Compositions from conifers in the country. Coniferous compositions planting schemes. Caring for coniferous composition

Coniferous trees and shrubs are in great demand in landscape gardening, their photos can increasingly be found in magazines and websites dedicated to landscape design. They are frost-resistant, decorative, hardy, easy to care for and are distinguished by a variety of crown shapes.

Gardeners love coniferous plants for their many other advantages:

• many varieties of conifers tolerate limited sunlight well and develop well in partial shade
• well developed root system conifers allows them to tolerate well long time without watering, some types of plants grow well on rocky soils. In addition, due to powerful and developed roots, they can be used to strengthen slopes

• Most conifers tolerate pruning well; they (some varieties of thuja look especially attractive in this regard) can be used to obtain a variety of shapes, which are often seen in photos of regular English gardens. And some varieties of conifers by nature have geometric correct form, so they require virtually no maintenance

• coniferous tree is a source of beneficial phytoncides, a walk in the garden with coniferous plantings has a beneficial effect on both physical and psychological condition person
• Conifers tolerate smoky urban environments well
• ripening cones will attract birds to the garden, filling it with life and movement

But the main thing is what attracts conifers and shrubs, for which design “loves” them - with their green coloring they bring variety and liveliness even to a gloomy, gray and gloomy autumn-winter garden.

Coniferous plants: how to place them correctly in the garden

Conifers are universal plants; the abundance of forms and species allows them to be used in landscape compositions different styles(you will find confirmation of this in our photos). In this case, the size of the plot will not become a problem - if in nature the conifers are tall enough, then decorative varieties and species used for landscaping rarely exceed 4 m in height. Design alpine slides it's hard to imagine without low-growing conifers and shrubs (dwarf Hampi pine, Lobers spruce, Mini Pug pine, some types of thuja, coniferous shrubs).

The design of the site can give the coniferous tree the function of a color delimiter that will resist the fusion of natural shades. Thus, conifers will help complicate color combination garden, make it richer and deeper. Often low-growing varieties thuja with dark needles is used as a border for a club, enclosing the flowers inside in a kind of green frame that sets off bright colors colors. Photos of gravel gardens always contain conifers, while in some places the stone can be replaced by cones or small-cut bark.

Mixborder

Hedge

To zone a site, designers often use coniferous trees and shrubs. The result is not just beautiful barriers (in the photo they look monolithic wall), but at the same time – practically impassable, i.e. exactly the qualities required for perimeter fencing fence. To do this, coniferous plants are planted in a checkerboard pattern, arranged in 2-3 rows. Of course, to achieve the full effect, it will take considerable time, but the result will exceed your wildest expectations.

For zoning a plot (garden), medium-sized (1-2 m high) varieties are most often used, which will not block the overall perspective. Besides, evergreen hedge will act as an excellent backdrop for flowering colorful perennials; this technique is especially common in Art Nouveau or landscape style gardens.

Advice! Good for creating hedges different kinds thuja - thanks to the dense crown, it will be enough to plant them in one row, saving space.

All-round view composition

Coniferous plants go well with cereals, flowers (especially lilies) and foliage plants. Coniferous shrubs will look picturesque near ponds, where they will be accompanied by deciduous weeping plants. The intense greenery of the thuja with a bluish tint of needles with small spotted inclusions will be an excellent photon for junipers.

To composition from coniferous plants looked impressive and harmonious, its design should include the following factors:

• the best background for conifers will be a regularly manicured lawn

• so that the composition of their conifers (both trees and shrubs) looks harmonious and holistic, a place for best review(location of the gazebo or observation deck) should be located at a distance of no less than 2 times the length of the composition

• most effective in landscape design the location of coniferous species is considered to be oriented to the west or east
• geometric shapes - in landscape design it is good to use the principle of contrast, for example, placing tall pyramidal conifers next to one of the low-growing spherical types of thuja. This arrangement of trees of different heights will also help to achieve some visual effects - against the background of low-growing mountain pines, several even medium-sized thujas will look very tall

Coniferous trees and bushes are ideal material for topiary, with which they acquire geometric and fantastic shapes

The composition of conifers in the country is becoming an increasingly common element of landscape design. This design of the areas adjacent to the buildings looks original and aesthetically pleasing. But the implementation of design projects using coniferous plantings cannot be called simple, since it requires not only artistic taste and imagination, but also theoretical preparation.

The topic of the article is not accidental, since conifers are popular in landscape design, but not everyone knows the instructions for planting, arranging and combining these plants. In this article we will talk about which plantings to choose and how to use them for their intended purpose in order to simplify the care of conifers in the country.

Plant selection

The Science of Decoration summer cottage ornamental plants not easy. Therefore, beginners who decide to join landscape design are forced to combine practice with permanent search useful information. Meanwhile, planting conifers in the country can serve as a good start in the hobby of landscape design ().

Growing such plants is not particularly difficult if you make a choice in advance. suitable type. It would seem that determining which types of conifers are suitable and which are not is not easy, but in reality there will be no problems with the choice.

The fact is that all types of coniferous plantings used by domestic designers are derived from three varieties of trees and shrubs:

• juniper,
• pine trees,

Species bred by breeders are optimally adapted for existence in difficult domestic conditions. climatic conditions. It is not advisable to choose something from import catalogs or import it from abroad, since there is a high probability that an exclusive foreign conifer simply will not take root in our open spaces.

Advice: when choosing the optimal solution, purchase domestic products, the price of which, by the way, is more affordable.

Correctly selected conifers are characterized by a number of advantages, including:

• unpretentiousness in terms of soil on the site;
• absence special requirements to lighting;
• resistance to sudden temperature changes;
• unpretentiousness in terms of moisture content parameters;
• reasonable cost in comparison with other types of ornamental plantings;
• ease of maintenance, which is very important if Vacation home used primarily for seasonal living.

Features of application in landscape design

Coniferous plants are rightfully considered one of the most popular plantings for design in the landscape. Such plants are widely used to create decorative scenes, alleys, hedges and a wide range of different compositions in combination with other plants.

We bring to your attention an overview of the main ways to use conifers in landscape design.

Mixborders

Mixborders in landscape design are usually called options for mixed and prefabricated flower beds.

Advice: In most cases, coniferous shrubs and small trees play a dominant role in the formation of a mixborder. The main concept of mixed compositions is the compatibility and compactness of seemingly incompatible plant forms.

When forming mixborders with your own hands, try applying the following recommendations:

• Tall wild spruces, junipers and thujas should not be used in the composition.
• The optimal solution for implementing most ideas are low-growing plants, such as creeping juniper, narrow pyramidal thuja, dwarf spherical spruce, yew, and mountain pines.
• Rhododendron, low-growing barberry, dwarf spirea, heather, creeping cotoneaster, etc. can advantageously emphasize the aesthetics of coniferous plantings.
• When forming a mixborder using pine needles, it is advisable to use bulbous flowers in combination with ground cover plants. Such combinations are justified from an aesthetic point of view and based on agrotechnical aspects.

Flowerbeds

It is no secret that coniferous plants are used when creating flower beds. Such solutions have been relevant for a long time. But you need to understand that the optimal aesthetic effect will only be guaranteed when competent implementation design project.

• We plant only compact and low-growing plants in flower beds. However, the center of the composition can be highlighted by a bush or tree, the size of which will be above average.
• The basis of the composition, in the absence of a central element, can be based on the principle of different shapes and color contrast. For example, vertically located cylindrical elements can be emphasized or highlighted using dense creeping shrubs. If desired, within the same flower bed you can combine different plants with pine needles different shapes and colors.
• In order to facilitate subsequent care of the flowerbed, slow-growing plantings should be used.
• As the main background, you can use ground cover plants such as horizontal juniper, cross-paired microbiota, etc.

Rock garden

This type of landscape design is a miniature imitation mountainous terrain. A feature of such design projects is the use of those plantings that will create the impression of a natural landscape, in the formation of which man did not take part. It is not difficult to create such an effect with your own hands using coniferous plants in your garden plot.

The only recommendation in in this case will be the use of those trees and shrubs that grow in the mountains. Of course, adjustments will have to be made for the size of the plantings, so that the rock garden becomes a miniature semblance of mountains.

A good solution would be to imitate the transition of forest to alpine meadows. To do this, a hill is formed from dense soil without rocky inclusions, on which dwarf trees will be adjacent to lush grass.

Tip: When forming a rock garden optimal solution will be the use of subalpine fir, Cossack juniper, western thuja, drooping thuja, pea cypress, mountain pine, etc.

Conclusion

Now that we've looked at how to use conifers in the landscape, we can take a new approach to design personal plot ().

If you have any questions, you can find more useful information by watching the video in this article.

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Coniferous flower bed
The main coniferous plants in garden compositions are not tall conifers (pines, spruce, fir), but their compact and low-growing forms. Coniferous compositions go well with shrubs (rhododendrons, Ericas, heathers, barberries, spirea, evergreen boxwoods), herbaceous perennials (hostas, ferns, cereals). When creating a flower bed, it is necessary to plant ground cover plants in the foreground (creeping grass, awl-shaped phlox, sedums, thyme, bryozoans, etc.). Bulbs (crocuses, muscari, low-growing tulips) will bring bright colors in spring. It is very important to think about the arrangement of plants. Groups must be created according to the principle of contrast of shape and color. For example, it is good to emphasize columnar forms with spherical, dense bush and creeping forms, With different types, texture and color of pine needles. The needle-like needles of junipers, spruce and pine trees go well with the scale-like needles of thuja. When selecting plants, you should clarify them maximum height. Coniferous compositions can only be composed of slow-growing and dwarf varieties s forms.

12 options coniferous flower bed

1. Thuja occidentalis "Holmstrup"
2. Medium juniper "Old Gold"
3. Mountain pine "Mops"
4. Coastal juniper "Shlager"

2.

2. Juniper rock "Skyrocket" molded
3. Juniper scaly "Meyeri" molded
4. Mountain pine "Mops"
5. Juniper horizontal "Blue Chip"
6. Juniper recumbent "Nana"

3.

1. Dense pine "Umbraculiefera"
2. Mountain pine "Mops"
3. Horizontal juniper "Green Carpet"
4. Ground cover perennials"Bryozoan or sedum"

4.

1. Common juniper "Suecica"
2. Common juniper "Horstman"
3. Thuja occidentalis "Rheingold"
4. Mountain pine "Mops" on a trunk
5. Medium juniper "Mint Julep"
6. Juniper scaly "Blue Star"
7. Thuja occidentalis "Danica"
8. Horizontal juniper "Wiltonii"

5.

1. Juniper virginiana "Grey Owl" molded
2. Horizontal juniper "Andorra Compact"
3. Horizontal juniper "Prince of Wales"

6.

1. Rock juniper "Skyrocket"
2. Norway spruce "Inversa"
3. Lilac "Meyeri" on a trunk

5. Canadian spruce "Echiniformis"
6. Mountain pine "Mops"
7. Barberry thunberg "Bonanza Gold"

7.

1. Thuja occidentalis "Holmstrup"

3. Mountain pine "Mops"
4. Medium juniper "Old Gold"
5. Cossack juniper "Tamariscifolia"
6. Groundcover perennials "Bryozoan or sedum"

8.

1. Thuja occidentalis "Smaragd"
2. Japanese larch "Stiff Weeper"
3. Barberry thunberg "Red Chief"
4. Thuja orientalis "Aurea Nana"
5. Mountain pine "Mops"
6. Medium juniper "Old Gold"
7. Cossack juniper "Blaue Donau"
8. Horizontal juniper "Prince of Wales"
9. Juniper horizontal "Blue Chip"

9.

1. Rock juniper "Blue Arrow"
2. Thuja occidentalis "Holmstrup"
3. Thuja occidentalis "Europe Gold"
4. Barberry thunberg "Red Chief"
5. Thuja occidentalis "Globosa"
6. Juniper medium "Gold Star"
7. Japanese spirea "Little Princess"
8. Juniper horizontal "Blue Chip"
9. Horizontal juniper "Prince of Wales"
10. Morrowa sedge (or similar grasses)

10.

1. Prickly spruce "Hoopsii"
2. Chinese juniper "Blaauw"
3. Thuja orientalis "Aurea Nana"
4. Medium juniper "Pfitzeriana"
5. Coastal juniper "Shlager"
6. Norway spruce "Little Gem"

11.

1. Canadian spruce "Conica"
2. Juniper horizontal "Blue Chip"
3. Juniper recumbent "Nana"

12.

1. Thuja occidentalis "Holmstrup"
2. Barberry thunberg "Red Chief"
3. Miscanthus chinensis "Zebrinus"
4. Mountain pine "Mops"
5. Medium juniper "Old Gold"
6. Cossack juniper "Tamariscifolia"
7. Morrowa sedge (or similar grasses)
8. Groundcover perennials "Bryozoan or sedum"

Decor element
In nature, adult conifers cast a large shadow. Therefore for ornamental gardening They specially bred low-growing varieties, only 3-4 meters high. They fit well into the landscape of the site. The background is the lawn and alpine slide. If the size of your plot allows you to plant large trees, remember: cedar and pine cannot be planted next to firs and fir trees. Larch does not like either one or the other at all. Thuja does not grow well next to spruce. Coniferous trees should be planted either in alleys, or in small homogeneous groups, or in the form of a hedge. An excellent addition to the composition of coniferous plants are stones - both large boulders and small stones ( marble chips, pebbles). They diversify color scheme, will help change the proportions of the composition. Excellent material for decoration is the bark of conifers. In addition, bark is an excellent mulching material that protects the soil from loss of moisture, improves its structure and prevents the growth of weeds.

Coniferous plants are used as landscaping for alleys, scenes, personal plots. Conifers have a number of advantages over other plants.

Advantages of a flower bed made of coniferous plants:

• The main advantage of a flower bed with conifers is its evergreen species in any season. It is enough to look at the photo of a flower bed of coniferous plants to be convinced of the correctness of this postulate;
• Availability of flowerbed design development and subsequent preparation for planting;
• Ease and simplicity of caring for conifers;
• Possibility of preserving plantings in a flower bed for several years. Coniferous plants are predominantly perennial plants and do not require annual renewal;
• Saving material costs for creating a flower bed and caring for it;
• Saving time on maintaining the appearance of a flower bed of conifers at the proper level.

The choice has been made, it’s time to start forming a flowerbed of conifers. This process consists of several stages.

Arranging a flower bed of coniferous plants:

• Development of the design of a flower bed with conifers;
• Selection of conifers;
• Development of a scheme for a flower bed of coniferous plants;
• Preparing the soil for a flower bed;
• Planting of coniferous plants themselves.

Despite the rich selection of coniferous plants, in landscape design there are common principles for forming a flower bed from conifers.

Design principles for a coniferous flower bed:

• Priority is given to low-growing and compact plants;
• The basis is the game of contrast of shape and color;
• On the background ground cover plants slow-growing dwarf conifers are planted;
• The base for the flower bed is a lawn and an alpine slide;
• Stones complement the coniferous flower bed;
• The decor for a flower bed of conifers is bark.

By following these principles, you can avoid many common mistakes made by amateur gardeners. For example, plants are planted without taking into account their ability to grow further and at too close a distance from each other. In the future, this leads to the fact that some of them grow quite quickly, blocking access sunlight other plants and even yourself residential building. As a result, disharmony in the size of plants becomes noticeable, and general form flower beds lose their original charm.

Pine, spruce, fir or juniper are chosen as the basis of a conifer flower bed.
Shrubs that combine with conifers are rhododendrons, barberries, spireas, ericas, and boxwoods.
Such perennials are also suitable for composition herbaceous plants, like cereals, ferns.
Phlox, thyme, bryozoan, creeping tenacious, and sedum are chosen as ground cover plants that form the background of the flower bed.
Photos illustrate the combination of plants in flower beds with conifers better than any descriptions.

When preparing the soil for a flower bed, it should be taken into account that a feature of coniferous plants is their unpretentiousness and ability to take root in any soil. Still, it would be wiser to take care of the soil in advance and mix the leaf or ground turf, adding peat and sand. Special mixtures for coniferous trees, sold in gardening stores.

Holes for plants are dug to a depth of approximately 60-70 cm and lined with prepared soil mixtures. Pebbles are used as drainage.
After planting coniferous plants, it is necessary to compact the soil and mulch. If necessary you can add additional layer land.

The design of a flower bed of coniferous plants usually involves 12 design options. Every gardener, whether amateur or professional, can develop his own composition. But before you start, it is advisable to familiarize yourself with their main types.

1. Compact. In this scheme, coastal juniper is planted in the foreground, and mountain pine and western thuja are placed in the middle of the flowerbed. The peculiarity of this composition is small size, allowing, and thereby decorating them.
2. Big. The flower bed is ideal for large spaces and is usually located in areas adjacent to fences. In this composition, 2 varieties of common juniper are planted along the fence, and in front of them - western thuja, on its sides there are junipers, in the middle - mountain pine, barberry and again juniper, but scaly, and further along the edge - horizontal juniper of 2 types;
3. Horizontal. Its feature is mandatory requirement flat, flat surface for planting. In its creation, 3-4 types of junipers are used, for example, molded Virginia, Prince of Wales, Andorra Compact;
4. Flowerbed in forest style. Allows you to create the impression of a natural landscape. Ideal for such a natural flower bed rock juniper and mountain pine, as well as Canadian and common spruce.

Video: coniferous plants for alpine slides

Conifers are quite often used in landscape design to decorate flower beds. And this is not surprising, because coniferous plants have many advantages over ordinary flowers: they retain their attractiveness regardless of the season, are not demanding on conditions, and do not need to be planted annually. In addition, creating a flowerbed of conifers on your site with your own hands is no more difficult than arranging any flower garden - you just need to choose a place and variety of plants, draw up a planting plan, and plant several species in the flowerbed decorative conifers.

A flowerbed consisting of several types of coniferous crops is considered complex landscape composition, so create it with your own hands in any style without preliminary preparation and the plan is quite difficult. You need to start creating a flower bed with conifers by drawing up a diagram on which the location of each plant is plotted in detail. A properly designed flower bed diagram should take into account the following points:

• the area where the flowerbed with conifers will be located should be in an open, sunny place;

• so that the coniferous composition does not merge, the plants must be contrasting in color, shape and size;
• priority in the flowerbed should be given to compact and low-growing varieties– against their background, single coniferous trees look more advantageous;
• at the planning stage, you should decide finishing materials used for framing and decorating flower beds - conifers look more impressive when framed in stone;
• the plan should display as accurately as possible all coniferous plants, stones, additional decorative elements, and the sequence of their landing is indicated by numbers.

When creating a composition with conifers with your own hands, the question often arises: what other plants can be planted to combine with coniferous plantings? The most popular coniferous species are: spruce, low-growing mountain pine, fir, thuja, junipers of different varieties. In addition, the coniferous composition can be supplemented with any flowering perennials.

Of the many plants, roses combine most effectively with coniferous crops, because green color creates a bright contrast and highlights roses favorably. The coniferous composition, in which roses are present, is particularly elegant and refined. Roses can be planted in a mixborder different varieties, while it is better to plant low-growing and ground-cover roses along the edge, and in the center, against the background tall trees(thuja, spruce) – bush, standard roses. White lilies and blue irises also go well with greenery, but still bright multi-colored roses in combination with conifers create a special accent on such a flowerbed.

Video “All about coniferous compositions in the garden”

Step-by-step creation instructions

Arranging any flowerbed with your own hands begins with preparing the soil. And in the case of conifers, the soil must be prepared especially carefully, since they are planted once for many years. First, you need to dig the area deeply, since the roots of most coniferous plants are quite long. The soil for conifers should be loose, with good drainage properties, preferably sandy loam with neutral acidity.

After digging, you need to remove all lumps, roots, weeds from the soil, add mineral fertilizers, suitable for specific type conifers that will be planted in the flowerbed. Into the clayey heavy soil peat and sand should be added, a little to sandy turf land. If the flowerbed is small, you can purchase soil for it at a flower shop - they sell ready-made soil mixtures for everyone a separate type coniferous trees and shrubs.

After the soil in the flowerbed has been prepared, you can begin to design a composition of conifers. Here it is important to transfer the schematic plan of the flowerbed as accurately as possible to a real plot of land.

The process is as follows:

After the coniferous composition is planted, the soil in the flowerbed should be mulched. When choosing a material, it is advisable to take into account not only decorative properties material, but also its practical benefits for plants - organic mulch: fine crushed stone, granite chips, wood chips and sawdust, in addition to their mulching function, also improve the properties of the soil.

How to care

In general, coniferous plants are unpretentious, but this is true only for rooted and mature conifers. Young seedlings after planting in a flowerbed may begin to rapidly wither, and most often this is due to a change in soil - in a store in pots with coniferous seedlings a temporary substrate containing special additives is placed. And after planting, the plants find themselves in a completely different environment, and this is a real stress for them. If seedlings of young conifers begin to die, it is necessary to add special fertilizer to the soil, or add soil brought from the forest.

IN further care for coniferous crops consists of a considerable list of activities, but they must be performed only as needed:

1. Watering. In the first year of planting, young conifers are watered at intervals of 1 time per week. Most mature coniferous plants do not need watering at all, except in extreme heat or prolonged drought.
2. Sprinkling. This procedure is performed only in the absence of rain for a long time. However, if desired, the crown can be irrigated more often - this will only make the coniferous plantings more attractive.
   
3. Weeding. A flower bed usually needs to remove weeds in the first years, when the coniferous composition has not grown sufficiently. In the future, the plantings will create shade and weeds will stop growing. If the flower bed consists of low-growing compact shrubs or dwarf varieties of conifers, weeding is carried out more often, since the weeds create a shadow over them and prevent growth.
4. Mulching. Shelter from organic material can be done as in tree trunk circles, and over the entire surface of the flowerbed. Mulch has many beneficial functions for plants: it prevents the growth of weeds, retains moisture, and reduces soil freezing. In a flower bed of conifers, mulch made from the remains of pine needles - needles, cones, pine bark, sawdust - would look more than appropriate.
5. Loosening. In the first 3 years, loosening the soil between coniferous plantations should be carried out regularly to a depth of 7-10 cm after each watering. Then the soil is simply mulched.
6. Feeding. Coniferous crops do not need frequent feeding. Mineral mixtures with humates specially designed for conifers are applied once in spring or early summer.
7. Trimming. Planned pruning of coniferous crops is carried out at the end of August - September in order to give the composition a decorative form.
8. Fighting needle drying. Due to extreme heat and lack of moisture, conifers can turn yellow and crumble. In this case, therapeutic measures are needed with spraying the crown with special solutions: Gimisol, Immunocytitis.