Catalog of coniferous plants to decorate your garden: description of decorative representatives, landscape tricks (75+ Photos & Videos) + Reviews

Most often it is a tall evergreen tree with a dense crown. In the care is very unpretentious. It has high frost resistance and drought resistance. The annual growth rate is high. It is a photophilous plant, but tolerates partial shade well. The pine root system is very powerful and branched, so it is the tree feels great on poor, sandy or even stony soils. It tolerates neighborhood with other conifers.

There are more than a hundred species of pines with different growth, crown shape, and colors. Of these, only a fifth is suitable for growing in temperate climates. But do not be upset, thanks to modern breeding, there are several hundred crops bred specifically for planting in gardens and parks in our climatic conditions. They are, as a rule, significantly lower than their "wild" predecessors, more fluffy and decorative.

In design, pine is more often used as a free-standing tree. Pine trees are irreplaceable in the design of alpine slides and various landscapes with rocky ground. In some cases, overly thickened dwarf pines are used to create hedges.

An evergreen tree with a dense crown and short needles. Unlike pine, which has a strong straight trunk and a powerful root system, spruce is more pliable. Lateral branches of spruce grow horizontally, in some cases they may be slightly drooping.

Foliage or needles on branches can last up to seven years. The renewal of the needles occurs gradually, approximately 10-15% of all needles are renewed per year. Large and beautiful cones on trees appear from about 10 years of age.

Just like pine, spruce has several dozen varieties and forms. However, spruce does not get along well with other plants, including conifers. More precisely, others cannot get along with spruce, it quickly outcompetes its competitors. Almost all spruces love light soils (sandy and loamy) of neutral acidity. With the onset of fruiting, spruce changes the structure of the root system from a taproot to a branched fibrous.

All these factors leave a certain imprint on the use of spruces on the site. Mostly spruces are used as single objects, occupying fairly large areas and only a small number of varieties are able to get along next to other plants.

A plant of southern origin (eastern Mediterranean and southern Himalayas) and almost nowhere to be found in our country due to low frost resistance.

However, this name often refers to many other plants of the Pine family, which have similar characteristics, but do not belong to the genus Cedar:

The main feature of these plants are cones that grow upwards and completely decay (in real cedars) or begin to decay even on trees.

All these plants, both real cedars and their namesakes, are large trees, which are quite difficult to grow on their own. And their use for decorative purposes is practically not justified, because at the age of 5-6, when the plant becomes crowded, it sharply goes into growth. After 3-5 years, a giant tree appears in the middle of the site, in the shadow of which everything that is on this site will be for several years.

And here, oddly enough, temperature plays into the hands of the gardener. The middle of the temperate climate zone is too cold for the Lebanese cedar, and, on the contrary, too hot for the Siberian cedar pine. Therefore, the growth rates of these giants will be significantly reduced.

Growing conditions for cedars are similar to pine trees. The only difference is that real cedars (and their Canadian "analogue") prefer alkaline soils, and in general, are calcephiles, while Siberian and Korean pines love neutral soils.

The role assigned to cedars in the plots depends solely on their growth, and it is rather difficult to guess with it, since it is not clear how this or that plant will behave in specific conditions. Therefore, they are often planted as individual trees or monogroups, and only then around them, depending on the speed of their growth and development, other elements of the landscape are formed.

A plant with flat needles and cones, like real cedars, growing up, not falling, but completely decaying on the branches. Fir trees are pyramidal or cone-shaped, and the branches of mature trees are horizontal. There are several dozen species of fir and about the same number of their varieties.

The most popular among gardeners are two types of this plant - Korean fir and balsam fir. The latter, in addition to aesthetic and decorative properties, is also a medicinal plant.

Fir is grown in sunny areas with slightly acidic clay soils. The plant does not like excessive moisture, so the place for planting fir should be equipped with drainage. The fir crown requires regular shaping and correction, since the plant has an increased rate of formation of lateral shoots and their branches. However, if the owners are interested in the classic "cone", and not any frills, tree pruning can be omitted.

One of the features of firs that attract the attention of gardeners and designers is their cones, which make the tree very decorative. Unlike other conifers, which form cones within 1.5-2 years, fir manages to do this in just six months. Cones are formed in the middle of spring and ripen all summer, scattering only in autumn, closer to October.

Thus, for at least three months, the trees will delight gardeners with a wonderful “highlight” - a large number of decorative ornaments on the branches.

A unique conifer that sheds its needles for the winter. It is the most common tree in the world (due to the vast areas it occupies in Siberia and North America). The growth rate of larches is quite high - from 50 cm to 1 m per year; moreover, they persist for about 30 years of the plant's life, then significantly slowing down.

Larch can grow on any kind of soil, it perfectly tolerates drought and cold, but one requirement for its cultivation is mandatory: the presence of a sunny area. In partial shade and shade, plant growth stops almost completely.

Despite the fact that the plant sheds needles, it does this later than deciduous trees, and new needles appear much earlier than leaves. That is, the naked plant will be relatively short.

Larch live for several hundred years, already in the first 10 years of life reaching heights of about 7-8 m and having a fairly large crown. In the plots, due to their growth, like cedars, they play the role of central objects around which landscape compositions are built.

The varietal variety of larch is represented mainly by tall trees. However, there are several varieties of small and even dwarf larches, for example, Blue Dwarf varietywhich is about 1 m high.

Coniferous plants, represented by low trees or shrubs. Almost all representatives of the genus Yew have slow growth rates, and reach their maximum heights (6-10 m) only after a few decades. But in width they grow just fine. Dense crowns of yews can reach 4-5 m in diameter almost at the very beginning of their life.

A feature of the yew is the absence of resin in it, which is characteristic of many conifers. In addition, many subspecies of this plant do not form cones, but form a kind of berry with drupe-type fruits. The yew root system is quite powerful and branched.Unlike the trunk, it grows strongly underground and occupies a relatively large area. Due to this fact, almost nothing grows next to the yew, its powerful roots leave no chance for other plants.

Yews need sunny areas and soils of alkaline acidity to grow. (Grows very poorly on weakly acidic soils, and does not grow at all on acidic ones). Soil fertility does not play a special role. Yew does not tolerate excess moisture, therefore, drainage should be used when planting ..

The main feature of yews is an extremely high degree of thickening of their crown and a very dense arrangement of lateral and vertical branches in it., which makes them an almost insurmountable barrier for a large number of animals. Yews tolerate pruning well and their crowns can be shaped in any way, which makes them ideal plants for creating fences and various elements of shrub sculpture - topiary.

This southern plant does not adapt well to temperate climates. Most of its species prefer southern regions with a tropical or subtropical climate. The northernmost regions where cypresses penetrate are the south of Crimea, the ChPK and the south of the Kuban.

However, two types of cypresses - evergreen and large-fruited are currently trying to adapt to temperate climate conditions. With proper shelter during the cold season, they are able to endure even freezing winters. The frost resistance of plants is about -12°C, for a short time up to -20°C, which is acceptable even for regions located 300-500 km north of the Kuban. Moreover, the problem of enduring winter cold does not apply to the crown and trunk of a tree. The main problem is precisely the freezing of the earth and the death of the root system. However, cypresses can also be grown in large flowerpots, transferring them to a greenhouse or greenhouse for the winter.

Cypress, despite its thermophilicity, does not like direct sunlight. The place for growing cypress should be partial shade. The plant prefers slightly acidic or neutral soils of moderate fertility. Until the root system of the plant is formed (this is usually the first 5 years of life), it needs regular feeding; after reaching this age, feeding can be stopped altogether, limiting itself to the addition of humus to the soil at the end of the season.

Usually cypresses are used as separator plants, or as hedges. They tolerate pruning well, so they can also be used, as material for green sculptures.

A coniferous plant native to North America. It successfully combines the appearance of cypress and high frost resistance, from which it has gained immense popularity. There are several hundred varieties of thuja, differing in height (from 0.5 to 50 m), crown diameter (up to 40 m), its shape and color, the appearance of needles, and so on.

All thujas have a shallow, but widely branched root system, which allows them to do without water for a long time. Drought resistance of thuja can reach up to 3-4 months. Thuja needles are kept on branches for about two seasons. Then it falls off, and a new one almost immediately grows in its place. The needles fall off in whole sections, therefore, during the period of such a “molt”, entire branches can be practically bare for 1-2 weeks.

All arborvitae, to one degree or another, change the color of the needles during cold weather without falling off. In some varieties, this is almost imperceptible, but there are species whose color differs significantly in spring and summer (for example, green in summer and crimson in winter).

All thuja are calcephiles, that is, they love alkaline soils. They prefer to grow in the sun and in partial shade. The soil for them should be of moderate fertility. In the first years of life, plants require increased feeding with mineral fertilizers.

Of all the conifers, it is the thujas that have the maximum potential in landscape design. These plants are rightfully considered universal. From them you can make all kinds of design solutions in gardens, parks, lawns:

The variety of thuja species obtained over almost four hundred years allows all this without any problems in choosing plants. Nurseries offer dozens of varieties at once and more than a hundred on order within a fairly short time.

A plant also known as heather. Represented by a large number of bushy and tree-like forms. In a temperate climate, its creeping forms and bushes are predominantly represented. Distributed almost everywhere in the Northern Hemisphere. The unpretentiousness of juniper allows it to grow even in the Arctic.

It is a plant with strong branches, a dense crown and an average growth rate. Integumentary forms have a height of up to half a meter, bushy - up to 4 m, tree-like ones reach 15 m. Needles grow 3 pieces from one bud, their life time can reach up to 4 seasons. Updating needles on juniper occurs constantly.

The plant is very photophilous and does not tolerate shade. Soils prefer alkaline. In nature, juniper lives for more than 500 years.

It has a curative and preventive effect. For a day, one hundred square meters of juniper planting is capable of releasing about 300 g of phytoncides, which can purify the air of harmful microorganisms within a radius of almost seven hundred meters. It is no accident that many resorts of the Black and Mediterranean Seas are located in close proximity to juniper groves.

Both tree-like and bushy forms of juniper are used in the design of garden and park landscapes to create small groups, or single objects. Creeping junipers not only fill the lower tiers of flower beds, but can also act as border plants. And thanks to the branched root system, juniper is used to strengthen the slopes of hills and structures such as rock gardens.

Large junipers are used as hedges, and also to protect less adapted plants from wind and snow.