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One of the most popular ornamental ground cover plants is the Blue Chip juniper. It densely covers the soil with its shoots, forming a velvety, soft, green covering. At different times of the year, the coniferous leaves of this culture in the form of soft needles have a different color. Designers choose this variety of juniper for ennobling slopes, rockeries, creating coniferous compositions.
Description of Juniper Horizontal Blue Chip
Juniper of this species is a coniferous evergreen plant, belongs to the Cypress family. You can see it in the wild in the countries of the Northern Hemisphere (USA, UK, Canada); cultivated juniper takes root in almost any climate. Grows well on plains, mountain slopes, on the shores of small bodies of water.
Description of juniper bluechip: the shrub has dense dense needles of ash gray or blue color. In the fall, it turns purple, in the spring - bright green. Long shoots, more than 1 m, growing horizontally, densely cover the soil. The stems are densely covered with long, soft needles (1 to 5 mm in length), which exude a characteristic aroma. Narrow leaves in the form of needles are not smooth, but scaly, which creates a velvety texture of the crown of the bush. This description of the Blue Chip juniper fully corresponds to the following photo:
Blue Chip is appreciated not only for its high decorative qualities, but also for its ability to flavor and purify the air. The culture takes root well in cities with high air pollution. In autumn, berries appear on the Blue Chip juniper bushes in the form of small, blue, spherical fruits. They rarely appear on ornamental shrubs. They are considered curative, used in folk medicine.
Juniper Blue Chip Sizes
This is a small shrub, the shoots of which spread along the ground. It reaches a height of about half a meter. The crown of juniper juniperushorizontalisbluechip grows up to 1.5 m in diameter. Growing up, coniferous shoots evenly cover the soil surface with a blue-gray carpet. The bush spreads mainly horizontally, practically does not grow in height.
Blue Chip Juniper Annual Growth
Blue shrub shoots can grow up to 10 cm per year. To obtain a dense, decorative, plant cover of the site, up to a dozen or more seedlings of this culture are planted.
Frost resistance of juniper horizontal Blue Chip
The homeland of this plant is North America and Canada, a frost-hardy shrub. Only young seedlings in the first year after planting need shelter for the winter.
Juniper Blue Chip in landscape design
The shrub is used in coniferous compositions with thuja, spruce, juniper bush species, in flower beds to emphasize the beauty of flowering plants. Coniferous mixborders have a great advantage over other decorative compositions: they look presentable all year round.
The horizontal juniper Blue Chip looks great in compositions with the use of large decorative stones (rockeries). Glades, hills, flower beds covered with a thick juniper carpet look spectacular, especially near water bodies. Horizontal junipers are planted along garden paths and walls of buildings in the form of a curb. Such a low fence looks good all year round, does not lose its shape. Blue-gray greens look good against gray walls.
Planting and caring for juniper horizontal Blue Chip
In order for an ornamental plant to have a beautiful appearance, to retain its qualities for a long time, you should choose the right place for planting it. This culture is sun-loving; it will not grow in the shade. A juniper seedling can be purchased at any ornamental plant nursery. When buying a Blue Chip juniper, you should pay attention to the condition of the root and shoots.
It should be a seedling with a well-developed root system and several shoots of the current code, densely covered with needles. The presence of yellow or white spots on the needles is unacceptable. Shoots should be flexible, not overdried. The root of the seedling is kept closed in a plastic pot or container until planting. Do not allow the earthen coma to dry out around the root system.
Seedling and planting plot preparation
To plant the Blue Chip juniper in the garden, choose an area free from other plants, well lit by the sun. You can root the culture in partial shade. The soil is chosen moderately moist, sour. Excess moisture or soil salting is destructive for the culture. To avoid this, a sufficiently thick layer of drainage is laid out in the planting pit. Bushes are planted at a distance of 2 m from each other. This will allow the horizontal Blue Chip juniper to grow according to the crown diameter.
Landing rules
Planting is done in spring, late March or early April, and also in autumn, while it is warm. The planting hole is made in size, 2 times the size of the juniper root. A layer of expanded clay is laid out at the bottom of the pit. It will serve as a drainage base. After the hole is half filled with nutrient soil: turf, peat, sand. These ingredients are taken in equal parts. If the soils are acidic, you do not need to add peat.
Subsequent landing technology:
- The pit filled with soil is filled with water.
- As soon as the liquid is absorbed, the root of the plant is lowered into the planting hole, as carefully as possible, trying to keep the earthen lump intact.
- After the rhizome is covered with fluffy earth and tamped.
Watering and feeding
In summer, the plant is watered once a week regularly, in spring and autumn - twice a month. You cannot fill the juniper with water. Watering should be moderate, no more than 10 liters under one bush. The first time Blue Chip juniper is watered immediately after planting or transplanting.
Top dressing is carried out 1 time in summer, autumn and spring. It can be nitrogen, phosphate and organic fertilizers. It is good to use for these purposes special fertilizing for conifers with the addition of potassium.
Mulching and loosening
Before and after watering, the soil must be loosened. This will relieve the roots of the juniper from moisture stagnation, increase air exchange. Loosening is carried out carefully, trying not to damage the roots of the bush.
As soon as the water after irrigation is well absorbed, the trunk circle is covered under a layer (5 cm) of spruce, sawdust, and needles. This will keep the life-giving moisture at the root of the plant and reduce the amount of watering.If the soil is not alkaline enough, mulching is done with pine bark.
Pruning Juniper Blue Chip
This procedure is carried out in early spring. They simply remove old, dried branches, freeing up space for the growth of young shoots. The tips of the plants that have frozen over the winter should also be cut off.
Preparing for winter
The horizontal Blue Chip juniper plant is covered for the winter only in the first year after planting. The near-trunk circle is mulched with a thick layer of sawdust (at least 10 cm), the crown is covered with branches of coniferous trees. Juniper Blue Chip older than 1 year is not afraid of frost in winter and does not need shelter.
Horizontal Blue Chip Juniper Reproduction
For propagation of this culture, layering or cuttings are used. Rooting by layering is an easy way to propagate a juniper. They choose strong, healthy processes, bend them to the ground and secure them with staples. The soil is pre-loosened, fertilized, and a little sand is added. After about six months, the shoot will take root. After that, it is separated from the mother plant and planted separately.
Propagation by cuttings is a more complicated method. In early spring, before bud break, strong shoots are selected and cut into small twigs 12 cm in length. Then, using a knife, one edge is cleaned from the bark and the cutting is lowered into a mixture of sand and peat. The seedling is watered regularly. The room temperature should not fall below + 20 С 20. As soon as the sprout takes root, it is rooted in the ground during the warm season.
Diseases and Pests of Juniper Horizontal Blue Chip
This ornamental culture is susceptible to attacks by garden pests: aphids, scale insects, spider mites. To prevent their appearance, juniper bushes are sprayed with insecticides in early spring, again in summer.
Also, Blue Chip juniper can be affected by root rot and rust. If the plant begins to wither, dry, various spots appear on the surface of the shoots, I treat the bush with fungicides. Bordeaux liquid is an effective remedy for fungal diseases. After processing the crown of the plant with chemicals, fertilizers are applied under the root. This will strengthen the culture after illness.
Conclusion
The Blue Chip Juniper is an unpretentious ornamental crop suitable for growing in any climate. The shrub tolerates drought and frost well. Such a juniper does not require special care. It looks good in all seasons, even in winter it is able to decorate the garden. Its high decorative qualities have received many awards at international exhibitions of plant crops used in landscape design.
Testimonials
Connoisseurs of ornamental plants have received only positive reviews for the horizontal Blue Chip juniper. Plant breeders like it for its unpretentiousness and beautiful view even in winter.
