In the landscape design of city parks, squares and personal plots, juniper horizontal is often found. It is used for landscaping slopes, slopes and areas to reduce the care of them, because this plant covers the soil and excludes the growth of grass.
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Juniper horizontal: description of species and varieties
Horizontal juniper is a coniferous plant from the cypress family, a low-growing shrub up to 40 cm high, has long branches creeping on the ground. The width of the crown reaches a diameter of up to 2.5 m. It grows slowly, but eventually densely covers the soil. The needles consist of needles and scales, which change their color with the change of season. In the second year of life, the plant bears fruit in blue berries. Horizontal juniper plant with male and female trees (dioecious).
This type of evergreen shrub has a number of decorative varieties:
- Andorra compact - a compact shrub with densely spaced branches that overlap each other over time. Crohn's round shape of gray-green shades, in winter changes to purple. In a year it grows by 5 - 10 cm, and after 10 years it reaches only 30 cm in height and spreads 1 m in diameter. The maximum height is 40 cm and a width of up to 2 m. It can be grown on any soil, likes light and does not tolerate very shaded areas. It tolerates very frosty winters.
- Blue chip - a variety, with a crown of blue color, with an average growth rate that reaches a maximum height of up to 0.3 m and a width of up to 1.5 m. The branches sprawl on the ground with a dense shapeless cover.Frost-resistant, grows well and develops in lighted areas with moderately moist and drained soil.
- Golden Carpet - a representative of juniper with a yellow crown; in winter, the needles become a bronze hue. It is characterized by relatively rapid growth. Long branches with a dense crown cover the ground with a beautiful golden carpet. When branching, the shoots take root, which gives additional nourishment to the plant. Preferred places for planting with good lighting, there are no special requirements for the soil - moist, nutritious, drained. The grade is frost-resistant.
- Ice blue - a horizontal juniper variety with a maximum height of up to 20 cm and a width of up to 2.5 m. The branches are long and flexible, arranged densely, covered with thick needles of a bright blue color, in winter it turns into a steel shade. It grows in well-lit and semi-shaded places, soil requirements are minimal, frost-resistant.
- Viltoni - the variety is characterized by rather rapid growth, with a maximum height of up to 2 cm and a width of up to 2 m. Shoots grow densely in the center, and are scattered around the edges in the shape of a star. Needles of gray-green color, fine-needle. The variety is frost and drought tolerant. It grows on all types of soil.
Outdoor landing
Horizontal juniper when planting in open ground does not require special skills and knowledge.
It is enough to know a few rules:
- The landing area should be warm, well-lit and protected from the wind.
- There are no special requirements for soil composition. The main thing is that it be loose and well-drained.
- Landing is done in the spring (April, May) or in the fall (October).
- I make a hole under a seedling 2 times more than a root ball. Drainage is filled up at its bottom, a seedling is placed and covered with earth. Then abundantly watered and mulch the soil near the trunk.
- The distance between the seedlings should be based on the fact that an adult plant will not be crowded.
Juniper horizontal care
This representative of evergreen shrubs is not whimsical to care for. Juniper tolerates dry periods well.
Recommendations for the care of the plant:
- Additional watering with surface spraying is required only on especially hot days.
- It is better to moisten with settled water, preventing its stagnation.
- After watering, it is advisable to loosen the soil for air circulation and its saturation with oxygen.
- Juniper horizontal in fertilizers and top dressing does not particularly need. If the planting was carried out in a very depleted soil, then you can feed complex fertilizers for conifers, or add peat.
- During a drought, you can feed with nitrogen fertilizers.
Cutting scheme and technology
Pruning is done once a year, in spring or autumn. In the summer, cut branches do not heal well. For prevention purposes, only dry and damaged shoots are removed. When forming a bush, healthy branches can be cut, but no more than 7 cm.
Important! Total pruning of juniper can be harmful and lead to disease.
How to care in winter
All varieties of this type of juniper are frost-resistant. In winter, heavy snowfalls can be harmful. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor the amount of snow on the branches and periodically crush it so that the branches do not break.
It is recommended to shelter young seedlings. As a covering material, you can use spruce branches, burlap, or any material that allows air to pass through. With the onset of spring, shelter is not removed immediately, but gradually (15 - 20 minutes a day). This is done so that the spring sun does not burn the juniper shoots, and they are used to sunlight.
In winter, the soil around the trunk is mulched with sawdust or peat, and when the snow melts, this layer of mulch is removed and dug up the ground.
Bush propagation
Most often, juniper is propagated by cuttings. For this, at the beginning of spring, on a cloudy day, a shoot is cut off on an adult shrub, about 12 cm long and with a trunk of 2-3 cm.All needles are removed from it and kept for 24 hours in a fertilizer solution to stimulate root growth. Prepared cuttings are planted in containers with a sand-peat mixture (1: 1), deepening them by 3 cm, watered and covered with a film. Saplings should be opened every 5 hours and make sure that the soil does not dry out. To root the cuttings, a temperature of at least + 22 degrees is necessary. The juniper is transplanted into pots of larger capacity after 2 months, and to a permanent place - after 2 - 3 years.
A more laborious way of propagating juniper seeds. First, the collected or acquired seeds go through a stratification process. For this, the seed in a box with peat should spend the winter and the beginning of spring on the street. Only after that it is prepared for sowing in the ground. Preparation consists in soaking the seeds in a manganese 3% solution (30 minutes) and a fertilizer solution (2 hours).
Important! Landing should be done no earlier than May.
Protection against diseases and pests
To protect the plant from diseases, you need to regularly and timely clean the ground around and under the bush from fallen needles and small twigs, as well as conduct thorough preventive pruning. In case of diseases, spray the shrub with Bordeaux liquid and fungicides.
To control pests, the juniper bush is treated with soapy water and insecticides. They also get rid of ants, due to which aphids can appear.
Juniper horizontal in landscape design
In landscape design, horizontal juniper is used as a groundcover, which is visually perceived as a green carpet. It looks very profitable on the alpine slides, due to sprawling branches on the stones. Often planted on slopes and slopes to strengthen them, create green borders and decorate the walls of houses.
Juniper horizontal does not require special and painstaking care, a special climate. A little time, patience and this evergreen shrub will become an adornment of any park, square and site.
