An interesting plant with a dense oval or cone-shaped crown, called juniper, found in the polar zone, forests of temperate latitudes and subtropical mountainous regions of the northern hemisphere, remains a mystery to many.
What is juniper, is it a tree or a shrub? To understand this issue, to learn all about the plant, its types and forms, this article will help.
Genus features
In the genus of junipers from the cypress family, there are almost 60 plant species that differ significantly from each other. Is juniper a shrub or a tree? The coniferous shrub is recognized as the official form, the forms of which can be very different. Their height varies from 0.2 to 5-8 m, sometimes juniper grows to 8-10 m. It all depends on the type, place and growing conditions. It is this height that prompts you to ask the question: is juniper a tree or a shrub?
Like many representatives of the cypress family, juniper, or heather, as it is also called, lives an amazingly long time. 200, 600 and even 800 years for different species is considered normal. In the southern regions, plants are even older.
Juniper is a tree or shrub with evergreen foliage. Leaves in it may be scaly or resemble trihedral needles. They have a persistent pleasant aroma, noticeably enhanced after rain or in the sun. The flowers of heather are inconspicuous, and the ripening fruits, cones of the bluish-blue color, are attractive and interesting in that they ripen in the 2nd year after flowering.
Application
Juniper (tree or bush) has a high decorative value. The plant has gained immense popularity among gardeners. Designers emphasize its good compatibility, especially of dwarf and creeping species, with heather, decorative and wild-growing ground cover crops. They are used in group and solitary landings when creating stone gardens - rock gardens or rockeries. Tall varieties are indispensable in the construction of tapeworms and hedges.
Besides decorative, quite practical qualities of the plant are appreciated, since it “holds” the soil, preventing erosion, which is important if the site is located on a slope.
Is juniper a tree or a shrub? Juniper Species
Common heather - a strictly vertical, evergreen dioecious shrub with an oval crown or a tree with a dense cone of foliage from 2 to 8 meters high, lives up to 200 years.
Its features are slow growth, a fibrous brownish-colored trunk and stiff bluish-green trihedral needles. This species is extremely photophilous. Planted in the shade, it thins and loses the decorativeness inherent in all representatives of the cypress family. With the advent of winter, some varieties of this hardy and frost-resistant species change the color of needles to gray-brown. Fruits
ordinary juniper begins with 10-12 years of age.
Varieties of heather ordinary
• Hibernica - a compact, cone-shaped bush up to 4 m high and a crown diameter of up to 1.2 m. The needles are grayish-green. In winter, the crown of this variety is pulled together with a hemp rope, because snowfalls can ruin the bush.
• Green Carpet - a winter - hardy creeping shrub, low (up to 0.3 m), but sprawling, with a crown diameter of up to 1.5 m and thick green needles.
• Hornibrookii - a creeping coniferous shrub with a domed crown up to 0.8 m tall, capable of covering large areas. It has an attractive light green needles, tolerates pruning well.
• Meyer - columnar and cone-shaped vertical compact bush with openwork greenish-silver needles up to 5 m high and up to 1.5 m in diameter.
• Repanda - a coniferous, flat shrub that visually forms a dark green rug. It grows to 0.5 m in height and grows a crown with a diameter of up to 2 m. It is used as a good groundcover.
Juniper tree
This is a shrub or tree that combines in the crown both types of leaves - needle and scaly. Very hardy and frost-resistant plant with a deep branched root system, able to tolerate abnormally high temperatures. Initially, scaly leaves planted in the shade or undergoing a cardinal pruning of Chinese juniper are converted to needles. This species develops well exclusively in sunny areas, loses its attractiveness in the shade, dropping foliage, but quickly adapts to any drained soil. Visually similar to cypress, Chinese heather successfully replaces it in mid-latitude plantings.
Growing
Juniper (is it a tree or shrub) is a long-lived, drought-tolerant plant. Of all species, only the ordinary can develop in a slightly shaded place, the rest are very fond of the sun and are not afraid of burns. He does not tolerate heresy and oppression from higher brethren.
By the composition of the soil and the level of its fertility, all junipers are undemanding. Excessive soil fertilizer can even damage the plant - it will lose its typical crown shape. Dwarf and creeping species tolerate pruning well, but the extreme susceptibility to urban gas pollution does not make it possible to fully use the decorativeness of the plant.
Care
Caring arrangements are important for such a plant as juniper (this is a tree or shrub, everything depends on its height). Their decorativeness and healthy appearance often serve as the hallmark of the site. These cultures are responsive to care. They need moderate watering, periodic weeding and loosening. After planting, it is advisable to mulch the plot with wood chips, sawdust or peat. Sanitary pruning is carried out in early spring, removing the bare branches. Since juniper is a cone-shaped tree or shrub, it is tied for winter to prevent loss of decorativeness.