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One of the most popular ornamental ground cover plants is Blue Chip Juniper. It densely covers the soil with its shoots, forming a velvety, soft, green coating. At different times of the year, the coniferous leaves of this culture in the form of soft needles have a different color. Designers choose this variety of juniper to improve slopes, rockeries, and create coniferous compositions.
Description of juniper horizontal Blue Chip
The juniper of this species is a coniferous evergreen plant, belongs to the Cypress family. You can see it in the wild in the countries of the northern hemisphere (USA, Great Britain, Canada), cultivated juniper takes root in almost any climate. It grows well on plains, mountain slopes, on the banks of small reservoirs.
Description of juniper bluechip: the shrub has dense dense needles of ash-gray or blue color. In autumn, it becomes purple, in spring – bright green. Long shoots, more than 1 m, growing horizontally, densely cover the soil. The stems are densely covered with long, soft needles (1 to 5 mm long) that exude a characteristic aroma. Narrow leaves in the form of needles are not smooth, but scaly, which creates a velvety texture of the crown of the shrub. This description of the juniper Blue Chip is fully consistent with the following photo:
Blue Chip is valued not only for its high decorative qualities, but also for its ability to aromatize and purify the air. The culture takes root well in cities with high air pollution. In autumn, Blue Chip juniper bushes bear berries in the form of small, blue, spherical fruits. They rarely appear on ornamental shrubs. They are considered healing, used in folk medicine.
Dimensions juniper Blue Chip
This is a small shrub, the shoots of which creep along the ground. It reaches a height of about half a meter. The juniper crown juniperushorizontalisbluechip grows up to 1,5 m in diameter. Growing, coniferous shoots evenly cover the soil surface with a gray-blue carpet. The bush spreads mostly horizontally, practically does not grow in height.
Annual growth of juniper Blue Chip
Blue shrub shoots can grow up to 10 cm per year. To get a dense, decorative, plant cover of the site, up to a dozen or more seedlings of this crop are planted.
Frost resistance of juniper horizontal Blue Chip
The homeland of this plant is North America and Canada, a frost-resistant shrub. Only young seedlings need shelter for the winter in the first year after planting.
Juniper Blue Chip in landscape design
The shrub is used in coniferous compositions with thujas, spruces, juniper bush species, in flower beds to emphasize the beauty of flowering plants. Coniferous mixborders have a great advantage over other decorative compositions: they look presentable all year round.
Perfectly juniper horizontal Blue Chip (bluechip) looks in compositions with the use of large decorative stones (rockeries). Glades, hills, flower beds, covered with a thick juniper carpet, look spectacular, especially near water bodies. Horizontal juniper is planted along garden paths and walls of buildings in the form of a curb. Such a low fence looks good all year round, does not lose shape. Gray-blue greens look good against the gray walls.
Planting and caring for juniper horizontal Blue Chip
In order for an ornamental plant to have a beautiful appearance, retain its qualities for a long time, you should choose the right place for planting it. This culture is sun-loving, will not grow in the shade. Juniper seedlings can be purchased at any ornamental plant nursery. When buying juniper Blue Chip, you should pay attention to the condition of the root and shoots.
It should be a seedling with a well-developed root system and several shoots of the current code, densely covered with needles. The presence of yellow or white spots on the needles is unacceptable. Shoots should be flexible, not overdried. The root of the seedling is kept closed in a plastic pot or container until planting. Do not allow the drying of the earthy coma around the root system.
Seedling and planting preparation
For planting Blue Chip juniper in the garden, a site free from other plants, well lit by the sun, is chosen. You can root the culture in partial shade. The soil is chosen moderately moist, acidic. Excess moisture or salinization of the soil for the crop is detrimental. To avoid this, a sufficiently thick layer of drainage is laid out in the landing pit. Bushes are planted at a distance of 2 m from each other. This will allow the Blue Chip horizontal juniper to grow in accordance with the diameter of the crown.
Rules of landing
Landing is carried out in spring, at the end of March or at the beginning of April, and also in autumn, while it remains warm. The landing pit is made in size, 2 times the size of the juniper root. A layer of expanded clay is laid out at the bottom of the pit. It will serve as a drainage base. After the hole is half filled with nutrient soil mixture: turf, peat, sand. These ingredients are taken in equal parts. If the soil is acidic, peat does not need to be added.
Subsequent landing technology:
- The hole filled with soil is filled with water.
- As soon as the liquid is absorbed, the root of the plant is lowered into the planting hole, as carefully as possible, trying to keep the earth lump intact.
- After the rhizome is covered with fluffy earth and rammed.
Watering and top dressing
In summer, the plant is watered once a week regularly, in spring and autumn – twice a month. It is impossible to fill juniper with water. Watering should be moderate, no more than 1 liters under one bush. The first time the Blue Chip juniper is watered immediately after planting or transplanting.
Top dressing is carried out 1 time in summer, autumn and spring. It can be nitrogen, phosphate and organic fertilizers. It is good to use special top dressing for coniferous crops with the addition of potassium for these purposes.
Mulching and loosening
Before and after watering, the soil must be loosened. This will save the juniper roots from moisture stagnation, increase air exchange. Loosening is carried out carefully, trying not to damage the roots of the shrub.
As soon as the water is well absorbed after irrigation, the near-stem circle is covered under a layer (5 cm) of spruce, sawdust, needles. This will keep the life-giving moisture at the root of the plant, reduce the amount of watering. If the soils are not alkaline enough, mulching is done with pine bark.
Pruning Juniper Blue Chip
This procedure is carried out in early spring. They simply remove old dried branches, freeing up space for the growth of young shoots. The tips of plants frozen over during the winter should also be cut off.
Preparation for winter
The blue chip juniper plant is covered for the winter only in the first year after planting. The trunk circle is mulched with a thick layer of sawdust (at least 10 cm), the crown is covered with branches of coniferous trees. Juniper Blue Chip older than 1 year is not afraid of frost in winter and does not need shelter.
Propagation of juniper horizontal Blue Chip
For propagation of this culture, layering or cuttings are used. Rooting by layering is an easy way to propagate juniper. Strong, healthy shoots are selected, bent to the ground and secured with staples. The soil is preliminarily loosened, fertilized, a little sand is added. After about six months, the shoot will take root. After that, it is separated from the mother plant and planted separately.
Propagation by cuttings is a more complicated way. In early spring, before bud break, strong shoots are selected and cut into small branches 12 cm long. After that, with the help of a knife, one edge is cleaned from the bark and the cutting is lowered into a mixture of sand and peat. The seedling is regularly watered. The temperature in the room should not fall below + 20 Сᵒ. As soon as the sprout takes root, it is rooted in the ground in the warm season.
Diseases and pests of juniper horizontal Blue Chip
This ornamental culture is subject to attacks by garden pests: aphids, scale insects, spider mites. To prevent their appearance, juniper bushes are sprayed with insecticides in early spring, again in summer.
Also juniper Blue Chip can affect root rot and rust. If the plant begins to fade, dry, various spots appear on the surface of the shoots, I treat the bush with fungicides. An effective remedy for fungal diseases is Bordeaux mixture. After treating the crown of the plant with chemicals, fertilizers are applied under the root. This will strengthen the culture after the disease.
Conclusion
Juniper Blue Chip is an unpretentious ornamental crop that is suitable for growing in any climate. The shrub tolerates drought and frost well. Such a juniper does not require special care. It looks good in all seasons, even in winter it can decorate the garden. Its high decorative qualities have been marked by many awards at international exhibitions of plant crops used in landscape design.
Reviews
Among connoisseurs of ornamental plants, the juniper horizontal Blue Chip has received only positive feedback. Plant breeders like it for unpretentiousness and a beautiful view even in winter.
