Juniper "Golden Carpet": description, secrets of planting and care

Nowadays, many people like to decorate their summer cottages with decorative plantings. Conifers, including junipers, are a popular option for this. Today we will talk about such shrubs of the Golden Carpet variety.

The Golden Carpet horizontal juniper is a coniferous shrub that densely covers the ground with its creeping shoots. Its height reaches only about 10-15 centimeters, but in diameter it can reach up to 1.5 meters.

The shoots of such a juniper are quite long, they grow strong, resilient. Over time, they can take root. This variety grows relatively slowly (10 cm per year).

The needles of such a plant consist of the smallest scales, painted in a golden color. In the upper part, the shade of the needles is yellow-golden, at the bottom - yellow-green.

On such a juniper, fruits appear quite rarely. They are small-sized blue-white cones.

This variety of juniper belongs to the frost-resistant species, but at the same time it also loves the sun's rays.

The Golden Carpet plant easily adapts to almost any natural conditions, it can be planted both in sunny areas and in partial shade. The best time for planting is August or April.

There are some important points to keep in mind during the planting process.

• Features of the root system. The roots of such a coniferous shrub are fragile, therefore, when transplanting from a special container, the plant should be moved only together with a lump of earth from this container.

• Plant sizes when creating planting pits. As a rule, the depth of each hole should be at least 70 cm. The diameter should be calculated depending on the size of the earthen root ball and made 2 or 3 times larger.

• Drainage layer. Juniper does not like an excessive amount of water, therefore, it is better to fill a drainage layer with a thickness of at least 20 cm at the bottom of the planting holes. For this, crushed stone or broken brick is suitable.

• Root collar. When planting, it should not be too deep in the ground.

• Mulching after planting. This should be done in the near-stem part with the help of sawdust, then the earth should be loosened.

Only with proper care will a decorative juniper grow and develop normally. To do this, periodic watering should be carried out, top dressing should be applied, the plant should be cut, and it should be prepared for the winter period.

Immediately after planting, young seedlings must be watered well. Over the next week, plantings should also be moistened abundantly. This coniferous shrub is hard to tolerate dry air, so it is recommended to regularly sprinkle the crown. It is often done in very hot weather.

Adults do not need to be watered frequently if a rainy summer is expected. In this case, only 2 or 3 waterings for the whole season will be enough. Three buckets of water must be poured under each shrub.

You need to feed the Golden Carpet only once a year. Moreover, it is possible to add nutrients only in April or August. Most often, a nitroammophoska is used for this.For each shrub, about 30-40 grams of such a product will be enough. Fertilizers are applied to the trunk circle, and then everything is thoroughly watered.

This juniper variety easily tolerates both sanitary and formative pruning. The first procedure is carried out in the spring and helps to maintain the health of the plant.

Sanitary pruning involves removing dried or damaged shoots. Parts that have suffered due to cold weather or pests are also removed.

Formative pruning does not need to be done every year as it grows slowly. This procedure is carried out most often in July. For this, the sharpest tools are selected in advance.

The Golden Carpet variety is frost-resistant, but it still requires minimal preparatory procedures for the cold. The plant must be covered with spruce branches or a special film. In some cases, it is permissible to use a layer of peat. Excess and damaged shoots and branches should be removed immediately.

Juniper "Golden Carpet" can reproduce in several ways:

• cuttings;
• seed material;
• layering.

This method is the easiest and most versatile. The preparation of planting material is best done in cloudy weather, while cutting off the cuttings is desirable in August. Only the upper parts of the shoots should be taken. They must be completely freed from coniferous needles and branches.

After cutting, shrub shoots are soaked in water, and only then placed in a substrate. This is usually done at an angle of 30 degrees. You must first make drainage. Before planting cuttings, containers with them must be sent to a greenhouse with a temperature regime of 15-19 degrees. After all the kidneys are completely dissolved, the temperature should be raised to 25 degrees.

This method is considered the most time consuming, but also more economical in comparison with other methods. In this case, in the fall, you need to collect small fruits in the form of blue cones. From them you need to carefully pull out the seeds.

Seed material is planted in a separate container with prepared soil. Planting depth should be at least two centimeters. At the beginning of spring, a container with seeds is taken out into the yard.

In the spring, the plants are transplanted into outdoor soil. To protect the material from severe frosts, the soil should be mulched. This same procedure will help prevent weeds from forming. After three years, shrubs can be planted in a permanent place.

This method is most commonly used for breeding creeping juniper types. In this case, the land located near the shrub must be thoroughly loosened, and then add a mass of peat there and water everything thoroughly.

The branches that will be needed for rooting are completely cleared. After that, you need to retreat from the root about 20 cm. The shoot is buried in the ground and well covered with earth. At the end, the plant is watered and huddled.

Cuttings take root within a year after planting. Then they are separated and transplanted to another location.

Variety "Golden Carpet" may suffer from certain diseases:

• rust;
• drying out of branches;
• nectriosis of the bark of branches;
• fusarium (fungal disease leading to decay of the root system of plants).

In addition, this juniper can be exposed to the harmful effects of parasites:

• juniper moth;
• aphid;
• mealybug;
• gall midge.

It is difficult to deal with such diseases and pests, therefore it is recommended to carry out some preventive procedures. So, shrubs should be treated with insecticides: "Engio", "Mospilan", "Aktara", "Aktelik", "Confidor".

Also, do not forget to remove and burn damaged, dried up branches and shoots in a timely manner.

Often the juniper "Golden Carpet" is used for decorative ennobling of the site. So, decorating the territory adjacent to the artificial reservoir can be a good option.

The pond can be surrounded in two rows with decorative stones of various sizes. Between them, plantings of junipers should be made. Landscaping can be diluted a little by adding several plantings with bright flowers.

Another option would be to design a separate flower bed with junipers near the house. To do this, a plot of a certain size is separated with decorative stones, on the territory of which several considered miniature plants are planted in a chaotic manner. In the central part, you can plant one relatively tall and slender coniferous tree.

Also, dwarf deciduous plants of different shades can be suitable for such a flower bed. The area where all the plantings are located can be additionally decorated with small smooth stones.

You can make a design in which a flower bed with large monochromatic stones is created, it will have to be located along one of the walls in the summer cottage. On its territory, many junipers are planted in a chaotic manner. They can be combined with larger and taller conifers. Flowers with bright buds will also be a great addition.

See the following video for the secrets of planting and caring for the Golden Carpet juniper.