Content
Juniper scaly Blue Carpet is a coniferous evergreen plant. Translated from English, blue carpet means “blue carpet”: the shrub received this name due to the branches densely spreading along the ground with silver-blue needles and dark blue berries. Under natural conditions, it is most often found on mountain slopes in China and Taiwan. The article presents a description and photo of the scaly juniper Blue Carpet, the basic rules for planting and caring for the plant, and options for its use in landscape design.
Description of juniper Blue Carpet
Blue carpet juniper (juniperus squamata blue carpet) was first bred by Dutch breeders in 1972, and five years later the plant received recognition and a gold medal at a specialized international exhibition for its unique highly decorative properties. The culture is well adapted for cultivation in the climatic conditions of the European part of Russia.
Blue Carpet juniper is a creeping shrub that forms dense green thickets. In total, botany includes more than 70 species of this plant, each of which has its own characteristics.
The distinctive features of the Blue Carpet variety are hard blue shoots and soft scaly needles. Its hard branches grow horizontally and densely, slightly rising above the ground from below. At the end of summer, fruits appear on the plant - small blue cones that look like berries. These shrub fruits have a spicy aroma and a very bitter taste.
Height of juniper scaly Blue Carpet
In the tenth year, the plant reaches an average of 30 cm in height and 2 m in width, and in maturity - up to 80 cm and 6 m, respectively. The length of the thorny needles of the bush is 6 mm.
Among the varieties of scaly juniper, Blue Carpet representatives are among the most compact: from the shortest - Squamata Blue Carpet (up to 50 cm) - to the tallest - Blue Carpet Bonsai (up to 1.6 m).
Winter hardiness of juniper scaly Blue Carpet
Blue Carpet juniper has a fairly high level of frost resistance, but requires careful care in winter: unfallen needles of the plant can be negatively affected by wind and frost.This can lead to its freezing: an unsightly brown tint appears on the branches, and the bush dies in a short time. Therefore, in winter the plant should be protected with covering material.
Growth rate of juniper scaly Blue Carpet
Juniper is a perennial plant, with an average lifespan of 250 - 300 years. Proportional to its lifespan, the growth of the shrub is rapid: it lasts up to 5 - 7 years, 8 - 10 cm per year.
The growth rate is also affected by the location of the shrub: it is a light-loving plant, and the slightest darkening can affect its appearance and development. Sufficient soil fertilization also has a positive effect on growth.
Smell of juniper Blue Carpet
Scaly juniper is characterized by a somewhat sharp, but rather pleasant coniferous aroma. The smell of the bush is considered healing: it can stimulate and strengthen the nervous system, soothe headaches, cure respiratory diseases, hypertension, and also prevent insomnia. The phytoncides released by the plant help purify the air from pathogens and bacteria.
Juniper Blue Carpet in landscape design
Blue Carpet is a favorite variety of gardeners and landscape designers because it is quite unpretentious and easy to care for.The shrub easily adapts to pruning and quickly recovers, forming an even denser layer of crown. Due to its highly decorative properties, the plant is often used to decorate parks, gardens and squares. Therefore, photos of scaly juniper Blue Carpet are often found on landscape design websites.
- Using the Blue Carpet variety, single groups are created against the background of the lawn. The disadvantage of this composition is the technical difficulty of mowing the area of the lawn around the juniper due to the creeping branches of the bush.
- Scaly juniper is great for combinations with flowering annuals. Correct calculation of the distance between plant species is important in order to ensure full growth and development for each.
- The creeping form of the Blue Carpet variety is excellent for decorating slopes and makes it possible to use juniper as a ground cover plant. It is organic in the design of alpine slides, as well as flat rockeries. Some designers use juniper to decorate the banks of garden ponds.
Blue Carpet juniper serves as an indispensable plant in urban landscaping, since it has a fairly high level of resistance to polluted city air and lends itself well to artistic shaping. It is also often used as a container culture.
Planting and caring for Blue Carpet juniper
Caring for and planting Blue Carpet juniper shrubs is not particularly difficult.However, when starting even such a simple-to-maintain plant, it is necessary to take into account some nuances:
- Soil characteristics;
- Proper planting of the bush;
- Rules for watering and feeding plants;
- Maintenance of juniper in winter.
Preparing seedlings and planting area
It is recommended to buy seedlings with a closed root system, since open roots can only be planted during humid, moderate weather (April, May and September). Shrubs with an open root system should also be carefully treated with root formation stimulants (Fulvix, Heteroauxin, Radifarm).
The soil for planting shrubs must meet the requirements:
- According to a sufficient level of illumination;
- Lack of salinity of the land;
- Lack of nearby groundwater.
For planting Blue Carpet juniper, slightly acidic or neutral soil is best. Properly prepared soil should include the addition of turf soil, peat or sand in a ratio of 1:2:1, respectively. It is best to choose spacious and sunny areas without stagnant water.
Rules for planting juniper scaly Blue Carpet
To plant the Blue Carpet variety, you must perform the following sequence of actions:
- Dig a hole slightly larger than the root of the plant. Its depth should be 70 cm.
- Fill the bottom of the planting hole with a drainage layer of crushed stone, pebbles or shaved brick (up to 20 cm).
- Pour a layer of turf soil, peat soil, and sand.
- Cover the entire root system with soil.Important! The neck of the bush must be pulled out over the soil.
- There is no need to tamp down the soil around the plant: it tends to gradually settle after planting.
When planting a crop, it is important to consider the following rules:
- The distance between seedlings should be from 0.5 to 2 m, depending on the size and characteristics of the plants;
- Newly planted juniper needs abundant watering for 7 - 9 days;
- The best time to plant the Blue Carpet variety is in the spring, after the snow has thawed: planting a shrub at a later time due to the active sun can lead to burns and rapid death of an unrooted plant;
- After planting, the near-trunk part of the Blue Carpet juniper needs to be mulched with a layer of peat;
- Juniper can grow in almost any soil, but it is very important to avoid constantly waterlogging the soil;
- Blue Carpet juniper is able to tolerate drought well. It actively grows and develops in shaded areas with light exposure to sunlight;
- In winter, it is not allowed to bury the bush with large snowdrifts: this can harm the fragile branches of the plant;
- For planting, it is preferable to choose places protected from cold winds.
Watering and fertilizing
Young plants require systematic watering, while mature shrubs are drought-resistant, so they are watered during dry times: during such periods, scaly juniper responds well to sprinkling of the crown.
In the summer season, Blue Carpet reacts poorly to heat, and therefore needs daily spraying and abundant watering (1 - 2 times a day). It is better to do this in the morning and after sunset, so as not to cause burns on the needles. Despite the light-loving plant, in order to avoid burns from the bright sun in spring, it is also necessary to cover the crown of the bush with a non-woven covering material of a light shade or use a special green mesh.
In the spring (in April or May), juniper needs to be fertilized: nitroammofoska or complex mineral fertilizers are well suited for fertilizing, and in the fall - potassium-phosphorus fertilizing. For recently planted young shrubs, shallow loosening of the soil should be carried out periodically.
Mulching and loosening
Young seedlings of the Blue Carpet variety require periodic loosening after watering, as well as regular weeding weed.
Immediately after planting, you need to mulch the soil with a layer of peat (6 - 10 cm), pine bark or wood chips. In the spring, the mulch should be removed to avoid rotting of the root collar.
Loosening the soil should be done carefully and shallowly so as not to damage the surface roots of the plant.
To slow down the rapid evaporation of moisture, you should mulch the juniper watering circle. Weeds can also interfere with the development of shrubs, so mulching the soil around the plant will additionally serve to protect the soil and improve its properties. For mulching, compost or humus is used, and sawdust or pine bark is sprinkled on top. Cones and pine needles are also suitable. The mulch layer should be approximately 5 - 6 cm in height.
Pruning juniper Blue Carpet
The Blue Carpet juniper variety does not need frequent pruning: it should only be done in the spring to remove all improperly growing and twisted branches.
When growing juniper next to other deciduous plants, you need to ensure that there is no leaf litter left in its crown, the subsequent rotting of which can cause serious damage to the branches and even partial damping off of the plant.
Preparing for winter
In the first year after planting, the plant needs shelter in winter.The lowest temperature that Blue Carpet juniper can withstand is -29 oC.
In winter, due to the negative effects of wind and frost, the needles of scaly juniper may become distressed by the appearance of an unsightly shade; in the most severe weather conditions, the plant may die. That is why, to reduce the risk of freezing before the onset of winter, you need to carefully protect the juniper with a special covering material, and sprinkle the roots with a layer of peat 8-10 cm thick. After mulching with peat, the crown of young seedlings of the Blue Carpet variety is covered with spruce branches.
At the end of winter, in order to avoid direct sunlight, the branches of scaly juniper are loosely covered with a special mesh or agrofibre.
Reproduction of juniper Blue Carpet
Blue Carpet juniper is a dioecious plant. Its bushes can have both female and male sex: this can be easily determined by the type of crown: the male version of Blue Carpet has a narrow, ovoid crown, and the female version has a prostrate and loose crown. In spring, male junipers are painted with yellow stripes, and small green cones appear on female bushes.
Decorative juniper Blue Carpet can be propagated in two ways: by seeds and cuttings. The latter propagation option is preferable - for good growth and a beautiful appearance of the plant.
The fruits of Blue Carpet juniper ripen by the beginning of autumn: they have a round shape and an average size of 0.8 cm in diameter. Initially, the cones acquire a green tint, and then gradually change their color to blue, with a slightly noticeable white coating.Inside each berry cone there are three seeds that can be used to propagate the plant. To do this you need:
- In the fall, place the shrub seeds in a box and leave it in a cool place until spring (the boxes can be kept in the fresh air).
- In May, sow the seeds.
However, decorative juniper is more often propagated by cuttings. For this:
- Cuttings 12 cm long are cut from an adult shrub and the lower coniferous branches are cleared.
- They are freed from old wood and left for 24 hours in a solution of water with Heteroauxin or any other growth stimulant.
- Afterwards, the cuttings are planted in soil with peat and sand until they take root.
- Cover them with film and place them in the shade. Regularly spray with water and water.
If you use a strong and healthy shrub for propagation, the results of Blue Carpet cuttings will appear within 45 days, when the development of the root system of young seedlings begins. After 2.5 - 3 months, the rooted shrubs need to be planted in a permanent place for further wintering.
If necessary, young branches can be transplanted to a new location 3 - 4 years after their final formation.
Pests and diseases of Blue Carpet juniper
- The most common disease of juniper scale is rust, which occurs due to basidiomycetes. The disease is characterized by the appearance of bright orange growths on the branches of the bush.The disease can last from one month to several years: the juniper loses its decorative appearance, and the branches begin to gradually dry out, which can lead to the rapid death of the plant. The situation can be corrected by spraying the bush with Arcerid solution - 4 times with an interval of 8 - 10 days.
- Drying of branches. When damaged, the juniper bark begins to dry quickly, and numerous small brown and black growths form on its surface. The needles of the bush gradually turn yellow and fall off, and the branches dry out. To prevent this disease, you need to trim affected or dry branches in a timely manner, and also periodically disinfect the plant with a 1% solution of copper sulfate.
- Trachiomycosis. The causative agents are fungi of the genus Fusarium. Trachyomycosis occurs when juniper is grown in a humid climate or when water stagnates in the soil. The infection begins to progress in the root system, slowly spreading along the entire body of the plant. The disease clogs the vascular bundles of the bush, disrupting the transfer of nutrients. The fungus actively spreads throughout the bush and causes it to quickly dry out. If drying branches are found on a juniper, they must be urgently removed and the plant treated with fungicides. To reduce the risk of disease, young seedlings are disinfected using special preparations: Quadris, Maxim, Fitosporin.
The most dangerous pests of Blue Carpet juniper include spider mites, scale insects, aphids, and leaf miners. Treatment with solutions of Fitoverma, Decis, Karate and Karbofos will help prevent bushes from being damaged by insects. Spraying juniper is carried out once a week on a regular basis.
Conclusion
Scaly juniper Blue Carpet is a favorite of designers and gardeners due to its aesthetic appearance, ease of care and relatively fast growth. By adhering to the rules of agricultural technology, you can count not only on a spectacular “blue carpet” in the landscape, but also a wonderful corner of home aromatherapy and relaxation.
