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Hard juniper is recognized not only as one of the oldest plant species, but also valuable for landscaping. In Japan, it is considered a sacred plant, which is planted near temples to improve the area. Exotic beauty, ease of care, adaptability to soil and climatic conditions have made the species interesting for the transformation of garden and park areas.
Description of juniper durum
Hard juniper belongs to the evergreen coniferous plants of the Cypress family. This is a tall dioecious tree with a dense pyramidal crown, covered with green and slightly yellow prickly needles. The branches are triangular. Leaves are 1.5 - 3 cm long, pointed and spiny.
Photos and descriptions of hard juniper vary depending on growing conditions. Cultivated at home and in urban areas, the plants have a dense, narrow columnar or oval shape. This is especially pronounced in male specimens. Female representatives of the species have a sparser crown. On sandy soils and rocks located along the sea coast, the plant takes on a ground cover appearance with a creeping crown.Using the vegetative propagation method also makes it possible to grow it in the form of a bush.
The bark of the trunk is gray-brown in color, and in old trees it takes on a red-brown tint. At 30 years old, the average plant length is 6.5 m, with a trunk diameter of 10 cm. On average, junipers grow no more than 15 m in height and can live up to three hundred years or more.
Distribution of hard juniper (juniperus rigida)
The species is widespread throughout Eurasia. It prefers drier, sandier, lime-rich and well-drained soils. The culture grows singly, less often in groups, on rocky slopes and coasts. The largest population is located near Zmeinaya Gora on the Vorskla River and has about a hundred trees.
The plant is also common in Eastern China, in Japan from the island of Kiu-Siu to Hondo, in Korea, as well as in the south of Primorsky Krai. Within the latter, hard juniper is found infrequently, mainly in rocky areas, in limestone areas such as Su-chanu, Suzuhe, Daubihe, Maihe. You can also meet it on the coast of the Sea of Japan and in the valleys of the rivers included in it.
Why is juniper hard in the Red Book
On the territory of the country there are about 1 - 2 specimens of hard juniper. This is primarily due to the fact that in ten years the plant has only 3-4 seed periods, and the yield outside this time is extremely low. Trees that are weakened and older than 150 years may not grow cones at all between seed years. Difficulty in seed germination leads to weak seed regeneration of the species.
The extraction of limestone, in the deposit areas of which the species is most widespread, is often accompanied by the death of rare plants. In the growing areas, as a result of frequent fires, complete destruction of undergrowth and seedlings is observed. In addition, hard juniper has valuable medicinal properties due to its essential oil content, and its wood is not subject to rotting. As a result, this also has a detrimental effect on the species: it is often subject to felling. Due to their highly decorative properties, plants are actively dug up for landscaping.
In 1988, durum juniper was included in the Red Book of Russia, although it had previously been considered a risk zone for extinction: since 1978, it had already been listed in the Red Book of the USSR. Since 2002, the species has been included in the list of objects protected by the Red Book of Primorsky Krai.
The plant is grown in 12 botanical gardens of the Russian Federation, it is protected in the Lazovsky and Ussuriysky nature reserves.
Ussuri Nature Reserve:
Features of planting and care
Hard juniper is unpretentious in care and has high frost resistance. For a light-loving plant, it is recommended to choose a semi-shaded place without stagnant moisture.
Like other species of the genus, the culture is unpretentious to the soil and can grow both on sandstones and on rocky soil, but it takes on its most remarkable forms when planted in fertile and moderately fertile soils.
In terms of care, hard juniper requires regular weeding and several feedings per season. No watering required. In winter, the branches of the plant need to be bandaged to avoid injury under the weight of snow.
Cultivated hard juniper propagates by sowing seeds and vegetatively, by cutting and planting young shoots in the spring. In nature, seeds from cones are carried by the wind.
More information about planting and caring for juniper can be found in the video:
Diseases of juniper durum
If the winter turns out to be warm, the juniper begins to rot, and fungal diseases develop on the branches. To avoid this, the crown should be regularly inspected for damaged branches and cut off so that they do not infect other healthy ones.
Dense plantings with abundant moisture are often susceptible to drying out of branches. Such conditions are favorable for the development of fungi, which is why plants are often exposed to several infections at once.
The main danger for hard juniper, as for all conifers, is schutte, or brown mold. It can begin to develop in the fall, and in the spring a brown coating already appears. The branches gradually begin to turn yellow, and weakened plants may die completely.
Another common fungal disease is trachomycosis. The fungus lives in the soil and first damages the root system and gradually spreads along the trunk and branches. Fungal infections can also cause rust and Alternaria blight. Affected by these diseases, plants begin to dry out, and the needles in infected areas turn reddish and brown.
The bark of the plant is also susceptible to disease.Juniper cancer develops due to the penetration of fungi into the trunk, where they begin to actively develop, causing cracking and falling off of the bark.
Another common disease is nectricosis. With it, red-brown growths grow on the bark, which subsequently darken and dry out. Any disease of the bark also inevitably leads to yellowing and drying out of the needles.
Conclusion
Hard juniper can be called one of the best decorative species. The plant does not require special care, but needs protection from fungi. Experts recommend: when using juniper in landscape design, it is necessary to provide it with conditions similar to its natural habitat. Then the plant has the most spectacular appearance, which is successfully used in creating urban landscape compositions, in parks and in private areas. The tree looks especially original when forming a bonsai.
