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The value of tui is not only in its unpretentiousness and the needy that persists throughout the year, but also in the ability of the plant to maintain a certain shape. Tuya pyramidal can be considered a living symbol of the species. It is these specimens that are most often found in parks and squares, in hedgerows, in groups and as solitaires in suburban areas.
Despite the general similarity of plants with a conical crown, they belong to different varieties and even species. In the middle zone, due to frost resistance, the preference is given to the west, in the south, in the plantations, the eastern and the plains are predominant.
Features of the structure and vegetation of the western pyramidal tuja
The ancestors of the western pyramidal form are natives of North America, growing in nature for several tens or hundreds of years growing to 15-30 meters in height. The tuja of the conical shape may be one or more of the trunks densely pressed together.
Tui pyramidal small scaly pine needles. Depending on the variety, it either turns brown in winter, or until spring retains its original color.
Since tuya is an evergreen plant, the modified foliage, even becoming brown or reddish-copper, does not crumble. Her life lasts up to three years, after which the needles die, and the escape is denuded.
All thuies grow slowly, they differ in unpretentious temper and transfer transplant well. Due to available winter hardy varieties pyramidal tuyas are increasingly settled in suburban areas not only in the middle belt, but also in the North-West of the country, in the Urals and in Siberia.
Reproduction of high-quality plants is carried out vegetatively, with the help of cuttings or cuttings. The seed method is also possible, but young seedlings do not always retain the features of the parent specimens.
Planting of pyramidal thai into the ground is carried out when the seedlings reach the age of 2-4 years, while the young plants get well and can decorate up to a hundred years.
Conditions for planting and caring for the pyramid
Conifers prefer the sun or partial shade where the plant receives enough light and forms a uniformly dense, beautiful crown. If the thuja falls into a deep shadow:
- Gradually, the branches become sparse;
- needles lose a rich shade, can turn yellow, and in golden varieties, become greenish;
- the pyramidal shape of the crown is broken.
Pyramidal thuja, in the photo, do not need a special ground composition or care. The spread of tui in landscape design was their resistance to negative environmental influences, including:
- wind;
- direct sunlight;
- freezing;
- The air of cities and their immediate vicinity polluted by operating transport and industrial enterprises.
However, this does not mean that caring for pyramidal thuja is unnecessary. For planting thai of all varieties are prepared spacious, according to the size of the root system and earth pit of the pit, which are equipped with drainage and filled with a loose mixture based on garden soil, peat and sand.
To ensure that the Tui does not lack nutrients, the soil is fertilized with complex specialized compounds for conifers.
In the future, the feeding of bushes is carried out in spring and less often in autumn, combining with not frequent, but abundant watering.
Ephedra carry a lack of organic matter in the soil and drought, but it is better to grow if the ground is moistened under them. In dry, hot weather, plants, especially young ones, respond well to shallow sprinkling. Do not allow the drying of the root system helps abundant mulching of the trunk. At the beginning of the growing season, thuis is subjected to sanitary pruning and, if necessary, correcting the pyramidal shape of the crown.
A small shedding of needles is most often associated with natural renewal processes, so do not bother the gardener.
If pyramidal thuja, in the photo, suffered from sunburns or froze in a snowless winter, it is not necessary to wait for it to turn green itself. A neat haircut, reinforced with fertilization and watering, helps restore decorative and over the summer to restore damage.
Before the beginning of the winter, the conical crown of the plant is tightly connected, small thuys, and also varieties with low frost resistance cover. This measure allows the conifers to retain their shape and most of the branches under strong winds, frosts and heavy snow, capable of breaking skeletal twigs.
Diversify the design of the site allows numerous decorative varieties of pyramidal tuja and their variegate varieties. Such plants are usually more demanding than wild ancestors, but with minimal care and the right choice of site for planting for many years decorate the dacha, serve as a hedge or a backdrop for low-growing deciduous shrubs, flowering perennials and herbs.
Forms and varieties of pyramidal tuja
Traditionally, more than a dozen pyramidal or cone-shaped forms of western tui are used for gardening. Among them there are plants whose crown is formed into one or more trunks. Most varieties are varieties that change color to brownish brown in winter.
Tuy West Smaragd (T. occidentalis Smaragd)
The most famous thuya pyramidal shape with invariably green needles is thuya western Smaragd. A plant with a squat cone-like crown at the age of 10 years reaches a 2-meter height. The maximum possible dimensions are twice that. its name is due to the emerald shade of the needles, which does not change either in summer or in winter.
The decorative form of the western thuja is considered one of the best varieties with a conical crown. The plant has a relative winter hardiness, but in the northern regions it can freeze, suffers from the spring sun and needs protection.
Thuya western Brabant (T. occidentalis Brabant)
The taller thujas Braband is well known to Russian growers due to its frost resistance and universal use. Most often tall, up to 3-4 meters thick shrubs are used to create green hedges, in group plantings. To keep the pyramid shape, it needs a pruning. The variety differs in shadowiness, but it does not tolerate periodic spring thaws and frosts, which cause damage to needles and wood.
Like Touya Smaragd, this species has a golden variegate form. Such pyramidal thuja in planting and care does not differ from its green relatives. However, keeping the elegant yellow color of the crown is easier on the solar patch.
Tui Western Pyramidylus Compacta (T. occidentalis Pyramidalis Compacta)
Since 1904, lovers of coniferous plants can plant in their areas of the Tui Piramidalis Compacta variety with a narrow conical crown, consisting of many highly branched shoots. The branches are tightly pressed against each other and covered with shallow green needles. The shape of the needles is reminiscent of slightly shiny smooth scales. The maximum height of the plant reaches 8-10 meters.
This form of tuja is incredibly widespread and due to frost resistance, undemanding and compact from nature the crown has earned the respect of more than one generation of gardeners.
