Landscaping is carried out by many owners of suburban areas. As a result of their efforts, the space surrounding not only expensive cottages, but also simple private houses has significantly changed. Today, kitchen gardens and even gardens are gradually losing ground and giving way to lawns, flower beds, flower beds and unusual plant compositions pleasing to the eye. However, flower beds have always attracted the attention of gardeners, and decorative shrubs quite often decorated areas, but conifers in landscape design, if used, are not so common. Today they are becoming more popular.

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

• A tree-shrub composition will only look holistic when the distance from the point from which it will most often be inspected is at least two of its heights.
• The presence of a lawn as a background for conifers is most preferred.
• Often conifers are planted near water bodies, so that, in combination with weeping deciduous plants, they make up a single original composition.
• Most effective, 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 magnificent.

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

Conifers 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, so that a peculiar gamut is formed:

• 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 more elements in the composition, they must be combined into groups of three copies, and plants in the same group should be selected according to a single color attribute.

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

Also, material on the rules for the design of group and solitary plantings from decorative conifers will 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 the appearance of the composition for the future, one should, armed with knowledge, pre-select from those plants that the modern market or nurseries can offer.

Of course, the height of the 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 conifers

Among the fairly tall plants include the following species:

• Western thuja.   The plant reaches a height of 5m, prefers shaded areas, can be trimmed. Often used as a hedge.
• Juniper Skyrocket.   Pleasant conical plant with soft blue needles. It 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.
• Pine ordinary Waterereri.   Its homeland is the Mediterranean, so we can say that it is especially adapted to the southern climate. It has a twisted spherical shape, grows to a height of 4m.
• Pine Pinkus Silvestris.   A real coniferous giant growing up to 40m in height. It has a straight trunk and columnar structure. Demanded due to absolute unpretentiousness.

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

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

Medium-sized plants for coniferous compositions

Very tall plants rarely anyone decide to use in the internal composition. Rather, they form a hedge, zoning the site or enclosing it. But medium-sized conifers are well-deservedly popular among landscape designers:

• .   This branchy and very spectacular evergreen tree is in demand, as it grows slowly and looks attractive.
• Berry yew.   A compact shrub with dense needles looks great on the lawn and is popular because of the combination of lush greenery and bright red berries.
• Western thuja.   A very beautiful and compact ball, the branches of which grow densely in the vertical direction with respect to the trunk.
• Golden yew.   It can grow in partial shade, it feels great in the neighborhood with tall and short plants. It has the shape of a cup 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 stunted conifers, they look great at either end of the garden.

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

The green thuja with bright red berries brings back memories of wonderful New Year's holidays, when this combination of colors becomes the most popular

Low and creeping conifers

When plucking 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.

• Norway spruce Lombers. Despite this name, this spruce looks very unusual. This is a short plant with dense needles of emerald color.
• Western Thuja Tini Tim. This plant loves light, but does not require abundant watering. She looks like a ball rolled out onto the track.
• Hampi Mountain Pine.   The plant serves as a decoration for rock gardens. It grows to the sides. Her kidneys at negative temperatures acquire a decorative reddish-brown hue.
• Mountain pine Mini Pug.   It grows in the form of a fluffy pillow. Spectacular and nice looking.

Undersized conifers in garden design can be especially attractive if properly managed. They, in combination with medium-sized ones, are able to create an indescribable atmosphere of the Japanese garden, its flavor.

Although this spruce is called ordinary, but outwardly it looks more like a spruce branch, which covers the surface that the designer took for her

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

We make compositions of 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 forming the design of the site.

Mixborders from conifers

Mixborder can be placed where, in accordance with your vision, it will be especially appropriate. It is important not to be afraid to do as you want. The landscape only benefits from the manifestation of the designer’s personality.

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

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

The natural harmony of the mixborder should be observed: the width of the plot for tall and large plants should exceed the space reserved for small-growing plantings. The composition of the seedlings can be plants that differ in the color of the needles and the shape of the crown. Sometimes in the plots you can see exceptionally beautiful and diverse collections of conifers.

Barbed hedge

Dividing a suburban area into zones, many designers also use conifers. Using them, you can 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 an ordinary spruce, an absolutely impenetrable fence can turn out.

Barriers can also be beautiful, but their impregnability is not reduced by this. 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, they look good. Creating different combinations of plants, you can not worry about the artificial decoration 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 stagnation of water occurs in any part of the site, plants should not be placed there. Each variety presents its own requirements for the composition of the soil. 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 the part that we call the root is in the hole prepared for him

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

Fertile soil needs to be placed in the pit under the seedling, after which it is good to tamp 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 used to a humid and warm Mediterranean climate. In winter, they need to be protected.

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

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

The period when the same type of thuja was planted in the middle of the lawn and was limited to this has long passed. Now conifers of all colors, sizes and shapes can easily be combined with other plants to get incredible compositions.

Of course, conifers themselves are a wonderful accent in any garden. They can be planted "solo" or combined with other species, getting groups shimmering in all shades of green, blue and golden, and remaining decorative all year round. We already talked about how to make a coniferous corner in your garden.

Today we’ll talk about what flowers, ornamental and berry bushes, cereals and herbs can be planted next to the evergreen “neighbors”.

Conifers and cereals

Those who want to create a piece of cultivated forest on their site will come to the aid of the simplest conifers and cereals characteristic of your region. From trees it is advisable to choose those that preserve the natural color of the needles and the shape of the crown, since it is unlikely to meet blue junipers or perfectly round arborvitae in the forest. Prefer green coniferous spruce, common juniper, Cossack, middle, horizontal or coastal, pine, thuja western Filiformis, tsuga Canadian Jeddeloh (Jeddeloh) and Pendula (Pendula), Korean fir.

Having planted conifers, which will become the basis of the composition, begin to supplement them with cultural and semi-wild cereals. Fescue, grate-weed, feather grass, miscanthus and boron are perfect for you. It is worth focusing primarily not on the color, but on the height of these plants, because some of them can be understood by a couple of meters and leave conifers in the shade in the literal and figurative sense.

Do not forget that not all decorative cereals are able to winter in our latitudes. If you want to "plant and forget", give preference to the most frost-resistant specimens.

Coniferous and perennial flowers

Often you can find advice to combine conifers with bright, lush perennials. First of all, roses, rhododendrons, hydrangeas, phloxes, chrysanthemums, delphiniums, clematis, lilies and daylilies are mentioned. Of course, coniferous greenery will be a wonderful background for these flowers, but such a neighborhood has a nuance.

If you want the coniferous corner in the garden to be one of the first to wake up, plant forest primroses and bulbs under the trees. Crocuses, muscari, chionodox, erantis, Pushkinia, bluebill, iridodictium and other medium-sized, but bright flowers can bring early spring to your garden.

All large conifers seriously acidify the soil around them, so many flowers, especially moody roses, will not be easy to survive in such a soil. The least of these are inherent in thuja and junipers, more - spruce, pine, larch and fir.

There are two ways to solve this problem: either grow medium-sized and low-aggressive conifers in combination with perennial flowers, or regularly (once every 1-2 years) monitor and, if necessary, regulate the acidity of the soil. However, there are unpretentious perennials, which in such a neighborhood almost do not lose their decorative effect.

Conifers and annuals

Each year, the environment of conifers can be changed with the help of annual flowers and herbs. Choosing the environment for coniferous hedges, compositions or solitaires, you can focus on the color, texture or trends of the season. By combining onions and annuals, you can achieve a continuous change of "scenery" in the garden.

It is easiest to surround coniferous seedlings of the same type of plants of the same color, but you can also create complex shapes, play with geometry or enclose prickly pets with a floral border. They go well with the evergreens of salvia, viscari, gypsophila, godetia, marigolds, calendula, nasturtiums, daisies, annual flax, nigella, eschscholzia and others.

Against the background of variegated mixed colors, conifers can be lost, especially if they are low. But monochrome plantings are able to advantageously shade their greens.

Often coniferous plants are planted where they want to minimize the maintenance of the garden, but to preserve its decorativeness. You can achieve this by sowing unpretentious annuals directly into the ground. Of course, not all of them will be suitable for this, but even in the middle zone the choice is considerable.

Coniferous and deciduous shrubs

Not everyone risks combining conifers with deciduous plants within the same composition, and in vain - such a combination can look wonderful all year round, especially if the deciduous representative of the tandem can boast not only flowers, but also fruits.

Growing a garden is not easy. Years of labor, certain annual amounts are spent on the care and protection of trees and shrubs and ... after a few years (it may happen) stand in front of a "sick" garden, frantically squeezing a sprayer rod with a toxic chemical solution. Can mistakes be avoided? Yes you can! To prevent them, it is necessary to hurry with the planting of horticultural crops in the country "slowly." In a hurry, a planted garden afterwards will not bring joy.

For the proper placement of fruit trees and shrubs in the garden, it is necessary to know the biological characteristics of each type of tree: growth, type of root system, attitude to the environment, pests and diseases, compatibility with neighboring plants. It is known that there are inhibitor fruit trees that release substances that inhibit other crops, dangerous neighbors that transmit diseases, gardeners that protect and propagate pests and diseases into the soil.

We make a landing plan

Having acquired the site, the owner feverishly embarks on its development and makes the main mistake. Trees and shrubs planted without regard to their characteristics, compatibility, over time, begin to oppress each other, perezarazhaet diseases and pests, get sick due to lack of lighting, nutrition, moisture. It is more practical to draw several schemes with the designation of the main landmarks:

• mark the boundaries of the site,
• indicate the area occupied by residential and farm buildings,
• for proper illumination of future crops in the garden, it is necessary to draw the location of the plot in relation to the cardinal points: south, north, west, east and note - at what time of the day certain zones will be lit by the sun (for sun lovers and shade-tolerant crops)
• indicate the type of soil - chernozem, loam, sandy loam, etc.,
• be sure to indicate the depth of groundwater.

The next entry is a list of garden and berry crops for the garden and the berry. This list is not very large, but the improper arrangement of trees in the garden, an undesirable neighborhood, competition - all this can eventually reduce all concerns to zero.

So, in the garden there are 1-2-3 trees of each of the desired crops, taking into account the maturity, biological characteristics of the variety or hybrid. Usually these are apple trees, pears, plums, cherries, cherries, apricots, peaches, nuts. Experienced gardeners additionally plant exotic crops. Of the shrubs, most often the berry bushes are occupied by black and red currants, gooseberries, raspberries, chokeberries, sea buckthorn, irga, blackberry.

Having determined the assortment of fruit and berry crops, enter the data in the table of competitors and undesirable neighbors. The diagram clearly indicates where and what garden crops will be planted, taking into account compatibility, competition and protection measures.

How to avoid competition for survival?

It is more practical to plant a garden from the south or southeast side, distributing rows of trees from north to south. Fruit crops will be located in a warmer microclimate and sunlit most of the day, which will reduce competition for lighting and its intensity.

Apple trees and pears can be planted on the north side. To reduce shading, the outer rows of the garden are occupied by low-growing crops, and the taller rocks are arranged in subsequent rows. It is better to arrange fruit and ornamental shrubs - mountain ash, viburnum, hawthorn, dog rose along the fence outside the garden, observing spatial isolation. They actively inhibit the growth of fruit crops.

It is impractical to plant a mixed garden on one allocated site, it is better to group fruit trees by type and level of compatibility, linking the garden curtains with the landscape of the entire site. Individual garden curtains can consist of several types of fruit crops with good compatibility and simultaneous ripening of the crop. This is necessary for better cross-pollination, more fruit set.

But even the same cultures become antagonists with thickened landings. Between them begins the struggle for space, food and lighting. A weakly developed tree is more oppressed, grows more slowly and dies, self-cutting takes place. In order to avoid such a phenomenon, it is necessary to observe the requirements of culture to the environment.

Leave the distance between competing fruit crops at least 5-7 m. In the row between crops with good combination, an average distance of 3 meters is recommended. However, it is more correct to plant plants, taking into account the diameter of the crown and the root system of each breed of fruit culture

For example, in an apricot, the crown of an adult tree is 3.0-3.6 m, and the diameter of the root system exceeds it by 1.5-2.0 times. In the struggle for lighting and water, apricot root secretions will oppress peach, cherry, apple, pear, other small trees and shrubs.

Column-shaped cultures can be planted in a row after 2.0-2.5 m, and between rows 2-3 to 2.5-3.0 m.

If the site's relief has elevations and slopes, then on the southern and southwestern slopes, it is better to lay the garden from the middle to the foot of the slope. On the northern slope - from the upper edge to the middle, since at the foot of the gardens die from frost and accumulation of cold air.

If groundwater lies close to the surface of the soil, it is better to plant fruit crops on dwarf and semi-dwarf rootstocks, to use columnar apple trees, plums, pears in plantings. Fruits with seed (tall) stock are separated and planted on artificial hills or on the highest sites by monoculture (2-3 apricots) or a separate tree (walnut).

Incompatibility or antagonism of horticultural crops can be associated with various reasons. With the same height and diameter of the crown, competition can go for lighting and airspace, the consumption of nutrients from one layer of soil. These reasons underlie the competition between peach and apricot, peach and cherry, pear, apple, etc.

Solve compatibility problems in orchards through care. Having created the required conditions, the implementation of all agrotechnical measures, taking into account the biological characteristics of growth, development of culture in different phases of vegetation, it is possible to mitigate or even remove the aggressive manifestations of antagonism between plants. In mixed plantings, light-loving and shade-tolerant cultures are combined, with a deep and superficial root system, different periods of intensive absorption of nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, trace elements, etc.).

  Orchard. © Naomi Schillinger

If the summer cottage is located close to the forest, then it is necessary to increase the exclusion zone to 7-10 m. Depress the garden planting ash, maple, oak, birch.   With an overgrown root system, they intercept moisture from "spoiled" cultivated plants, and leafy crowns delay precipitation and create an undesirable shadow.

Among ornamental plants, groups of monoplant crops stand out. They grow rapidly, capture new areas and inhibit the growth of other plants. Of home decorative shrubs, these include sea-buckthorn, barberry, viburnum, rose, lilac, dog rose, mock. In order to remove their aggressive antagonistic effect, these plants are planted separately and away from fruit trees and shrubs (Table 1).

Fruit and berry compatibility

Name of culture	Good compatibility	Competitors	Reasons and protective measures
Apricot		Peach, cherry, cherry, pear, apple tree, walnut.	Competitor for coverage, general illness. Walnut is a natural herbicide against competitors. Distance 4-7 m from the competitor.
Pear	Hawthorn, pine, larch., Tomatoes, calendula, dill.	Cherry, sweet cherry, peach, mountain ash, walnut.	Sick constantly. The same disease. Peach and pear oppress each other. A common pest is mountain ash. Drug treatments.
Peach		Cherry, sweet cherry, pear, apple tree, apricot.	Oppress each other. Peach dies completely after 4-5 years. The optimal distance between competitors is 6-7 m.
Apple tree	Pine, larch., Tomatoes, calendula, dill.	Apricot, cherry, cherry, poplar, peach, mountain ash.	Extreme degree of competition for light, water. Suffers from poplar due to the release of ether vapor. A common pest is mountain ash.
Plum		Currants are red and black, birch.	Oppress each other.
Mountain ash red		Cherry.	The branches of red rowan from the side of the cherry are exposed.
Red currants	Bow.	Plum, cherry, cherry, pine, birch, raspberry, gooseberry.	Oppress each other. Onion protects against a kidney tick. Drug treatment.
Black currant	Honeysuckle.	red currants, raspberries, gooseberries.	Oppress each other. A common pest is gooseberry moth. Drug treatment.
Gooseberry		Currants red and black, raspberries.	A common pest is gooseberry moth. Drug treatment.
Cherry		All fruit, red and black currants.	All fruit crops that grow under the crown are oppressed by cherries and die.
Walnut	Medicinal herbs. According to some reports - dogwood, sea buckthorn,	All fruit, especially the apple tree.	The leaves contain a juglone (plant herbicide). Washing out of the leaves into the soil, it destroys any vegetation under the crown, especially the apple tree.
Raspberry		Wild strawberries.	A common pest is raspberry-strawberry weevil. Drug treatment.
Irga		All kinds of nuts, lilac, viburnum, barberry, mock up.	Compliance with spatial isolation.
Sea buckthorn	Oregano, camomile.	Raspberries, black currants, strawberries, all nightshade crops.	Aggressive antagonist. Clogs the growth of neighbors with a shoot. It is better to land in monopods.
Barberry
Fir, viburnum, rose, lilac, rose hip, mock			It inhibits the growth of other cultures. It is better to land in monopods.

Diseases are the cause of cultural incompatibility

Another cause of incompatibility of horticultural crops is infectious diseases. They develop and affect several fruit crops in the presence of:

• pathogen
• susceptibility of a variety of one or another fruit crop,
• favorable conditions for development and dissemination.

  Orchard. © Anguskirk

There will be no mass damage to fruit crops if the causative agent of the disease is destroyed at the beginning of development and reproduction or is completely absent. Fruit crops are affected by fungi, bacteria, viruses. Sometimes the conditions for infection of horticultural crops are created by insects (ants). In these cases, the struggle is conducted in two directions: the pest and the disease are destroyed.

In some infectious diseases, the entire cycle of the pathogen development takes place on one plant (scab, fruit rot, coccomycosis, moniliosis, powdery mildew, bacterial spotting, various types of rot, ordinary cancer), but it affects many species. If 1-2 species of those affected by the disease die, the remaining fruit ones continue their normal development. To protect plants from single-disease diseases, the same chemical preparations can be used, but better (for a private garden) - biological ones.

Among fungal diseases there is a group of pathogens of infectious diseases with a change of owners during the development cycle. The cycle of development of pathogens consists of several stages. Each of them needs a different host. Such mushrooms are called heterogeneous and in the absence of one of the hosts, the fungus stops its development. Miscellaneous mushrooms affect only tree species and are the main reason for the incompatibility of fruit, ornamental and forest crops in joint plantings. Rust mushrooms affect pears, apple trees, hawthorn, plum, mountain ash and other crops. The intermediate host is juniper. Mushroom spores overwintered on juniper in spring affect fruit crops. To protect horticultural crops from such fungal diseases, spatial isolation is necessary. You can simultaneously treat both cultures or interrupt the pathogen development cycle by removing one of them. More details about diseases as a source of incompatibility of cultures can be found in the table.

Diseases of garden and berry crops

Culture	Name of the disease	Dangerous neighborhood
Pomegranate
Apple tree and pear	Scab	Planting resistant varieties. Removal of affected shoots and branches. Collection of affected leaves, carrion, mummified fruits, pest control, treatment of plants and soil with chemical and biological fungicides.
	Moniliosis (fruit rot)	Monoecious rust fungi remake the host and other plants of the same species.
	Powdery mildew	The group of rusty mushrooms of different sizes usually develops on two different plants: for juniper trees, common juniper, for pears, Cossack juniper.
	Leaf spotting	Destruction of one of the hosts is necessary: \u200b\u200bapple, pear or juniper.
	Rust mushroom	Destruction of diseased parts of plants, spraying with fungicidal preparations during the growing season.
Stone fruit
All stone fruit breeds	Kleasterosporiosis or perforated spotting	It affects all organs. Chemical spraying before budding. Repeated - after flowering. Processing during the growing season with biological products is recommended.
Plum	Red spotted plums	The period from infection to mass flowering is the most dangerous. Cleaning leaf litter. Spraying during the growing season.
	Rust mushroom	Monoecious rust fungi remake the host and other plants of the same species. A group of rusty mushrooms of various sizes usually develops on two different plants: for plums, anemone weed. Destruction of one of the hosts is necessary: \u200b\u200banemone. Destruction of diseased parts of plants, spraying with fungicidal preparations during the growing season.
Cherries and cherries.	Coccomycosis	Destruction of plant residues, the cultivation of resistant varieties, the use of chemical and biological preparations
Peach	Leaf curl	Fruits with yellow flesh are not infected. Spraying before budding and the entire growing season.
All breeds of fruit
Pome and stone fruits	Milky shine	Cutting and burning of affected branches.
	Root cancer	Disinfection of the soil of nurseries and garden bookmarks. Tillage after planting seedlings. Timely watering.
Berry diseases
Gooseberries, currants	Powdery mildew	Resistant varieties, sparse planting, digging and disinfection of the soil, the destruction of diseased shoots, leaf litter. Treatment of aboveground mass with fungicidal preparations.
	Anthracnose
	Column and glass rust	Winters on the second owner of a pine, cedar, sedge. Spatial isolation of trees is needed. Destruction of sedge.
Strawberries	Leaf spotting	Planting healthy seedlings, timely top dressing. Sparse planting, destruction of plant debris. Processing plants with biofungicides.
	Brown spotting of strawberry leaves
	Gray rot of wild strawberry
Black currant	Terry (reversion) of black currant.	It is carried by a kidney tick and herbivorous bugs. Affected bushes uproot. The destruction of the kidney tick is necessary.
	Rust mushrooms	Intermediate host - sedge, Cedar pine It is necessary to destroy the weed, observe spatial isolation. Spray plants and soil during the growing season.
Raspberry	Rust mushrooms	The intermediate host is sedge, Weimutov pine. It is necessary to destroy the weed, to observe spatial isolation. Spray plants and soil during the growing season.

Flower beds, green lawns, hedges and large single shrubs - the basis of landscape design. But everyone wants that in the winter season, when most plants bloom and lose their foliage, it is important that the landscaped area remains alive and attractive. This function is performed by coniferous compositions in landscape design and solitary evergreens. But some conifers do not get along next to each other and deciduous trees. To avoid annoying mistakes, professionals share their secrets with gardening lovers.

Flower beds and decorative perennials have long been used by gardeners in the landscaping of urban courtyards and suburban areas. Abroad, gardens and vegetable gardens have long been abandoned in favor of neat beds of decorative spicy greens and compact vegetable crops. In the East, for many centuries, the Japanese have been practicing the "rock garden" with sakura, red maple, wild grapes and undersized conifers. The culture of landscaping courtyards and thoughtful landscaping is actively taking root in our country.

The middle strip of Russia is the natural environment of many species of pines, larch, cedar and juniper. A little south, Mediterranean cypresses, thuja and other thermophilic evergreen tree-like conifers are perfectly cultivated. Surprisingly, in addition to blue spruce and some other pyramidal forms of this conifer, no other related plants were used. The exception was the resorts of the Crimea and the North Caucasus, where back in Soviet times, parks and alleys were decorated with rare species of evergreen forms.

Today, decorative forms of conifers are increasingly used in landscape design and landscaping of personal plots. Asian and Mediterranean forms, through the efforts of domestic and Dutch breeders, adapt to our climatic conditions. Although evergreen heat-loving plants are increasingly decorating our sites, many conifers from Italy, Korea and Japan need to sprinkle the roots with sawdust and wrap the crown for the winter, as in the photo.

It is very convenient to acquire cultivated compact forms for landscape design with coniferous compositions through catalogs and a specialized trading network. Although in complex landscaping this is expensive, there are advantages:

• the seedling in a pot or tub is protected by the root system;
• each plant has a “passport” or brief care instructions;
• subject to recommendations for watering and cultivation, 100% rooting of a young conifer is guaranteed.

Attention! If a slightly yellowed plant is offered at a point of sale from a number of identical plants, do not buy - this is the first sign of a seedling dying off! Even when planting in fertile soil and intensive irrigation, it will not be possible to reanimate it, with rare exceptions. Such material can be taken only for free - in addition to a batch of other plants, to plant somewhere near the edge.

Coniferous composition in a summer cottage

If you are not sure that the acquired garden forms will take root, in the first year you can hire a professional gardener who will look after the "young". When the rooted thuja, juniper and decorative spruce overwinter and young, faintly colored twigs release in the spring - a signal to the fact that conifers feel great in a new place and do not need careful care.

Tip. Do not forget that any tree-like plant during the period of active growth needs additional watering (especially in dry summers), top dressing and wrapping the crown during frosts.

Proper care and thoughtful planting of young evergreen seedlings in landscape design using conifers is a guarantee that the site will be beautiful at any time of the year. The main thing is that they do not shade each other and do not oppress less viable forms with their volatile. For example, near a single larch, other conifers do not get along or gradually degrade.

Registration of a summer residence by coniferous plants

Landscape design with conifers

It is desirable that the basis of the composition was a single tall or medium-sized plant surrounded by 2-3 coniferous forms of contrasting forms. A green lawn or small gravel is an excellent background for such a planting. It can be supplemented with compact flowering perennials or decorative fruiting shrubs, which can be annually adjusted by cropping.

Attention! Do not plant large conifers, fast-growing and spreading forms in the center of the site and under the windows of the building. Otherwise, after 5-6 years, they will turn into forest jungle, creating an excess shadow near a flower bed or front garden.

Several identical conifers should not be planted randomly; it is better to place them along the alley or as a hedge. Compact spruce or similar plants perfectly combine with weeping hardwood near an artificial pond on the edge of the garden, as in the photo.

Landscape design in coniferous composition

Design cottages with conifers

Design cottages with conifers

Variations of conifers

For most people, conifers are Christmas trees and pines, which are customary to dress up on New Year's holidays. Siberian and Lebanese cedars are still ranked among them, and the inhabitants are not known how they differ. How do the branches of larch, arborvitae, cypress or juniper look like - are lost in conjecture.

It is interesting. Each coniferous species has its own subspecies, with large variations in the color of cones or berries, the shape of the crown and the length of the needles. Italian weeping pines are the same pine trees, but the needles can reach 20-30 cm in length. And there are coniferous forms with large purple cones and small red cones resembling roses. Juniper with blue edible berries is used for landscaping dendroparks, and a variety with bright red fruits is poisonous. Young branches of decorative firs can have light green, golden and blue hues, examples are in the photo.

Coniferous composition in a summer cottage

Registration of a summer residence by coniferous plants

Choosing coniferous compositions in landscape design, it is advisable to become more familiar with the species diversity of these relic plants. Botanists claim that conifers or gymnosperms reigned in the time of dinosaurs, replacing the era of tree-like horsetails and ferns. But even they find it difficult to answer how many natural varieties and subspecies these representatives of the kingdom of flora and fauna have.

Scientists annually discover new endemic species in impenetrable virgin forests, which breeders use to breed decorative subspecies.

Landscape design with conifers

Landscape design in coniferous composition

The main classification of conifers in nurseries is according to the shape of the crown:

• spherical;
• ovoid
• spiral;
• sprawling flat-top;
• weeping;
• pyramidal;
• columnar;
• oval;
• creeping (flat);
• squat;
• rare crown.

The following forms are also distinguished:

• tall;
• medium-sized;
• undersized;
• creeping.

Attention! Over time, undersized plants will look like mid-sized, dwarf and compact conifers will take up more space. Do not plant them densely so as not to spoil the original plan in landscape design.

Design cottages with conifers

Coniferous composition in a summer cottage

How to make compositions?

Conifers are quite unique, in many respects, plants. They rarely get sick and are attacked by pests, endure the vagaries of the weather. Most of them do not require special fertile soil, although each species has its own preferences. Some drop needles like larch, others bloom pink in landscape design, like the Crimean thuja. All these forms are classified as evergreens, and most purify the air, filling it with volatile, destructive for pathogenic microflora. Compact trees, densely covered with needles, are quite effective in single plantings, and in general composition with other "neighbors", as in the photo.

Registration of a summer residence by coniferous plants

Landscape design with conifers

The design of the site is usually divided into several zones where certain types of plants will be in the center of the composition. Depending on the purposes, according to the catalog or in the garden supermarket, you can choose or order different conifers. Most often they offer compact, dwarf and undersized forms.

Attention! Any variety of pine, spruce, fir, cedar, larch, arborvitae, cypress or juniper can be selected to your taste. But there is one condition - they must be adapted and acclimatized to a specific region. Not all of them are organically perceived in the neighborhood with decorative and fruiting trees and shrubs.

Most evergreen forest beauties are in harmony with those trees and shrubs that are usually adjacent to in the wild. These are oaks and birch, maples and mountain ash, hawthorn and wild rose.

Attention! It’s not worth planting several conifers from different geographical zones at once, it often looks unnatural.

"Northerners" can oppress their phytoncides with stunted and dwarf forms native to the Mediterranean and the Far Eastern region. And selective and hybrid forms will be oppressed by their natural relatives. Lebanese cedars and Siberian larches are considered the most “unsociable”.

Design cottages with conifers

Coniferous composition in a summer cottage

Gardeners noticed that most evergreen representatives feel great in the shade, so they are planted behind the house on the north side. However, this does not apply to Mediterranean endemic species and species of fir-trees with light needles that grow dull in the shade.

Cones - a natural dining room for many wild birds that willingly flock to the site in winter and late autumn, filling the yard with joyful twittering. However, natural fertilizer after treating with seeds can spoil the appearance of a well-groomed coniferous composition in landscape design.

Most cultured forms lend themselves well to “haircut”, they can be given the most bizarre shape - from elephants to precise spirals. But some conifers are sick, even if one branch is broken.

Registration of a summer residence by coniferous plants

Landscape design with conifers

Landscape design in coniferous composition

If you want to ennoble the infield with evergreen sculptures, you need to choose the right thick forms with small twigs and short needles. You will also have to search for specialists who create real masterpieces. You should not experiment with living plants if you are not sure that you can do such “creations”.

Carefully review the examples in our photo gallery. Perhaps these ideas will inspire and suggest a new design concept for your site.

Video: How to use conifers in landscaping

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Compositions of volumetric dark stone against a background of fragile trees, for example, cypress or ordinary thuja, look very impressive:

• In the design of the garden plot, many species of conifers are used - thuja, juniper, spruce, cypress, pine, cedar. Coniferous plants themselves, as mentioned above, are quite unpretentious plants. But when planting, you should pay attention to the nearby growing trees and plants, as there are those that go poorly with conifers. For example, if a bird cherry bush or birch grows nearby, then this combination will not be very successful. In order for all plants to feel comfortable, the following neighborhood rules must be observed:
• Ephedra in summer cottages are very popular because of their unique features: they are unpretentious to different types of soil, tolerate different weather and climatic conditions, look win-win in single groups and are practically not susceptible to diseases in the composition. In addition to the chic appearance, coniferous decorations also have the following advantages:
• The trunk of the plant has a straight shape, similar to a column.
• The needles of this plant have a blue color;
• Compliance with the above rules helps to create an original ensemble of plants that will delight your eye. At the same time, harmony and integrity in landscape design will be respected.
• Lawns are the preferred background for plants such as conifers.

. Its feature is the obligatory requirement of a flat, flat surface for landing. In its creation, 3-4 species of junipers are used, for example, molded virgin, Prince of Wales, Andorra Compact;

The decor for a flower bed from conifers is chosen bark.

• Selection of conifers;
• Coniferous plants are used as landscaping of alleys, wings, garden plots. Ephedra have several advantages over other plants.
• Using conifers in a small landscape area, you can create a mini-park in English or French styles. To do this, it is important to create various geometric shapes of plants that would harmoniously blend in the landscape. Spherical forms of shrubs in combination with conical or columnar forms of cypress or thuja in landscape design will create an atmosphere of English or French parks:
• Climatic features must be taken into account: cypress will not grow in a cold climate;
• Fill the surrounding air with volatile and oxygen

This conifer is considered absolutely not whimsical. This fact explains its huge popularity. This pine tree can be pinched every year to prevent such rapid growth.

Such a representative of coniferous flora can grow up to 3 meters in height.

• If there are many shades and colors, then you need to take care of their compatibility in advance.
• The original composition can be obtained by planting conifers near the weeping deciduous representatives of the flora near the reservoir.
• Forest-style flowerbed
• By following these principles you can avoid many common mistakes gardeners-amateurs. For example, plants are planted without taking into account the ability to further growth 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 the access of sunlight to other plants and even the apartment building itself. As a result, the disharmony in the size of the plants becomes noticeable, and the general appearance of the flower bed loses its original charm.
• Study of the scheme of beds from coniferous plants;
• Advantages of beds from coniferous plants:

Flowering shrubs alternating with evergreen planting will look very original, which will help to maintain an attractive appearance of the site in different seasons, even when inflorescences and leaves fall:

Almost all conifers do not tolerate the neighborhood with larch;

Perform windproof function

If you prefer medium-sized plants for your garden, then pay attention to Konik spruce. This is a slow-growing tree of extraordinary beauty. It is quite branchy. This spruce is especially popular with landscape designers.

This type of conifer is very popular in landscape design.

1. When creating a composition of coniferous plants, it is also important to take into account the growth of the plant in adulthood, so that the harmonious design of the garden is not violated. In this case, it is necessary to predict the state of the plant crown. In order to protect yourself from the possibility of gaining wild coniferous plants in the future, you need to pay attention to the recommendations of specialists and nurseries regarding the plant’s growth characteristics and the shape of its crown, as shown in the photo. , such a decision is considered by designers to be very effective.
2. . Creates the impression of a natural landscape. For such a natural flowerbed, rocky juniper and mountain pine, as well as Canadian and ordinary spruce are ideal.As the basis of flower beds from conifers, pine, spruce, fir or juniper are chosen. Shrubs combined with conifers are rhododendrons, barberry, heather, spirea, Erica, boxwood. Perennial herbaceous plants such as cereals and ferns are also suitable for composition. Phloxes, thyme, bryozoans, creepers, creepers, and sedums are chosen as groundcover plants that form the background of the flowerbed. The photo illustrates the combination of plants in flower beds with conifers better than any descriptions.
3. Preparation of soil under a flower bed;The main advantage of flower beds with conifers is its evergreen appearance at any time of the year. Just look at the photo of flower beds from conifers to make sure that this postulate is correct;
4. A forest in miniature, where conifers get along well with plants of other species, is another extraordinary way of landscape design. In this case, it is better to plant evergreens in tiers, alternating light and dark shades of needles, rounded and pyramidal crowns. it will emphasize the peculiar rhythm of the design: the thuja very “likes” to grow next to the spruce;

Video: Alpine coniferous plants

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Ephedra in landscape design: photo

Application of conifers in site design

Absorbs noise well, protects from dust

You can add yew berry to your compact garden. It has thick needles, and therefore it will be in perfect harmony with the green lawn.

Huge spruce Hupsi grows up to 15 meters in height;

We will begin consideration of possible options for conifers for use in landscape design.

• It is excellent to combine conifers with cereal or deciduous plants. Lilies are also ideal for composition.

Conifers: how to grow them in your garden?

The only fact that, undoubtedly, can be frustrating when you see the autumn or winter view of the garden is the absence of green leaves. Green color inspires, pleases, gives a feeling of calm and fullness of life. If you want to enjoy the green garden all year round, pay attention to coniferous evergreens. They will become a salvation from gray everyday life in a garden without leaves on trees.

When preparing the soil for the flowerbed, it should be borne in mind that a feature of conifers is their unpretentiousness and ability to take root in any land. Nevertheless, it would be wiser to take care of the soil in advance and mix the sheet or soil turf, adding peat and sand to them. Special mixtures for conifers sold in stores for gardeners are also useful.

1. Planting coniferous plants themselves.
2. Accessibility of developing flowerbed design and subsequent preparation for planting;
3. Tall conifers (spruce, larch, cedar) with a big-leafed crown create a good shadow. Therefore, if the site has a small area, it is better to plant them near the fences:
4. It is undesirable to plant cedars and pines, fir and spruce nearby.
5. Create a unique microclimate around the house
6. There are also varieties of stunted and creeping conifers that can also complement the harmony of your garden. If you have chosen a creeping plant, you must carefully measure the place for planting it, since it needs a lot of space for development and growth. Unusual in beauty Spruce Lombers ordinary. Such a plant is low and has a thick needles of emerald hue, as in the photo.

This coniferous plant has thick needles of silver-blue color.

Want large conifers that ennoble the design of your garden? Then pay attention to the western thuja.

When combining conifers and shrubs of roses, care must be taken: thuja and other coniferous plants tend to oxidize the soil, which is undoubtedly bad for roses. An example of a composition from conifers, see the photo.

1. Ephedra in landscape design
2. Pits under the plants are dug up with a depth of about 60-70 cm and lined with prepared soil mixtures. Pebbles are used as drainage. After planting conifers, it is necessary to compact the soil and mulch. If necessary, you can add an additional layer of earth.
3. Despite the rich selection of conifers, in landscape design there are common principles for the formation of flower beds from conifers.

Ease and simplicity in caring for a flower bed with conifers;

Many varieties of thuja and cypress, due to their shape and a fairly dense crown, can perform the function of hedges:

The right combination of species is the key to the health and long-term beauty of plants.

What conifers can be placed in the garden?

Humidify the air and fill it with coniferous aroma

Thuja western

Among the undersized conifers is the western thuja Tini Tim, who loves lighted places. She does not need abundant watering. This plant looks like a ball in its shape.

1. The Mediterranean representative of conifers has a spherical slightly twisted shape.
2. The height of such a plant can be about 5 meters.
3. Coniferous plants in the design of a gravel garden
4. The use of conifers in landscape design is associated with some features of the vital activity of these plants. In this article we will try to figure out what needs to be done in order to add an evergreen palette to your own landscape.

The scheme of beds from coniferous plants suggests, as a rule, 12 design options. Every gardener, whether an amateur or a professional, can develop his own composition. But before proceeding with this, it is advisable to familiarize yourself with their main types.

Design principles of coniferous beds:

• The ability to maintain plantings in the flower bed for several years. Conifers are predominantly perennials and do not require annual renewal;
• Or to frame the park alleys:

Spruce hupsi

It is best to start planting conifers in late spring from the third decade of April to the first decade of May. The plant is still “sleeping”, active growth has not yet begun, and this means that the plant will well transport and plant to a new place. You should dig a hole of a suitable size under the root system of the plant, then pour a layer of fertile soil and compact it well. Next, you need to arrange the seedling no deeper than the root and sprinkle with earth. After this, it is necessary to ensure a regular and thorough irrigation regime, not allowing the soil to dry out.

• To coniferous compositions harmoniously fit into the landscape of the site, you need to follow certain rules for their planting. You can save a decent amount of money for the services of a specialist and plant the plants yourself, observing some important points:
• There is also an interesting version of a coniferous plant that will harmoniously fit into the design of an alpine hill. This is the Hampi mountain pine, a feature of which is its growth to the sides.

Pine ordinary Waterereri

This plant is an ordinary pine Vaterri, which grows up to 4 meters in height;

• To make the thuja feel comfortable, being part of your design, select a shaded area for it.
• The coniferous representatives of the flora have a wide gamut of colors. If you need to combine plants into a single element in landscape design, then pay attention to the color of the needles in order to comply with the originality of the color scheme.

Pine Pinkus Silvestris

Compact

• Priority is given to short and compact plants;
• Saving material costs for creating a flower bed and caring for it;

If the site is located on a slope, the most practical and original solution is to design it in the form of a cascade of terraces located in tiers. At the lower level, you can arrange juniper bushes or dwarf pines. Carefully trimmed bushes in combination with other plants will be the perfect decoration of terraces.

Spruce Konika

Thuja ready to land

Yew berry

Against the background of a neat lawn, conifers look best.

Norway spruce Lombers

The undersized conifers of your design must be properly looked after. Such plants will be a great addition to the design of the garden in the Japanese style. For this, designers often combine low and medium-sized plants in their compositions.

Thuya Tini Tim

Hampi Mountain Pine

This western one can be cut to give it a unique shape.

Rules for color compliance can be identified as follows:

2.10 Mountain pine Hampi

. In this scheme, coastal juniper is planted in the foreground, and mountain pine and western thuja are placed in the middle of the flowerbed. A feature of this composition is its small size, which makes it possible to arrange along the fences, and thereby decorate them.

The game of contrast of form and color is taken as a basis;

Save time on maintaining the appearance of flower beds from conifers at the proper level.

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Creeping bushes of ground cover juniper varieties (Viltoni or Repanda), which are interspersed with other curly and weaving shrubs, give the impression of an artistic mess and riot of nature. At the same time they serve as a good strengthening of the slopes:

• When making an original decorative garden on a site of a country house, preference is increasingly given to coniferous trees and shrubs. This is due to the fact that evergreens maintain freshness and attractive appearance throughout the year, give the landscape a special "highlight". The crown of these plants is easy to cut and form various figured compositions from it. In addition to decorative functions, conifers have healing properties: they fill the air with a special aroma and volatile.
• The distance to the composition of coniferous trees and shrubs from the most viewed area of \u200b\u200bthe site should be approximately two of its heights. In this case, the composition will look right, aesthetically pleasing and will not violate the proportions.
• Conifers can also be combined with deciduous trees and shrubs. With this option, you can get entertaining compositions.
• Looks like a pine Waterereri, look at the photo.
• The ideal option is to use this coniferous plant as a hedge.

The distribution of conifers in the composition

A composition of three elements should have no more than two colors.

• The rules for planting conifers are explained by a special cycle of their life. Landscape designers are very familiar with these features. But if you cannot afford the cost of a specialist in landscape design, you should not despair. You can learn the rules for planting conifers yourself, so that after elegantly decorate your site with these plants.
• Big
• Against the background of ground cover plants, slow-growing dwarf conifers are planted;
• The choice is made, it is time to start forming a flower bed of conifers. This process consists of several stages.

For arranging cozy patios - patios - you can use container gardening with conifers. This type of decoration is very convenient, practical and indispensable for a small area:

The combination of conifers with others

In landscape design, when using evergreens, it is important to consider their growth, the shape of the foliage, and the color palette in order to avoid the monotony of the plot. Conifers and shrubs add new shades and colors to the landscape, create a warm, slightly fabulous and philosophical reflection atmosphere of a decorative garden.

• Coniferous compositions near garden ponds look good. Most often they are combined with various deciduous trees to obtain the original ensemble.
• Conifers can be used to create a mixborder. You choose its location yourself, taking into account your own vision of the site design. You can safely surrender to the will of your own imagination, while not the least bit afraid for the result. If you add a little personality to your landscape, your design is guaranteed to be unique in its own way. It is better to plant plants starting from the edge of the mixborder: first high conifers, after them - lower and lower in size. Such curvature will help emphasize the naturalness of the design, for example, as in the photo.
• Want to get a real giant in your garden? Then Pincus Silvestris pine is what you were looking for.
• Properly Designed Coniferous Jungle

If there are five elements, then the composition can have a maximum of three different colors.

Rules for planting conifers in the ground

So, the following rules apply to the basic rules by which conifers are planted:

. The flowerbed is ideal for large spaces and is usually located in areas adjacent to the fences. In this composition, 2 varieties of common juniper are planted along the fence, and Western thuja are placed in front of them, junipers are placed on its sides, in the middle are mountain pine, barberry and again juniper, but already scaly, and further along the edge is horizontal juniper 2 species;

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The lawn and the alpine hill serve as a base for the flowerbed;

Arrangement of flower beds from coniferous plants:

- patios located on several tiers of terraces look spectacular. In this embodiment, conifers can distinguish between these zones: on the upper level, it is best to arrange tall trees, and on the lower level - dwarf species of thuja or creeping shrubs: