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Many species and varieties of juniper claimed in landscape design. Not an exception - juniper scaly with squat, creeping or outstretched crown.
Coniferous evergreen shrub from the east and southeast of Asia was discovered and studied in the first half of the XIX century. In gardening culture is appreciated thanks to:
- decorative green and silvery thick needles;
- original crown shape;
- frost resistance, which allows wintering in the middle lane;
- carelessness and growing conditions;
- long, in nature, reaching 600 years of bush life.
Description of the flaked juniper
Related to the cypress juniper flakes( Juniperus squamata) can not be called large. Compared with the nearest species, the plant has a small crown, the size and shape of which depends on the variety. Juniper scaly shoots take an open form, hang in some varieties, and sometimes spread along the ground, forming a semblance of a dense needle-shaped carpet.
Shrub branches have frequent branching and are covered with stiff barbed needles up to 8 mm long. The needles with a green back and silver because of the characteristic band in the mouth of the face in verticils are three. Needle needles are bent to escape, have a characteristic aroma of juniper.
Like other members of the genus, juniper flake does not have a high growth rate. During the year, the plant in height and width increases by only a few centimeters. Oval cones formed on adult plants, containing one seed each, ripen in the second year, reaching a diameter of 6–8 mm and gradually changing color from greenish-red to a thick purple-black shade.
The care of juniper scaly does not differ from the care of other representatives of the genus. The plant is better to plant on light, protected from cold winds areas. In the middle lane and to the north, provide for protection of the shrub from frost.
In severe winters the needles turn brown and die off, the bark cracks, small branches and shoots of the last year dry up.
Description of popular varieties of juniper scaly
Compact size, an unusually hanging shape of young shoots, silver-green, and in some cases even golden needles are the reasons for the popularity of juniper shoots, silver-green, and the golden needles for the popularity of the juniper shoots, as well as the flow patterns, and also the golden needles, which are the reason for the flow of the flowering patterns, as well as the flow patterns, and also the golden needle.plants.
Juniper scaly Blue Carpet( Blue Carpet)
Create a smooth carpet of a bluish-silver shade on the plot will help the juniper scaly Blue Carpet. The creeping, relatively fast-growing shrub of this variety stands out with a view of young, hanging shoots and noble shades of stiff prickly needles.
The plant, if it is chosen to be light, without any risk of spring flooding, is provided with at least minimal care, easily takes root on slides, curbs, creates picturesque spots on water bodies and on the edge of planting of larger plants. The variety is durable and in comparison with related crops, due to its low height and snow cover it easily tolerates frosts.
In the hands of the masters, the juniper scaly varieties of Blue Carpet, thanks to their long-term shaping, turn into fantasy trees with dense green caps on a bizarre trunk.
Juniper scaly Meyeri( Meieri)
The value of juniper scaly Meyeri - the original form of the crown with drooping young shoots. Shrub, bred in China at the beginning of the last century and highly valued in landscape design, is one of the most common varieties of juniper, it is used not only for landscaping parks, gardens and squares, but also for bonsai. 
The dynamic shape of shoots of the juniper scaly Meyeri helps to create miniatures unique in their picturesqueness.
The evergreen shrub reaches maximum ornamentation during the period of active growth of the branches, that is, in the second half of spring and early summer. At this time, there is a young growth with silver needles. Over the year, the plant increases in height by 6-10 cm and in adulthood can grow up to 2-5 meters. It is the largest representative of the species.
Juniper scaly Holger( Holger)
With a previous variety of juniper scaly Holger, it associates a sprawling crown with young willow shoots, as well as common species. However, already at first glance at this ornamental plant it is difficult to confuse it with other varieties.
The height of the scaled juniper Holger in adult plants does not exceed 80-100 cm. The width of the crown of a small shrub is within one and a half meters. But even with such modest sizes, this ort of juniper is hard not to notice due to the long-lasting bright, golden-yellow color of the young growth.
Like a sunshine-covered silver-green shrub, it looks great both in a group and in a single planting. Do not forget that the juniper on the site is not only a living decoration, but also a powerful air purifier. Steadfastly transferring the presence of numerous impurities, the plant disinfects the surrounding atmosphere.
Compact evergreen shrub suitable for growing in a container.
Juniper scaly Dream Joy( Dream Joy)
"Dream and joy."The name of this orth juniper scaly eloquently represents a plant with a very compact crown, with its decorative effect obliged to light green or completely yellow needles on the tops of young branches. As if shoots engulfed in bright fire, as they grow older they turn green with a noticeable bluish tint. The squat crown of the juniper scaly Dream Joy in height grows no more than 60–80 cm, the width of the shrub is 120 cm.
A bright place with well-aerated soil should be found for decorative evergreen in the garden.
In plantings of this variety, it is better to give places in the front rows so that a small shrub is not lost behind the “backs” of larger plants.
Juniper scaly Blue Star( Blue Star)
In the 50s of the last century, an unusual shrub with an original star arrangement of needles and the absence of drooping shoots characteristic of the variety was noticed in one of the Dutch nurseries among the plantations of juniper scaly Meyeri. The plant was noticed, and its mutation is fixed. So, a decade later, a scaly juniper Blue Star appeared at the disposal of gardeners and landscape designers, becoming one of the most sought-after evergreen shrubs.
The plant stands out with a very dense crown, formed by densely ascending, strongly branching shoots covered with silver needles. The height of the medium-sized, often attributed to the dwarf varieties of the plant reaches a meter, the diameter of the crown reaches 2.5 meters. The variety is characterized by weak growth. During the year, the dimensions of the bush vary by only 3–5 cm.
With the long-term shaping based on the juniper plants of the scaly Blue Star, it is possible to create decorative standard forms that are not found in nature.
Juniper scaly Blue Swede( Blue Spec)
The shrub stands out with silver or greenish-blue needles, a compact squat crown and hanging shoots. The plant is undemanding, it grows easily on poor soils and is relatively winter-hardy. Juniper scaly Blue Svid belongs to the middle representatives of the genus. For ten years, the evergreen plant reaches only 50 centimeters in height and about a meter wide. The maximum possible size of the bush does not exceed one and a half meters in height and 2.5 meters in width.
A characteristic feature of the juniper scaly Blue Swede - becoming almost gray for winter, steel barbed bluish needles up to 1 cm long.
Shrub carrying a small shade grows better in the light, is not afraid of frost and is suitable for growing in a city where the air is supersaturated with gasesand heavy metal salts.
Juniper scaly Hunnetorp( Hunnetorp)
The scaly juniper Hannetorp is popular with landscapers and gardeners in Central Europe and in Scandinavia. The evergreen conifer belongs to varieties with a slow growth rate, with a compact crown of semi-underlying shape and short, sharp silver-green needles. According to some sources, this plant is a variety of Blue Svid.
Juniper scaly Floreant( Floreant)
An original variegated variety with light yellowish-green needles, not only concentrated on the ends of the shoots, but scattered throughout the crown, was obtained on the basis of the Blue Star scapular juniper variety.
The dwarf shrub, which grows to the maximum height of a meter and a diameter of two meters, received the name of a football club. Today, juniper scaly Floreant with a hemispherical, molded crown, we love many fans of coniferous garden crops.
