Scaly Juniper comes from China. In natural conditions, it is an evergreen shrub reaching a height of one and a half meters. This plant has many garden forms.
It is very popular because of its winter hardiness, low
soil fertility and resistance to urban conditions. Scaly juniper is recommended for landscaping rock gardens. He has silver-blue needles. This branchy dense shrub grows at an average rate. Juniper is a dioecious representative of the cypress family. He has black and shiny pine cones, needles up to 0.8 centimeters long, located three in whorls. In addition to its decorative properties, scaly juniper also has medicinal uses: in medicine, its fruits are used - cones.
Care and reproductionThe root system of this plant is located on the surface of the soil. In addition, squamous juniper is exposed to strong winds, so it is usually planted in closed places: at fences, next to other, higher plants. Good growth is observed in the sun or in a light shade, in the complete absence of light, the color of the needles noticeably fades. Scaly juniper withstands both high temperature and winter cold, it is not demanding on the composition of air or water. The soil under it needs to be drained as much as possible. If desired, the bushes can be subjected to strong pruning, after which they will be restored again in a matter of days. Such a haircut contribute to the formation of a dense crown. Flake juniper propagates by cuttings or by planting seeds in loose soils. Rooting and engraftment are quite lengthy processes, sometimes lasting up to two years. Copies grown by cuttings have the best decorative qualities, they have a denser crown and dark color of needles.
VarietiesThe most popular are such varieties as scaly juniper "Holger", Blue Carpet, Blue Star, "Meyeri", etc. They all have bluish needles, with the exception of only Golden Flame, which has an original motley yellowish color, which, in fact, is due to its name.
The scaly juniper "Meyeri" is popular with landscape design specialists. It gives an increase of about 10 centimeters per year, and on its straight, with short branches, shoots, during the period of intensive growth, the tips of a bluish-silver color hang down. Very darkly on this shrub look its dark blue-cone berries covered with a waxy coating. This variety is used to create bonsai. Thanks to the mutation of this variety, no less interesting garden forms of juniper appeared, such as Blue Carpet, which is a wide, fast-growing creeping shrub. It is recommended to grow in containers on the streets, roofs of houses. Another variety - Blue Star - is used to strengthen slopes, as well as when arranging borders and alpine hills.
ApplicationCreeping juniper varieties are ideal for arranging original lawn borders. For rockeries, the lowest species are convenient, which are photophilous and fit perfectly into the rocky landscape. Equipping your garden space, you need to remember that not all plants can withstand the neighborhood with juniper. Roses, clematis and peonies can begin to have problems if they grow closer than two meters. With heather or rhododendron, juniper, on the contrary, is in a very harmonious relationship. When pruning and shaping the bush, care should be taken: gloves must be used, since juniper juice, when exposed to unprotected skin, sometimes has an irritating effect due to the content of toxic substances. Children should not be allowed to collect beautiful cones in order to avoid poisoning.