Analysis of the use of fruit and nice cultures in greening of the Kherson region

Abstract

Since the middle of the last century, fruit, berry, nut, medicinal and essential oil plants have been traditionally used in landscaping the cities of southern Ukraine. Often, this was due to a lack of quality planting material of ornamental woody and herbaceous plants. Today such plants are used as exotics. Plants such as Ficus carica L., Diospyros kaki Thunb., Lavandula angustifolia Mill., Asparagus officinalis (L.) and other are increasingly common on the streets of Kherson and in the district centers of the Kherson region. These plants belong to the category of niche crops. Their large-scale cultivation is economically unprofitable and involves great risks. Therefore, they are grown by small farms and amateur gardeners. Since these plants combine valuable nutritional or medicinal properties with decorative ones, it is necessary to find out the possibility of using fruit and niche crops in landscaping. We identified 38 types of niche fruit crops in the greening of settlements in the Kherson region. Among them, we can single out fruit and berry, medicinal, nut and spice crops. Among them are grain crops (5 species, 13,2%) – Chaenomeles japonica Lindl., Cydonia oblonga Mill., Sorbus torminalis (L.) Crantz, Mespilus japonica Thunb., Diospyros kaki Thunb.; stone crops (6 species, 15,8%) – Lycium chinense Mill., Ziziphus ujuba Mill., Aronia melanocarpa (Michx.) Elliot., Cornus mas L., Cerasus tomentosa (Thunb.) Wall., Prunus cerasifera Ehrh.; berry crops (10 species, 26,3%) – Lonicera edulis Turcz. Ex Freyn, Hippophae rhamnoides L., Actinidia argute (Sieb. et Zucc.) Planchex, Schizandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill., Berberis vulgaris L., Morus alba L., Morus nigra L., Physalis ixocаrpa Brot. ex Hornem., Cudrania tricuspidata (Carriere) Bureau ex Lavalle, Ficus carica L.; nut crops (8 species, 21,1%) – Amygdalus communis L., Juglans regia L., Juglans cordiformis Max., Carya illinoinensis K.Koch., Castanea sativa Mill., Corylus avelana L, Corylus colurna L., Xanthoceras sorbifolium Bunge; spicy crops (2 species, 5,3%) – Hyssopus officinalis L., Origanum majorana (Moench.); medicinal crops (7 species, 18,5%) – Asparagus officinalis (L.), Cyperus esculentus L., Mahonia aquifolium Nutt., Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench, Ipomoea batatas L., Lavandula angustifolia Mill., Lavandula latifolia Medic. The study of the decorativeness of the presented niche cultures indicates the possibility of their wide implementation in landscaping of Kherson and the Kherson region.