Coniferous plants and trees in landscape design - we create beautiful coniferous compositions in the garden. Conifers in landscape design: beautiful compositions Coniferous compositions in landscape design schemes

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With the help of evergreen coniferous plants, you can decorate and improve your garden plot or flower bed near a residential building. This advantage of coniferous plants has been known for a long time, and therefore evergreen decorations of various kinds are so relevant. The beauty and originality of such green spaces persists throughout the year. This applies to both compositions of conifers and a single tree.

Most varieties of conifers tolerate lack of sunlight well and have a well-developed root system, which allows plants to survive without watering for a long time. Some varieties of coniferous plants take root well and develop in dry and rocky soils.

The majority of coniferous trees and shrubs tolerate pruning well. Some coniferous tree species naturally have a regular geometric shape and do not require pruning or complex care.

The role of conifers in the landscape of a summer cottage

Coniferous plants can perform a wide variety of functions in landscape design. It can be:

The design of a garden with coniferous plants can be either purely decorative or have a functional purpose. In particular, with the help of juniper or thuja, you can create an excellent living fence that will hide the recreation area in the yard from prying eyes. For example, if you plant these shrubs very closely next to each other, you will get a magnificent hedge.

By using dwarf juniper can be created low fence for playgrounds or large flower beds. Such a fence will not block the view and will create a visual boundary. In addition, it will create a purely aesthetic frame effect.

Conifers with an unusual crown shape or color can be used as single decorations for the site. Such a “soloist” is able to decorate a yard or garden throughout the year. The background for such a tree can be a gravel covering or a grass lawn.

Composition from ornamental plants for landscape design, framing a path or fence, has another name: mixborder. This element is very popular among gardeners. To create a mixborder you can combine conifers with ground cover plants, flowers, lawn grass. If a mixborder is created near a garden path, it is best to create it from dwarf forms of plants, then it is possible to take in the entire composition at once.

Such compositions are a ready-made original and at the same time very attractive solution for creating a landscape for a courtyard or summer cottage. You can combine conifers in your dacha with suitable deciduous plants.

Gives a good effect play on contrasts of color and shape plants. You can combine columnar and spherical thujas and complete this composition with creeping juniper. The bright green color will harmonize with golden and deep dark green. This composition looks very attractive.

If you model the landscape composition correctly, the territory of your site will look very cozy and harmonious. Completed painting coniferous garden can be created if you adhere to the following rules:

It is best to orient the plantings to the east or west,

Not recommended overload landscapes with an abundance of shapes and colors– this will create a feeling of anxiety. It is best to limit yourself to two or three contrasting colors. Even on a fairly large area, it is better to limit yourself to alternating two shades and avoid chaos of all kinds of colors.

Gallery: conifers in landscape design (25 photos)

Creating flower beds from conifers

With the help of conifers various shapes and size, you can arrange flower beds in your garden or summer cottage. The design of such a landscape will depend on the size of the plot, the shape of the flower bed and, of course, the skill of the gardener.

Exists several varieties of conifer flower beds:

Alpine slide with conifers

Using ornamental coniferous plants different colors and sizes can be perfectly designed and small ponds on the site. An ideal landscape design option would be a pond or stream lined with conifers.

1. Spruce or pine has a spherical shape, western thuja, balsam fir or ephedra.
2. The conical shape can be maintained in gray spruce, Lawson cypress, Serbian spruce or mountain pine.
3. The cylindrical shape is inherent in the oriental thuja, berry yew, and Virginia juniper.

Plants of various shapes can be combined at the dacha with creeping juniper species.

Coniferous bonsai

Bonsai is a unique opportunity to take your garden home during the winter cold. Such trees are grown in special containers and require a lot of time, effort and attention. Only experienced and patient gardeners can do this task.

Root system such microconifers can suffer greatly in the harsh Russian winter. IN summer time Bonsai can decorate a garden and a personal plot, but for the winter it must be moved to a room with a temperature of 1 to 12 degrees. Be sure to follow the rules for winter watering of plants. Such painstaking work will be more than rewarded with the delightful and very aesthetic landscape of your dacha.

Advantages and disadvantages

All ornamental coniferous crops are different a number of undoubted advantages.

Conifers are quite often used in landscape design for decorating a flower bed. And this is not surprising, because conifers 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 a complex landscape composition, so creating it with your own hands in a free style without prior preparation and a 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 on the finishing materials used to frame and decorate the flowerbed - 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, and junipers of various 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 distinguished by its particular sophistication and sophistication. Roses in a mixborder can be planted of various varieties, while it is better to plant low-growing and ground cover roses along the edges, 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 the specific type of conifers that will be planted in the flowerbed. Peat and sand should be added to heavy clay soil, and a little turf soil to sandy soil. If the flowerbed is small, you can purchase soil for it at 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 the 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 the future, caring for coniferous crops consists of a considerable list of activities, but they should 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 flowerbed 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 conifers - weeding is carried out more often, since the weeds create a shadow over them and prevent growth.
4. Mulching. A shelter made of organic material can be made 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 flowerbed 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 fertilizing. 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.

Many gardeners dream of growing coniferous plants in their garden. various types and varieties. Conifers in the garden, together with decorative deciduous and beautiful flowering plants, create indescribable beauty. And besides their beauty, conifers protect our garden from noise, dust and saturate the air with essential oils that are beneficial to our health.

A composition of coniferous plants is a group of coniferous species and varieties, planted according to certain rules of landscape design. To create such a composition on your site, you need to adhere to the basic recommendations, which we will now share with you.

Conifers in the garden can be planted in different corners of the site, but this will cause the group to have a different shape. If you want to create a composition with an all-round view, then the tallest conifers should be planted in the center of the group so that medium-sized and small conifers can be placed in the foreground. Then all the plants will receive enough sunlight and will be pleasing to our eyes, since everyone will be in sight.

If you want to decorate the entrance to a building or plant a composition near a wall, then the most tall plants need to be planted in the background, respectively, low-growing and dwarf conifers - in the foreground.

If you want to do a strip planting, then always plant tall plants in the background, and plants medium height and low-growing ones will fit well between tall conifers, but planted closer to the foreground. Be careful not to plant plants of the same height next to each other. Plants of the same height and preferably of the same type are planted only in green hedge.

Coniferous plants now delight us with a huge range of shapes and colors of needles. Creating a composition with completely different colors of needles, on the contrary, “breaks” it and does not group it. If you want to make a composition of three conifers, then it is advisable to plant 2 plants with the same color of needles and 1 plant with a different color.
If a composition of 5 conifers is envisaged, then it is advisable to use 3 different colors of needles (for example, 1 yellow, 1 blue, 1 gray, and 2 green).

To create a composition of conifers in your garden, you need to either grow the plants yourself, which is very labor-intensive, or buy them. And you can from our partners. In addition, we have all types of conifers in stock from which we will now make a composition!

In our example, most conifers will be tall trees, so they need to be planted at a sufficient distance from each other so that when they grow, they do not interfere with each other. To do this, we will use a characteristic that indicates the size of adult plants. And since there will be quite a distance between the conifers, you can fill it with shade-loving bushes and flowers. Bulbous and corm flowers look very beautiful near conifers.

A little about the formation of groups. In landscape design, it is customary to place plants in the following groups:
Picture 1.

Picture 2.

Picture 3.

Group of 5 plants. In the center (1) there are tall coniferous plants, on the sides (2 and 3) there are medium-sized and low-growing plants. Red lines indicate that all plants are visible from one side. Also from other sides.

Picture 4.


These are the most simple examples, which may be useful to you.
And now we offer you ready-made diagram compositions of eight coniferous plants. Let's create it following the example of the pictures. For this we use picture number 1 (with three plants) and picture number 3 (with five plants). On the left side you see plants planted according to a pattern of 3 pcs. - this is Crimean pine (4), Siberian cedar (5), and common spruce (2). On the left side, conifers are planted according to a pattern of 5 pieces. — thuja Smaragd (6), thuja Columna (7), balsam fir (8), blue spruce (1), Scots pine (3).

Brief characteristics of coniferous plants in the composition:

1. Prickly or blue spruce (Picea pungens) - height 20-30 m, width - 6-8 m. Annual growth 30 cm. The color of the needles is bluish, gray, silvery. The crown shape is pyramidal. The root system is deep, but on less fertile soil it is superficial. Loves moderately nutritious soil and sufficient watering. Increases decorativeness on podzolic, moist soils, but loses decorativeness on dry, poor, rocky or clayey soils. Wind-resistant, light-loving.
2. Norway spruce (Picea abies) - height 20-40 m, width - 6-8 m. Grows slowly until 10 - 15 years, then faster, 50 cm in height. The color of the needles is dark green. The crown shape is pyramidal. The root system is deep if it grows on loam and sandy loam. If the soil is often wet, the roots are shallow, which can cause damage from the wind. Loves wet air, moderately moist, acidic and well-drained soils. Grows well in the shade. Needs shade in spring young plant from the sun and protect from recurrent frosts. But in winter it is frost-resistant.

3. Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) — height 20-25 m, width 7-10 m. Grows quickly, annual growth is 30-40 cm. The color of the needles is bluish-green, the shape of the needles is slightly curved. The root system is powerful, taprooted, does well on rocky soils, and is not afraid of strong winds. It is not picky about soils, but does not like soil compaction and strong salinity. Very photophilous. Actively releases essential oils and phytoncides, thereby purifying and ionizing the air.

4. Pallas or Crimean pine (Pinus Palasina) - height up to 30 m. The needles are long (18-20 cm), slightly curved, dark green. This pine is less frost-resistant than Scots pine. Annual growth is 30 cm. It loves calcareous soils, but also grows normally on sandy and crushed stone soils. It is photophilous, loses its decorative effect in the shade and is damaged by pests. The root system is powerful and deep, so it is not afraid of the wind. Drought-resistant, does not like stagnant water. Gas and dust resistant.
5. Siberian cedar or cedar pine (Pinus sibirica) - height 30-35 m, width 5-8 m. The first 20 years it grows very slowly, then the annual growth is 30-40 cm. The needles are dense, protruding, dark green with a bluish coating. The root system is powerful with a main short tap root and numerous lateral roots, and is not afraid of strong winds. Grows on any soil except clayey and purely sandy. But it prefers light loamy and loamy, slightly podzolized soils. Light-loving, shade-tolerant. The older the plant, the more light it requires. Loves moderately moist soil and moist air. Very winter-hardy. Cedar wood repels midges, mosquitoes, and moths.

6. Western thuja Smaragd (Thuja occidenalis Smaragd) - height 3-5 m, width - 2 m. Annual growth 10 cm. Crown shape - narrow, pyramidal, dense. The needles are dark green and retain their color well in winter. It is not demanding on soils, but grows better on fresh loams and limed soils. Sun-loving, can grow in partial shade. Frost-resistant. Looks good in containers and in green hedges. Purifies and ionizes the air.

7. Thuja western Columna ( Thuja occidenalis Columna)— height -10 m, width - up to 1.5 m. It grows very quickly. The needles are scaly, shiny, dark green; in winter they retain their color; in the shade the color darkens. It takes root well if you do not disturb the root system too much. It is not demanding on the soil, it grows on acidic and alkaline soils, the main thing is that they are nutritious and moist. Does not like dry soil. Photophilous, the crown is dense in the sun, sparse in the shade. The most frost-resistant among western thujas. Well suited for hedges due to rapid growth and heights.
8. Balsam fir (Abies balsamea) — height 20 m, width -6 m. The crown shape is narrow pyramidal. The needles are dark green, shiny on top, with two whitish stripes below. Grows quickly. The root system is superficial, so it must be protected from strong winds. It is undemanding to soils, but prefers acidic ones. If you cover the lower branches with humus, they will take root. Does not like trampling the soil and breaking off branches. Sun-loving, but also grows well in partial shade. Frost-resistant.

Modern landscape design is rich in a variety of types of coniferous plants. The aroma of country air, saturated with pine needles, is a pleasant and healthy frame for relaxation in the countryside and in the garden. Plants are used in the landscape to create beautiful compositions, flower beds, rockeries and topiaries, as well as in the form of fences. Coniferous trees in landscape design get along well with deciduous trees and look great on lawns framed by stones and flowers. Plants come in a variety of species different shades, shape and size, plus - unique decor all year round.

Options for using conifers in the landscape.

Decorative types of conifers are popular in design solutions landscape due to its unique properties:

• Coniferous trees and shrubs are frost-resistant, easily survive severe cold, adding decor to the winter landscape;
• thanks to their powerful roots, coniferous plants provide themselves with moisture even in dry summers, and therefore do not require frequent watering;
• conifers develop well in low light conditions and grow in shade and partial shade;
• trees are attractive at any stage of their life. As they grow, the beauty and density of their crown only intensifies;
• The diversity of conifer species implies the presence of compact forms that do not require special care.

Coniferous plant cultures can be used when planning landscape compositions in any style. Miniature trees are appropriate in green fences, flower beds and rockeries.

Coniferous rock garden design

An ornamental garden on a gentle slope with scattered stones, a variety of unpretentious flowers, shrubs and miniature conifers is a rockery. When creating a semi-wild coniferous landscape, you need to follow some principles:

• dwarf representatives of coniferous species are chosen as the basis for compositional vegetation;
• when choosing types of coniferous plants, their unpretentiousness is taken into account;
• when forming a rock garden there should be no pronounced differences in terrain;
• the plot pattern is created by a combination of large stone and gravel backfill.

Before purchasing seedlings for a rock garden, you need to think through the composition of your landscape design; miniature conifers are not cheap. You can achieve the best effect in the compositional design of the landscape by choosing a vertical coniferous dwarf for the dominant plant, with a crown in the form of a cone or oval. The dominant plant is planted at the beginning or middle of the composition; small seedlings with a spherical crown are placed around it. Planting creeping ground cover conifers will serve as a background.

An alpine slide differs from a rock garden in requiring more sunlight. A gently sloping garden of conifers is unpretentious in this regard and looks wonderful in landscape solution under the windows of the estate, in the shade of the gazebo, on the shore of an artificial pond.

When creating a rock garden, you should not overload it with a variety of coniferous species; you can lose the beauty and uniqueness of each one. When composing groups, it is better to use contrasts in the shape and color of trees or apply the aesthetics of a smooth transition.

Wild stones, as elements of landscape design, should be organically included in the composition and not hidden in coniferous thickets, but harmoniously placed among dwarfs of spruce, pine, thuja and juniper. The result should be a complete illusion of a natural landscape in miniature. The slow growth of conifers (up to 3 cm per year) will allow you to preserve the composition for a long time.

Design of flower beds from conifers

In the landscape design of a summer cottage, coniferous species look great in flower beds. Their sizes and design depend on the size personal plot and gardening talent.

There are several main types:

Attention! When designing a flower bed, the stock is taken into account free space for the growth and development of green perennials.

Arrangement coniferous flower bed is not particularly difficult. With the correct selection of the species range of evergreens and their proper placement, you will get beautiful view adjoining plot with minimal waste of time and effort.

Coniferous fencing

Conifers in the landscape design of a summer cottage add a certain majesty to the landscape composition, especially evergreen plantings in hedges. A fence made of coniferous trees can be of different heights and has strict beauty and harmony. In addition to decoration, a plant fence also provides useful functionality:

It is better to buy the types of trees and shrubs for living fencing in a special nursery, but can be found in an ordinary flower shop. Some coniferous species are suitable for propagation by cuttings or seeds.

Mastery of complex design

Conifers in landscape design open up space for the flight of imagination. The art of topiary can give a plant any fantasy shape. The main way to obtain a shaped variety of plants is pruning; types of yew, spruce and juniper are used. When creating simple shapes - cylindrical, spherical, cone-shaped, it is better to choose those types of conifers whose crown will suffer minimal damage.

Experienced gardeners trim trees by eye; for beginners, there are stencils and various devices in the form of driven pegs and taut ropes. A novice amateur gardener can give the crown of an ephedra a beautiful, spiral shape. Using a wide ribbon you need to wrap young tree with a conical crown and cut off all branches from free areas. After a year, the clipped areas are already clearly visible, you can correct them a little and the end result is a beautiful sea shell.

Choosing a garden plot design

The high decorative value of conifers opens up a wide range of applications in landscape design. It is necessary to preserve the beauty and uniqueness of each coniferous tree, so there is no need to plant an entire forest.

Before planting plants, be sure to consider:

• climatic conditions;
• terrain;
• dimensions of the plot and yard buildings;
• the presence of ponds and bridges.

All this must be linked with each other and coniferous perennials. Need to think carefully compositional solution design country garden, when replanting grown trees, the root system can be damaged.

Combination of plants in a coniferous garden

When developing garden landscape design Special attention is paid to the compatibility of plant crops:

• Fir and spruce are not planted near cedar and pine;
• spruce and thuja are unwanted neighbors;
• larch needs to be planted separately; the presence of any conifers is intolerable for it;
• the location of birch and bird cherry trees next to coniferous plants negatively affects the latter due to the lack of nutrients in the soil absorbed by deciduous plants;
• bushes blooming roses are spectacular with a background of fir and spruce trees, but this neighborhood is dangerous for delicate flowers due to soil acidification by conifers.

Conifers are good neighbors deciduous shrubs, cereals, flower perennials (especially lilies). Shrub species of conifers look colorful in the company of weeping willows near a pond. Thujas with bright greenery and bluish tinted needles will be an excellent background for junipers.

For a spectacular and harmonious appearance of a coniferous composition in the landscape, you need to follow some rules:

• conifers look perfect against the backdrop of a smooth and well-groomed lawn;
• for the most advantageous view, the composition of coniferous plants should be removed from the main viewing location by a length of 2 - 3 times its height;
• the compositional solution should be oriented towards the eastern or western direction;
• a contrasting combination of height and color of coniferous species is selected, for example, low, spherical types of thuja against the background of pyramidal conifers. By playing with the height of the trees, you can achieve a visual effect - a medium-sized thuja or fir next to a low-growing mountain pine will look very significant.

Whatever the size of the plot, there will always be coniferous plants for it, without which no garden can be considered complete. Today's abundance of varieties and species allows you to experiment and create new coniferous compositions in the landscape design of small and large gardens.

Coniferous plants with their diversity confuse the gardener when choosing candidates for creation. landscape forms. Getting your knowledge of evergreens in order is the first step in planning a beautiful garden.

The whole diversity of conifers is better represented if they are divided into groups:

• Full-grown, whose annual growth is 30 cm or more per year;
• Medium-sized and semi-dwarf individuals grow no more than 30 cm per year;
• Dwarf forms with an annual growth of about 8 cm;
• Miniature, which add 3-5 cm per year;
• Microscopic with an increase of no more than 1 cm per year.

Based on these characteristics, the gardener determines the place that conifers will occupy in the landscape design of the site.

The first group of plants reaches a height of 3 meters or more at the age of ten. For example, the common spruce (Picea abies) at the 12th year of life is a beauty 4 meters high, and its crown in the lower part reaches a diameter of about 3 meters.

Norway spruce

Cedar of Lebanon (Cedrus libani) from this group also belongs to the category of giants. At the age of 10 years it can reach a height of 5 meters. In adulthood, and conifers grow for a very long time, it will be a 25-meter giant, presenting a delightful sight.

Cedar of Lebanon

Semi-dwarf forms of coniferous plants are by far the most attractive for garden or park compositions due to their versatility. They don’t need a lot of space, but even from a distance of 10 meters, a group of such plants looks quite presentable.

Dwarf and miniature forms are suitable for small gardens, where plants are given a small area and the picture needs to be observed from a distance of no more than 5 meters in order to appreciate the beauty of each participant and the entire composition as a whole.

Semi-dwarf spruce
Dwarf larch
Miniature cedar

Microscopic evergreens grown by hobbyists indoor gardens V Japanese style. An ensemble of such plants can be placed on a pedestal in a small courtyard.

Evergreens must also be divided into groups:

• trees;
• bushes.

Shrubs are common and dwarf. Cossack juniper (Juniperus sabina tamariscifolia) is a common resident of parks and gardens due to its unpretentiousness and vitality. It does not reach a height of more than one meter, but in width, if it is released and does not form a crown, it can occupy an area of ​​about five or more meters in diameter.

On the contrary, horizontal juniper (Juniperus horizontalis) in the landscape design of the site plays the role of a prickly blanket that spreads along the ground and reaches a height of no more than 15 cm. It grows quite slowly.

Juniper horizontal

Pros and cons

The merits of coniferous plants include:

• ease of care;
• decorating the garden at any time of the year;
• absence of fallen leaves;
• lack of inflorescences that need to be trimmed;
• abundance of shapes, sizes and colors;
• the ability to form any shape using trimming;
• improvement of ambient air;
• durability.

In some sources, the disadvantages of coniferous crops include the unpredictability of their growth and appearance in adulthood. The right approach when growing coniferous plants, it eliminates all the disadvantages of their maintenance. If the planting site and type of plant are chosen taking into account its needs, size and climate, then the gardener can only timely treat diseases and pests and feed his coniferous pets a couple of times a season with tasty fertilizer for health and a fluffy appearance.

Willow Hakuro Nishiki Willow is a plant familiar to almost everyone; it is often used for landscaping. But the copies...

There is a plan!

With the help of coniferous plants, the garden can be given completely different shapes. Fast-growing coniferous trees for landscape design of the site will be appreciated by those who like quick results.

A well-planned project is half the success.

The entrance area of ​​the site can be decorated in a ceremonial style: clear forms of trimmed thujas of spherical and conical shapes greet guests and owners near the entrance to the house. They are surrounded by a well-groomed lawn or colored shredded bark in discreet shades.

In order for thujas to please the eye with fresh greenery, they need proper care and attentive attitude. A fairly common situation is when the plant dries out and looks unkempt (do not confuse these cases with the golden varieties of this plant).

A living fence made from clipped thuja will help divide the garden into several different zones. Behind a two-meter thuja wall, the continuation of the site will not be visible, and winding path It will hide mysteriously and beckon you further into the garden.

Quite a frequent and popular guest. They are well suited for growing in urban environments, as they can withstand increased air pollution.

Such large-scale structures and large trees will be appropriate if there is sufficient space.

Conifers in garden landscape design should not look alien and unnecessary. Having assessed the space allocated for conifers, a good gardener will first examine the varieties that will be suitable for specific purposes.

In a small garden, groups of medium-sized and semi-dwarf plants look good against the backdrop of a lawn or gravel. Due to lack of space, a mixborder of coniferous plants is created along the fence. In the background you can place several balls of western thuja (Thuja ossidentalis), between them a creeping semi-dwarf juniper (Juniperus horizontalis “Glauca”), and in the foreground there will be a neat “Conica” spruce (Picea glauca albertiana “Conica”) with its small in size and bright green needles. It goes well with the golden ball of Japanese spirea “Golden Princess” (Spiraea japonica). For color harmony, you can add dwarf oriental thuja with golden foliage (Thuja orientalis “Aurea Nana”). At the beginning of summer, all this splendor is decorated with pink spirea flowers.

Coniferous mixborder
Semi-dwarf juniper
Eastern dwarf thuja

Creation of a coniferous paradise

When incorporating coniferous plants into landscape design, you must follow some rules:

• the tallest specimens are planted in the background;
• coniferous composition from different plants should not combine more than three forms of crowns;
• symmetry and precise geometric shapes are inappropriate when creating an evergreen open-plan group;
• the ground floor strict composition must be strictly symmetrical and requires constant care and haircuts;
• an ensemble of coniferous plants does not need variegation;
• accents are required;
• the viewing area should be at a distance equal to twice the length of the composition;
• the wrong green neighbors can nullify the gardener's efforts.

Some of these rules require a detailed approach and specifics. If the first postulate is simple and understandable, then the question of forms can be explained by the structure of the human eye. The abundance of shapes, as well as colors, creates a feeling of unease. A composition of three colors or two or three contrasting shapes looks much more pleasant and holistic. Pyramid thuja Brabant in the landscape design of the group is best placed in the background. Their severity is emphasized by the spherical forms of the cypress tree, and in the foreground the entire ensemble is calmed by creeping juniper or ground cover deciduous plants. Even if the territory allocated for conifers is quite extensive, the rhythmic alternation of the same plants is better perceived, rather than a set of various varieties and colors.

To prevent the eye from wandering over the composition, the beginning of contemplation should begin with an accent, which can create a tree or shrub of an unusual shape or color, slightly different from all the others. The starting point for the view is a small heather garden, which combines beautifully with conifers. A boulder of an unusual shape, buried in the arms of a juniper, or interesting solution garden lanterns also attract the eye and help to perceive the entire composition and each plant separately.

The combination of sizes of coniferous plants in a group should be harmonious. Tall spruce is perceived as long distance, while the small spherical thuja is interesting up close.

For the decent development of coniferous plants, it is necessary to take into account the influence that plants have on each other. The proximity of spruce and thuja will depress both plants. A beautiful specimen of larch will not tolerate anyone near it. This individualist loves to grow alone, just like the birch tree.

Larch

The combination of conifers and roses looks very beautiful. But this neighborhood may not be very comfortable for the rose.

Conifers in different roles

Many gardeners give preference to conifers when decorating a site, because these plants can play a variety of roles:

1. Hedge;
2. Solo part;
3. Mixborder;
4. Alpine slide or rock garden;
5. Ensemble;
6. Container garden.

A hedge of evergreens can be functional or aesthetic. If you need to separate a resting place from prying eyes, columnar junipers or thujas will cope with this role very well. Planted tightly to each other, they will create a beautiful and impenetrable wall that will look organic in the green mass of the site.

Dwarf juniper or cypress will make an excellent fence for fencing a playground or flower bed, which will not block the view, but will create a beautiful frame.

As a solo performer, coniferous trees or shrubs with an interesting crown shape, needle color or exotic look fruits A better combination all at once for the decorative effect of the soloist throughout the year. The background for the artist can be a lawn, gravel or decorative wood chips.

A composition, that is, a “mix,” of plants along a path or fence forms a kind of border, and all together this is called a mixborder. This garden element is very popular among gardeners. It can be decorated with conifers or a combination of conifers with flowers and ground cover plants. It is better to decorate the mixborder near the path with dwarf and semi-dwarf forms, so that the eye covers the entire group of plants at once.

Alpine slides or rock gardens have been a favorite decoration in the recent past garden plots. In any, even very small, piece of the garden, amateurs tried to create something similar to the Alps with the obligatory assortment of ground cover and coniferous plants. Creating a rock garden that would naturally fit into the landscape of the site is not an easy task, but it is quite feasible. It can be much simpler - a combination of plants and stones. For this element of the landscape, you do not need to build mountains, just a beautiful boulder and evergreen plants, correctly selected for it. Dwarf mountain pine will feel at home in landscape design if it is surrounded by several stones of interesting shapes or colors. Ground cover flowers or creeping junipers are planted between stones and conifers. In this case, plants and stones located on pebbles look more natural.

Compositions from coniferous plants are the simplest and most nice solution to revitalize your lawn or patio.

Conifers can be combined with deciduous plants suitable for growing conditions. The unpretentious and beautiful staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina), with its feather-like leaves, will look great in the summer against the backdrop of austere spruce trees, and in the fall its scarlet colors against a calm green background will attract the eye of even an experienced gardener.

In group compositions, contrasts of form and play of color play main role. Columnar thujas with bright green needles combine perfectly with golden thuja balls, and creeping juniper of deep green color completes this composition spread out on the lawn.

There are coniferous plants that a gardener would really like to see in his green kingdom. But not all conifers tolerate frosts and low temperatures. In this case, container forms of conifers come to the rescue. You can decorate your patio with them or add them to an already finished composition in the garden. The container form of plants allows you to combine the incongruous. In this form, the dream of a duet of roses and spruce is quite feasible.

Present the finished result and go! You will succeed!