Meet the wonderful varieties of Chinese juniper
Conifers have traditionally been used in gardening art in China, Korea, and Japan. Native species, including the Chinese juniper, became available to European gardeners and quickly gained popularity. Read about juniper horizontal!
Description of Chinese juniper
At first, rather soft needles are no more than 3 mm, then, as the shoot matures, the length increases to 12 mm. They lag behind the wood, become stiffer, each of them has a pair of light, almost white stripes. Like all junipers, it comes from China and other regions of the Far East, it is distinguished by unhurried growth and rare fruiting. Dark blue cones covered with a dense layer of bluish bloom with 2-3 seeds inside in this species may have a round or elongated shape, different sizes, but always ripen in the second year after emergence.
In the Chinese juniper, not only the berries are changeable, but also the plants themselves. In nature, these are large trees with a pyramidal crown up to 20 meters high, and creeping shrubs with thin shoots up to 2.5 mm in diameter and no more than half a meter high.
Descriptions of popular varieties of Chinese juniper
The variability of culture, its unpretentiousness, high decorativeness and adaptability made the Chinese juniper one of the favorite plants among bonsaists. This type is no less in demand in landscape design. In the catalogs of nurseries and breeding companies today there are about 50 different varieties of this juniper.
Juniper Chinese Blue Alps (Blue Alps)
The Blue Alps Chinese juniper variety is one of the most common varieties of this evergreen ephedra. A plant with bluish-green needles in adulthood forms a bush with a height of 2 to 4 meters. However, it will take a long time for a juniper to reach this size. A dense, spreading crown with perennial gray or silvery needles is decorated with drooping young shoots. Only by the age of 10, the shrub grows to a height of 2 meters with a crown diameter of about one and a half meters.
In the middle lane, the Blue Alps juniper is relatively winter-hardy. With a lack of snow and severe frosts, bald spots and brown needles are noticeable on its branches in spring. For planting shrubs, you need to choose areas with the expectation of the future growth of the seedling. The plant looks good as a dominant among low-growing crops, can be useful in group plantings, serve as a decorative background for flowering perennials.
Juniper Chinese Stricta (Stricta)
This juniper variety will never get lost among the ornamental shrubs in the garden. According to the description and photo of juniper Chinese Strict, this plant has a dense cone-shaped crown, consisting of dense branches directed upwards. Shoots are covered with green-blue, and in winter silver-gray thorny needles. Adult plants bear fruit, forming many rounded bluish-purple berries.
Culture, like its closest relatives, is durable.With minimal maintenance and the right place in the garden, the juniper can live up to 100 years of age. But due to its slow growth, such a Stricta juniper shrub will only grow to a height of 2–2.5 meters. This property of the plant is used in landscape design and landscaping. Plants take root in small house plots and even in containers.
Juniper Chinese Stricta Variegata
In nature, many spontaneous plant mutations often go unnoticed. Breeders, carefully observing the "population" of the nursery, can detect and fix interesting changes in the appearance of their green pets in time. Thanks to such a mutation, it was possible to obtain decorative juniper varieties with variegated, unevenly colored needles.
The juniper variety of the Chinese Stricta Variegat fully corresponds to the description of the plants of the Strictta variety, with the exception of one. In this case, adult thorny needles of a silvery-green hue coexist with areas of yellowish-golden, creamy or light yellow-green needles.
Like its silvery ancestor, such a bright shrub easily inhabits dry, poor nutrition or calcareous soils, but does not feel well in the shade, where the sunny shade of the needles fades, and the plant itself looks depressed.
Juniper Chinese Mint Julep (Mint Julep)
Mint Julep is a cocktail based on spirits and bright green mint syrup. The juniper of the Chinese Mint Julep, named after the original drink, has an incredibly fresh color of needles and a luxurious crown of a spreading shape. An adult shrub with a crown width of up to 3.5 meters can reach a height of 2 meters. The shoots forming a spectacular bush, as they grow, bend and take the form of wide arcs.
In the garden, it is better for this plant to find a place in the sun and take into account that the crown spreads in breadth over the years, therefore, neighboring crops are planted at a distance. The shrub will adorn rocky hills, coniferous gardens and a bright backdrop for spring primroses.
Juniper Chinese Kuriwao Gold (Kuriwao Gold)
The main advantage of the Chinese juniper Kurivao Gold is a sprawling crown about 1.5-3 meters high as if penetrated with light. The plant owes this effect to the densely covering branches of scaly needles of yellow and green shades. At the ends of the shoots, golden tones are most noticeable and make the entire shrub unusually bright and decorative.
A variety with an average annual growth of about 15 cm, suitable for planting as the only decoration in a corner of the garden, as well as in the group of woody or herbaceous perennials. On the basis of plants of this variety, you can form bonsai... It should be borne in mind that the variegated color of the needles remains in the light. In the shade, ordinary green colors begin to prevail.
In the spring, the Chinese juniper Kuriwao Gold needs shading, otherwise young shoots and greenery may dry out.
Juniper Chinese Spartan (Spartan)
This juniper variety was obtained in the largest American nursery Monrovia in 1960. The plant with a dense pyramidal crown formed by vertically directed branches grows to 6 meters in height and about 2 meters in diameter. Green needles have a predominantly scaly appearance, although longer needle-like greens can also be seen on perennial shoots.
Due to the high density of the crown and the growth not exceeding 15 cm per year, the plants of the Chinese juniper Spartan are excellent for forming.
Among the cultivated varieties of the Chinese juniper, this variety can be recognized as one of the most winter-hardy. Therefore, shrubs of a characteristic pyramidal shape are planted not only in private gardens, but also in squares are used for landscaping park areas and public places.
Juniper Chinese Old Gold (Old Gold)
The graceful and unpretentious juniper of the Chinese Old Gold is real gold on the site.The Dutch variety with a dense squat crown of a beautiful light green or yellow-green hue, at 10 years of age, has a height of 50 cm and a diameter of about a meter. The maximum height of the shrub is 150 cm, the crown width is twice as large. The needles, densely covering the shoots, are predominantly in the form of scales.
To maintain the brightness of color and shape, the plant needs regular shaping and plenty of sunlight. A juniper with a compact size and a capricious disposition gets along in group plantings, it looks great solo, it can grow in a container.
Juniper Chinese Expansa Variegata
An evergreen shrub with creeping shoots covered with bluish green needles and milky white needles. Contrasting areas of different shades give the small plant an incredibly decorative unusual appearance. Juniper Chinese Ekspansa Variegata is one of the smallest varieties of this species. The height of an adult bush does not exceed 30 - 50 cm. Since the main growth is in the horizontal direction, the diameter of the squat crown reaches one and a half meters or more.
An unpretentious ground cover plant winters well under a snow shelter, but in spring it needs protection from the bright sun and ice crust. Due to spring dryness, the bark suffers, unsightly brown spots and dead areas may appear on the crown.