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Coniferous cultures have traditionally been used in the landscape art of China, Korea, and Japan. Local species, including Chinese juniper, becoming accessible to European gardeners, quickly gained popularity.
Description of juniper of Chinese
The first mention of the cultural plantings of juniper Chinese (Juniperus chinensis) date back to the end of the XVIII century. Evergreen coniferous plant attracted the attention of landscapers with unusual needles, protruding and prickly on adult branches, but at the same time tightly fitting like green scales on young shoots.
First, rather soft needles no more than 3 mm, then, as the shoot grows up, the length increases to 12 mm. They lag behind the wood, get tougher, on each of them appears on a pair of light, almost white stripes. Like all junipers, a native of China and other regions of the Far East, is characterized by unhurried growth and rare fruit bearing. Dark blue covered with a dense layer of blue bloom cones with 2-3 seeds inside this species can have a round or elongated shape, different sizes, but ripen always in the second year after appearance.
The juniper of Chinese is not only variable in berries, but also in the plants themselves. In nature it is also large trees with a pyramidal crown up to 20 meters high, and creeping bushes with thin, diameter up to, mm shoots and a height of not more than half a meter.
Descriptions of popular varieties of juniper Chinese
The variability of culture, its unpretentiousness, high decorative and adaptability made juniper Chinese one of the favorite plants of the Bonsaists. Not less, this species is in demand in landscape design. In the catalogs of nurseries and breeding companies today there are about 50 different varieties of this juniper.
Juniper Chinese Blue Alps (Blue Alps)
The juniper variety of the Chinese Blue Alps is one of the most common varieties of this evergreen conifers. A plant with bluish-green needles in adult age forms a shrub with a height of 2 to 4 meters. However, to reach such a size juniper will take a lot of time. A dense spreading crone with perennial gray or silver needles is adorned with drooping young shoots. Only by 10 years the shrub grows to 2-meter height with a crown diameter of about one and a half meters.
In the middle belt, the juniper Blue Alps is relatively winter-hardy. In case of a lack of snow and strong frosts on its branches, in the spring there are noticeable patches and burnt needles. For planting shrubs, you need to choose sites with the expectation of future growth of the seedling. The plant looks good as a dominant among low-growing crops, can be useful in group plantings, serve as a decorative background for flowering perennials.
Juniper of the Chinese Stricta (Stricta)
This juniper variety will never get lost among the ornamental shrubs in the garden. According to the description and photos of the juniper of the Chinese Strict, this plant has a dense conical crown, consisting of upwardly dense branches. The shoots are covered with green-blue, and in winter silvery-gray prickly needles. Adult plants bear fruit, forming a lot of rounded blue-violet berries.
Culture, like its closest relatives, is durable. With minimal care and the right place in the garden, the juniper lives up to 100 years of age. But because of the slow growth of such a shrub juniper cultivar Stricta will reach a height of only 2 meters. This property of the plant is used in landscape design and landscaping. Plants take root in small houses and even in containers.
Juniper of the Chinese Stricta Variegata (Stricta Variegata)
In nature, many spontaneous plant mutations often go unnoticed. Breeders, carefully observing the "population" of the nursery, can in time detect and fix interesting changes in the appearance of their green pets. Due to such a noticeable mutation it was possible to obtain decorative varieties of juniper with variegated, unevenly colored needles.
The juniper variety of the Chinese Stripe Variegata fully corresponds to the description of plants of the Strict species, with the exception of one. In this case, adult thorny needles silver-green hue adjacent to areas of yellowish-golden, cream or light yellow-green needles.
Like its silver ancestor, such a bright bush easily habits dry, poor food or lime soil, but it does not feel well in the shade, where the sunny shade of the needles fades, and the plant itself looks oppressed.
Juniperus Chinese Mint Julep (Mint Julep)
Mint Julep is a cocktail based on strong alcohol and bright green mint syrup. The juniper of Chinese Mint Julep, named after the original drink, is an incredibly fresh color of needles and a luxurious crown of spreading form. An adult shrub with a crown width of up to, meters can reach a 2-meter height. Forming a spectacular shrub shoots as they grow, they bend and take the form of wide arcs.
In the garden, this plant is better to find a place in the sun and take into account that the crown is spreading over the years, therefore neighboring cultures are planted at a distance. The bush will become an ornament of rocky hills, coniferous gardens and a bright background for spring primroses.
Juniper of the Chinese Kurivao Gold (Kuriwao Gold)
The main advantage of the Chinese juniper Curiva Gold is a spreading, like a light-pierced crown about a height of -3 meters. With this effect, the plant is obliged to densely cover the branch with scaly needles of yellow and green hues. At the ends of the shoots, the golden tones are most noticeable and make the whole shrub unusually bright and decorative.
A variety with an average annual growth of about 15 cm is suitable for planting as the only decoration of the garden corner, as well as in a group of arboreal or herbaceous perennials. Bonsai can be formed on the basis of plants of this variety. It should be borne in mind that the variegated color of the needles is preserved in the light. In the shade, ordinary green colors begin to predominate.
In the spring, the Chinese juniper Kuriwao Gold needs shading, otherwise it may be the desiccation of young shoots and greens.
Juniperus Chinese Spartan (Spartan)
This juniper variety was obtained in the largest American nursery in Monrovia in 1960. A plant with a dense, vertically shaped branch of the pyramidal crown grows to a 6-meter height and a diameter of about 2 meters. Green needles have a predominantly scaly appearance, although on perennial shoots one can see acicular, longer greens.
Due to the high density of the crown and the growth not exceeding 15 cm per year, the plants of Chinese juniper Spartan are perfectly served to the formation.
Among the cultivars of Chinese juniper, this variety can be recognized as one of the most hardy. Therefore shrubs of characteristic pyramidal shape are planted not only in private gardens, but also in public gardens are used for greening park areas and public places.
Juniper of the Chinese Old Gold (Old Gold)
Elegant and unpretentious juniper Chinese Old Gold is real gold on the site. Dutch variety with a dense squat crown of a beautiful light green or yellow-green hue of 10 years of age has a height of 50 cm and a diameter of about a meter. The maximum height of the shrub is 150 cm, the width of the crown is twice as large. The needles, densely covering the shoots, predominantly have the appearance of scales.
To maintain the brightness of color and shape, the plant needs regular formation and abundance of sunlight. Juniper with compact size and unprincipled disposition gets on in group plantings, solo looks great, can grow in a container.
Juniper of the Chinese Expansion Variegata (Expansa Variegata)
Evergreen shrub with creeping shoots, covered with bluish-green needles and milky-white needles. Contrasting areas of different shades give the small plant an incredibly decorative unusual look. Juniper of the Chinese Expensa Variegata is one of the most miniature varieties of this species. The height of the adult bush does not exceed 30 - 50 cm. since the main growth is in the horizontal direction, the diameter of the squat crown is one and a half or more meters.
An unpretentious ground cover plant winter winters well under a snow cover, but in the spring it needs protection from the bright sun and icy nap. Because of the spring drying, the bark suffers, on the crown may appear unsightly brown spots and dead areas.
