Chinese Juniper - Description, Benefits And Care

2024 Author: Josephine Shorter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-07 17:49

Juniper chinese

Juniper Chinese is a plant from the genus Juniper, belonging to the Cypress family. The shrub is found in northeastern China, Korea and southern Manchuria.

The Chinese juniper can be represented by both a shrub and a tree. In nature, both monoecious and dioecious plants grow. The maximum height of the tree is 25 m. The crown of the plant is conical, it can be narrow and wide. The color of the branches is dark green, the needles are acicular and scaly.

Cones have a variety of shapes, can be elongated, angular and spherical. At the initial stage of ripening, they are covered with a white bloom, which later disappears, and the buds turn brown or dark blue. In one cone, most often there are 2 or 3 seeds, less often their number reaches 5. Seeds begin to ripen in the second year of life of a juniper.

The color of the needles depends on the type of plant. It can be yellow, green, bluish-green and even white and variegated.

The plant is found in the parks of the Crimea and the Caucasus, where it feels well and actively bears fruit. Juniper is almost ubiquitous in Japan and China.

At the initial stages of development, the Chinese juniper grows very slowly, in the future its growth accelerates. The shrubs tolerate well and retain their vitality even after harsh winters with an air temperature of -30 ° C. The frost resistance of the plant increases as it matures. The plant is not picky about watering and is able to exist without problems in dry steppe regions. However, Chinese juniper feels best in deep fresh soil with sufficient air humidity. The Chinese juniper is able to live and develop in urban conditions, as it is indifferent to high air pollution.

The tree is long-lived and can exist for about 800 years.

Content:

• Planting and caring for Chinese juniper
• Useful properties of Chinese juniper
• Popular varieties of Chinese juniper

Planting and caring for Chinese juniper

The main area of application of the Chinese juniper is the decoration of landscapes and premises. The plant is widely used in both single and group plantings. It is placed on lawns, hills and rocky slopes. Juniper perfectly complements the Chinese Japanese heather gardens.

If the method of planting a plant with the help of seeds was chosen, then seedlings can be expected no earlier than after 1-3 years. Seeds must be stratified before planting. To do this, they are kept at a temperature of 30 ° C for 30 days, and then stored at a temperature of 15 ° C for another 4 months. With the arrival of spring, the pericarp is cleaned from the seeds and the integrity of their hard covers is disturbed. The soil intended for planting seeds is mixed with soil from other juniper crops, which ensures the normal spread of mycorrhiza. Only then are the seeds placed in the furrows.

To plant a plant, you need to choose a sunny place, otherwise the decorative qualities of the juniper will be lost, and the needles will become loose and fall off. If columnar trees were chosen for planting, then the distance between them should be half a meter. If the crown of the tree is wide, then this distance must be increased to 2 meters. Planting depth is 70 cm.

Chinese juniper with a closed root system is less picky. If a plant with open roots was chosen, then it can be planted only in late summer or early May.

To plant a plant, you need to mix 2 parts of peat, 1 part of sand and 1 part of turf. Although some varieties may require different proportions of soil. The acidity of the earth should not exceed pH7.

It is not difficult to care for Chinese juniper. It is only necessary to ensure that the plant is not exposed to fungal diseases. In addition, the needles may burn when exposed to bright spring rays. To prevent this from happening, the juniper should be shaded.

In the hot summer months, the plant requires additional spraying, as it does not tolerate dry air well. It is necessary to spray in the evening, no more than 1 time in 7 days. As for watering, even in the driest months, 1 watering every 30 days is enough. When the soil is moistened, the earthen circle near the tree should be loosened. During wintering, you can mulch the plant with peat. If colon-shaped plants are planted in the garden, then their branches need to be tied up during wintering. This will prevent them from being damaged by snow. It is not necessary to shelter adult junipers for the winter, only young shrubs need additional heating.

Useful properties of Chinese juniper

Chinese juniper has not only aesthetic qualities, but also has a lot of useful properties. Like all other representatives of these conifers, Chinese juniper has the ability to purify the air. In just 24 hours, one hectare of plantations releases about 30 kg of phytoncides into the air. In theory, with so many antiseptics it is possible to disinfect the air of one large city. Therefore, a few seedlings of Chinese juniper are quite enough for a small summer cottage.

• A decoction of the branches and fruits of the plant allows you to get rid of many dermatological diseases, including: lichen, scabies, psoriasis.
• A decoction of juniper roots is used internally for tuberculosis and bronchitis. Juniper oil helps with joint diseases.
• Juniper branches can be used as a preservative for pickling mushrooms and vegetables.
• It is very useful to use a juniper broom while going to the bathhouse. With its help, you can get not only an excellent massage effect, but also relieve nervous tension, as well as prevent colds.

Popular varieties of Chinese juniper

There are many varieties of Chinese juniper.

The most common ones are:

• Blue Alps. This is a rather large plant that can reach a height of 4.5 meters. The shoots hang down, the needles are needle-shaped and have a delicate silvery-bluish color. The plant loves the sun and tolerates frost well.
• Strict. This plant produces dense shoots that form a cone-shaped shrub. Crohn's stricts are columnar or pin-shaped. The maximum plant height is 1.5 meters. The needles have a gray or bluish-greenish tint. The plant is not afraid of frost, but does not tolerate dry air.
• Variegata. The tree does not reach large sizes, it has the shape of a pyramid. Its maximum height is 2 meters. The needles are two-colored, yellowish-white inclusions are found on the blue-green branches closer to the crown. This variety does not like excessive moisture and does not tolerate frost very well.

Also popular varieties of Chinese juniper are such shrubs as: Monarch, Plumosa Aurea, Kurivao Gold, Spratan and Mint Julep. Moreover, the latter plant is very poisonous.

The author of the article: Sokolova Nina Vladimirovna | Phytotherapist

Education: Diploma in "General Medicine" and "Therapy" received at the Pirogov University (2005 and 2006). Advanced training at the Department of Phytotherapy at the Peoples' Friendship University of Moscow (2008).