How To Grow Juniper Properly? Types, Varieties, Planting And Care. Photo

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How To Grow Juniper Properly? Types, Varieties, Planting And Care. Photo
How To Grow Juniper Properly? Types, Varieties, Planting And Care. Photo

Video: How To Grow Juniper Properly? Types, Varieties, Planting And Care. Photo

Video: How To Grow Juniper Properly? Types, Varieties, Planting And Care. Photo
Video: Juniper Cypress or Cedar Tree Care and How to grow from Cuttings | Golden Cypress in English 2024, March
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Humanity has been decorating its gardens with juniper for more than one millennium. Its Latin name sounded in the same way in the poems of the ancient Roman poet Virgil. Junipers can grow as a pillar-like tree and as a sprawling shrub, and even cover the soil with a fluffy carpet. Its evergreen branches are decorated with needles in the form of scales or needles. Most junipers are dioecious: male plants are pollinators, and female plants yield. The fruits are called "cone-berries". Jam and preserves made from them are fragrant, with an unusual but pleasant taste.

Juniper Cossack (Juniperus sabina)
Juniper Cossack (Juniperus sabina)

Columns and carpets. Types and varieties of juniper

Juniper virginiana, or Juniper virginiana (Juniperus virginiana)

Virginia juniper, or pencil tree, is native to North America. Once its wood was used to make pencils, hence the second name of the species. Winters well in the Moscow region.

Sometimes branches break off under the weight of snow, so it is advisable to tie the crown with twine for the winter. Not damaged by pests and diseases, shade-tolerant, drought-resistant. Juniper Virginsky tolerates pruning well, it is undemanding to the soil, but it develops better on sandy loam.

Juniper virginiana, or Juniper virginiana (Juniperus virginiana)
Juniper virginiana, or Juniper virginiana (Juniperus virginiana)

It grows in the form of a tree 15-30 m high and a trunk diameter of up to half a meter. By the age of 20 it reaches a height of 6 m. The crown is conical in shape with branches drooping to the very ground. The needles on perennial shoots are scaly, small, and on young ones - needle-shaped. Especially this type of juniper is decorative at a young age, then the crown can be thinned out from below. It grows quickly and begins to bear fruit. Cone-berries up to 0.6 cm in diameter, dark blue with a bluish bloom, ripen in one season, usually in October, and remain on the stems for a long time. The plant, covered with blue berries, looks very beautiful in autumn.

The Virginia juniper has many decorative forms. Of the trees with a pyramidal crown, the following are especially good:

  • Pyramidiformis (Pyramidiformis), similar to a narrow 10-meter column with light green needles in summer and pastel purple in winter;
  • about the same height as Shottii, with light green scale-like needles;
  • Polymorph (Polymorpha), with gray needle-shaped needles below and green scaly needles on top;
  • Filifera, whose bluish crown is wider;
  • Chamberlaynii (Chamberlaynii), with drooping long twigs in needle-shaped needles, forming a wide lush gray-green pyramid.
Red cedar
Red cedar

Among the virgin junipers, there are also shrubs.

  • This is Dumosa - with a rounded pyramidal crown and branches covered with dense needle-shaped needles;
  • Albospicata (Albospicata) - up to 5 m, whitish needles at the ends of the shoots;
  • Helle - with a wide base of open shoots of green color;
  • Glauca (Glauca) - columnar shape, up to 5 m high, with bluish-green needles.
  • Kosteri is a creeping shrub, lawn decoration and rock garden.

Virginian junipers are distinguished by an unusual color of needles:

  • Cinerascens - greenish-ash;
  • Aureospicata (Aureospicata) - with golden tips of young branches;
  • Aureovariegata (Aureovariegata) - golden motley.

Chinese Juniper (Juniperus chinensis)

Chinese juniper grows on calcareous or stony soils in the mountains of China, Manchuria, and Japan. Its powerful branched roots can penetrate cracks, crevices between rocks and hold plants, even in a hanging position, for centuries. Due to this property, Chinese juniper is widely used to strengthen slopes, decorate rocky walls and hills. In the conditions of Moscow, it winters without shelter and gives an annual increase in height up to 20 cm. It is undemanding to the soil, but it does not tolerate dry air well.

The Chinese juniper has many decorative forms and varieties.

Chinese Juniper (Juniperus chinensis)
Chinese Juniper (Juniperus chinensis)

The most popular shrubs are:

  • Hetzi (Hetzii) - up to 5 m in height and 8 m in width with grayish-blue needles;
  • Pfitzeriana - up to 4 m tall, with horizontally directed branches covered with light green needles with blueness;
  • Japanese (Japonica) - sprawling bush no more than 3 m high;
  • The Gold Koast is a lush bush with golden yellow branches.

Juniper Cossack (Juniperus sabina)

Cossack juniper is found in the Caucasus, Crimea, Siberia, Central Asia, as well as in the mountains of Central and Southern Europe, China, Mongolia. It winters well without shelter in the middle zone, is drought-resistant, has little soil demand.

Sometimes it grows in the form of a tree with a height of 2 to 4 m, but much more often the species is represented by a low shrub (1-1.5 m) with creeping spreading branches. The shoots are covered with scaly needles, rich in essential oils, which give the plant a specific aroma. By the way, moths really dislike him, so a sprig of Cossack juniper in a wardrobe will reliably protect your woolen clothes.

This picturesque juniper is good in rock gardens and rocky gardens. In addition, there are many beautiful forms that are convenient for growing. For example, up to 0.5 m in height and up to 2 m in width Tamariscofoliac (Tamariscofoliac), with needles of a gray shade; Very impressive look Variegata - with yellow-white tips of needles and Erecta - with a pyramidal 2-meter crown.

Juniper Cossack (Juniperus sabina)
Juniper Cossack (Juniperus sabina)

Daurian Juniper (Juniperus davurica)

Daurian juniper lives on mountain slopes, sandy river banks in Eastern Siberia and the Far East. It is undemanding to the soil, winter-hardy, photophilous, but can tolerate light shading, and is drought-resistant.

It is a creeping shrub that grows no more than 0.5 m in height and almost 3 m in width. On the shoots, there can be leaves-needles of different shapes at the same time: scaly and acicular, 7-8 cm long. Bright green creeping branches raise the tips of the shoots, and the acicular plumage gives the shrub a special grace. Cone-berries up to 0.5 cm in diameter, very good for making tinctures. The decorative form Expanse with light blue needles is in great demand.

Common juniper, or Veres (Juniperus communis)
Common juniper, or Veres (Juniperus communis)

Common juniper, or Veres (Juniperus communis)

The common juniper can be found throughout Russia. The plant is by its nature very plastic, adapted to different living conditions and unpretentious. He is not afraid of frost and drought, grows on dry and moist soils. Withstands shade, but feels better in sunny places. A very durable plant, it can live up to 2 thousand years.

It occurs in the form of a multi-stemmed tree up to 15 m high or a shrub from 2 to 6 m high. The branching of shoots is chaotic, therefore the crown does not have a definite shape. It blooms in May with bright yellow spikelets on male plants and inconspicuous light green flowers on female plants. The cone-berries are fleshy, at first green, in the second year, when ripe, blue-black with a bluish bloom and resinous pulp.

It has many decorative forms and varieties. Common junipers, similar to candles, are especially effective:

  • Hibernica (Hibernica) - narrow-columnar, up to 4 m high;
  • Goldcon (Goldcone) -columnar, with yellow needles;
  • Meyer (Meyer) - columnar, up to 3 m high, with bluish needles.

Junipers with a weeping crown of Pendula (Pendula), growing up to 5 m, and a ball-like Echinoformis, are also beautiful. Fans of low-growing plants will like Hornibrookii and Repanda - 30-50 cm high, with spread branches 1.5-2 m long, covered with silvery-green needles; Nana Aurea - up to 50 cm tall, with densely branching yellow-golden shoots.

Common juniper, or Veres (Juniperus communis)
Common juniper, or Veres (Juniperus communis)

Siberian juniper (Juniperus sibirica)

Siberian juniper is often found in Siberia and the Far East. It can grow on peaty and rocky soil, very hardy and unpretentious species.

It is similar to the common juniper, but smaller and more decorative thanks to its variegated needles. It grows slowly, and for a long time its densely branching bushes look like velvet pillows. The cone-berries are almost spherical, up to 0.6 cm in diameter, ripen in the second year. Recommended for decorating rocky hills.

Common juniper (Juniperus communis var.saxatilis) was previously isolated as an independent species - Siberian juniper (Juniperus sibirica)
Common juniper (Juniperus communis var.saxatilis) was previously isolated as an independent species - Siberian juniper (Juniperus sibirica)

How to grow juniper?

Juniper planting

The distance between the junipers is between 0.5 and 4 m, given the size in adulthood. The place is well lit by the sun. The planting hole is dug most often 70 × 70 cm, but first of all it is necessary to focus on the size of the root system. 2 weeks before planting, the hole is filled two-thirds with a nutrient mixture consisting of peat, soddy clay soil and river sand, taken in a ratio of 2: 1: 1.

But options are also possible here. For example, for planting Siberian juniper, the amount of sand should be increased (2-3 parts), it is advisable to lime it under the Cossack soil, and for the Virginian one add more clayey sod soil. Planted by placing the roots horizontally. Immediately after planting, the plant is watered, and the hole is covered with peat, chips or sawdust (layer 5-8 cm).

Rocky juniper (Juniperus scopulorum)
Rocky juniper (Juniperus scopulorum)

Juniper care

Top dressing and watering

Junipers do not need to be fed, but they respond very well to the introduction of nitroammofoska in April-May (30-40 g / m2). Almost all junipers are drought-resistant, but if the summer is dry, it is advisable to water them once a month, and spray the crown once a week in the morning and in the evening.

Juniper pruning

Junipers are pruned if they are used to form a hedge. In all other cases, in spring and autumn, only dried, broken or diseased branches are removed.

Shelter for the winter

The recommended types of juniper in the middle lane do not need protection from winter frosts. Preparation for winter consists in tying the branches of the crown with twine (in a spiral from bottom to top) to protect against snow breaks. Only new plants in the first winter are covered with spruce branches. And for thermophilic ornamental plants, it will be quite comfortable in winter, if in the fall you mulch the trunk circle with peat with a layer of 10-12 cm.

Juniper prostrate, or horizontal Juniper (Juniperus horizontalis)
Juniper prostrate, or horizontal Juniper (Juniperus horizontalis)

Reproduction of juniper

Junipers are grown from seeds, green cuttings with a heel, and creeping forms from cuttings.

Growing juniper from berries

The seeds in the cone-berry in different species ripen at different times: in some - in the year of flowering, in others - the next year. Seedlings with autumn sowing appear in 1-3 years. It is preferable to sow juniper in spring. Ripe berries harvested in summer or autumn are mixed with wet sand and kept at room temperature for a month, then 4 months at 14-15 ° C. After such stratification, seedlings appear in the year of sowing. The soil is added to the furrows, taken near the roots of the juniper already growing in the garden. It contains mycorrhizal fungi, which are necessary for the development of this plant.

It is more convenient to sow in boxes up to 12 cm high with drainage holes. A pebble or broken brick is placed on the bottom, then a layer of soil mixture of equal parts of turf and sand, and fresh coniferous sawdust is poured on top with a layer of 4 cm. Seeds are sown in them, sprinkled with sawdust (1-2 cm) and covered with paper. Then they are grown in the same way as other conifers (see pages 35-36).

Hanging juniper, or bent juniper (Juniperus recurva)
Hanging juniper, or bent juniper (Juniperus recurva)

Growing juniper from a twig

Decorative forms are propagated by cuttings. It is best to cut them at the end of June, from the top of the crown. Rooted in a semi-dark greenhouse, covering it with mats at night. They are planted to a depth of 2 cm in a soil mixture consisting of equal parts of peat chips and juniper needles. Instead of the latter, you can use sand with the addition of earth from under the junipers. Then they are grown according to the usual scheme.

Scaly Juniper (Juniperus squamata)
Scaly Juniper (Juniperus squamata)

Growing a juniper from a branch

Creeping forms are easily propagated by layering. In the spring, the shoots lying on the soil surface are laid out in grooves filled with a mixture of peat, river sand and earth, taken in equal proportions, and pinned. During the season, they water, loosen the soil, and in the spring of next year they cut off from the mother plant and transplanted for growing.

Reclining juniper (Juniperus procumbens)
Reclining juniper (Juniperus procumbens)

Juniper protection from pests and diseases

The cause of the curvature of the shoots, the slowdown in the growth of the juniper can be aphids. When it appears, treat the plants with Iskra by dissolving 1 tablet of the drug in 10 liters of water.

If you notice moth spider nests, remove them if possible, and sprinkle the juniper with karbofos (70-80 g per 10 l of water).

Sometimes the juniper sawfly damages the shoots. If the branches have become brittle, and there is emptiness inside them, then this is his job. The sawfly is brave with fufanon (20 ml per 10 l of water).

Cossack and common juniper should not be planted next to fruit trees and berry bushes, because from them it can become infected with fungal diseases that cause swelling of the shoots, the appearance of mucus on them. Diseased branches should be cut and the infected plant should be transplanted to another part of the garden.

In turn, the juniper is a carrier of rust, which infects the inhabitants of the fruit of the berry garden. To stop the spread of the disease, the brown branches are cut off, and the juniper is sprayed with Bordeaux liquid (100 g per 10 l of water).

Author: Tatiana Dyakova, Candidate of Agricultural Sciences

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