Coniferous compositions in landscape design: planting and selection of crops. Prickly secrets: we create a coniferous garden on our site Landscape design with conifers

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

Gardeners love conifers for their many other advantages:

• many varieties of conifers tolerate limited solar lighting thrive 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 stony soils. In addition, due to powerful and developed roots, they can be used to strengthen the slopes.

• most conifers tolerate shearing well, they (some varieties of thuja look especially attractive in this regard) can be used to obtain a variety of figures that are often found in photos of regular English gardens. And some varieties of conifers by nature have geometrically correct form and therefore require virtually no maintenance.

• coniferous tree - a source of useful phytoncides, a walk in the garden with coniferous plantings has a beneficial effect on both the physical and psychological state of a person
• conifers perfectly tolerate a smoky urban environment
• maturing cones will attract birds to the garden, filling it with life and movement

But the main thing that attracts conifers and shrubs, for which they are “loved by design” - with their green color they bring variety and liveliness even to a gloomy, gray and gloomy autumn-winter garden.

Coniferous plants: how to place in the garden correctly

Conifers are universal plants, the abundance of forms and species allows them to be used in landscape compositions. different styles(confirmation of this you will find in our photos). At the same time, the size of the plot will not become a problem - if conifers are quite tall in nature, then decorative varieties and species used for landscaping rarely exceed 4 m in height. Design alpine slides it is difficult to imagine without undersized conifers and shrubs (Humpy dwarf pine, Lobers spruce, Mini Pug pine, some types of thuja, coniferous shrubs).

Site design can give the conifer the function of a color delimiter that will resist the merging of natural shades. Thus, conifers will help complicate the color combination of the garden, make it richer and deeper. Often undersized varieties tui with dark needles, they are used as a border for the club, enclosing the flowers inside in a kind of green frame that sets off the bright colors of the flowers. On the picture gravel gardens conifers are necessarily present, while cones or medium-sized cut bark can replace the stone in places.

Mixborder

Hedge

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

For zoning a site (garden), medium-sized (1-2 m high) varieties are most often used, which will not close the general perspective. Besides, evergreen hedge will act as an excellent background for blooming colorful perennials, this technique is especially common in modern or landscape style gardens.

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

360° view composition

Coniferous plants go well with cereals, flowers (especially lilies) and deciduous plants. coniferous shrubs will look picturesque near water bodies, where they will be accompanied by deciduous weeping plants. Intense green thuja with a bluish tint of needles with small spotted patches will be an excellent photon for junipers.

In order for a composition of coniferous plants to look spectacular and harmonious, its design should include the following factors:

• the best background for conifers will be a regular well-groomed lawn

• so that the composition of their conifers (both trees and shrubs) looks harmonious and holistic, a place for best view(location of the gazebo or observation deck) should be located at a distance of not less than 2 lengths of the composition

• most effective in landscape design the location of coniferous species oriented to the west or east is considered
• geometric shapes - in landscape design it is good to use the principle of contrast, for example, place pyramidal high conifers next to one of the undersized spherical types of thuja. This arrangement of trees of different heights will 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 an ideal material for curly haircuts, with the help of which they acquire geometric and fantastic shapes.

Pine - bright representative forests of the northern hemisphere! Close representatives of the coniferous brotherhood and sisterhood: fir trees, junipers, larch yews, cypresses, sequoias and many others, approximately 560 species. If we take into account flowering plants, this is small, very small, there are significantly more of them, and at the same time, the presence of conifers plays a big role both in nature as a whole and in human life.

The benefits of conifers

During the period of mass industrialization Natural resources paid attention not as much as it is now, people of our time strive to touch the healing properties of nature, decorating their available space with conifers of various species. Designers who are engaged in decorating the landscape, amateur gardeners, and simply owners of household plots, you can still take house managers to them, well, these are those strange people who are friends of a person, appreciated them not for beautiful view and healing fragrance. But also for others beneficial features and benefits:

• A huge number of conifers grow well in the shade and partial shade.
• Roots feel great on different soils both on rocks and in sand.
• Perfectly lend themselves to modeling and trimming, haircut.
• They exude useful phytoncides with their aroma.
• Protect from strong winds and strengthen the soil.
• Restrain the reproduction of some viruses, bacteria, and sometimes destroy harmful insects.

However, when choosing a plant, you need to rely not only on personal preferences, but adhere to certain rules. So:

Three groups of conifers

high growing

An example would be:

• - as a hedge, it has proven itself remarkably, it grows up to 5 m.
• Juniper Skyrocket - grows up to three meters, and even in itself has a cone shape.
• Hupsi - prickly spruce. One of the tallest representatives of high-growing, reaches 15 meters in height.

Medium growing

There is a wide variety of conifers in this group. Most often used:

• Thuja is medium-sized - such a ball, the branches of which grow vertically.
• Golden yew - grows well in the shade of other both branched and coniferous plants.
• Yew berry is a fruit-bearing shrub with beautiful needles.

Low growing shrubs and creeping varieties

Cute plants, while the most affordable, and do not require constant care.

• Lombres is a spruce with emerald needles that spreads along the ground.
• Pug is a miniature species of conifer, which is distinguished by a soft and fluffy “pillow”.

Neighborhood conifers

1. Thuja should not be planted near spruce. She will not allow the thuja to develop.
2. Cedars and pines do not get along with firs and spruces.
3. It is better not to grow larch with conifers of other species. Her relatives don't like it.
4. Birch and bird cherry should not be planted next to coniferous plants. deciduous trees will not tolerate such a neighborhood.

Arm yourself with knowledge in growing conifers. Take into account its height as an adult and the appearance of its flowering crown.

Color variations from coniferous plants also need to be taken into account. For a pleasant and beautiful appearance of conifers on the site, carefully study what the colors of your plants will be.

Are you going to use three plants (elements)? The color scheme can and should combine two colors: a bright spot is set off by more neutral ones. A composition of several plants? Gamma of three colors. It is worth noting that conifers, which change the color of their needles depending on the season, are best planted separately.

But what if 25 or more elements are planned on the site? There is a wonderful option: distribute the plants into groups of two, three or five and plant conifers of the same shade in each group.

Creation of compositional solutions

When planning the composition of a garden on a personal plot, the landscape designer strives for harmony and, one might say, completeness. You can manage on your own in arranging the garden, following certain rules:

1. Planting trees and shrubs is oriented to the east or west, but not to the north or south. This arrangement is desirable for conifers.
2. Symmetry and asymmetry are one of the compositional components. When the forms of crowns and the distances between plants are equal or close, symmetry. Natural naturalness, randomness of lines - asymmetry.
3. Shrubs and trees look majestic against the backdrop of neat paths of decorative rubble in the middle of the lawn, on slopes, near water bodies, among flowers and huge stones.

Render effects

When comparing high and low plants that grow side by side, high ones will seem much higher than they are and vice versa; low plants will be shorter than trees. So that the compositional solution does not introduce a sense of disorder, a comparison color solutions and forms is achieved by using combinations of the same type or even species of plants.

Geometry

Landing, decorated in contrast, looks organic. For example, undersized fit well with tall or tall, pyramidal shapes can be perfectly combined with spherical ones.

Ephedra are used in the design of mixborders, rockeries, living fences and hedges, etc. Let's dwell on some.

Mixborders

What are mixborders? Translated from English "mixed border" or "mixed borders". Mixborder - a flower garden of plants that are planted in multi-row and multi-tiered. So, to design a mixborder, first prepare a place for the largest plants. This will be your starting point.

Keep in mind that seedlings are planted in descending order of their height in adulthood, so the shortest plants are planted at the foot of the border.

Do not be afraid to make mistakes in geometry. curved lines will only enhance the harmony of the trees and the beauty of the mixborder.

Hedge

With conifers, you can not only divide the site into completely different zones, but also create impenetrable jungle along the boundaries of the site. For this, plants are planted in two or more rows in a tight checkerboard pattern. Varieties for hedges need to choose those that are easy and convenient to cut, give the desired shape to the crown. For each hedge, choose one plant variety.

rockery

What's this? This is a kind of garden on a gentle slope, in which stones, shrubs or plants of dwarf species, flowers with tiny inflorescences are used. The most common styles in the design of rockeries are English, European, Japanese. Rockery in English style from another distinguishes restraint in compositional solutions. At their core, they use cereal plants, shrubs, wormwood plants, and, well, small conifers. In the European style, plants inherent in the middle lane are planted, such as balsam fir, juniper, dwarf spruce, cypress, barberry and boxwood. Japanese rockeries are distinguished by an abundance of stone heaps and minimal plant mass. The famous Japanese rock garden is rockery.

A gentle slope is the main criterion for choosing a place for rockeries. A feature of any gently sloping garden is the ability for plants to grow in partial shade. Such a garden will be in harmony with nature, and most importantly, it will look beautiful near a gazebo or a small pond. If your site with pronounced drops is on a slope, and you really want rockeries, in this case, levels are created that even out the drops.

Proper location and planting of conifers

• Plan everything on paper, the size of the paths, the height of the plants, taking into account all the sizes of stones and plants in adult form.
• Select species of coniferous trees
• The most convenient period for planting plants is mid-spring, or even mid-April and early May. During this period, the seedling does not yet begin to actively grow and develop.
• Mark the boundaries of the plot of conifers. Anything is suitable for this: pegs, wood, stones. In the middle of the flower bed, with marking ropes with pegs, indicate the boundaries of each plant and prepare recesses for them, or large pits at least half a meter deep.
• Prepare the ground. It is advisable to mix the upper layers of the soil with peat and sand. The proportions are approximately a bucket of soil, a bucket of sand and half a bucket of peat. If soil from under non-coniferous trees is available, then mix a bucket of such soil into the resulting mixture. This fertilizer is the best for a newly planted tree.
• Plant out plants. At the bottom of the pit, pebbles or a sand mixture of about 15 centimeters, fertilizers or compost are poured ( better compost), half a bucket will suffice. If you add fertilizer, monitor the nitrogen content in it, since nitrogen fertilizers are contraindicated for conifers. The root of the seedling must necessarily be with a clod of earth in which it began to grow. Do not knock down or throw out the earth from the root, otherwise you will kill the plant ahead of time. After loading the root into the pit, fill up to the surface level with our prepared soil and level it well. It is not worth tamping heavily, the earth itself will sit down as much as it needs, but while it sags, the roots will have time to get used to the new position, they will be saturated with moisture and air.
• Cover the landing site with mulch. Soil mulching is generally a useful process. Anything can be used as mulch: plant bark, small pebbles, cones, sawdust and wood chips, whatever your heart desires and what will look beautiful in your composition. Even ground cover plants such as creeping perennials and flowers are suitable.
• Watering. Plays an important role in early stages growth plentiful watering. During a drought, it is doubly useful.
• Feed the seedlings regularly until the plants grow.

Conifers differ from other plants in their durability. They calmly tolerate cold and heat, drought is also not as terrible for them as for other plants, and long downpours only saturate the tree with moisture longer. Unlike other plants, conifers themselves can protect themselves from various diseases. And the microclimate that conifers create near them can significantly reduce the number of insects. The air in the area becomes soft and filled with oxygen.

Conifer care (video)

In general, creating your own garden with the use of conifers gives the overall completeness to the whole composition. You yourself have created something big, lasting and beautiful. In addition, next to you, you yourself landed a large source fresh air, and if there is a gazebo in such a garden, and a recreation area, which can be compared with a trip out of town. Creating coniferous gardens, you touched the secrets of nature, subject to the strict order of the Creator.

Coniferous trees, pines, spruces, junipers, are found in our gardens as often as deciduous plants. The atmosphere of a pine forest, the aroma that these trees exude, create a special aura in the summer cottage. It is worth mentioning that all conifers have excellent bactericidal properties that are beneficial to health.

Advantages of landscape design of a summer cottage with conifers and photos

Coniferous plants are distinguished by the fact that they are not picky, but still they need to be looked after. AT summer heat they need to be securely covered from possible burns, and in severe winter, on the contrary, those plants that are afraid of frost (for example, arborvitae) should be protected. You see below a photo of the landscape design of the courtyard of a private house, the conifers are covered for the winter.

The features (rather, advantages) of these trees include:

Poor tolerance of the bright sun allows you to make a garden of their conifers even in the north and quite dark side garden;
- Many types of coniferous trees naturally have an ideal geometric shape, they do not need to be constantly cut like deciduous;
- Perfectly developed roots allow plants to live for a long time without watering at all;
- Physicians have proven many times that phytoncides of coniferous trees not only have a beneficial effect on health, they help to cure certain types of diseases;
- A garden of coniferous plants can be created even on the smallest plot.

Conifers in landscape design: photo and name of some species

Most coniferous trees in wildlife are very large, they grow even up to fifty meters. There are, of course, creeping species, but they are few. For example, mountain pine, or very rare species of dwarf conifers. Almost all of them are evergreen, but there are also species that shed their needles for the winter (for example, larch). The photo shows landscape design with stones and conifers of various types.

There is a very common mistake among beginner gardeners: to create your own miniature garden with coniferous plants, ordinary corny cut coniferous trees are used, and not dwarf forms. The fact is that those plants that should be tall will still try to restore their original shape and height. You should purchase varieties of dwarf conifers, and not mutilated pines, which should in theory be huge, unless you are planning to have tall cedars and huge firs on the site.

Here are just a few of the list of popular types of dwarf pines we have:

The unpretentious and most popular "Nana", a fluffy dark green pine;

A fluffy yellow pine called "Panderosa", with beautiful long needles, has recently appeared in our space. It was previously thought that it would freeze with us, but in fact it grows even without shelter;

Nevaki in the landscape of the house
The Japanese Nevaki pine belongs to bonsai, naturally, it was bred in the country rising sun. Japanese pine can take any shape if it is cut correctly and in a timely manner;

A creeping view of the Veld pine, its shoots grow strictly horizontally. If it is not cut, it can take three meters in the district from itself.

The name of the conifer in landscape design in the photo is.

There are also dwarf spruces in nature, they have cone-shaped crowns, thick needles and are quite unpretentious if you plant them not in the scorching sun. There is a dwarf form of Norwegian spruce - it's a real little green gem, and by the way, it is suitable for planting in pots. Weeping fir looks very beautiful in landscape design, its color is dark green with a yellowish tint, and the branches hang down to the ground. As a positive example of a traditional dwarf species, I would like to cite another juniper. Creeping juniper will be beautiful on an alpine hill.

Very beautiful and majestic cedar, it can become a real legend in your garden. Although Siberian cedar is the most popular in our country, there is also Korean cedar, as well as Atlas cedar. Tui are the favorites of all gardeners without exception, there are many types of them, and a hedge of thuja will decorate any space.

Landscape design of a summer cottage and a photo with conifers

The most desirable background for conifers is a smooth and well-groomed lawn. Against the background of a green carpet, next to the stones, pines, spruces and larches look beautiful. Coniferous shrubs and trees look harmonious against the background of deciduous plants, but it is important to think through color combinations plants among themselves. Particularly good are the corners of the garden with green conifers and deciduous in autumn, when the foliage turns yellow and red.

Also ask about the name, including conifers in landscape design, see in the photo how they will look like adults. It is important to consider that plants grow over time, and general state crowns in adulthood will change significantly. Thus, the whole harmony of a well-thought-out composition can take on a different look over time.

Coniferous trees look very beautiful next to roses, although evergreens, as a rule, strongly oxidize the soil, which is very harmful for delicate southern beauties. Care for roses growing in such conditions must be thorough. Below you see in the photo conifers and roses in landscape design.

Small conifers look great as a border along garden path. Creeping views will be an excellent basis for a small alpine slide, along with the corresponding flowering plants and stones. Different types of heathers and pines can be planted together in an idea overall composition which can be decorated with various decorative elements. Decoration can be:

• Beautiful large and small stones,
• Decorative form of driftwood.
• Rough pottery

Gardens of coniferous trees are usually not decorated with flowers, with the exception of wild forest species and bulbs, but not in in large numbers.

Landscape design of the courtyard of a private house and a photo with conifers

We see in the photo the landscape design of the courtyard of a private house with conifers and other plants, the plot is quite large, this is the outskirts of the garden, huge pine trees look harmoniously next to flowering plants and a decorative staircase - a slide. Indeed, in a hidden corner of the garden, you can equip a wild forest corner. Let a big pine or spruce grow there, and in early spring lilies of the valley bloom. Coniferous trees will also help to imitate the landscape that happens in the highlands, you should plant different types of pines and firs, junipers, stones, medium-sized white pebbles will help. It is also good to plant conifers along the fence and also decorate them with small stones, somewhere you can equip a dry stream.

A photo with conifers of landscape design of a private house usually always shows various alpine slides. To create an alpine slide with coniferous plants, you will need to take more stones. Plant conifers between large rocks, and be careful that taller plants do not obscure shorter ones. It is better to choose very miniature or slow growing plant species. All compositions are planted in such a way that they eventually spread beautifully over the laid stones, which will create spectacular cascades. To create such a "garden" you will need many different conifers, but the result is worth it.

The conditions for the growth of various types of coniferous trees and plants are simple and quite feasible in our country. Create your own compositions of coniferous trees in landscape design, show your imagination, and soon you will be able to breathe in the incomparable pine aroma every morning and admire the majestically slenderness of the thuja.

Many owners of country plots are fond of landscape design. As a result of their efforts, the space surrounding not only expensive cottages, but also simple private houses has noticeably changed. Today, vegetable gardens and even gardens are gradually losing ground and giving way to lawns, flower beds, flower beds and unusual plant compositions that please the eye. However, flower beds have always attracted the attention of gardeners, and indeed ornamental shrubs quite often they decorated plots, but conifers in landscape design, if used, were not so often. Today they are becoming more and more popular.

For planting conifers, there are rules that are well known to landscape designers. But since not every site owner has the financial ability to hire such a specialist, it is better to know these rules yourself in order to independently try to implement them on the site:

• A tree and shrub composition will look holistic only when the distance from the point from which it will be most often viewed is at least two of its heights.
• The presence of a lawn as a background for coniferous plants is most preferable.
• Often, coniferous plants are planted near water bodies, so that, in combination with weeping deciduous plants, they form a single original composition.
• The most spectacular, according to experts, when coniferous compositions in the landscape design of the garden are oriented to the west or east.

Coniferous plants go well with cereals, deciduous plants and flowers, including lilies. This composition on the shore of the pond looks natural and great

The combination of roses and conifers looks great, but the problem is that thuja and other coniferous plants oxidize the soil as a result of their vital activity, and roses treat acidic soils poorly.

Coniferous plants can vary significantly in color. If you have to collect plants in a composition, you need to pay attention to the color of the needles in order to form a kind of gamma:

• If the composition includes three components, then only two colors can be present in it.
• The five-element composition should consist of no more than three different colors.
• If there are 25 or even more elements in the composition, they must be combined into groups of three, and the plants in one group should be selected according to a single color trait.

Only in this case, coniferous plants will make up an ensemble in which they will look harmonious, without violating the integrity of the picture.

Material on the rules for the design of group and solitary plantings from decorative conifers will also be useful:

Numerous colors and shades of needles can create harmonious combinations if you take care of their compatibility with each other in advance.

Crown height and shape

When creating ensembles, it is necessary to take into account not only the color of the plant, but also its height in adulthood, as well as the shape of its crown. To predict appearance compositions for the future, armed with knowledge, should be selected in advance from those plants that the modern market or nurseries can offer.

Of course, both the height of an adult plant and the shape of its crown must be taken into account so that after some time the composition does not lose its original attractiveness and does not turn into thickets.

Tall species of coniferous plants

Among the fairly tall plants include the following species:

• Western thuja. The plant reaches a height of 5 m, prefers shaded areas, can be sheared. Often used as a hedge.
• Juniper Skyrocket. nice plant conical shape with soft blue needles. Grows up to 3m high.
• A very popular variety that can grow up to 15m. It has dense needles of silver-blue color. The plant is resistant to negative natural factors.
• Scotch pine Watereri. Her homeland is the Mediterranean, so we can say that she is especially adapted to southern climate. It has a twisted spherical shape, grows to a height of up to 4m.
• Pine Pinkus Silvestris. A real coniferous giant, growing up to 40m in height. It has a straight trunk and a columnar structure. Demanded due to the absolute unpretentiousness.

If rapid upward growth is undesirable, you can adjust the size of the plants by constantly pinching its shoots, but this must be done regularly: every year. Otherwise, you can get a freak plant.

Who would have thought that such a compact plant could eventually turn into a 15-meter giant. But this circumstance must be taken into account when landing

Srednerosly plants for coniferous compositions

Very tall plants rarely dare to use in the internal composition. Rather, they form hedge zoning the site or fencing it. But medium-sized conifers are deservedly popular with landscape designers:

• . This branched and very showy evergreen tree is in demand as it grows slowly but looks attractive.
• Berry yew. Compact shrub with dense needles looks great on the lawn and is popular because of the combination of juicy greenery and bright red berries.
• Western thuja. A very beautiful and compact ball, the branches of which grow densely in a vertical direction in relation to the trunk.
• Golden yew. Can grow in partial shade, feels great in the neighborhood of tall and short plants. It has the shape of a bowl and needles of yellowish-green or golden color.

As a rule, it is these plants that form the basis of the compositions. Successfully complemented by undersized conifers, they look great at any end of the garden.

It is medium-sized plants that often form the basis of all kinds of compositions. Look at this tree that just begs for a Japanese-style garden

Green thuja with bright red berries brings back memories of the wonderful New Year holidays, when this color combination becomes the most popular.

Undersized and creeping conifers

When pulling out such a plant, it is necessary to provide sufficient space for its development. After all, such conifers do not grow up, but in breadth, capturing space and forming a kind of prickly lawn.

• Spruce Lombers ordinary. Despite this name, this spruce looks quite unusual. This is a low-growing plant with dense emerald-colored needles.
• Western thuja Tiny Tim. This plant loves light, but does not require abundant watering. It looks like a ball rolled out onto the track.
• Mountain pine Hampi. The plant serves as an ornament for rock gardens. Expands to the sides. Her kidneys are negative temperatures acquire a decorative reddish-brown tint.
• Mountain pine Mini Pug. It grows into a fluffy pillow. Effective and pleasing to the eye.

Low-growing conifers in garden design can be especially attractive if properly cared for. It is they, combined with medium-sized ones, that are able to create an indescribable atmosphere. Japanese garden, its coloring.

Although this spruce is called an ordinary spruce, outwardly it looks more like a spruce tree that covers the surface that the designer assigned to it.

Mountain pine Mini Pug impresses with its diminutiveness and adaptability to the most extreme growth conditions. Of course, she deserves to become a decoration of the garden.

We make compositions from conifers

Coniferous plants are perfectly combined not only with each other, but also with deciduous shrubs and trees, creating interesting compositions. For a combination of plants, there are rules that you should know when designing a site.

Mixborders from conifers

The mixborder can be placed where, in accordance with your vision, it will be most appropriate. It is important not to be afraid to do what you want. The landscape only benefits from the manifestation of the designer's individuality.

Prepare a place for the largest plants on the edge of the composition, then the seedlings are arranged in descending order of size, so the smallest specimens are planted at the foot of the mixborder. Do not try to maintain the geometric accuracy of landings. Curvature will only emphasize pristine beauty compositions.

This attractive composition retains all the rules that should not be violated, creating a harmonious ensemble of conifers in the garden.

The natural harmony of the mixborder must be observed: the width of the site for tall and large plants must exceed the space reserved for small plantings. As part of the seedlings, there may be plants that differ in the color of the needles and the shape of the crown. Sometimes on the sites you can see exceptionally beautiful and diverse collections of conifers.

barbed hedge

Sharing suburban area into zones, many designers also use conifers. With the help of them, you can also create a functional fence around the perimeter of the site. For this, plants are planted in two or even three rows, placed in a checkerboard pattern. From spruce can be an absolutely impenetrable barrier.

Barriers can also be beautiful, but this does not diminish their impregnability. It will take time for such a fence to appear on the site, but the result is worth it.

Against the background of Christmas trees or thuja look good. By creating different combinations plants, you can not worry about the artificial decorations of the site: it will be beautiful and evergreen at any time of the year.

Rules for planting conifers

Careful preparation of the place where the plant will be planted is very important. His health depends on this, and, therefore, the beauty of the site. If water stagnation occurs in some place of the site, plants should not be placed there. Each variety makes demands on the composition of the soil own requirements. This point should be clarified and taken into account when you are just starting to choose varieties for planting.

As you can see, the seedling of a coniferous plant does not need to be deepened much. It is enough that in the hole prepared for it there is that part that we call the root

The most acceptable period for planting is from late April to early May. At this time, the seedling has not yet entered into an active growth period, which means that it will be easier to tolerate the transplant and will feel good in a new place.

In the hole under the seedling should be placed fertile soil, after which it is good to compact it and place the plant in it at the root, not deeper. After planting, the conifer needs watering. Care must be taken to ensure that the soil does not dry out.

Not all conifers show frost resistance. There are real sissies who are accustomed to the humid and warm Mediterranean climate. In winter, they need to be protected.

Conifers are not picky plants, but they also require care. In hot summer they need to be covered from sunburn, and in cold winter those specimens that are not frost-resistant should be covered.

Seedlings can be with a closed root system and with an open one. If the planting is in the spring, and the roots are open, pay attention to the presence of white fresh shoots. This plant is ready for planting.

Evergreens provide a lot of advantages in the arrangement of the site. Change depending on the season weather, and with them - the panorama of the landscape. The use of evergreen plantings enlivens the space even in winter period giving the backyard a majestic and rich appearance. Such types of plants are successfully combined with deciduous shrubs, for example, with barberries, hydrangeas or rhododendrons.

How to apply evergreen plantings in landscape design yard and what are their advantages, we will consider in this material.

Advantages of conifers

Planting on an evergreen site offers great advantages over other plants.

1. Aesthetics. Conifers retain their decorative appearance throughout the year, regardless of weather conditions.
2. Diversity. Numerous varieties will help create lively compositions different forms and color range.
3. unpretentiousness. Such green spaces do not require constant maintenance. They grow on all types of soil, do not need a lot of sunlight and regular watering, so any part of the yard is suitable for planting.
4. Environmental friendliness. Conifers allocate essential oils, enriching the surrounding air with the rich smell of the forest.

Consider shapes and sizes

When using evergreens in the landscape design of a summer cottage, their spatial characteristics are taken into account. It is important to take into account the shape, as well as the size that the plant will reach after a certain period of time.

The use of one or another type of evergreen depends on the correct combination of geometric proportions. For example, it is good to combine straight paths with squat and voluminous plantings, and a pond with low fluffy trees.

also in without fail take into account the overall dimensions of the site. Large ones are decorated with large plants, and small ones are decorated using dwarf varieties.

What types of conifers to choose

If the dimensions of the site allow, the following evergreens are planted:

• Thuja western. The height of the tree reaches 5 meters. To give it an arrow-shaped shape, the branches are cut. Thuja is used to create hedges. The only requirement is the shading of the landing site.
• Juniper Skyrocket. Reaches a height of up to 3 meters. The shrub is popular due to the unusual color of needles with a bluish tinge.
• El Hupsi. Grows up to 15 meters tall. Suitable for single and group planting. Thanks to the silvery color with a bluish tint, it gives the composition an incredible look.

The plants listed above belong to the category of large plantations and are used in spacious areas. But for small areas, low-growing varieties with crowns of different shapes are suitable.

Of course, this is an incomplete list of conifers that are used in landscape design. Among the many species and varieties of evergreens, it will not be difficult to choose plants for decorating a summer cottage.

Design options

With the help of conifers, various compositions are created that perform aesthetic and practical functions.

1. Hedges.
2. Lawn decor.
3. Group landings.
4. Mixborders with conifer elements.
5. Evergreens in rockeries.
6. Container garden and bonsai.

Hedges

Such coniferous plantations serve throughout the year, and not only in the warm season. They are used both for fencing the site, and for zoning individual parts of the space.

Conifers with a spherical, pyramidal or columnar crown are best suited for hedges, which tolerate cutting branches well.

Varieties of evergreens are selected depending on the purpose of the hedge. Spruce, pine, fir are suitable for fencing the site. If you need a fence of medium height for zoning, then use different varieties of arborvitae, juniper, yew or cypress. To create low green borders, dwarf species are chosen.

Thematic material:

Varieties of silvery or bluish tones will help to highlight the hedge against the background of other plantings. The main requirement when creating a living fence is the use of fast-growing conifers of the same species.

lawn elements

If green lawns are broken on the site, then they can be supplemented with coniferous crops. At the same time, high-growing or medium-height varieties with expressive crown shapes are chosen. For landing on the lawn, pyramidal and arrow-shaped, as well as spherical varieties of conifers are suitable.

These plants look great alone. A neatly trimmed lawn will serve as a decorative frame and background for separately growing trees and shrubs.

Group landings

Instead of a banal round flower bed with roses, a group planting of conifers is often used, where plants are combined in crown shapes and colors. Ensembles based on the contrast of shades and configurations are expressive. For example, columnar varieties of evergreens are combined with spherical and creeping ones. Good option- a combination of arborvitae, silver spruce and juniper in one composition.

An expressive effect is achieved by combining deciduous species with conifers. Hydrangea shrubs coexist well with them.

Group plantings are also original, in which coniferous plants with needle and scaly leaves are combined.

When planning such compositions, the size of mature trees and shrubs is taken into account. After all, many evergreens can reach large dimensions.

Mixborders with conifer elements

Mixborders - compositions using different types of plants, including evergreens. At the same time, coniferous inclusions often occupy the central place of a prefabricated flower bed or act as a backdrop for perennial flowers.

A win-win option is a combination of conifers in one mix along with deciduous shrubs, for example, hydrangea, barberry, cotoneaster and others.

When creating a mixborder, it is important to consider plant compatibility. Fallen needles change the acidity of the soil, and some deciduous plantings may simply not be suitable for such a neighborhood.

But the hydrangea coexists without problems with spruces and junipers. When planting this decorative flower, it is even recommended to add coniferous soil. Hydrangeas love shaded areas with acidic soils.- just the conditions that create coniferous plantings.

Evergreens in rock gardens

Today, rockeries and rock gardens are often used in landscape design, which provide for the mandatory presence of conifers.

Which plants to choose depends on the size of the rocky garden. In small rockeries, creeping varieties are used, and if space allows, they include dwarf pines and spruces.

Thuja, junipers, firs and other undersized conifers become truly an adornment of rocky gardens.

Evergreens that tolerate shearing with ease are great for topiary. After all, it is here that decorative figures of bizarre forms are created from trees and shrubs, up to the image of people and animals.

The popularity of evergreens in topiary art is also explained by the fact that dense and dense needles make it possible to easily form objects of complex configuration. At the same time, you can create masterpieces all year round.

Container gardens and bonsai

Our climatic conditions do not always allow the use of some varieties of conifers. Trees growing in the southern regions are sensitive to temperature changes, and even an indicator of zero degrees leads to their death.

The way out of this situation is to plant plants in containers that are placed on the site during the warm season and removed for the winter in an unheated room. The same rule applies to coniferous bonsai.

Each variety of plants requires a certain amount of soil, which must be taken into account when planting in containers. Dwarf and creeping types of conifers feel good in a limited space. At the same time than larger plant, the more spacious the container is chosen.

The advantage of such gardens is that the design can be updated over time, simply by changing the arrangement.

For landscape design, the use of coniferous plants will be an excellent option to diversify the design. In addition, such landings are unpretentious in care and delight the eye all year round. One or more types of evergreens will transform country cottage area, turning it into cozy place for relax.