Juniperus virginiana: photo and description

For several millennia, people have been using juniper to decorate gardens and areas around the house. This is an evergreen, easy-to-care coniferous plant. Juniper virginiana (Virginian) is one of these varieties, a representative of the genus Cypressaceae. Designers use the plant for landscape decoration due to the wide variety of colors, shapes and sizes of this crop.The article presents a photo and description of juniper virginiana, as well as the basic rules for growing the plant.

Description of juniper virginiana

Virginia juniper (lat. Juniperus virginiana) is an evergreen, usually monoecious shrub of the Juniper genus. The plant's habitat is North America, from Canada to Florida. The tree can be found on rocky shores and, a little less often, in swampy areas.

Over time, fruits appear on the juniper - cone-shaped berries of a dark blue color, which remain on the branches until the onset of severe frosts.

The plant has a developed root system with lateral shoots, which helps it easily withstand gusts of wind.

The tree is characterized by small needle-shaped or scale-like needles (1 - 2 mm in length). The color of the needles fluctuates between dark green and bluish-green shades, and in winter the plant cover becomes brown.

Virgin juniper has a resinous pine aroma that can cleanse the air of various bacteria. It is believed that the smell of juniper helps restore mental balance, find peace, as well as get rid of headaches and improve sleep.

For the first time, specimens of juniper virginiana were introduced in the 17th century in America, and in the first quarter of the 19th century, tree sprouts were brought to Russia. The most unique plant varieties are located at the Botanical Institute and the Forestry Academy. Among other varieties, this particular crop has the most pronounced decorative properties.

Dimensions of juniper virginiana

Juniperus virginiana is considered a rather tall plant: the tree can reach up to 30 m in height.The trunk diameter of the Virginia juniper is on average 150 cm, and the crown diameter is 2.5 - 3 m. In the early stages of growth, the crown of the plant has a narrow ovoid shape, which over time becomes wider and more voluminous, acquiring a columnar outline. Juniperus virginiana can completely occupy an area of ​​10 m².

Rates of growth

Juniperus virginiana is characterized by rapid growth - on average 20 - 30 cm per year. Everything also depends on the type of tree: for example, the annual growth rates of the Skyrocket variety are 20 cm high and 5 cm wide, the Glauka variety is 25 cm high and 10 cm wide, and the Hetz variety is up to 30 and 15 cm, respectively.

Winter hardiness zone of juniper virginiana

Almost all varieties of Virginian juniper are characterized by a high level of winter hardiness: even the most severe frosts do not affect their condition and appearance. However, columnar (Blue Arrow, Glauka, Skyrocket) and narrow pyramidal (Canaerty, Hetz) tree forms can be negatively affected by snowfalls. To prevent this from happening, the branches of the plant must be tied tightly in winter.

Juniperus virginiana in landscape design

Virginia junipers are very popular in the field of landscape design due to the huge variety of shapes, sizes and colors, as well as due to their unique decorative properties. The growth rate of plants is average, they are unpretentious to growing conditions and easily adapt to pruning.

Landscape designers actively use Virginia junipers to decorate gardens: they go well with both coniferous plants and deciduous flowers, trees and shrubs.

Moreover, Virginia juniper has an indispensable quality for landscape decoration: it is an evergreen plant, the appearance of which remains unchanged at any time of the year.

It is best to purchase Virginia juniper to decorate your area in special nurseries, where all the detailed information about the plant and the rules for caring for it will be available.

Varieties of juniper virginiana

On average, there are more than 70 varieties of juniper virginiana, most of which are actively grown in Russia. The shape, size and color of each variety are varied and unique, which allows the shrub to be used to create decorative compositions.

Almost all plant varieties quickly recover after cutting and shaping.

Juniper virginiana Kanaherti

Virginian juniper Canaertii (Juniperus virginiana Сanaertii) is the most popular representative of columnar or pyramidal shapes with upward-pointing branches. The tree's shoots are short, with ends hanging down. At 30 years old it reaches more than 5 meters in height. Young shoots of the tree have green, scaly needles, which become needle-shaped with age. The fruits of the plant are large, blue-white in color.

The Kanaerti variety is a light-loving plant (the tree tolerates shade only when young), capable of growing in almost any soil.

Juniper virginiana Glauka

Juniperus virginiana Glauca (Juniperus fastigiata Glauca) is a slender tree 5 - 6 m high with a narrow conical or columnar crown shape, the diameter of which is 2 - 2.5 m. The growth rate of the plant is fast, up to about 20 cm per year.

Juniperus virginiana Glauka is characterized by thick shoots that grow evenly.The branches of the tree are directed upward, forming an acute angle with the trunk. Over time, the juniper crown gradually becomes loose.

The Glauka variety has small, blue-green colored needles, which become bronze with the onset of frost. On the branches of juniper you can see a large number of fruits - rounded cones of a whitish-gray color, the diameter of which is 0.6 cm.

To prevent the plant from losing its rich color, it is recommended to grow the tree in sunny areas without stagnant moisture in the soil. The Glauka variety also has a high level of winter hardiness and is undemanding when it comes to planting soil.

The main advantage of this variety is considered to be its rapid adaptability to cutting and shaping. Landscape designers actively use the plant as a tapeworm on the lawn, as well as for decorating walking alleys and creating hedges.

Juniperus virginiana Golden Spring

Juniperus virginiana Golden Spring is an evergreen dwarf shrub with a spreading, cushion-shaped crown. The shoots of the plant are located at an angle, due to which the crown takes the shape of a hemisphere. Juniper has scaly needles of a golden hue, which over time acquire a bright green color. The Golden Spring variety is not picky about soil and shows its decorative qualities best in sunny planting areas.

Before planting the shrub, it is important to lay a drainage layer of sand and broken bricks at the bottom of the planting hole.

Gold Spring juniper needs moderate watering and sprinkling during the hot period. It is also resistant to cold and severe frost.

Juniper virginiana Skyrocket

Juniper virginiana Skyrocket (Skyrocket) is a tall plant – about 8 m – with a dense, columnar-shaped crown, 0.5 - 1 m in diameter. The shrub grows upward, with an increase of 20 cm per year. The growth of the plant in width is insignificant: 3 - 5 cm per year.

Juniper branches, tightly located to the trunk, extend upward. The Skyrocket variety is characterized by hard, scaly, bluish-green needles, as well as round, bluish-colored fruits.

Juniper Skyrocket has a tap root system, which significantly increases the level of wind resistance of the plant. It does not tolerate shaded spaces, germinates well and develops only in sunny areas, is resistant to gas pollution in large cities, and has a high level of tolerance to cold and frost.

Juniper virginiana Pendula

Juniper Pendula has a snake-like curved trunk, and in some cases - 2 - 3 trunks. A tree of this variety has thin skeletal branches that grow unevenly in different directions, bend in an arc away from the trunk, and then hang sharply down. The height of an adult plant is about 2 m, and the diameter of the crown is 1.5 - 3 m. Young juniper needles have a green, slightly bluish tint, and with age they acquire a rich bright green color. The fruits of the Pendula variety are round in shape, 5 - 8 mm in diameter.

Young cone berries can be identified by their light green color, while ripe berries take on a blue tint with a bluish, waxy coating. The most optimal place for planting the plant is sunny places with little access to shade. It grows well on breathable, fertile soil without stagnant moisture.It is actively used to create single or group plantings in parks, squares and gardens. The Pendula variety can often be found as a hedge.

Juniper virginiana Tripartita

Juniperus virginiana variety Tripartita is a low shrub with a voluminous, dense, spreading crown. The height of the plant in adulthood is 3 m with a crown diameter of 1 m. This variety is characterized by a rapid growth rate in width (with an annual increase of up to 20 cm), which is why the shrub requires space for normal growth and development. The shrub is characterized by scaly and needle-shaped needles of green color.

The fruits of the Tripartit variety are round, fleshy gray-blue poisonous cones.

The shrub actively grows and develops in bright spaces, tolerates partial shade, as well as severe frosts in winter.

It is used both for decorating coniferous and mixed groups, and for single planting on the lawn.

Juniper virginiana Gray Owl

Juniperus virginiana Gray Owl is an evergreen low-growing shrub with a flat, spreading crown.

The height of an adult plant is 2 - 3 m, with a crown diameter of 5 to 7 m. It has an average growth rate with an annual increase of ten centimeters in height and twenty centimeters in width. The branches are horizontal and slightly raised. At the base of the branches there are needle-like needles, and at the ends of the shoots they are scaly, gray-blue or greenish. The length of the needles is 0.7 cm.

The shrub recovers well even after heavy pruning and tolerates hot periods well with regular spraying.

Juniper virginiana Helle

Young shrubs of the Helle variety have a columnar crown shape, which becomes wide-pyramidal with age.

An adult plant reaches about 6 - 7 m in height. Juniper needles are needle-shaped, with a rich, juicy green color.

It is undemanding to the planting site and grows well in soil moderately saturated with nutrients. Among all varieties of Virginian juniper, the Hele variety is characterized by almost the highest level of frost resistance.

Juniperus virginiana Blue Cloud

Juniperus virginiana Blue Cloud is a perennial plant, one of the most popular varieties in Russia due to its high level of frost resistance. The needles are scaly, with a bluish-gray tint. The culture is undemanding to lighting and grows well in both sunny and shaded areas. The crown has a spreading shape. The annual growth of juniper virginiana Blue Cloud is 10 cm.

When replanting shrubs, it is especially important to provide slightly moist soil, since the development of the plant in too moist soil can be significantly impaired.

Planting soil for the Blue Cloud variety should be rich in peat.

Juniperus virginiana Spartan

Juniperus virginiana Spartan (Spartan) is an ornamental coniferous shrub with a columnar, candle-shaped crown. An adult plant reaches a height of 3 to 5 m and a width of up to 1.2 m. It is characterized by a slow growth rate with annual growth of up to 17 cm in height and up to 4 cm in width. The needles of the plant are soft, with a light green tint. The shoots are located vertically.

The variety is undemanding to the soil; planting can be done on any fertile soil - both acidic and alkaline.The shrub develops better in sunny places and tolerates light shading. Used in single and group plantings, hedges, and also in combination with roses - to decorate alpine slides.

The culture prefers sunny areas and tolerates slight shading. Suitable for planting in single and group plantings, as hedges, decorates alpine hills and looks great with roses.

You can find out more information about the varieties of juniper virginiana and the main rules of care from the video:

Planting and caring for juniper virginiana

Juniperus virginiana is a rather picky plant. However, when growing even such an easy-to-maintain shrub, it is important to remember the main rules of care.

Preparing seedlings and planting area

It would be optimal to purchase young seedlings in containers. Replanting an adult shrub will require professional gardening skills.

Juniperus virginiana is often grown in the ground, and digging is carried out along with a clod of earth for sale. Plants grown in containers are also sold.

The most optimal period for planting the plant will be spring (April-May) and autumn (October). If the seedlings have a closed root system, they can be replanted at any time of the year, it is only important to shade the area and provide the plant with regular watering.

For the light-loving juniper virginiana, the best option would be a spacious, well-lit place with loamy or sandy loam soil rich in nutrients. If the soil is clayey and heavy, a special mixture of garden soil, sand, peat and coniferous soil is added to the hole.Before planting the shrub, it is necessary to drain the soil by covering the bottom of the planting hole with broken bricks or sand. Juniperus virginiana tolerates dry periods well, but stagnation of moisture in the ground can be detrimental to the plant.

You should not plant a shrub next to climbing flowers, as this can seriously affect its condition: the plant will lose its decorative qualities and will gradually turn sickly and lethargic.

After planting, you should mulch the soil near the trunk with the addition of wood shavings from other conifers, as well as water the plant right to the root.

Landing rules

Composition of the soil mixture for planting juniper virginiana:

• 2 parts of turf land;
• 2 parts humus;
• 2 parts peat;
• 1 part sand.

You should also add 150 - 200 g of Kemira-station wagon and 250 - 300 g of Nitrophoska to the soil for active growth of the bush.

The size of the planting hole directly depends on the size of the seedling itself, and its depth is approximately 2 - 3 shovel bayonets. These parameters are also influenced by the size of the root system: for medium-sized species, the size of the hole can be 40 by 60 cm, and for larger ones - 60 by 80, respectively. Shrubs must be planted quickly to prevent the roots from drying out, but very carefully so as not to harm the young roots. Having planted juniper in open soil, the plant should be watered abundantly and protected from direct sunlight. The planting density is influenced by the type of landscape composition, and the plants themselves should be located from 0.5 to 2 m from each other.

Watering and fertilizing

It is very important to provide young juniper virginian seedlings with regular but moderate watering.Adult plants tolerate drought much better: they should be watered infrequently, depending on the heat (2 - 4 times a month).

During the hot period of the year, you need to spray the plant: 2 times every 10 days, in the evening and in the morning. From April to May, a dose of Nitroammofoska should be applied to each bush: 35 - 40 g per 1 sq. m. m.

After planting, the soil around the tree needs to be fertilized with peat, wood chips or pine bark. It is best to fertilize at the initial stage of the growing season (April-May). It is recommended to fertilize the soil from time to time with Kemira-universal (20 g per 10 l).

Mulching and loosening

From time to time it is necessary to carry out shallow loosening of the earth around the juniper trunk and remove all weeds.
Loosening and mulching the soil around young seedlings should be carried out immediately after watering and removing all weeds. Mulching with peat, wood chips or sawdust (layer 5 - 8 cm) is carried out immediately after planting, and for especially heat-loving varieties - in winter.

Pruning juniper virginiana

Pruning of juniper virginiana is usually carried out when creating hedges or other landscape compositions; under natural conditions, the plant does not require pruning of branches.

Gardeners also use pruning to give the shrub a fuller crown shape, but caution should be exercised here: one wrong move can degrade the plant's appearance for a long time.

Once every few months, you can carefully trim the protruding ends of stray branches.

Preparing for winter

In winter, the juniper crown can sag under strong pressure from the snow cover. To prevent this from happening, the crown of the tree must be tightly tied in the fall.Some varieties of juniper virginiana are sensitive to spring daily temperature fluctuations, so by the end of February they need protection from intense sun.

Sunburn leads to the appearance of a brownish-yellow shade of needles and loss of decorative characteristics. To prevent the plant’s needles from losing their brightness in winter, it must be properly watered, fertilized in the spring, and regularly sprayed with microfertilizers.

Among all the options for covering juniper, the following can be distinguished:

1. Throwing snow over conifer branches. The method is well suited for miniature and creeping forms.
2. Spruce branches attached to the branches of a plant in the form of tiers.
3. Woven or non-woven materials. Gardeners wrap the plant with burlap, two layers of craft paper, and light-colored cotton fabric and secure it with a rope, without covering the bottom of the crown.
4. Screen. It needs to be installed on the most illuminated side of the bush.

Reproduction of Virginian juniper Juniperus Virginiana

Sometimes obtaining decorative forms of shrubs using seeds can be quite problematic. This is due to the fact that not all seeds can germinate.

Cuttings

Gardeners recommend using the option of propagating juniper virginiana by cuttings: in the spring they are cut 5-8 cm from the young shoots of the plant, each of them contains up to 2 internodes and a small fragment of the bark of the mother branch. The planting material must be pre-treated with a root formation stimulator.

Planting is done in soil mixed with peat, humus and sand in equal parts. The top of the soil is sprinkled with coarse sand up to 5 cm. A glass container is used as a cover for each cutting.The cuttings are planted to a depth of 1.5 - 2 cm.

The root system of the plant begins to develop in the fall, it is grown for another 1 - 1.5 years before transplanting to a permanent place.

From seeds

Before germinating the seeds of juniper virginiana shrubs, they must be treated with cold for a faster growth rate. The seeds are placed in boxes with soil mixture and taken outside for storage for up to 5 months. Seeds are sown in beds from May.

In some species of juniper virginiana, the seeds have a fairly dense shell. Their germination can be accelerated by exposing the shell to acid or by mechanically disrupting its structure. For example, the seeds are rubbed between two boards covered with sanding material, after which they are placed 3 - 4 cm deep in the ground. Caring for the crops is quite simple: it is necessary to mulch the beds, provide regular watering and protection from active sun in the first one and a half to two weeks. When the seedlings are 3 years old, they are allowed to be transplanted to a permanent place.

Diseases and pests

The most common disease for juniper virginiana is a fungal disease, due to which fusiform thickenings appear on parts of the plant, the root collar swells, the bark dries and crumbles, forming open wounds. Branches affected by diseases die over time, the needles turn brown and quickly fall off. In the later stages of the disease, the bush dies.

If a juniper is infected with a fungal disease, you must immediately cut off all infected branches and disinfect open wounds with a 1% solution of iron sulfate and cover them with garden varnish. Cut branches should be burned.

In addition to fungal disease, juniper virginiana may suffer from bark necrosis or Alternaria blight, but the treatment method for such diseases is completely identical.

The main pests of juniper virginiana are considered to be moths, aphids, spider mites and scale insects. Shrub spraying products, which can be purchased in specialized stores, will help protect the plant.

Conclusion

Photos and descriptions of Virginia juniper indicate the highly decorative nature of the crop, thanks to which it is actively used by designers to decorate the territory and create landscape compositions. The plant is unpretentious in care, has a high level of winter hardiness and is ready to delight with its beauty for a long time. It is important to remember the main rules for maintaining a shrub, to provide it with proper watering and regular maintenance: then the juniper will be able to reward it with its beauty and long growth.

Reviews of Juniperus virginiana

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