Features of cultivation and breeding of Cossack juniper

In modern landscape design coniferous shrubs are very popular. Cossack juniper - the most common and unpretentious representative of his family. This plant is used not only in homestead and park plots, but also at home.

These creeping conifers of the cypress family attract many with their decorative qualities as well as resistance to drought, frost and polluted air. Its natural habitat is Asia Minor, Southeast Asia, the Caucasus, the Urals, Siberia and Primorye, South and Central Europe.

Description of the plant

According to estimates, there are more than 70 species of juniper in joint projects of a number of botanical gardens. As a rule, they all differ in height, in the shape of the crown and in the color of the needles.

Juniper Cossack described as follows:

1. Often the plant is a woody bush, reaching a height of 1-1.5 meters, able to grow and form thickets. Less commonly, plants of this species are classified as low trees with curved trunks.
2. In young plants and on branches protected from direct sunlight, needles are acicular, erect, pointed, reaching 4-6 mm in length. In adult representatives, leaf-like organs are scaly, resembling shingles.
3. Shoots when rubbed have a characteristic, sharp smell due to the content of special essential oils that are poisonous.
4. Male and female flowers are on different plants of this species. Cones are small( up to 7 mm in diameter) balls of black color with brownish-gray tint. Each of them can contain up to 4 seeds.

Essential oil of Cossack juniper contains toxic substances, such as sabinol, sabinen and other derivatives of terpene. If there are small children in the family, you should delay the breeding of this plant.

Planting and care

First of all, you should decide on a permanent place for planting. This species of juniper is photo-loving, and if it is planted in the shade, it can lose its decorative properties. In addition, between plants you need to maintain a distance of up to half a meter.

Planting and caring for juniper Cossack have a number of features:

1. A plant with an open root system can be planted in the ground only in the middle of spring or in early autumn, when stable, moderately wet weather is observed. Moreover, such a root system should be pretreated with stimulants to improve root formation.
2. Large plants should be planted so that the zone of transition from the root to the stem protrudes 5-10 cm above the edge of the planting hole. And for non-stunted plants, it should be located at ground level.
3. It is recommended to saturate saplings from containers before planting with water. To do this, a lump of earth should be held in a pan with water for 2 hours.
4. The depth of the pit for planting should be proportional to the land of the container plant and the size of the already developed roots. Usually the pit for the landing of the Cossack juniper should exceed the ground lump 2-3 times.
5. At the base of the pit should be a drainage layer( up to 20 cm wide) - sand in combination with broken bricks. And the root system is sprinkled with a special soil mixture. It usually consists of peat, turf and sand( 2: 1: 1).
6. The planted plant is immediately plentifully watered and the soil is covered with mulch( peat, pine bark, compost) to protect it and improve its properties. Usually enough 5-8 cm mulch.
7. Watering juniper should be only in dry summer, but not more than 3 times during the season. For one adult plant, from 10 to 30 liters of water is enough. A spraying should be practiced every 7 days, but only when the sun is already setting.
8. In the second half of spring, the plant can be fertilized. Nitroammofoska and Kemira wagon are good for this purpose. Young plantings need shallow loosening, increasing air access to the soil.

When buying, you should carefully examine the needles of the plant. At the slightest signs of the disease is better to abandon the acquisition of this instance.

Pruning, shaping and breeding

Pruning of Cossack juniper should be done carefully and deliberately. As a rule, he does not need such manipulations, but with the help of garden shears to trim the bushes, it is necessary to timely remove damaged, infected and dry branches. To pruning resorted to when they want to change the direction of growth of the branches, to suspend growth or give a special decorative form.

The formation of Cossack juniper is done in spring and autumn, while the average daily temperature should be + 4 ° С.During the year, the Cossack juniper can grow up to 10 cm, and the allowable trim rate should not exceed 2 cm. The plant, as a rule, does not need to cover up the wounds. If there is a strong damage, then the cut can be treated with resin or spray with Appin.

Plucking the tips of new shoots is a safer and less harmful than cutting, the formation of a crown. So you can strengthen the branching and make the bush more lush.

There are 4 ways of breeding Cossack juniper:

1. Seed is a rather complicated method, which is rarely resorted to due to forced stratification. Seeds of plants are kept for a long time under special conditions to stimulate germination.
2. Grafting - this method is best used in April or August. Cloudy weather should stand for several days so that the bright sun does not harm the cuttings and the original plant.
3. Layers - this method is great for creeping plant forms with young shoots. Separate branches are fixed on the ground with wooden studs, and the soil is spud around and is watered from time to time.
4. Vaccinations - not always this method justifies itself. An elite variety of a plant is grafted onto an ordinary one, wrapped with a film and awaiting engraftment.

How to propagate Cossack juniper is a personal decision of a specialist or amateur gardener. However, it is important to do everything so as not to damage the original plant.

Landscape Design

The plant is actively used in the organization of relief on different types of slopes, for decorating stony hills, lawns, hedges. It can be used as a separate decorative element( tapeworm) or in group plantings that play the role of a background or a lawn framing.

As can be seen in the photo below, the Cossack juniper in landscape design is perfectly combined with brighter perennial cultures. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that these coniferous plants are not combined with lush vegetation with large inflorescences.

Quite often, Cossack juniper is used in the English( landscape) style of landscape design. As a rule, choose large varieties of this plant with the correct form of the crown and the restrained colors of the needles. Juniper in the English garden is designed to complement the landscape, and not to focus on yourself.

The strict varieties of this plant are also popular in making compositions in the Japanese style. They contrast well against the backdrop of bright colors and colorful details of the eastern garden. In the design of such compositions, designers advise to plant juniper plants close to common heather, which can be of various shades, as well as next to the rocky hills.

If you plant this plant with skill and taste, and also take care of it properly, it will be able to deliver aesthetic pleasure for more than one year.

Video about the breeding of juniper Cossack