For those who ennoble their summer cottage or garden and are in search of beautiful perennial plants, we advise you to pay attention to California Carpentery. Green leaves all year round and large fragrant flowers are able to decorate any territory and deliver aesthetic pleasure to any person. Details about planting and carpentry care can be found in our material.
Botanical description
Carpenterium Californian (Lat. Carpenteria californica) is an evergreen shrub. His homeland is North America. It is from this area that the plant has spread throughout the world and, thanks to its decorative qualities, has taken pride of place in landscape gardening.
The evergreen shrubs also include boxwood, garden yucca, heather, cordilina, Cossack juniper, butcher, chamelacium and tabernemontana.
Did you know? Californian carpenterium is referred to the family Hortensia, or Hydrangia (Hydrangeaceae). Translated from the Greek, this word means "vessel with water" because of the moisture-loving nature of the members of the family. Hortensia include 260 species.Carpenteria shrub can grow in height up to 3 m. On average, shoots are 1.2-1.80 m in height. However, there are varieties with a small growth - 70-90 cm. The plant has a cap-shaped crown.
The leaves of the carpenterium narrow, dense, with a glossy shine, dark green color, pubescent below, gray. The length reaches 10 cm, width - 2 cm. In winter, the leaves are usually green, but some may grow brown and fall.
The main decoration of the Carpenterium is its flowers. They are quite large - 8 cm in diameter, consist of five to eight rounded petals in shape. Painted white. In the center of the flower are stamens yellow. Buds exude a pleasant aroma. Flowering occurs in the first half of summer. 
By the middle of August - in September, when the flowers are fading away, the shrub is bearing fruit - boxes with seeds with a diameter of 0.8-1.2 cm. The life span of the plant is about 20 years.
Landing place
Carpenterium is considered a low-maintenance shrub, but quite gentle. Therefore, the most important thing in its cultivation is to find the right place when planting.
Lighting and wind protection
Place for planting ornamental flowering shrubs should be well lit and sheltered from winds. The flower is thermophilic, can not stand the shadows and drafts. The best site for growing Carpenterium is protected by the southern or western wall of the building. The plant needs several hours of direct sunlight per day. 
Important! If you do not have the opportunity to plant a shrub from the south or west side of the house, choose the Bodnant variety for planting, it is the most frost-resistant.Some growers manage to grow low varieties in containers at home. They annually produce formative crown haircut, seeking to maintain low growth of the bush. For winter, the indoor plant should be placed in a dark and cool place to stimulate its dormant state.
Soil requirements
The flower does not make demands on the soil; it will grow on almost any soil. However, the most decorative becomes in the fertile, light, loose earth.
The main requirement for planting does not apply to the composition of the soil, but to the presence of good drainage and the absence of close groundwater. Stagnation of the plant does not tolerate moisture.
Planting and breeding
Carpenteria seedlings are best purchased and planted in the spring: so they will have time to fully adapt to new conditions before the onset of cold weather. 
The best plant for planting - bought in a specialty store in a container. When buying, you need to pay attention to the appearance of the shrub. He should look healthy and strong. The shrub easily tolerates transplanting and quickly recovers.
Important! Immediately after planting, the young plant should be watered at least once a week. However, in the future, the shrub can do without irrigation.
The multiplication of carpenterium can be done by seed and vegetative (layering, cuttings) methods. Seed propagated very rarely. The simplest and most common method is vegetative.
Cuttings cut in June. To do this, choose the strongest and most healthy branches and cut off from the top 10-15 cm. It is necessary that the cutting has two or three buds. For rooting planting material is placed in a mini-greenhouse. For planting, they prepare a moist and nutritious substrate, cut cuttings into it and cover it with a film. Periodically, the substrate will need to be moistened, and the cuttings ventilated. Mini greenhouses are kept in a shaded place. 
Young plants should take root in the fall, and then they can be transplanted into open ground at a permanent place.
Propagation by cuttings produced in the spring. Young lower branches of a shrub are bent down to the ground and strengthened with pegs or they are added dropwise, pressed down with stone or brick. The top should be above the ground. The place where the shoots come into contact with the soil is periodically watered. In the spring, the cuttings are separated from the mother plant. Then they are planted in open ground at a permanent place.
How to care for a plant
Watering for carpentery is not a mandatory care event. They can be made occasionally, on very dry days and with a long absence of precipitation.
Do not need shrubs and dressing - they can be made only at the request of the owner, and if the plant is planted in poor land. Complex fertilizers for ornamental plants in the spring and summer periods are suitable for top dressing. The optimal frequency of application is once a month. 
Since the shrub does not tolerate winter temperatures of up to -15 ° C, he needs to build a shelter for the winter.
In the spring, the plant will need to be cut off - to remove dry, frozen, old branches from it. In autumn, after flowering, too long branches are cut out to give a crown a neat and well-groomed shape. Formative haircut is produced by cutting off the shoots by one third. This haircut can be combined with cutting.
Did you know? In most countries of the world, white flowers are considered a symbol of purity and innocence. And only in China this color is considered mourning.
Possible difficulties
Since, fortunately, the owners of Carpenteria, it is not affected by diseases or pest attacks, the only serious difficulty that can be encountered during cultivation is freezing of shoots and foliage, because the flower can freeze even when the air temperature is -5 ° C at -15 ° C dies. 
To prevent this from happening, you need to fulfill the requirement for providing winter shelter. It can be done with the help of fir branches, lutrasil or roofing felt. The root zone should be mulched with a 20-centimeter layer of peat, humus or soil. Cover the shrubs need in November.
Also in some specialized horticultural shops, houses and huts for wintering non-frost-resistant plants are sold. You can take on yourself and this simple option.
There is one more way to help Carpenteria survive the winter - to transplant it into a container and place it in an unheated room for the winter.
Difficulties may also arise when the wrong area for landing. If the plant does not grow well, its foliage is faded, and the flowering is small and not abundant, then, most likely, the place is not light enough for it. 
Carpenteria is an original fragrant plant, worthy of being used everywhere to decorate parks, country areas, flowerbeds. It is suitable for planting as a tapeworm, also looks great in a small group composition, is one of the best plants for a white garden. The flower is successfully used for planting in hedges, mixed flower beds.
For the formation of a hedge often use such shrubs: caliniforus, thuja, sloe, boxwood, hawthorn, forsythia, privet, yew, barberry Thunberg.
It is great for decorating terraces, vertical gardening, as a wall shrub from the south and west. Particularly impressive shrub looks in autumn, greening beautiful foliage against the background of the already yellowed and browned other plants. Some also use carpenterium for pruning, but be aware that it does not live in water for a long time.
