Juniper is one of the most popular plants that is often used in landscape design city parks, private plots and gardens. It has earned such love for its unpretentiousness in care, undemandingness to the soil and due to its high decorativeness. In addition, juniper has unusual property– disinfect the air in places where it grows. This happens thanks to the substances that it constantly releases - phytoncides. They have the excellent property of destroying pathogenic bacteria and fungi in the surrounding air.
Today there are a huge number of plant varieties, but the most common of them is the Cossack juniper, scientifically also called Juniperus sabina. In addition, there are other names of the plant - Cossack mozha, bloodgon, Don juniper. In its natural environment, it lives in steppes, rocky slopes, and sandy hills. Its distribution area is Asia, Europe (center and south), Russia (Siberian and Ural latitudes).
Description and characteristics of culture
In many ways, the description of the Cossack juniper coincides with the botanical characteristics of most creeping shrubs of this genus of coniferous, evergreen plants. 
The height of the bush reaches 1-1.5, it grows horizontally in relation to the ground level. Forms beautiful, lush thickets of branches covered with needles in the form of scales located on the stems like tiles. In younger plants, the coniferous cover is slightly different: it resembles green needles with a bluish coating. The peculiarity of this variety is considered to be the rather bright aroma that the shoots emit when crushed.
In addition to shrubs, the species also includes trees that do not grow above 4 m in height. Their trunks are twisted, and their bark is colored Brown color with a reddish tint. But they are quite rare; most often, Cossack juniper is represented by perennial shrubs.
Variety of plant varieties
Numerous varieties of Cossack juniper allow you to choose suitable variety, since their total number is about 70 variations. For example, Juniperus sabina, Rockery Jam and others. They are cold-resistant, do not require much care, tolerate drought well, and love well-lit areas. Their growth rate is quite high. By creating the necessary conditions for the plant, you can get a healthy, fluffy bush with spreading branches. He will delight you with his noble appearance for 30 years. An evergreen shrub will help you easily decorate your garden in an elegant and noble style for many years, and also provide a kind of “air purifier and disinfectant.”
Variety Arcadia
Ground cover juniper Cossack Arcadia– evergreen coniferous bush, decorating household lands throughout the year, as it almost never loses its high decorative value. Its shoots grow parallel to the ground. At the age of ten, the dimensions of the plant are 30 cm in height and 1 m in diameter. At a more mature age, its volume reaches its maximum value: height is 50-60 cm, and diameter is 4 meters.
Rules for planting juniper
Cossack juniper is highly respected by landscape designers, as it requires virtually no care. Prefers well-lit areas, but can also grow in partial shade. It is better to choose neutral or slightly acidic soil for it. Planting is carried out in deep holes, about 70 cm. Their volume should exceed the dimensions of the root system, taken together with a lump of earth, by two to three times. If the soil is heavy, then it is necessary to organize high-quality drainage. To do this, when planting, lay a thick layer of gravel (about 20 cm) at the bottom of the hole. For drainage, you can take brick broken to the size of gravel or coarse sand. The root neck should remain flush with the ground when planting.
Watering and covering are an important element of care
The main thing you should pay special attention to when caring for juniper is organizing proper watering. The fact is that Arcadia juniper reacts poorly to dry weather and dry air caused by heat. In hot weather, it must be watered, preferably by sprinkling.
Another nuance - shelter on winter period. In autumn, the root part of the bush is sprinkled with a layer of peat. Its thickness should be at least 10 cm. If the plants are very young, then they are completely covered, along with the shoots, using spruce “paws”.
Variety Rockerygem
Another variety that grows horizontally, Cossack juniper Rockerygem is an excellent choice for those who want a well-branched shrub with beautiful green (with a bluish tint) needles. It is prickly, thin, scaly, juicy in color. Forms small (5-7 mm) green cone-berries, the color of which gradually turns blue.
It grows quickly; per year its dense crown grows 20 cm in width and 2 cm in height. At the age of ten, the height of the bush will be about 20 cm, and the width will reach 2 m in diameter. Older shrubs are larger: their height is 50-80 cm, and their width can reach a maximum of 2.5 m. First, the shoots branch upward, spreading horizontally, then they begin to cover the ground, bending under their own weight . Although this variety does not make too high demands on the soil, it is advisable to select nutritious, well-drained and moist soil for it.
The peculiarity of the variety is that it can be planted in big cities, where industrial complexes are located, and the air is not characterized by high levels of cleanliness.
Juniper of the Rockerygem variety will take root well there and will withstand even significant pollution environment. Moreover, it will help improve the composition of the air by destroying harmful microorganisms and giving it a light spruce aroma.
Variety Tamariscifolia
Unlike the previous variety, Cossack juniper Tamariscifolia grows slowly. When he turns 10 years old, he grows up to 2 m in diameter and up to 30 cm in height.
The variety enjoys well-deserved respect in European countries. And this is not surprising, because its green needles with exquisite, gray coating, blue-green berry cones, as well as its small size, make it an attractive crop for planting in rock gardens around garden ponds, along the paths. Its needles saturate the air with a pleasant juniper scent, which not only perfectly refreshes the garden, but also protects the health of its owner.
The juniper Tamariscifolia is undemanding to the soil, as it can grow even on soils strewn with stones and sandy substrates. Tolerates cold and slight shade. The juniper Tamariscifolia also shows enviable patience with drought. Loves moderate watering, but reacts negatively to swampy soil.
Variety Blue Danub
The Cossack juniper Blue Danub, which has become popular for its ability to grow quickly, beautifully spreads its branches along the ground. Its shoots grow by 20 cm throughout the year. Inside the bush, the needles resemble bluish-green needles, and on the outside the stems are covered with scaly green coniferous cover. Having reached a decade, the plants are characterized by the following dimensions: height - 0.5-1 m, width - 1.5-2.5 m in diameter.
In order for the Blue Danube juniper to form a dense crown, it needs to organize spring pruning. Otherwise, the variety is unpretentious. Feels calm in soils with big amount sand and clay in the composition. It tolerates urban conditions perfectly, saturating the air of the metropolis with phytonicides. Cold-resistant, but does not like dry air, so especially hot weather he needs to organize irrigation. Thanks to its rich color, the plant has excellent decorative properties, which allows it to be used in single plantings or as an element of a flower arrangement.
Variety Mas
The fast-growing juniper Cossack Mas has extraordinary growth energy. The annual growth of stems in diameter is 20 cm, and in height over the same period they grow by 10 cm. The volume of an adult plant cannot be called compact: its height is 2 m, and the diameter of the bush is about 8 m. Such a giant requires a large plot of land, which is necessary take into account when planting it.
In shape it resembles an ordinary truncated cone, turned upside down. But such appearance persists only in young plants. Later it grows horizontally and becomes a wide bush, spreading out in breadth. The needles are needle-shaped, prickly, green in color with a bluish blue tint, which in winter time becomes slightly lilac.
Copes well with cold and drought. But it’s still better to help him a little to overcome unfavorable weather, especially in the first two years after planting: mulch with peat for the winter, and sprinkle with sprinkling on hot days. The shrub can even tolerate drastic pruning of the crown caused by excessive growth rates. It loves watering, but moderately, without an excessive amount of water that swamps the soil around the bush.
Best suited for planting in large parks or gardens where the area allows it to grow undisturbed and show off the beauty of its spreading branches.
Variety Glauka
All my growth power horizontal juniper Cossack Glauka lets creeping shoots grow. Its average dimensions are 1.5x1.5 m, but in some cases the bushes can grow to a diameter of 3 m. This variety is an excellent option for creating green areas in large city parks and residential areas. And for small gardens located near a private house, it is perfect.
Externally, the Glauka variety is very attractive. Its branches with blue-green, scaly needles, as if floating above the ground, give an unusual spectacular look any garden. Fruits with a blue tint are formed on the shoots, something between a cone and a berry. The crown is formed very lush and beautiful; if desired, you can trim it, thereby limiting the excessive growth of the plant.
Variety Variegata
Creeping along the ground will also leave few people indifferent. It is an unusually flattened bush, with branches facing upward and an asymmetrical crown. It is completely easy to care for, tolerates drought, light shade, cold, air pollution, and is undemanding to the soil composition. The spreading branches of the plant form a flat-round bush, 0.3-0.4 m tall and 1.5 m in diameter. At the same time, the coniferous shrub grows quite slowly - it grows 10-15 cm of crown per year.
Care and propagation of Cossack juniper
As a rule, Cossack juniper is not picky: planting and caring for it will not take much time and effort. But the result will exceed all expectations. A few years after planting, it will delight you with its outstretched juniper “paws” of green and blue shades. But in order for the bushes to look their best, a few rules should still be followed.
Breeding Cossack juniper
The simplest and most common way to propagate the variety you like is to propagate by cuttings of Cossack juniper using shoots of the mother plant. Before propagating Cossack juniper, you need to select the branches most suitable for these purposes. 
They should be young, healthy, not elongated, symmetrical, not dull.
The selected shoot should be tilted towards the ground and secured with a wire pin. Further care consists of constantly loosening and watering the soil around the place where the cuttings take root.
The rooting process lasts a long period of time - six months or a year. After the young bushes have formed their own root system, transplanting to the site becomes possible. Check out the article: .
Coniferous plants are popular in modern garden design. Cossack juniper is the most common and bright representative This type belongs to the Cypress family. An evergreen creeping shrub, unpretentious to soil and growing conditions. Suitable for growing at home. Due to its decorative effect, landscape designers use all its varieties in creating flower arrangements. Natural habitat: Asia Minor and Southeast Asia, China and Japan, the Caucasus, the Urals, Central and Southern Europe, Siberia. It is capable of purifying the air from pathogenic bacteria, which is due to its phytoncidal properties.
Description and varietal diversity
Cossack juniper is a low-growing coniferous plant in the form of a shrub up to 1.5 m high. The branches are horizontal or inclined, covered with brown and smooth bark. The coniferous composition is needle-shaped or scaly, 4-6 mm long. It has a rich green color and a pungent aroma.
Cossack juniper contains poisonous essential oils. If there are small children in the family, it is not recommended to grow such a plant.
This representative of the flora has up to 30 varieties, the most popular are shown in the table:
| Variety | Description |
| Tamariscifolia | Comes from the mountains Western Europe. A large shrub 1 m high and about 2 m wide, with needle-shaped green needles. The top is flattened. Skeletal shoots of vertically oblique ascent |
Variegata  |
Hybrid obtained in 1855. Shrub 1 m high and 1.5 m in girth. The shoots are obliquely vertical, bent into an arc at the ends. The lateral branches are upright and dense. The crown is neat, funnel-shaped. The needles are scaly, green with white splashes |
Glauka  |
A spreading shrub, no more than 1 m high and up to 5 m in diameter. Growth is slow in the first year, then it actively grows over a large area. The needles are needle-shaped, green, with a bluish tint. In winter it takes on a bronze hue. Fruits in the form of cones of blue color, covered with a wax film. Suitable for cultivation in central Russia due to its winter hardiness |
Blue Danube  |
A hybrid of Dutch origin, with a thick and dense crown. A meter tall shrub, growing up to 1.5 m wide. The needles are needle-shaped and scaly, green, in the center - gray-blue |
Rockery Jam  |
Cultivated in Holland in 1967. The branches of the bush rise at an angle to a height of 0.5 m and a width of up to 3 m. Side shoots short, covered with grayish-green needles |
Arcadia  |
Unpretentious ground cover plant with small scaly needles, light green color. 1-1.5 m high, 4-5 m wide. The pineal-shaped fruits stand out brightly with a dark blue color against the background of rich green needles |
Erecta  |
An erect two-meter shrub with a pyramidal crown. The needles are scaly, dark green. The most frost and drought resistant representative. Thanks to its narrowed shape, it takes up little space |
Broadmoor  |
Creeping variety, no more than 20-25 cm high and up to 2 m wide. Shoots of horizontal distribution overlap. Coniferous composition of green color with a blue tint. Suitable for urban landscaping |
Mass  |
A fast-growing conifer with a spreading eight-meter crown. It grows in height by 20 cm every year. At first the crown is cone-shaped, then it levels out. The needles are needle-sharp, with a bluish bloom, which in winter turns into purple. Loves a lot of light, is frost-resistant, does not tolerate dampness and salty soil |
Planting juniper
Juniper is planted in open ground early spring or autumn. The site is selected to be sunny, as the plant is light-loving. In the shade it loses its decorative properties. There are no strict requirements for the soil, but it grows better in loose, sandy and calcareous soil.
It is recommended to purchase seedlings from trusted nurseries. The optimal age limit is 3-4 years. Then they will settle down more easily and quickly in their new place. It is advisable that the plant initially be in a spacious container with a volume of at least 5 liters. This allows long time preserve the root system even if planting is delayed.
Transplantation is carried out by transshipment method with the capture of a large clod of earth. If the root system is open, dip it in water for 2 hours before planting. Then they are treated with root or any other growth stimulator. Large specimens are distributed at intervals of 1.5-2 m, and the root collar is left open by 5-10 cm. In weak plantings, it is leveled to the same level with the ground. The hole is dug 2-3 times larger than the root ball.
A drainage layer is placed on the bottom - brick chips mixed with sand. For backfilling, prepare a soil mixture consisting of peat, turf and sand. Focus on a 2:1:1 ratio. Additionally, dolomite flour is mixed in an amount of 250-300 g. After completing the procedure, the bush is watered abundantly and mulch (peat, sand or wood chips) is applied.
Care
Caring for juniper is simple. Water it only in dry weather, three times during the entire growing season is enough. 20-30 liters of water are poured under each bush. Spray once a week evening time. Periodically loosen the root space and remove weeds. They start feeding late spring nitroammophosphate. After embedding into the soil, moisten it.
The bushes do not particularly need pruning, but they resort to it when creating a hedge. It is permissible to carry out corrective cleaning, but with special care. The plant is slow-growing, and unaesthetically cut branches will take a long time to recover. Damaged, dry and frostbitten shoots are promptly removed. The best time for this is spring or autumn, at a stable average temperature of +4-5 °C. Normally, you need to cut no more than 2 cm, with an annual growth of 10 cm.
It is safer and more effective to pinch the tops of young shoots. This helps shape the desired crown shape and enhances lateral branching.
Juniper does not tolerate transplantation well, but in case of emergency, use one in an effective way. In the spring, around the bush, at a distance of 30-40 cm, a circle is cut with a shovel. Thus, the peripheral roots are cut off from the general root system. Until autumn, new young roots appear in a separate coma. This allows you to painlessly transplant the plant to a new location.
Reproduction
If you want to propagate Cossack Juniper yourself, use any of the possible methods:
- Seeds. Most labor-intensive option, since seeds need preliminary stratification. The integrity of the shell is compromised by soaking in a special stimulating solution. Otherwise, germination takes a long time.
- By cuttings. This happens in April or May. Wait for several cloudy days in a row so that the cuttings are not damaged by the scorching sun.
- By layering. The method is ideal for creeping forms.
To germinate juniper from seeds, they must first be extracted. On female bushes, dark purple cones are formed, which contain 1-2 seeds. After removal, they are immersed for 20-30 minutes in a growth stimulator. Then they are planted in boxes and buried in the snow, where they are stored all winter. in spring ready material planted in open ground. Without stratification, seedlings will appear only next year.
When cuttings in the spring, plots are prepared from young and strong shoots, 10-15 cm long. Each one must have 2-3 developed buds and heels, that is, the cuttings are not cut, but torn off. Then part of the bark from the mother branch will remain at the base. They are treated with root and planted in a flower pot with a mixture of sand, peat and humus. Sprinkle coarse sand on top and cover with a glass cap. Roots appear in the fall, but transplantation into the garden is carried out the next year.
Reproduction by layering is possible throughout the growing season. Before rooting any low-lying young branch, the soil is loosened, sand and peat are added, and then moistened. The needles are removed from the shoot, pressed to the ground and secured. With regular watering, after 6-12 months, young roots sprout. Then the branch is separated from the source and replanted separately.
Diseases and pests
Juniper bushes are often affected by rust - fungal disease with the following symptoms:
- Fusiform swellings form on all components of the plant (needles, stem, cones, branches).
- Growths are visible on the root collar, and the bark gradually dries out and falls off. The wood is exposed.
- The needles turn brown and fall off.
If you miss the initial stage of damage, you can lose the entire plant. Correct the situation by removing damaged branches. Wounds and cut sites are treated with copper sulfate and lubricated with garden pitch. Spraying bushes in spring and autumn will be an effective prevention. Bordeaux mixture. In addition to rust, Alternaria blight, schutte blight, bark nectriosis, and branch drying are dangerous. The treatment methods are the same as in the previous case. Among the pests that pose a threat are: leafminer moths, aphids, spider mite and scale insects.
Like all vegetation, juniper needs protection from the cold. In the fall they begin to prepare for wintering. The bush is cleared of dry and damaged branches. Be sure to spray the plant itself and the soil underneath it with Bordeaux composition for disinfection. Due to frost resistance, it is not necessary to cover warm material. It is enough to tie the shoots into a bundle to avoid breaking. Young plantings are sprinkled with spruce branches or sawdust.
With a competent and responsible approach, planting and further care won't cause any problems. And the aesthetic pleasure from the presence of juniper in the garden will last for many years. The bushes are absolutely unpretentious, growing on soils where other vegetation is not able to take root. They look ideal in compositions with bright perennials. Despite the fact that they do not harmonize with lush flowering crops. Juniper complements the landscape without drawing attention to itself.
Cossack or Don juniper (lat. Juniperus sabina) - creeping evergreen shrub of the Cypress family with scaly needles in adults and pointed needle-shaped needles in young plants, due to their decorative properties, rapid growth and unpretentiousness has become one of the most popular elements of landscape design.
How to plant Cossack juniper?
IN favorable conditions the bushes reach from 1 to 2 m in height, growing mainly in breadth and forming dense picturesque thickets. IN natural environment Cossack juniper is widespread in the poor soil of steppes and sandstones, rocky mountain regions of the south and center of Europe, the Caucasus, Siberia, and Asia.
Today, about 80 varieties and subspecies of Cossack juniper are known, which are successfully used in landscaping gardens and summer cottages, city parks and squares. Individual bushes look impressive in mixborders in compositions with flowering, coniferous and foliage plants, planted in a group, look great in rock gardens and rock gardens, planted in a row can play the role of a decorative hedge.
For single bushes and compositions, it is necessary to choose a spacious, well-lit area away from the occurrence of groundwater. A rocky sunny slope or a slightly shaded area in the southern or southeastern part of the garden is perfect.
How to prepare a place and soil for seedlings
For seedlings purchased from a nursery or grown on your own, you should prepare holes twice the size of the root system of each plant.
- Pour a thick drainage layer of sand, perlite, brick fragments, and expanded clay onto the bottom of the hole.
- Junipers are not picky about the composition of the soil, but it is advisable to add a little to overly acidic soil. dolomite flour or lime. Grow a complete plant with beautiful crown, healthy needles and a developed root system will be helped by fertilizing the soil with products for conifers.
- Place the entire length of the roots of the seedlings in the hole, cover with loosened soil, leaving the root collar open.
- Make a depression for watering and mulch the surface with pebbles, expanded clay, crushed stone, sawdust, crushed bark, sand to maintain a comfortable environment and protect roots from excess moisture and drying out, overheating and hypothermia.
- If you plan to plant a group of plants, the intervals between the holes should be at least three meters so that the crowns of the grown bushes do not interfere with the neighboring ones.
Reproduction issues
Cossack juniper is propagated by seeds, which are extracted from the cone-berries of the plant, and by cuttings. Cossack juniper seedlings different varieties You can buy from private owners and nurseries, making sure that the seller is reliable.
Propagation by seeds
Propagation by seeds is a rather complex, lengthy process that requires some skills in processing planting material.
- The cone-berries should be placed in a warm, dry place, the seeds should be removed when the fruits open, and after washing running water, conduct stratification, that is, for 3-4 months or longer, maintain at constant temperature no higher than +20°C. In some cases, seeds should be stratified for at least a year, after which late autumn sowing is done directly into the ground. As practice shows, this method does not always guarantee successful germination. IN best case scenario The germination process can take two to three years.
- You can grow seedlings using the snowing method, in which prepared seeds should be sown in containers with soil at the beginning of winter and left under the snow in the open air. In spring, containers can be moved indoors and covered with film. Seedlings grown in this way are planted two years later in open ground in early spring, as soon as the snow melts.
Reproduction by cuttings and layering
Propagation by cuttings is much faster, more efficient and economical.
- It is recommended to prepare cuttings in early spring in cloudy weather, using a sharp knife to carefully separate healthy branched growths 10-30 cm long from the mother bush, treating the “heel”, a piece of bark with wood from an old plant, with a root growth stimulator and placing it in a substrate from river sand, pine sawdust and black soil in equal proportions. The rooting process lasts about three months, during which the cuttings must be regularly watered and sprayed.
- When growing seedlings in a greenhouse, it is important to observe temperature regime no higher than +26°C.
- When propagating by layering, in late autumn you should select the lower branches creeping along the ground, make small cuts, treat them with a stimulator for the formation and growth of roots, and sprinkle them with earth. By spring, roots appear on the treated cuts. Cut off cuttings with roots and plant them in prepared holes.
Rules for caring for juniper
Cossack juniper does not require special care, since it is characterized by good adaptability to adverse environmental factors and endurance in comparison with other types of junipers and coniferous shrubs.
- Mature bushes tolerate drought well, but for growth and development it is advisable to water and spray them abundantly. Procedures must be carried out in the evening so as not to burn the needles. Regular shallow loosening of the soil at the roots and removal of weeds that impede air access to the root system have a beneficial effect.
- It is recommended to apply complex nitrogen-phosphorus fertilizers to poor soil in early spring, repeating the procedure after a month and a half. It is advisable to use growth stimulants for foliar feeding.
- In soil rich in humus or loam, it is necessary to add several buckets of sand, since the fatty composition of the soil leads to oppression of plants.
- Young plants need to be shaded in early spring and during dry seasons. Bushes planted in open spaces in late autumn should be covered at the roots with a thick layer of sawdust and the crown should be wrapped in lutrasil (non-woven protective fabric).
Transplantation - how to do it correctly?
Transplanting an adult plant is always fraught with risk, since it is almost impossible to guess how wide and deep the root system is so that you can dig around it from all sides without touching it. In addition, juniper may not tolerate stress. Young people take root much faster healthy plants without signs of disease or damage:
Diseases of Cossack juniper
Cossack juniper is quite resistant to most common diseases garden plants, however, it is necessary to carefully inspect the crown and table from time to time to avoid unpleasant consequences.
Cossack juniper is usually pruned when branches grow too rapidly and to remove sun-damaged and dry branches, but if desired, bushes and hedges can be given any shape.
- The formation of a bush should be done very carefully, since pruned branches can stop growing and disfigure the plant.
- Pruning should be carried out in spring or autumn at a temperature no higher than +4°C, no more than once a year.
- No more than 20% of new shoots are cut off.
- After pruning, it is advisable to spray the plants with an aqueous solution of Epina-Extra.
Medicinal properties of Cossack juniper
The medicinal properties of juniper are known, decoctions and infusions of the fruits and powder from the dried needles of which are still used today for treatment:
- diseases of the genitourinary system;
- upper respiratory tract;
- digestive organs;
- helminthiasis;
- diseases of the nervous system;
- hysteria;
- epilepsy;
- joint diseases;
- paralysis;
- boils;
- eczema;
- purulent lesions of the skin and mucous membranes;
- skin lesions due to radioactive radiation;
- partial and complete alopecia.
Branches of Cossack juniper are used for fumigation of premises during periods of epidemics.
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Cossack juniper - propagation
IN Lately Many amateur gardeners, in addition to fruit and berry crops, plant on their plots and ornamental plants, as they say, “for the soul and to please the eyes.” Among them special place allocated to coniferous evergreen trees and shrubs. Due to its unpretentiousness and frost resistance, Cossack juniper is the most popular among gardeners. But the trouble is, seedlings of these crops cost a lot of money. It’s okay if you plant one plant, but if you want to plant a hedge of conifers. In this case, you can try to grow seedlings yourself. Cossack juniper – dioecious plant. The male flower looks like an oval earring with numerous stamens: female flowers collected in an inflorescence. The cones are small, spherical, no more than 7 mm in diameter, brown-black with a bluish coating, drooping. Seeds ripen twice per season - in autumn and spring next year. Each cone contains no more than 4 seeds. Be careful, they are poisonous and Cossack juniper cannot be used for medicinal purposes.
Propagation by seeds
The most difficult and time-consuming option for propagating Cossack juniper is by seeds. From the resulting juniper fruits - cones, you can get seeds for sowing; to do this, you need to remove the seeds from the fruit and wash them; for quick germination, they can be immersed in a sulfuric acid solution for 10 minutes. To grow a juniper bush from a seed, it is necessary to stratify it. The best way – autumn sowing seeds in boxes with soil. Then natural stratification - the boxes are taken outside and stored under the snow during the winter for 4-5 months, and already in April the overwintered seeds are sown in the beds.
Botanical name: juniper cossack
Homeland of Cossack juniper: Asia Minor, Southeast Asia, the Caucasus, the Urals, Siberia and Primorye, Southern and Central Europe
Lighting: photophilous
The soil: not demanding on soil fertility
Watering: drought-resistant, no additional watering required
Maximum tree height: 3m
Average lifespan of a tree: 100 years
Landing: seeds, layerings
Description of Cossack juniper
Cossack juniper (lat. Juniperus sabina) is a creeping species of the Cypress genus family, reaching a height of 1 to 3 m. Sometimes this type called Don juniper.
The branches of these plants are dark green, dense, lying tightly on the ground and quickly taking root. The shrub actively grows in width, forming dense thickets. The trunks of small trees (up to 4 m in height) are certainly curved. The shoots of Cossack juniper are poisonous and contain essential oil.
Juniperus sabina has two types of needles: at a young age erect, needle-shaped, pointed at the ends, bluish-green in color with a clearly defined median vein; With age, the needles become scaly. The needles are arranged either oppositely in 4 rows, or alternate in whorls. When rubbed, needles and shoots emit a sharp, characteristic odor. The bark of trees of this species is red-brown and peeling.
Cossack juniper, the photo of which is presented above, is a dioecious plant: male flower looks like an oval earring with numerous stamens: female flowers are collected in an inflorescence. The cones are small, spherical, no more than 7 mm in diameter, brown-black with a bluish coating, drooping. Seeds ripen twice per season - in autumn and spring of next year. Each cone contains no more than 4 seeds.
In nature, these plants form mixed forests, often living on sand dunes or rocky mountain slopes, their distribution range reaches 1000-2300 m above sea level. Known in culture since 1584, cultivars are currently widely used (about 20 varieties).
The use of Cossack juniper is limited - it is poisonous
Cossack juniper wood is similar in description to common juniper wood and has the same properties - durable, but quite soft. Perfectly processed cutting tools, the cuts are clean and glossy. The wood of plants of the Juniper genus does not have resin ducts, so it is easy to polish and coat with various dyes. Carpenters and cabinetmakers use this material for both volumetric and flat-relief carvings.
Products made from Cossack juniper wood warp and crack very rarely. End knot cuts are used for turning work, and the roots and branches are used to make applied products (fish hooks, brackets, cooperage barrels, pickling tubs, mugs for beer and kvass, milk caps).
Due to pronounced toxic, poisonous properties sphere therapeutic use preparations from Cossack juniper are limited. Mostly, ointments and tinctures made from the needles, shoots and bark of these trees are used as an external remedy. For example, for baldness, scabies, lichen, scab, ringworm, purulent ulcers and warts. For homeopathic purposes, the essence from the young branches is used to treat urolithiasis, painful menstruation, menstrual irregularities and gout.
Juniper branches have a sharp, specific smell that repels insects. In villages, it was customary to put the shoots of this plant in linen closets, using them as a sure remedy for moths.
Cossack juniper in landscape design
Thanks to your decorative qualities, as well as increased drought resistance and easy tolerance to air pollution, Cossack juniper is widely used in garden and park plantings, as well as in the preparation of landscape compositions. Widely used for decorating slopes, rocky hills, on lawns and edges, both in single and group plantings. They are used as ground covers, tapeworms against the background of taller plants and in.
In landscape design, Cossack juniper fits perfectly into the deliberately rough Scandinavian style, implying open rocky spaces, sharp lines and laconic restraint. Juniper varieties with yellow-golden or yellow-green needles are ideally combined with lichens, mosses, heathers and dwarf shrubs of other species, setting the tone and setting accents.
When designing landscape compositions in cold weather english style use large varieties Cossack juniper with a regular-shaped crown with needles of a more restrained color (greenish-gray, bluish-silver). IN English gardens junipers do not create accents, do not attract attention to themselves, but ennoble and complement the landscape.
Cossack juniper is also suitable for. In this case, varieties of strict form are used, emphasizing bright colors and specific forms of the oriental garden. Landscape designers when composing compositions in Japanese style It is recommended to plant junipers next to heathers of red, yellow, orange, blue or white shades, near rocky islands.
If you use only Cossack junipers in your landscape garden, the landscape will look somewhat monotonous. But in combination with perennial flowers, deciduous shrubs and trees, the compositions will sparkle with new colors.
An excellent background can be a neat green lawn, as well as a slide made of natural stones. Orange or yellow spirea will go well with juniper bushes on the banks of streams and sunny meadows. Heathers and barberries will ideally highlight the noble beauty of junipers on rocky areas. When decorating lawns next to buildings, (low-growing,) will be excellent neighbors for junipers. It should be remembered that large garden flowers and juniper do not combine well with Cossack juniper in landscape design. You can bring harmony by creating a transition from creeping plants, stones or cereals. This technique is often used when designing rock gardens and alpine slides.
Cossack juniper at home
Cossack juniper can be grown not only on personal plot, but also at home. In this case, the plants are formed into a standard dwarf tree or bush. Possessing strong antiseptic properties, Cossack juniper at home will not only please the eye, but also purify the air for several meters around.
All plants are light-loving; in most cases they prefer light soil. If you want to plant this plant at home, you need to take a small container, at the bottom of which lay drainage made of broken bricks and sand, you can add a few pieces of coal. As a basis for planting, you need to use a substrate consisting of peat, sand, turf soil and lime. Like virginia, Cossack juniper is quite drought-resistant, so these plants do not require additional watering - just water the ground when planting, and then no earlier than 2-3 weeks later. In extreme heat, the frequency of watering can be increased. You also need to remember to spray regularly to prevent the needles from drying out.
Do not forget that juniper is not an indoor plant, so in the warm season it is better to take it out into the garden or onto the balcony. In winter, it is best to keep a container with Cossack juniper in a bright, cool place at a temperature of +7 to +9 degrees. If there is no winter garden, plants should be placed on the windowsill as close to the window glass as possible.
Dwarf shrubs are replanted in November or March, pruning is done in the spring (March-April) or autumn (October-November). From May to July, the tips of the shoots need to be pinched so that the plant does not grow tall and wide. When forming Cossack juniper into a bonsai, the branches are wrapped with wire, giving the tree the required shape.
Diseases of Cossack juniper
Cossack juniper is the most resistant to disease among all plants of the juniper genus. However, even he, despite his toxicity, is susceptible to a number of diseases, and in some cases is their carrier. But moths are not a problem for this plant, since juniper needles produce an essential oil that repels these insects.
Cossack juniper is a carrier of the rust fungus, which causes net rust, which is especially dangerous for trees of the plum and rosaceae family. In early spring Brown growths appear in cracks in the bark; after rain they swell and become covered with mucus.
Pustules of various sizes and shapes form on the affected plant organs; when they crack, a “rusty” powder (fungal spores) spills out. These spores are carried by the wind and infect nearby trees and shrubs. When affected by rust, juniper needles turn brown and the branches dry out. This disease is practically incurable and is chronic. The infection persists for a long time in the affected tree bark. At the first signs of damage to juniper needles by rust, it is necessary to spray the plant with fungicides, the procedure should be repeated after 15 days.
The most common disease of Cossack juniper is brown schutte. Its causative agents are the fungi Herpotrichia juniperi and Herpotrichia nigra.
At high humidity A cobwebby mycelium appears on the needles of plants, first grayish and then black-brown in color.
It entangles the needles so tightly that it seems as if the needles are glued together. Thin branches die, and the infection persists in the affected brown needles.
Regular pruning of dried branches and preventive spraying of plants in spring and autumn with 1% Bordeaux mixture or its substitutes will help in the fight against chute.
Cossack juniper is also susceptible to biatorella cancer. This disease occurs when branches are mechanically damaged, in the cracks of which spores of the fungus Biatorella difformis settle and cause necrosis of the bark.
As a result, the bark cracks, turns brown and dries out, and longitudinal ulcers appear on the wood. To avoid damage from Biatorella cancer, it is necessary to use only high-quality planting material, without broken branches and damaged bark.
If the seedling is damaged during planting, the cuts and wounds must be treated with a 1% solution copper sulfate and cover with natural drying oil, oil paint or garden varnish. All affected branches must be pruned and burned.
Fusarium disease, caused by spore fungi, is no less dangerous for Cossack juniper. When Fusarium oxysporum is infected, the plant root system turns brown and rots. At first, the disease occurs in a latent form, then grayish-white spores become noticeable on the roots. The mycelium penetrates into vascular system, fills it, thereby stopping access nutrients to the crown. As a result, the needles turn yellow, then turn red and fall off, and the trees and shrubs themselves gradually dry out. Young plants are most susceptible to fusarium disease, especially those planted on heavy clay soils, low-lying areas with stagnant water, and also in insufficient lighting. Often, the infection spreads through infected planting material or reaches the roots of junipers along with infected soil. For prevention, planting material with an open root system must be soaked in a solution of the drug “Bactofit” or “Vitaros”. At the first symptoms of root rot and wilting of branches, the soil under the plants must be watered with a solution of Fitosporin-M, Alirin-B or Gamaira. As a preventive measure, you can water and spray the crown of junipers with a 0.2% solution of Fundazol.
Photo gallery: Cossack juniper (click on the image to enlarge):
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