Juniper Shlyager (Juniperus conferta Schlager) is a popular dwarf variety with interesting bluish needles. Japan is considered its homeland, as well as the Far Eastern island of Sakhalin. This shrub is not demanding to care for, it is quite cold-resistant and very decorative.
Juniper coastal Schlyager
Brief information about the variety
- Needle color: green with a bluish stripe.
- Height: 20-40 cm.
- Crown width: 1.5 m.
- In which regions is it growing: recommended for warmer areas (where the temperature does not drop below -27-28 °)
- Landing features: in a sunny place or in partial shade.
- Immunity: tall.
- Life span: up to 300 years and more.
Description of the plant
Juniper coastal Shlyager is a low-growing variety, reaches a height of 20-40 cm, grows up to 1.5 m wide. The crown is spreading, with creeping shoots.
The needles are needle-like, small, with a waxy bloom, collected in beautiful whorls like stars. Its rich green color is complemented by a bluish stripe on top. Dark blue cone berries appear in the fifth year of life (you cannot eat them).
Growing regions
This shrub is resistant to temporary frosts, but with prolonged frosts it can freeze slightly. It is recommended to grow it in a frost resistance zone of 5 and warmer.
In Russia, these conditions are met by Moscow and the Moscow region, St. Petersburg, Voronezh, Bryansk, Saratov regions, as well as other regions of the middle zone.
Landing
Seedlings with a closed root system take root more successfully, so when buying it is better to choose plants in a container or with an earthen lump wrapped in burlap.
The soil in the pot should be moist, and the shoots should be green and firm, with the growth of the current year.
You should not buy a juniper with dry twigs or roots, crumbling needles, damage on the trunk, dark or white spots.
Landing place
The plant is light-loving. Prefers to grow in the sun or partial shade. It should be planted in well-drained soil.
The rest of the shrub is unpretentious - both slightly acidic and slightly alkaline soils are suitable for it.
Landing technology
The planting pit should be spacious enough - one and a half times the size of an earthen coma. It is advisable to make a drainage layer 15-20 cm thick in it (especially on dense soils). For it, you can use sand, broken brick, expanded clay, pebbles.
Choose a healthy seedling for planting
The plant is placed in a hole and watered well (7-10 liters of water). The excavated earth is mixed with peat and sand in equal parts. The sapling is covered by compacting the soil. The root collar is left at ground level. Above the trunk circle is mulched.
Care
This variety is unpretentious, but responds to care and care gratefully. Regular watering, mulching, feeding and pruning allows you to grow a very beautiful ornamental shrub.
In addition, correct farming practices create good disease prevention.
Watering
At first, the seedling will need more moisture than in subsequent years. On average, it is watered once a week, focusing on the condition of the soil, avoiding excessive dryness and waterlogging.
An adult plant with regular rainfall needs 3-4 waterings per season. In the dry season, they are carried out more often - as needed.
The shrub reacts well to evening sprinkling - in hot summer they help to preserve the decorative effect of the needles.
Top dressing
Seedlings in containers are usually supplied with sustained release fertilizers - they do not need to be fed when planting. The next spring, complex mineral compositions for conifers are introduced into the soil, laying out the granules in the trunk circle.
In general, top dressing is done once a season, if necessary - twice (the second time - at the end of summer).
Mulching and loosening
Shallow loosening of the soil is carried out after watering in order to avoid crust formation (while weeds are weeded).
It is most convenient to mulch the trunk circle - with peat, needles, sawdust or wood chips. This will help reduce moisture evaporation and make maintenance much easier.
Pruning
This variety needs the most minimal formation - a little thinning or shortening of some shoots. But you can do without a haircut altogether - the crown of the bush has a natural decorative shape.
Sanitary pruning is usually done in early spring by removing dry, diseased, and damaged branches. If necessary, repeat it at the end of autumn.
Preparing for winter
Despite the good frost resistance, it is better to insulate the shrub with a thick peat layer (7-9 cm). In the spring, it is simply dug up in the trunk circle along with the decomposed fertilizer granules.
Young seedlings are covered with spruce branches or burlap for the winter; tightly tie the crown so that it does not deform the snow.
Reproduction
Juniper easily propagates by layering
According to the descriptions of gardeners, the Coastal Shlyager reproduces by seeds and vegetatively. The first method does not always allow preserving the characteristics of the variety, therefore the second is more often used. New seedlings are grown from cuttings or cuttings.
Cuttings are carried out in the spring, before the buds awaken: the shoot is cut off with a "heel", treated with a root formation stimulator and deepened in a nutrient substrate. The cuttings are placed in a greenhouse and await rooting for several months.
Reproduction by folding a part of the stem is a longer process, but less troublesome.
The branch on the parent bush is bent to the ground and secured with a staple or wire.
Previously, on a branch, you can clear a place from needles, make an incision and process with Kornevin.
The soil is periodically moistened and rooting is expected throughout the year. After the roots appear, the shoot is cut off and planted separately.
Diseases and pests
Ephedra is resistant to disease, but rust has been reported.
The main preventive measures are placing shrubs away from fruit and berry crops (on which the fungus develops), rationing soil moisture, spraying with Bordeaux liquid and copper sulfate. The affected parts of the plant must be removed and destroyed immediately.
Dangerous pests of juniper are scale insects, aphids, spider mites. Bushes need to be frequently inspected for the appearance of insects, and at the first sign, they should be treated with a solution of laundry soap with the addition of medical alcohol (10 mg per 1 liter).
In serious cases, it is necessary to use chemicals - insecticides and acaricides.
Use in landscape design
Due to its decorative effect and unpretentiousness to the conditions, the juniper is popular in landscape design.
It is often used in rocky gardens, rock gardens and flower gardens. The shrub is suitable for creating "living curbs" and lawns.
Container growing allows landscaping of terraces, balconies and small areas without planting land.
Plumb lines, slopes and retaining walls can be strengthened with an array of plants.
Coastal Shlyager looks great in mixborders, successfully combining with other conifers, deciduous and herbaceous species.
Juniper coastal Shlyager. Brief overview, description of characteristics of juniperus conferta Schlager
Juniper coastal "Blue Pacific" - video review from Greensad
Juniper horizontal in garden design.
Reviews
The opinions of gardeners about the Shlyager juniper are most often positive: it grows well with minimal care in almost any conditions, pleases with a lush crown, bright needles color and an unsurpassed aroma.
The plant rarely gets sick and tolerates winter calmly in temperate climates.
This variety is suitable even for beginners and those summer residents who, for a number of reasons, cannot regularly care for the plantings.