flowers: the same whitish petals and many yellow stamens. In winter, you can also find tea fruits - woody boxes that open with three thick doors. Inside the box are three large seeds that resemble hazelnuts.

Branches of evergreen deciduous trees and shrubs: A– tea, b– cork oak (part of a branch)

The tea bush is one of the “gifts of the East”, which was brought to Batumi and widely introduced into culture here by the founder of the botanical garden, Professor A. N. Krasnov. (Before him, tea culture in this area was very poorly developed.) Now the area of ​​tea plantations in Georgia is more than 60 thousand hectares.

Another “gift of the East” brought from East Asia by A. N. Krasnov is citrus fruits, primarily tangerines and oranges. There are many species and a huge number of varieties of citrus fruits. Most of them are completely unfamiliar to northerners. Their fruits vary in size: from a small kinkan no larger than a cherry to a huge grapefruit larger than the head of a newborn child. Their colors are also varied: yellow, orange, red. The fruits of some citrus fruits can be eaten fresh, while others are completely unsuitable for this. Citrus fruits surprise not only with the variety of fruits, but also with the uniformity of their leaves. In this respect they are quite similar. In winter, when there is only one foliage on the trees and no fruits, it is difficult for a visitor, for example, to determine where the tangerine is and where the orange is. It is easier to recognize kinkan: its leaves are relatively small and, when rubbed, do not smell like lemon, like other citrus fruits.

In the Batumi region, the local population most often cultivates tangerines (Citrus reticulata). And this is no coincidence. After all, they are the most frost-resistant of cultivated citrus fruits (they die only at –12°). Less hardy oranges (Citrus sinensis) occupy smaller areas. Even more frost-sensitive lemons (Citrus limon) are almost never grown. In some places there are plantings of kipkan (Fortunella japonica). From this tiny citrus fruit, Batumi residents make delicious jam (straight from whole fruits). You can also eat raw kinkan fruits along with the peel. The pulp of the fruit is very sour, but the peel is sweet and aromatic. It is the peel that is prized for these unique citrus fruits. It makes up a significant part of the fruit, much larger than, for example, a tangerine. Grapefruit (Citrus paradisi) also grows well in the vicinity of Batumi. The pulp of the fruits of this tree has a peculiar, slightly bitter taste.

However, the main citrus fruit crop is tangerines. Tangerine gardens bloom in May-June. Many beautiful and fragrant white flowers appear on the trees (Fig. 9). Their sweet and intoxicating aroma spreads far and wide. Tangerine fruits are usually collected in November (at this time the weather is warm and sunny).

In the botanical garden you can get acquainted with various types and varieties of citrus fruits. It is interesting that in terms of their soil requirements, citrus fruits are a kind of “antipode” of tea: they develop better on carbonate soils than on acidic ones.

Little is known to northerners about the East Asian evergreen fruit tree - the Japanese medlar, or loquat (Eriobotrya japonica). We can say for sure that almost no one in the north has tasted its fruits.

In Batumi, medlar is the earliest fruit. Its fruits ripen really very early - already in May (for a resident of the middle zone this is surprising: after all, our earliest fruits ripen much later). There is a known case when, after an unusually warm winter of 1954–1955. The first medlar fruits appeared on the Batumi market even in early April.

Medlar is a beautiful tree with large, elongated dark green leaves. They are dense, slightly folded, as if slightly corrugated. The fruits are small, spherical, the size of a five-kopeck coin, yellow. Outwardly, they are very reminiscent of a small apple, but their internal structure is somewhat different. A significant part of the fruit consists of 1–3 very large round seeds. The rest comes from the edible juicy pulp, which has a very pleasant sweet and sour taste. Medlar fruits are soft and tender. They absolutely cannot stand transportation.

Medlar belongs to the Rosaceae family and is a fairly close relative of the apple tree (it is from the Apple subfamily). We, residents of temperate latitudes, must treat the Rosaceae family with special respect. After all, this is the main supplier of fruits and berries in our gardens. (This family includes apple, pear, cherry, plum, raspberry, strawberry.)

The development features of medlar are of great interest. In this respect, it differs sharply from all other fruit trees. It blooms in the fall (November-December) and bears fruit in the spring (May). A real colchicum tree! In winter, in January, sometimes you can still see the last flowers. They look a little like bird cherry flowers. At the same time, the overgrown green ovaries are already noticeable - they are larger than a pea. The fruits ripen during the winter months and the harvest is therefore determined by the nature of the winter each year. If the winter is warm, the harvest is good, if the winter is cold, it is bad or there are no fruits at all.

As a fruit plant, medlar has been cultivated in China, Japan, and India since ancient times. In Japan alone, over 10 thousand tons of fruits are produced per year. Medlar flowers are very fragrant and are used in perfumery. The homeland of the plant is Central China.

Few people know the Mexican evergreen fruit tree avocado (Persea gratissima). It is a relative of the laurel (from the laurel family). The tree has dark green, varnished leaves (Fig. 10) and original fruits that look like a large pear. Their color is varied - from green to purple. These fruits are called “crocodile pears.” They are edible and very nutritious. Their yellowish-green flesh contains a lot of fat and tastes somewhat like butter. But she is “fresh”. There is no sweetness or acidity in the fruits. They have no smell either. These are more vegetables than fruits. No wonder they are usually eaten raw with pepper, vinegar and onions. Most often, avocado fruits are used to make a salad, sometimes they are also used as a puree, and even ice cream is made from them (with the addition of sugar and some other substances).

In Mexico, Central and partly South America, avocados are one of the most common food products. Avocado is an ancient cultivated plant. Even before the discovery of America, it was grown by the local populations of Central America and the West Indies for many centuries.

In terms of nutritional and dietary value, avocado fruits are a very valuable product. In terms of their chemical composition, they are very different from all the fruits and fruits we are familiar with. They contain an unusually high amount of fat, protein and mineral salts, a rich set of vitamins, but very little sugar. Due to their low sugar content, avocado fruits are very good for diabetics. Some believe that these fruits can completely replace all other food for a person and one can live normally if one eats only them and drinks water.

Avocado is a rather heat-loving plant. Its frost resistance is low. In this respect, it is equivalent to an orange and a lemon. Therefore, it can be successfully grown only in the warmest areas of our humid subtropics - where citrus fruits are grown. In the Batumi Botanical Garden, avocados develop well and bear fruit.

Now we will talk about plants that produce inedible products. Everyone is familiar with corks of plant origin, which sometimes cannot be pulled out of the neck of a wine bottle with a corkscrew. These stoppers are made from the bark of the evergreen cork oak (Quercus suber), which is native to the western shores of the Mediterranean Sea. You can also get acquainted with it in the Batumi Botanical Garden, where there are several old trees. Their trunks are covered with a layer of real cork. Its surface is very uneven, with deep grooves and cracks. This plant material was the first object in which a person armed with a microscope became acquainted with plant tissue. The cork appeared to the researcher's eye as many small empty chambers, or cells, separated from each other by thin walls. These chambers were called cells. They are all dead, filled with air. Their walls are impregnated with a special substance suberin and do not allow either water or gases to pass through. That's why cork is used to seal bottles.

In addition, cork is an excellent heat and sound insulator. It is very light and buoyant, as a result of which it is widely used for life belts, floats, etc. The uses of cork are very diverse.

But let's turn to cork oak plants. If you show a resident of Central Russia a branch of this tree with leaves, he is unlikely to think that it is an oak tree. After all, the leaves of the tree are green in winter and not at all like oak leaves - their shape is oval. They look more like honeysuckle leaves. Only when acorns can be found on the branches will it immediately become clear that this is an oak tree.

The largest area of ​​cork oak forests is occupied by Portugal, Spain, Algeria, Tunisia, Southern France, Morocco, Italy and Corsica. It is from here that cork is exported to many countries around the world.

The cork oak can live up to 500 years, but produces good cork only when it is 50–150 years old. The first time the cork is removed is when the tree is about 20 years old. The cork layer is carefully cut off along the entire circumference of the trunk, trying not to damage the living tissues of the plant. The first, “virgin” cork is defective: rough, lumpy, rough. After a few years, instead of the cut cork, a new one grows, of better quality, and it is cut off again. Only after the third time does the plug become good enough. In the future, the operation of removing the cork layer is repeated every 9–12 years; this does not harm the tree.

The annual world harvest of cork reaches 300 thousand tons.

Among the evergreen trees is the noble laurel (Laurus nobilis), whose homeland is Asia Minor. Dry laurel leaves are a well-known food seasoning. They are so familiar to everyone that there is no need to describe their shape and size. The leaves, like all other parts of the plant, contain a strong-smelling essential oil. In our country, laurel is widely cultivated in Georgia for collecting leaves. Industrial harvesting of bay leaves is carried out in winter - from November 15 to February 15. Up to 3 tons of leaves are collected from one hectare (calculated by dry weight).

Laurel with its thick, beautiful crown is a good ornamental tree. It decorates the streets of southern cities, including Batumi, in winter and summer. Laurel also grows well in the room. Cut laurel branches have a very special purpose. Even in Ancient Greece, winners in sports competitions, heroes, scientists, and poets were crowned with a laurel wreath. A laurel wreath is a generally recognized sign of high honor. It is in this sense that they talk about laurels (for example, “rested on their laurels,” etc.). The word "laureate" also comes from the word "laurel" and means "crowned with laurels."

In the USSR, laurel is cultivated throughout Transcaucasia and on the southern coast of Crimea. This tree is undemanding to soil and drought-resistant. Laurel only does not tolerate excess moisture. On the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus, laurel has been grown since ancient times. Here he found a second home for himself and in some places became wild.

Hearing the words “evergreen tree,” most residents of the middle zone will see the depth and nobility of blue, silver, green spruces, mighty cedars, slender pines. For a city dweller who has a country house with a garden, the list of trees that look luxurious both in winter and in summer expands to include cypresses, thujas, and junipers.

Photo example:

In home gardens laid out in central Russia, beyond the Urals and in Siberia, evergreen trees are of particular importance: during long snowy winters the eye lacks lush summer greenery. And only evergreen conifers, sprinkled with snow, with their stern noble appearance and deep green needles, remind of the summer holiday.

There is an opinion that the proper landscaping of a garden should be assessed in winter: all the deciduous trees have fallen off, the snowy space is riddled with bare tree branches. If at this time the garden suddenly seems boring and uninteresting, then you should think about the insufficient landscaping of the area and plan to plant evergreens.

The importance of evergreen bushes and trees in garden design

Evergreen ornamental trees belong to the category of skeletal, supporting accents of the entire garden. Planted for many years, they form the basis, the basis of all garden design. Some flowers are forced out of the site by others, the gardener's preferences, as well as the layout of the site, may undergo some changes. Only perennial conifers grow into their place, setting the rhythm and determining the pattern of the entire garden in summer and winter.

A wide selection allows you to find a specimen for each specific task, because among the evergreen trees there are miniature specimens, weeping forms, and species with amazing shades of color.

Main advantages of conifers

The main advantages that determine a wide range of uses in the garden are the following qualities:

• Evergreen crops are easy to care for;
• Most of them prefer partial shade and shade;
• They combine well with each other and with decorative deciduous trees and shrubs;
• They tolerate formative and decorative pruning well;
• They maintain their decorative appearance throughout the year, taking full responsibility for the aesthetics of the garden in winter.

The most popular conifers for landscape design

The idea of ​​evergreen trees growing in Russia is associated specifically with conifers. The names of most of them are familiar, and the appearance of even once exotic specimens is familiar.

Few people will be surprised by the yew topiary, boxwood walls, cypress trees cutting through the sky, blue spruce trees, creeping junipers. Conifers have long and firmly won the love of gardeners.

In addition to traditional tall conifers, compact, dwarf forms of coniferous trees are increasingly used in landscape design:

• Common spruce "Tompa" - this green pyramid grows only one and a half meters in height, and the diameter at the base reaches two meters. Her photo:

• The dwarf form of balsam fir “Kiwi” is up to half a meter in height. Photo:

• Canadian spruce Picea glauca ‘Laurin’ by the age of ten, growing by 2 cm per year, reaches a height of 40 cm. Photo:

• Deciduous

Only an expert can name evergreen deciduous trees that can grow in harsh climates:

• The most famous and popular deciduous plant, existing in the form of a bush and small trees bearing a crown all year round, is boxwood. It is from its woody variety that huge complex figures and high dense fences are cut out.

The culture can be called by other names: stone tree, buxus. Without regular shaping haircuts, it loses its decorative effect. A poisonous plant, requires hand protection when caring.

• Mahonia– a frost-resistant, shade-loving plant, flowering and fruiting (magonia berries are used in the production of wine and confectionery).

In Russia it is more often found as a dense evergreen shrub, which makes dense hedges.

In winter, the green leaves take on a reddish tint;

• Lavrovishnya- an evergreen tree, in its native places reaching a height of 6 meters, in cold climates - up to two meters. Dense thickets of cherry laurel, so named because of the similarity of foliage to laurel and fruit to cherries, form a dense hedge. It grows quickly and has high decorative qualities. Despite its toxicity, it is used in folk medicine. Photo:

• Another tree that looks more like a shrub in mid-latitude conditions is euonymus.

Frost-resistant euonymus is very unpretentious with high decorative qualities. In summer it prefers shade and partial shade. Also refers to poisonous plants.

A garden created with painstaking work, maintained with care and love, combining annual and perennial plants, deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs, will be harmonious at any time of the year and will never bore its owner.

The way out for creating a diverse landscape is to use evergreen forms of plants in its design: from decorative mosses and lichens creeping along the ground and stones to such giants as cypress.

The range of such plants is huge. These are not only the usual conifers: spruce and fir of various species, all kinds of thuja, their direct relatives cypress and juniper. But also quite exotic representatives of deciduous trees, such as rhododendrons, cherry laurel, boxwood, mahonia, ivy and periwinkle.

Such a variety of species allows you to shape the landscape, even if the size of the plot is the notorious “6 acres”. Certain types of thuja and juniper will act as creators of living borders and internal partitions. Their large forms will serve as a means of camouflaging outbuildings, verandas, gazebos, or as standout details of the landscape. An example is a large blue spruce or thuja smaragd in a south-facing corner of the site. Why south? So that during the hottest time of the day in summer, low-growing forms of evergreen miniature trees and shrubs, which do not like direct sunlight, are sheltered from their influence under the canopy of these larger brothers.

Separately, it is worth dwelling on vines, and first of all, on common ivy.

This plant, unpretentious to the soil and its moisture content, is capable of “climbing” even to a height of 20 meters, using its aerial “mustache” roots. Even the roughness of a brick wall can serve as support for it.

Green forms of ivy are frost-resistant enough to survive the winter of the European part of the country.

The variegated Colchian ivy is more critical to frost; the vine can freeze.

It should be remembered that ivy can “strangle” any plant if it is allowed to grow uncontrollably, so it is better to use it as an independent crop.

This vine is not difficult to care for and easily tolerates both sunlight and life on the north side of the building. Watering is moderate, in the absence of rain no more than 2 times a week.

Periwinkle

The periwinkle is big. This is a typically creeping plant with a stem length of no more than 40 cm. Smooth oval-shaped leaves, with a fine fringe along the outer edge, are located on the stem in pairs, opposite each other.

Growing and branching, it covers the ground with a continuous carpet. It has large lobe-shaped petals and lilac-colored flowers; flowering begins in late spring - early summer. Resistant to frost, preserves well under snow.

Shade-tolerant creeping plant. It goes well with the low-growing thuja variety spherical Danica, forming a lower tier covering the soil, looks great in contrast with its yellow-green needles.

Or with the same color of needles of the small-sized Danika Aurea.

Combining different things

The best solution when forming local areas of the garden would be a combination of coniferous and deciduous plants. Stones placed among bushes and trees will bring even greater variety. Especially if they are arranged in tiers with flowers and bushes, and even above the water in the form of mini-ponds.

For better formation of tiers, you should also use trellis stands woven from thin shoots of bamboo or dead branches of hard trees, on which climbing evergreen perennials will rise from the flower bed.

The unsurpassed aesthetics of small forms of Japanese gardens, honed over centuries, can serve as examples.

Separately - about conifers

The creation of a “shock” accent of one large form of coniferous tree has already been mentioned. Now let's consider the possibility of planting a small group of such plants, with all its advantages.

• Neighborhood with others like oneself better reveals decorative properties
• Plants tolerate wintering more easily
• In the warm season, located in close proximity to the place of rest, they emit shock doses of phytoncides into the atmosphere, ridding the environment of pathogenic forms.
• Planted close to each other, over time, as a result of regular cutting, they form a hedge that is impassable for humans and animals.

For normal development of conifers, it is better to orient them during planting along a line from south to north. This way they will be in the zone of optimal light exposure even for the lower branches.

Types of hedges

Naming a phenomenon means understanding it better. Therefore, it is worth indicating the names of hedges.

• Border. Created from low-growing species, it serves to limit paths and flower beds.
• It consists of bushes of high and medium height from 0.7 to 2 meters. Limits garden plots, front gardens, parks
• Bosquet. The living wall is more than 2 meters tall. Provide shade and protection for garden boundaries. If there is already an artificial fence around the site, then hops, campsis, virgin grapes, and climbing types of honeysuckle can be used to form a bosquet. As they grow, they form a barrier no worse than tall trees.
• Formable hedge. Requires regular pruning once given shape. The shape of the trimmed bushes depends only on the skill and imagination of the gardener.

Conclusion

Only by using a combination of deciduous and coniferous trees in the landscape design of a garden or park can you fully realize the potential of this green recreation area, regardless of the time of year.

And got the best answer

Answer from GIRLS[expert]
Conifers
What trees are evergreen?


The fruits of these trees are protected by bark, such as cones, or they are simply small and hard, which also protects them from freezing.
Source:

Answer from QUEEN[guru]
Christmas tree))

Answer from Yoara[guru]
pine spruce fir larch thuja fir tree cypress cedar

Answer from Fireguard[guru]
to4nee, vse semeistvo hvoinih. tak zhe tropi4eskie derev"ya (pal"ma k primeru)

Answer from Nastena[guru]

Answer from Oliya Vdovichenko[guru]
Strictly speaking, plants are either deciduous or evergreen. That is, everything that does not shed its leaves for a certain season is evergreen.
In mid-latitudes, only coniferous trees are evergreen, but among them there is an exception - larch, a deciduous plant.
The warmer and milder the climate, the less reason the trees have to shed their leaves - they do not have to endure the harsh period of winter frosts. Therefore, all tropical and many subtropical trees are evergreen. Many of them are grown as indoor plants: ficus, boxwood, bay laurel, all kinds of palm trees, dracaenas, bottle trees (pachyra, pachypodium, bocarnea), etc.

Answer from Anna -[active]
Actually, there are no evergreen trees. It’s just that in conifers the crown change occurs gradually, so we don’t notice this process.

Answer from Alyonk@[guru]
What trees are evergreen?
Evergreens retain their foliage even in winter, which is not the case with trees with falling leaves.
The most famous and beloved tree that is always green is the spruce that we decorate for the New Year. The same is true for pine, thuja, fir, and cedar. The leaves of these trees are narrow, small, unlike those that fall, sometimes they even take the form of needles: this makes it easier to withstand the cold.
The fruits of these trees are protected by bark, such as cones, or they are simply small and hard, which also protects them from freezing

Answer from Olka[guru]
pine

Answer from Yoilva Muradyan[newbie]
and palm tree

Answer from 3 answers[guru]

In addition to flower crops, interest and demand for evergreen and coniferous trees and shrubs has recently grown. And this is understandable. Because they look the same all year round, they support the composition of the garden or plot, which in itself is very profitable and attractive. In addition, these plants are very beautiful and combine harmoniously both in a group and individually.

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Grape

In gardens and personal plots, you can choose a warmer place for planting grapes, for example, on the sunny side of the house, garden pavilion, or veranda. It is recommended to plant grapes along the border of the site. The vines formed in one line will not take up much space and at the same time will be well lit from all sides. Near buildings, grapes must be placed so that they are not exposed to water flowing from the roofs. On level areas it is necessary to make ridges with good drainage due to drainage furrows. Some gardeners, following the experience of their colleagues from the western regions of the country, dig deep planting holes and fill them with organic fertilizers and fertilized soil. The holes, dug in waterproof clay, are a kind of closed vessel that is filled with water during the monsoon rains. In fertile soil, the root system of grapes develops well at first, but as soon as waterlogging begins, it suffocates. Deep holes can play a positive role on soils where good natural drainage, permeable subsoil is provided, or reclamation artificial drainage is possible. Planting grapes

You can quickly restore an outdated grape bush using the layering method (“katavlak”). For this purpose, healthy vines of a neighboring bush are placed in grooves dug to the place where the dead bush used to grow, and covered with earth. The top is brought to the surface, from which a new bush then grows. Lignified vines are laid on layering in the spring, and green ones - in July. They are not separated from the mother bush for two to three years. A frozen or very old bush can be restored by short pruning to healthy above-ground parts or by pruning to the “black head” of an underground trunk. In the latter case, the underground trunk is freed from the ground and completely cut down. Not far from the surface, new shoots grow from dormant buds, due to which a new bush is formed. Neglected and severely frost-damaged grape bushes are restored due to stronger fatty shoots formed in the lower part of the old wood and the removal of weakened sleeves. But before removing the sleeve, a replacement is formed. Grape care

A gardener starting to grow grapes needs to thoroughly study the structure of the grapevine and the biology of this interesting plant. Grapes are vine (climbing) plants and require support. But it can spread along the ground and take root, as is observed with Amur grapes in a wild state. The roots and aboveground part of the stem grow quickly, branch strongly and reach large sizes. Under natural conditions, without human intervention, a branched bush of grapes grows with many vines of different orders, which begins to bear fruit late and produces crops irregularly. In cultivation, grapes are shaped and the bushes are given a shape that is easy to care for, ensuring a high yield of high-quality bunches. Planting lemongrass

Schisandra chinensis, or schisandra, has several names - lemon tree, red grapes, gomisha (Japanese), cochinta, kozyanta (Nanai), kolchita (Ulch), usimtya (Udege), uchampu (Oroch). In terms of structure, systemic relationship, center of origin and distribution, Schisandra chinensis has nothing in common with the real citrus plant lemon, but all its organs (roots, shoots, leaves, flowers, berries) exude the aroma of lemon, hence the name Schisandra. The schisandra vine that clings or wraps around a support, along with Amur grapes and three types of actinidia, is an original plant of the Far Eastern taiga. Its fruits, like real lemons, are too sour to be consumed fresh, but they have medicinal properties and a pleasant aroma, and this has attracted a lot of attention to it. The taste of Schisandra chinensis berries improves somewhat after frost. Local hunters who consume such fruits claim that they relieve fatigue, invigorate the body and improve vision. The consolidated Chinese pharmacopoeia, compiled back in 1596, states: “the fruit of Chinese lemongrass has five tastes, classified as the first category of medicinal substances. The pulp of lemongrass is sour and sweet, the seeds are bitter and astringent, and in general the taste of the fruit is salty. Thus, All five tastes are present in it." Grow lemongrass