Thuja round (spherical, ball, spherical): photo in landscape design, planting and care, haircut with a ball

Varieties and types of globular thuja with a photo are of interest to many gardeners, since an evergreen plant can decorate any area. Growing thuja is quite simple, but there are basic care rules that must be followed.

General description of spherical (round) thuja

The evergreen thuja belongs to the Cypress family and is closely related to junipers, cypresses and sequoias. Ordinary, or pyramidal thuja is a fairly tall tree, up to 40 m in height. But the round plant belongs to miniature dwarf species, so the height of the spherical thuja reaches no more than 2,5 m.

The brightest feature of the globular thuja is the rounded shape of its crown, and the foliage begins directly from the ground. As a result, the shrub looks like a large coniferous ball. The needles of the round thuja are long, up to 7 cm, and very soft at a young age, but coarsen over the years. At the same time, each needle lives for about 3 years, so the thuja crown is constantly updated.

In the wild, round thuja grows in some areas of East Asia and North America. However, in a cultural form, a shrub can be found almost everywhere; it is highly valued in landscape design. In addition, the resistance of thuja to cold weather makes it possible to cultivate it throughout the world without much effort.

Varieties and types of globular thuja

Breeders are experiencing an increased interest in an attractive and unpretentious thuja. Therefore, it is interesting to study the varieties of globular thuja with a photo, they differ among themselves mainly in shades of needles, crown shape and height.

Danika

The variety of globular thuja Danica is the most popular among gardeners, because it is suitable for planting in any area, the plant reaches a height of no more than 60 cm. The variety is often used to create alpine slides and rockeries.

The Danica variety is very easy to care for, as it tolerates frosts down to -40 ° C and retains the green color of the needles in winter. The needles of the variety are soft and long, the crown is very dense, in need of regular pruning.

Golden Globe

The Golden Globe variety is taller, the shrub can reach a height of 120 cm. It stands out from other varieties with an unusual color of needles – young thuja needles are bright golden, adults acquire a yellow-green hue, and in autumn the Golden Globe variety becomes copper color. Throughout the year, the shrub looks very impressive and beautiful in the garden, especially if it is beneficial to combine it with green trees and bushes.

The variety is also distinguished by good resistance to cold – frosts down to -35 ° C are tolerated by the golden spherical thuja calmly. In addition, the variety can be cut quite rarely, since it grows very slowly.

Globose

The Globoza variety is one of the oldest varieties of the western globular arborvitae. The variety was obtained back in the 19th century and immediately gained great popularity. In height, an adult thuja of the Globoza variety can reach 2 m, it grows on average up to 1,5 m in width, but the growth of the shrub is very slow, no more than 20 cm per year.

In spring and summer, the Globoza variety pleases the eye with a bright green shade of needles. In autumn, the thuja turns brown or acquires a grayish tint, but still remains very decorative. The plant tolerates frosts down to -35 ° C, therefore it is suitable for growing in the northern regions.

Tiny Tim

The spherical thuja Tinny Tim belongs to miniature dwarf varieties – the maximum height for a shrub can be 1 m. And growth is so slow that even at 10 years old, the thuja can still remain only about 30 cm tall.

The crown of the variety is dense, but the needles grow quite freely. The shade of the Tinni Tim variety is light green, the thuja looks very good in single plantings and in landscape compositions. The variety tolerates frosts down to -30 ° C and below, so it feels great when planted in the Moscow region and even more severe regions of the country.

Teddy

A globular thuja called Teddy is a fairly new plant variety with a very slow growth of only about 3 cm per year. Teddy is valued by gardeners for its dense spherical crown with very small and soft needles, dark green in the warm season and brown in winter.

An adult thuja of this variety grows only up to 50 cm. The shrub looks great in rockeries and as part of alpine hills, tolerates frost well. When caring for the thuja of the Teddy variety, you only need to follow the shading, this variety does not like direct sunlight.

Miriam

Thuja Miriam is another recently created variety of dwarf globular thuja with a height of up to 80 cm. Miriam’s crown is round and dense, consists of many thin needles.

In summer, the Miriam variety is distinguished by a yellow-green color, and in winter it acquires a greenish-orange hue. The variety tolerates frosts well, which is the reason for its popularity in the northern regions. The round shrub grows slowly, so it can be freely used in miniature compositions or living borders in the garden.

Woodward

Thuja Woodwardy variety is a low variety, on average reaching about 1 m in height. It is easy to recognize a variety of spherical thuja by its ovoid and rather dense, but free crown structure. Woodwardy’s winter hardiness is high – the shrub tolerates frosts down to -35 ° C. In summer, the needles of the plant are bright green, and with the onset of cold weather it acquires a brownish color.

The use of spherical thuja in landscape design

Mainly spherical thuja is valued by gardeners and summer residents for attractive external features. On the site, thuja can be placed completely freely.

• Low round bushes look great in single plantings, if placed in free areas of the site.
• Also, spherical thuja is a noticeable element of coniferous and mixed compositions, alpine slides and rockeries.
• Thuyu is often used in Japanese gardens, as the shrub grows very slowly and reaches a small maximum height. Thuja can serve as an ideal backdrop for other ornamental undersized plants.
• Thuja is often used in mixborders and hedges. A neat geometrically correct shrub allows you to create a beautiful living frame for the entire garden or its individual parts, divide the site into separate zones.

As you can see in the photo of a globular thuja in landscape design, most varieties of thuja retain their decorative appearance in the autumn-winter period, although they can change the shade of the needles. This feature will enliven the garden landscape even in winter and bring bright colors to it.

The benefits of growing globular thuja

The main advantage of a spherical shrub is quite obvious – the thuja is very beautiful and due to this it is very popular. But it also has other advantages.

• The evergreen thuja ball perfectly tolerates harsh cold winters. Some varieties are able to survive frosts down to -40 ° C, and almost all types of globular thuja winter calmly at – 30-35 ° C. This gives gardeners the opportunity to grow shrubs not only in the south and in the middle lane, but even in Siberia and the Far East.
• Thuja demonstrates high resistance to high humidity and shading. The shrub can be grown in regions with little sun and frequent rains. If you choose the right place for the plant and take care of it carefully, the thuja will develop correctly and without problems.
• Globular shrub is very easy to cut. The correct shape of the crown of the thuja is formed by careful selection – the gardener is only required to maintain the decorativeness of the plant.

Thuja shrubs emit a rather pleasant coniferous aroma – this can also be added to the list of plant virtues.

Features of reproduction

Like most plants, thuja propagates by seed, layering, dividing the bush and cuttings. But the peculiarity is that it is the last method that brings the greatest results. Other methods do not give a guaranteed effect, and often it is not possible to grow thuja from seeds or layering.

• Tui propagation cuttings must be cut in early spring. For this purpose, choose the lateral shoots of the shrub, which have already begun to wood in the lower part.
• Sections of cuttings, made at an angle of approximately 45 degrees, are kept in a root-forming solution for a day for faster engraftment.
• At the same time, soil is prepared for cuttings, thuja loves loose and well-drained soils, so peat, vermiculite, sand and perlite must be poured into the container for it in equal proportions.
• Prepared cuttings are deepened into the ground by 3 cm and watered. You need to keep the shoots at room temperature about 23 ° C, regularly ventilate and monitor the humidity level.

Another feature of the thuja is that it takes root rather slowly. A seedling grown from a spring or summer cutting is recommended to be left at home until the next season. Only next spring, approximately in the middle of May, the spherical thuja is planted in warmed soil, so that the shrub is guaranteed to have time to gain a foothold in the chosen place until autumn.

Planting and caring for a globular thuja in the garden or on the site

Growing thuja in the country is not so difficult, since the evergreen shrub tolerates any weather conditions well. But some rules must be followed, they apply to both planting and subsequent care of the thuja.

Recommended dates

The best time for planting thuja is spring – mid or late May. In the southern regions, shrubs can also be planted in autumn, but such planting is rarely practiced, despite the resistance of adult plants to cold weather. The fact is that the root system of a young thuja is quite sensitive, and if a cold snap occurs ahead of time, the plant may die.

Site selection and soil preparation

Spherical thuja in all numerous varieties is a light-loving shrub. However, the plant is afraid of the direct sun – the sun’s rays leave burns on sensitive leaves. Therefore, a place for a thuja must be selected slightly shaded, and in particular it must be ensured that the shading is maintained even in winter.

The plant as a whole is undemanding to the composition of the soil. But the thuja root system feels best in loose and nutritious soil. Before planting the plant, it is recommended to pre-prepare the land – dig the site and create a soil mixture consisting of peat, sand and soddy soil in a ratio of 1: 1: 2. Also, for better rooting of the thuja in the soil, you can add some nitrogenous fertilizers, they will contribute to the rapid engraftment of the plant.

Landing algorithm

Planting thuja occurs according to the standard algorithm. First of all, it is necessary to prepare the seedling for moving to a new place. To do this, the plant is carefully removed from the pot along with an earthy clod and placed in water for a couple of hours so that the soil and roots are properly saturated with moisture. Another option is to water the plant abundantly right in the pot, and then pull it out with the ground, so it will be much easier to remove it.

Landing a spherical thuja on a selected site looks like this:

• a hole is dug in the ground about twice as deep as the root system of the seedling, while the width of the hole should exceed the span of the roots by about 40 cm, the roots of the globular thuja grow in a horizontal plane;
• the pit is half filled with prepared soil, then a spherical thuja is lowered onto it, this must be done carefully so as not to damage the roots of the plant;
• holding the seedling in a level position, the hole is covered with soil to the end, the root neck should be flush with the soil surface.

At the end of planting, the soil around the thuja needs to be compacted a little and the plant should be watered properly.

Features of growing globular thuja

In order for the spherical thuja to grow healthy and beautiful, it must be properly looked after. Proper watering, warming for the winter and disease prevention help to maintain the decorativeness of the plant.

Watering and fertilizing schedule

Spherical thuja is equally bad at droughts and excessive moisture. The optimal mode for the plant is slightly high humidity, which is carefully controlled by the gardener.

You need to water the spherical shrub weekly, as the soil dries up, and in just a few days you need to add at least 10 liters of water. In the summer heat and drought, watering is increased, it is recommended to pour 10 liters of moisture under the roots of the plant every couple of days. The globular thuja signals a lack of water very noticeably, its crown turns yellow at the crown, and cones appear on the shoots.

As for top dressing, for the first 2 years after planting in the ground, it is not necessary to fertilize the shrub, it has enough useful substances introduced during planting. As the shrub grows, the globular thuja begins to be supplied with fertilizer twice a year – both times at the beginning of the season. It is recommended to use standard complex top dressing, and ordinary compost is also suitable for arborvitae.

Loosening and mulching the soil

Since the small round thuja is afraid of both stagnation and lack of moisture, the ground near the roots of the plant must be cultivated. Loosening is carried out after each watering – this makes the soil lighter, saturates it with oxygen and prevents waterlogging. In this case, you need to be extra careful and loosen only the surface layer of the soil. Tui roots are located horizontally and can easily be damaged by inaccurate use of garden tools.

So that moisture does not evaporate from the soil prematurely, the ground under the roots of the thuja can be mulched with a layer of about 7 cm. Any standard material is suitable as mulch for the plant – wood chips, sawdust, old needles.

How to cut a thuja with a ball

To maintain the correct spherical shape of the arborvitae, the gardener does not need to make great efforts. The thuja does not need a strong formative pruning, it is enough to cut the shoots as the bush grows, cutting off all the branches that violate the spherical shape.

• The recommended time for trimming the thuja is April or the beginning of May; after the spring shearing, it will be easiest for the plant to recover safely.
• Shearing a thuja with a ball comes down mainly to sanitary procedures – you need to remove dry and weak branches of the plant in a timely manner in order to prevent the development of diseases.
• They also remove shoots growing in the wrong direction, and for good ventilation in the middle of the bush and for oxygen access, slightly thin out its central part.

Preparation for winter

All varieties of globular thuja are highly winter hardy and tolerate even severe frosts. True, this applies mainly to adult plants, but young shrubs need additional care.

In late autumn, shortly before the cold weather, young thuja must be covered with spruce branches, special covering materials, or covered with fallen leaves. When the temperature drops to -5 degrees, the shrub can be additionally wrapped with a film.

All these measures will help protect sensitive young plants from freezing and also prevent the thuja branches from breaking under the weight of snow. At the same time, with the onset of a thaw, covering materials will need to be quickly removed so that excess moisture does not accumulate in the crown of the shrub – this can lead to decay.

Pests and diseases

The unpretentious and cold-resistant spherical thuja remains sensitive to the effects of pests and fungal diseases. Violations of the rules of care often lead to the following problems:

• late blight, with this disease, the roots of the thuja begin to rot, after which the rot spreads to the aerial part of the plant, and the shrub becomes gray in color, and then dies;

  

• browning shoots – the disease is characterized by a change in the color of the needles to brown in the spring, after which the shoots begin to die off;

  

• shute – with this disease, the thuja needles begin to darken, and then crumble;

  

• rust – the shoots of the shrub are first covered with bright yellow spots, and then they also begin to die off.

  

To treat fungal diseases of spherical thuja, it must be treated with fungicidal solutions – for example, Fundazol or Bordeaux liquid. All parts of the plant affected by ailments should be removed and destroyed. The best prevention of fungal diseases is the timely sanitary pruning of shrubs and compliance with the irrigation regime.

Of the pests, the thuja aphid, an insect that usually appears on the lower shoots of a shrub, is a particular danger to the thuja. The moth, a small insect that infects the upper shoots and provokes the death of needles, can also harm the plant. You can protect thuja from pests with the help of insecticidal agents, for example, Karbofos.

Conclusion

Varieties and types of globular thuja with a photo are widely represented, since there are a lot of breeding varieties of shrubs. The characteristics of frost resistance and care requirements for different varieties of globular thuja are approximately the same – if you follow the basic rules of care, you can easily maintain the health and beauty of plants in your area.