creeping juniper

Contents

Types and varieties of creeping juniper
Planting creeping juniper
Creeping juniper care
Reproduction of creeping juniper
Creeping juniper pests
Popular questions and answers

Green lawns in the garden have always been in fashion. But not every summer resident can afford such a luxury, since the lawn requires serious care. However, it can easily be replaced with coniferous shrubs!

Of course, you can’t run barefoot on such a lawn, you won’t sunbathe on it, but if a green meadow is needed for decorative purposes, the best option is to plant it with creeping junipers. They practically do not demand leaving, are decorative both in the winter, and in the summer. But what is most pleasant, in this group of conifers there are a huge number of species and varieties, so that the composition in the country can be made not dull-monotonous, but bright and textured. For example, in a fashionable patchwork style (patchwork).

In general, it all depends on your imagination. We will only suggest which creeping junipers can be used for these purposes. All of them are short and grow well in breadth.

Types and varieties of creeping juniper

There are different junipers with a creeping bush shape, but 4 species are most often sold in garden centers.

Juniperus vulgaris

This handsome man can be found in the Siberian taiga and European forests. There, common juniper is a tree 5-10 m high. However, this species has forms and varieties that do not exceed 30 cm in height. All of them are extremely unpretentious and can grow in almost any conditions (1).

Green Carpet. A dwarf variety with a height of only 10 cm. At the same time, it reaches 1,5 m in diameter. Its needles are light green in color, soft, non-thorny.

Grows well in both sun and partial shade. Does without watering. Grows on any soil. Easily withstands frosts down to -40 ° C.

By the way, this is the most common variety of common juniper, you can find it in almost any garden center.

Repanda (Repanda). Dwarf creeping form, round and flat, no more than 30 cm high, up to 1,5 m wide. The needles are soft, not at all prickly. A very hardy variety. Watering is not required. Does not freeze in winter.

In garden centers, it is found as often as the Green Carpet variety. And by the way, it can be used not only instead of a lawn, but also for greening roofs.

Spotty Spreader (Spotty spreader). Creeping form up to 20 cm high and 2 m in diameter. The needles are soft, green, with chaotic white spots. Light-loving variety. Any soil is suitable. Watering is not required. Very winter hardy.

Juniper scaly

This species came to our gardens from mountainous China – there it grows up to 1,5 m tall. Today there are many interesting varieties, but they are all tall. And only one is suitable for the lawn.

Blue Carpet (Вlue Carpet). It grows in the form of a flat bush 30 cm high and 1,2 – 1,5 m in diameter. The variety is considered one of the best blue junipers! But it is very prickly, so it is better for him to take a place on the lawn away from the paths.

Very unpretentious in the garden. Grows on any soil. Equally well lives in the sun and in partial shade. Suitable for growing on rooftops. It winters well in the middle lane, but in the northern regions (St. Petersburg and above) it sometimes freezes. Grows slowly.

Juniper Juniperus

Already from the name it is clear that this plant likes to snuggle up to the ground. However, in its homeland, on the Atlantic coast of America, it still grows up to 1 m.

But now you can find on sale a huge number of forms that do not exceed 30 cm. Just what you need for an evergreen lawn!

Blue Chip (Вlue Chip). Dwarf form up to 30 cm high and up to 1,2 m in diameter. The needles are blue, dense and very prickly, so it is better to plant such a lawn away from the paths. Grows slowly. Photophilous, undemanding to the soil. It tolerates severe frosts well. But does not like stagnant moisture and salinity. When planting, you need to make good drainage.

Ice Blue (Icee Blue). The dwarf is no more than 15 cm high, but it has very long branches that form a beautiful dense bluish-green carpet with a diameter of up to 2,5 m! It’s summer. And in winter, the needles acquire a purple-plum hue.

These junipers are very resistant to heat and drought, easily endure transplantation, and adapt remarkably in a new place. But there are also small whims: they love loose soils (they grow very poorly on heavy soils), a lot of light and moisture.

Prince of Wales (Prince of Wales). Shrub 30 cm high and 2,5 m in diameter. The needles are blue in summer, and acquire a reddish tint in winter. Grows slowly. Likes full sun but can tolerate some shade. Prefers moist loose soils. Morozov is not afraid.

One of the most common varieties.

Prostrate (Рrostrata). The height of this juniper is no more than 30 cm, but the length of the shoots is impressive – they stretch along the ground up to 4 m! So from one bush you get a whole clearing.

A very hardy variety.

The Wiltons (Wiltonii). Perhaps the most famous form of the horizontal juniper. Its height is only 10 cm. And what is the diameter – no one can say for sure, because this variety grows very slowly! For this reason, it is recommended to plant it in large groups.

Very unpretentious in gardens. But he loves the sun.

Juniper, Chinese

A very common type of juniper. He is loved all over the world, breeders have brought out a lot of different varieties, but only one is suitable as a lawn.

pfitzeriana compacta (Рfitzeriana compacta). The bushes of this juniper are squat, about 30 cm high and 1,8 m in diameter. The needles are soft, light green. It grows faster than all other junipers. And he also does not have powerful branches, so he looks more like a grassy lawn than others. And by the way, it can be cut.

Very unpretentious. Loves the light, but grows well in partial shade. Frost, even severe, is not afraid.

INTERESTING FACTS

In areas where juniper is planted, the air is very clean. One bush clears the space around it with a radius of up to 5 m! And scientists have calculated that one hectare of these shrubs evaporates almost 30 kg of phytoncides. This is enough to cleanse the atmosphere of a large city from germs. By the way, doctors advise: if your children often catch colds, let them regularly play near the juniper.

In Our Country, junipers were used as a medicine (2). Juniper branches are also used for steaming (disinfecting) tubs and other wooden containers where fruits, vegetables and mushrooms were stored. And they certainly added them to bath brooms.

Planting creeping juniper

Junipers, which are sold in containers, can be planted throughout the summer. They dig a hole for each bush with a diameter of 50 cm. It is useful to put drainage at the bottom – broken brick and sand.

“Before planting, it is advisable to immerse the container with the plant in water for a couple of hours so that the earth is saturated with moisture, so the bushes will take root better,” advises agronomist Svetlana Mikhailova.

Creeping juniper care

Junipers are quite unpretentious plants, but they all need to be provided with minimal care. Especially after planting – this is a critical period for them, studies show that most often the plants die in the first year (3).

Ground

Most types of juniper are not demanding on soil fertility, they can grow even on poor ones. But it is better if it is light loam or sandy loam with a slightly acid reaction (pH 5 – 6,5).

On heavy clay soils under a juniper bush, it is better to dig a hole with a diameter of 60 cm and the same depth. And fill it with a mixture of peat, sod land and sand in a ratio of 2: 1: 1. But before that, it is necessary to pour 15 – 20 cm of drainage onto the bottom – expanded clay or broken bricks.

Lighting

Junipers grow well both in the open and in the shade. In the sun, their bushes are more compact, under the canopy of trees, their shoots stretch a little.

And one more thing: varieties with golden needles and variegated, that is, with a variegated color, lose their brightness in the shade – they become almost green. And they show all their beauty only in sunny areas.

Humidity

In the first year after planting a seedling, you need to water it once a week, 1 buckets per bush. And best of all from a watering can and right along the crown – young junipers love a shower.

“Starting from the second year, junipers can do without watering, but during prolonged drought and intense heat, it is useful to water them with a spray hose to refresh the crown,” recommends agronomist Svetlana Mikhailova. – Do it early in the morning or in the evening.

fertilizers

Before planting in the pit, no fertilizers need to be added – they will have enough nutrients that are in the soil.

Feeding

Junipers grow well without fertilizing. But if you add nitroammophoska in April, they will delight you with brighter needles. Sometimes it is useful to pour a little peat under the bushes. But in no case can not use the ashes!

Under the junipers, you can not make manure and water them with potassium permanganate! Otherwise, you will kill the beneficial fungi that live on the roots of these conifers. And without them, the bushes will die.

Reproduction of creeping juniper

The easiest way to propagate creeping junipers is by layering. The shape of the bush will allow you to do this without problems.

It is better to start propagation by layering in early spring, in the second half of April – in this case, you will have a ready-made seedling already this year, it can be besieged at the end of August. But you can do this in the summer, only it will be necessary to transplant the layering to a new place next year.

The method is very simple – you need to bend down and pin any lower branch to the ground. Pour a small mound of earth over the branch at the point of contact with the soil. In order for the roots to begin to actively grow, layering should be watered once a week.

Creeping juniper pests

Junipers are rarely affected by pests, and yet they have enemies.

Coniferous spider mite. You can detect it by whitish specks that appear on juniper needles. At the peak of the development of the pest, the bushes are covered with cobwebs, and the needles begin to turn yellow and crumble. Spider mites breed most actively in hot, dry weather.

To combat spider mites, any chemical preparation against ticks, for example, Antiklesh, is suitable. For opponents of chemistry on the site, biological preparations can be recommended – Bitoxibacillin and Fitoverm. But their effectiveness is lower, with a strong infection, they may be useless.

Juniper aphid. It makes no sense to describe the aphid, everyone has seen it. It affects mainly young shoots.

This pest can be eliminated with the help of Calypso, Confidor, Mospilan preparations. And it is also important to fight ants – they are the ones who carry aphids around the garden.

European juniper scale insect. As a rule, they settle on the bark, but sometimes they can be seen on needles and young cones. These are rounded insects covered with a hard pale yellow shield. They stick tightly to the shoots and drink juice from the plant. The scale insect poses the greatest danger to young plants – with a massive pest attack, they are greatly inhibited in growth, the needles turn brown.

It is not easy to get rid of the scale insect – it is protected by a strong shell. You can fight it only with the help of systemic insecticides that penetrate the plant: Aktara, Calypso Confidor, Engio. It is necessary to process junipers at least 3 times with an interval of 2 weeks. And each time you need to use a different drug.

Juniper mealybug. This pest usually infects young twigs. Adults usually hide in the axils of the needles in the lower part of the crown – they do not like direct sunlight. But with a large number, they inhabit the entire needles. As a result, it begins to turn brown, becomes covered with a sooty coating (this is joined by a fungal disease), turns black and crumbles.

It is very difficult to exterminate this pest. The drug Engio has proven itself well, but it may not be able to cope alone – you need to carry out at least 3 treatments with an interval of 10 days and preferably with different drugs. In addition to Engio, you can use Aktara, Calypso, Confidant, Confidor, Mospilan, Tanrek.

Juniper miner moth. This is a small brown butterfly with a wingspan of about 1 cm. It itself is harmless, but its caterpillars love to eat pine needles. They are light brown, with three prominent red-brown stripes. They usually settle in the middle of the crown, penetrating inside the needles and forming mines. The pest affects almost all types of juniper, except for the Cossack juniper. Most of all he likes common juniper and virginian juniper. With severe damage, up to 80% of the needles can be affected.

To combat the caterpillars of this moth, only systemic preparations that penetrate the plant are used. Among them are Calypso, Confidor, Engio. It is necessary to process junipers at least 2 times with an interval of 10 days.