Yard design made of needles with a Christmas tree. Conifers in the landscape design of a summer cottage: options and rules for composing compositions

Flower beds, green lawns, hedges and large single shrubs are the basis of landscape design. But everyone wants to winter period When most plants have faded and lost their leaves, it is important that the landscaped area remains vibrant and attractive. This function is performed by coniferous compositions in landscape design and solitary evergreens. But some conifers do not get along next door to each other and deciduous trees. To avoid annoying mistakes, professionals share their secrets with lovers of landscaping home gardens.

Flower beds and decorative perennials have long been used by gardeners in landscaping urban courtyards and suburban areas. Abroad, they have long abandoned gardens and orchards in favor of neat beds of decorative spicy greenery 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 landscape design is actively taking root in our country.

Central Russia - natural environment many species of pines, larch, cedars and junipers. A little to the south, Mediterranean cypresses, thuja and other heat-loving evergreen tree-like conifers are perfectly cultivated. Surprisingly, apart from blue firs 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 even in Soviet times parks and alleys decorated rare species evergreen forms.

Today decorative forms coniferous plants are increasingly being used in landscape design and landscaping of personal plots. Asian and Mediterranean forms, through the efforts of domestic and Dutch breeders, are adapted to our climatic conditions. Although evergreen heat-loving plants are increasingly decorating our plots, many conifers from Italy, Korea and Japan need to powder 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 distribution network. Although this is expensive in complex landscaping, it has its advantages:

• a seedling in a pot or tub has a protected root system;
• each plant has a "passport" or brief instructions care;
• if the recommendations for watering and cultivation are followed, 100% rooting of a young conifer is guaranteed.

Attention! If at a retail outlet from a row of identical plants they offer slightly yellowed ones, do not buy - this is the first sign of the seedling dying off! Even when planting in fertile soil and intensive watering, it will not be possible to reanimate it, with rare exceptions. Such material can only be taken free of charge - in addition to a batch of other plants, to be planted somewhere near the edge.

Coniferous composition at their summer cottage

If there is no certainty that the acquired garden forms will take root, in the first year you can hire a professional gardener who will take care of the "young growth". When rooted thujas, juniper and ornamental spruces overwinter and release young, slightly colored twigs in the spring - a signal that the conifers feel great in a new place and do not need careful care.

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

Competent 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 phytoncides. For example, other conifers do not get along near a single larch or gradually degrade.

Decoration of the cottage with coniferous plants

Landscape design with coniferous plants

It is desirable that the basis of the composition is 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 backdrop for such a planting. It can be supplemented with compact flowering perennials or ornamental fruit-bearing shrubs, which can be adjusted annually with pruning.

Attention! You should not plant large conifers, fast-growing and sprawling forms in the center of the site and under the windows of the building. Otherwise, in 5-6 years they will turn into forest jungle, creating an excessive 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 are perfectly combined with weeping hardwoods by an artificial reservoir on the edge of the garden, as in the photo.

Landscape design in coniferous composition

Summer cottage design with coniferous plants

Summer cottage design with coniferous plants

Variations of coniferous forms

For most people, coniferous plants are Christmas trees and pine trees, which are usually dressed up in new year holidays. They also include Siberian and Lebanese cedars, and what they differ in is not known to the townsfolk. What the branches of larch, arborvitae, cypress or juniper look like - they are lost in conjecture.

It is interesting. Each variety of conifers has its own subspecies, with great variations in the color of the cones or berries, the shape of the crown and the length of the needles. Italian weeping pines are the same pines, but the needles can reach 20-30 cm in length. And there are coniferous forms with large purple buds and small red, rose-like buds. For landscaping arboretums, juniper with blue edible berries, and the variety with bright red fruits is poisonous. young twigs decorative firs may have a light green, golden and blue tint, examples are in the photo.

Coniferous composition at their summer cottage

Decoration of the cottage with coniferous plants

When choosing coniferous compositions in landscape design, it is advisable to get acquainted with species diversity these relic plants. Botanists claim that conifers or gymnosperms reigned at the time of the 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 endemics in impenetrable virgin forests, which are used by breeders to breed decorative subspecies.

Landscape design with coniferous plants

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-topped;
• weeping;
• pyramidal;
• columnar;
• oval;
• creeping (flat);
• squat;
• rare crown.

There are also the following forms:

• tall;
• medium height;
• undersized;
• creeping.

Attention! With time undersized plants will look like medium height, dwarf and compact conifers will take up more space. You should not plant them densely, so as not to spoil the original plan in landscape design.

Summer cottage design with coniferous plants

Coniferous composition at their summer cottage

How to compose 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 shed their needles like a 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 phytoncides that are detrimental to pathogenic microflora. Compact trees, densely covered with needles, are quite spectacular both in single plantings and in a general composition with other "neighbors", as in the photo.

Decoration of the cottage with coniferous plants

Landscape design with coniferous plants

The site design is usually divided into several zones, where certain types of plants will be in the center of the composition. Depending on the goals, 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! According to your taste, you can choose any kind of pine, spruce, fir, cedar, larch, arborvitae, cypress or juniper. But there is one condition - they must be adapted and acclimatized to a certain region. Not all of them are organically perceived in the vicinity of ornamental and fruit-bearing trees and shrubs.

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

Attention! You should not plant several conifers from different geographical zones nearby at once, it often looks unnatural.

"Northerners" can oppress with their phytoncides undersized and dwarf forms from the Mediterranean and the Far East region. And selective and hybrid forms will be oppressed by their natural relatives. The Lebanese cedars and Siberian larches are considered the most "unaccommodating".

Summer cottage design with coniferous plants

Coniferous composition at their summer cottage

Gardeners have 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 the Mediterranean endemics and varieties of Christmas trees with light needles, which fade in the shade.

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

Most cultivated forms lend themselves well to "haircut", they can be given the most bizarre shape– from elephants to precise spirals. But some conifers get sick even if one branch is broken.

Decoration of the cottage with coniferous plants

Landscape design with coniferous plants

Landscape design in coniferous composition

If there is a desire to ennoble the backyard with evergreen sculptures, you need to choose the right thick forms with small twigs and short needles. You will also have to look for specialists who create real masterpieces. You should not experiment with living plants if you are not sure that such “creations” are within your power.

Take a look at the examples in our photo gallery. Perhaps these ideas will inspire and suggest a new concept for the design of your site.

Increasingly, in landscape design, a variety of coniferous plants are used to decorate plots, which create harmonious combinations with lawns, decorative deciduous and flowering shrubs, perennial flower crops. This article is all about conifers for the garden; rules for creating harmonious compositions; to help gardeners photos of various conifers with the exact names of varieties.

Coniferous plants: types, cultivation techniques

The inclusion of conifers in garden compositions allows you to create unique beauty corners of the garden that remain decorative at any time of the year. The range of coniferous crops for landscaping areas is constantly expanding, including spruce, cypress or juniper, unique in color.

Advice. Trees with needles different shades fit perfectly into garden design, creating a fresh spot against the background of other plants.

Decorative conifers for the garden are very popular in the design of landscape compositions due to their positive qualities:

1. Coniferous trees retain an attractive shape, as they grow, their crown only becomes thicker and more elegant.
2. Plants do not freeze even in the most severe winters, decorating the winter landscape, coniferous trees and shrubs are easy to care for and hardy.
3. The powerful root system of these plants fully provides the conifers with moisture, so mature trees can be watered infrequently.
4. Ephedra easily tolerate insufficient lighting, put up with shading.
5. Many varieties of coniferous plants have a compact shape that does not require special care.

Landscape design using conifers

Coniferous cultures are so diverse that they can be used to create landscape compositions of any style, compact and miniature forms of conifers look appropriate in rockeries and alpine slides.

Types of coniferous plants

Usually, the following coniferous crops are used for landscaping plots different varieties, differing in height, shape of branches, color of needles.

Pine

Pine is the oldest representative of the green coniferous kingdom. Pine trees are not demanding on soil, they are highly resistant to drought and winter cold, but they require a lot of free and bright space. When planted in an urban area, pine trees react strongly to smoke and air pollution, so their widespread use in creating landscape compositions near an industrial area is very limited. Pines are conventionally divided by height into three groups:

• Tall - the height of the tree reaches more than 10 meters.
• Medium-sized - from 3 to 9 meters.
• Low and compact forms - reach no more than 3 meters in height.

The usual green color of pine needles is not the only one; in modern pine varieties, needles can be blue or yellow shade, there are species with a two-tone color of the needles.

Attention! For landscape gardening, all types of pines are used, but a special group is made up of compact types of mountain pine, which is widely used for planting in the form of a tapeworm on an alpine hill.

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Spruce is a coniferous culture that is perfect for planting in city parks and squares to create a variety of compositions. Spruce remains green in winter and summer, so parks with spruce compositions acquire a special charm in winter. The needles of fir trees have different colors: green, blue, gray, which adds decorativeness to the created landscape compositions.

A huge variety of spruce crown shapes makes it possible to use these trees as group and solitary plantings; elfin trees are an ideal decoration for mixborders or rockeries.
Spruce varieties are suitable for creating hedges.

Fir

Fir is a tree with dense needles and original cones, indispensable for creating landscape compositions. For the normal development of the plant, it is necessary to create certain conditions for fir trees:

• Uniform moistening of the soil, to prevent stagnation of water in the near-trunk circles.
• Fertile soil.
• Places sheltered from the wind.
• Fir does not tolerate air pollution.
• Shelter in winter for young seedlings from frost.

Fir is the only coniferous crop that can reproduce by growth. Near an adult tree, you can always see rooted young shoots that are easy to separate from the mother tree for a separate planting.

cypress

Cypress trees are very much appreciated for the design of urban and park areas. The plant can have a different shape: filamentous, weeping, dwarf, in total there are more than 80 species of various crowns. The needles on the shoots of cypress trees can have a needle or scaly shape in various shades of green, blue and light green.

Cypress trees are highly resistant to drought, the plant is winter-hardy, adapts to any growing conditions, puts up with shading.

cypress

The slender Lavson cypress is most suitable for planting in cities; ideal compositions are created by landscape architects using virgin cypress varieties.

Juniper

Junipers are highly decorative, a variety of species and forms. Plants look great in compositions different style, including group plantings of conifers on green lawns and creating rocky hills.

The prickly needles of junipers are usually needle-shaped and can be colored in different tones of green or blue flowers. Often the needles have a specific bluish bloom.

The most common and undemanding type of juniper is the Cossack juniper, which has scaly needles. On urban lawns and in rockeries, this type of plant is most often found.

Juniper

Chinese juniper usually reaches a height of up to 10 meters, its slender crowns are painted in green or golden tones of various shades. The plant is used for single plantings and when creating decorative hedges.

thuja

Most often, arborvitae are used for landscaping cities. These plants are undemanding to growing conditions, give good growth, are very decorative, especially during the period of fruit formation. Thuja has a different crown shape: pyramidal, sprawling, columnar, which makes it ideal for creating landscape compositions of different styles.

Especially often, western thuja is used for landscaping urban areas, which has proven itself well when grown in difficult urban conditions. The variety of species of western thuja allows you to create ideal compositions from tall and short varieties.

Yew

special artistic expressiveness park design can be given by yews, which are usually planted in the form of hedges. Yew - amazing plant, which has leaves reduced to needles and bright berries. In total, there are 8 types of yews in nature, most of which have decorative forms.

Yew berry is the most decorative look from the Tisov family. The plant is remarkable for its bright green needles and red berries, which do not ripen on all plants. The whole point is that dioecious plant. All yews are characterized by slow growth, plants can live to a very respectable age. In addition to the berry yew, yew medium and spiky yew are successfully used in landscape design.

Coniferous plants on the site: video

Conifers in landscape design: photo

Modern landscape design is rich in a variety of species of coniferous plants. The aroma of country air, saturated with needles, is a pleasant and useful frame for relaxing in the country and in the backyard. Plants are used in the landscape to create beautiful compositions, flower beds, rockeries and topiaries, as well as in the form of fences. Coniferous tree species in landscape design get along well with hardwoods, look on lawns framed by stones and flowers. Plants are diverse different shade, shape and size, plus - a unique decor all year round.

Options for the use of 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, giving decor to the winter landscape;
• thanks to powerful roots, coniferous plants provide themselves with moisture even in dry summers, therefore they do not require frequent watering;
• conifers develop well with a lack of lighting, grow in shade and partial shade;
• trees are attractive in any period of their life. In the process of growth, the beauty and density of their crown only intensifies;
• the variety of species of conifers 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. Trees of miniature forms are appropriate in green fences, in a flower bed and rockeries.

Softwood rockery 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 conifers are chosen as the basis of composite vegetation;
• when choosing types of coniferous plants, their unpretentiousness is taken into account;
• when forming rockeries, there should be no pronounced terrain differences;
• plot drawing is created by a combination of large stone and gravel bedding.

Before buying seedlings for rockeries, it is necessary to think over the composition of landscape design; conifer miniatures are not cheap in price. To achieve the best effect in the compositional solution of the landscape, you can choose a vertical coniferous dwarf for the dominant plant, with a crown in the form of a cone or oval. The dominant is planted at the beginning or middle of the composition, small seedlings with a spherical crown are placed around. Planting creeping ground cover conifers will be the background.

Alpine slide differs from rockeries in the requirement for more sunlight. The gently sloping garden of conifers in this regard is unpretentious and looks wonderful in a landscape solution under the windows of the estate, in the shade of a gazebo, on the shore of an artificial pond.

When creating a rockery, you should not load it with a variety of coniferous species, you can lose the beauty and originality of each. When composing groups, it is better to use contrasts in the shape and color of trees or apply a smooth transition aesthetic.

Wild stones, as elements of landscape design, should organically enter the composition and not hide in coniferous thickets, but harmoniously fit among the dwarfs of spruces, pines, thujas and junipers. 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 save the composition for a long time.

Conifer flower bed design

In landscape design suburban area coniferous species look great in flower beds. Their size and design depend on the size of the plot and the talent of the gardener.

There are several main types:

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

Arranging a coniferous flower bed is not particularly difficult. At correct selection species range of evergreens and their competent placement will turn out beautiful view adjoining plot with minimal time and effort.

Fences from coniferous greenery

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

It is better to buy species 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.

Complex Design Mastery

Ephedra in landscape design open up space for a flight of fancy. To give the plant any fantasy shape is possible with the art of topiary. The main way to obtain a curly variety of plants is a haircut; species of yew, spruce and juniper are used. By creating simple shapes- cylindrical, spherical, cone-shaped, it is better to choose those types of conifers, the crown of which will cause minimal damage.

Gardeners with experience cut trees “by eye”, for beginners there are stencils and various fixtures in the form of hammered pegs and stretched ropes. To give a beautiful, spiral shape to the crown of the conifer is within the power of a novice amateur gardener. Using a wide tape, you need to wrap around a young tree with a conical crown and cut all branches from free areas. A year later, the sheared places are already clearly visible, you can tweak it a little and in the end - a beautiful, sea shell.

Choice of garden design

The high decorativeness 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 it is not necessary to plant a whole forest.

Before planting plants, be sure to consider:

• climatic conditions;
• terrain;
• the size of the plot and yard buildings;
• the presence of reservoirs, bridges.

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

The combination of plants in a coniferous garden

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

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

Coniferous plants are good neighbors to deciduous shrubs, cereals, flower perennials (especially lilies). shrub species conifers look colorful in the company of weeping willows by the pond. Thuja with bright greenery and bluish toning of the needles will be an excellent background for junipers.

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

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

The composition of conifers in the country is becoming an increasingly common element of landscape design. This design of the territories adjacent to the buildings looks original and aesthetically pleasing. But the implementation of design projects using coniferous plantations cannot be called simple, since it requires not only artistic taste and imagination, but also theoretical preparation.

The topic of the article is not accidental, since conifers are popular in landscape design, but not everyone knows the instructions for planting, arranging and combining these plants. In this article we will talk about which plantings to choose and how to use them for their intended purpose in order to simplify the care of conifers in the country.

Plant selection

The science of decorating a summer cottage with ornamental plants is not easy. Therefore, beginners who decide to join landscape design are forced to combine practice with a permanent search. useful information. Meanwhile, planting conifers in the country can serve as a good start in your passion for landscape design ().

Breeding such plants is not particularly difficult, if you decide in advance on the choice suitable type. It would seem that it is not easy to determine which types of conifers are suitable and which are not, but in reality there will be no problems with the choice.

The fact is that all types of coniferous plantations used by domestic designers are derived from three varieties of trees and shrubs:

• juniper,
• pines,

Species bred by breeders are optimally adapted for existence in domestic difficult climatic conditions. It is not advisable to choose something from import catalogs or import it from abroad, since it is likely that an exclusive foreign ephedra simply will not take root in our open spaces.

Tip: when choosing the best solution, purchase domestic products, the price of which, by the way, is more affordable.

Properly selected conifers are characterized by a number of advantages, including:

• unpretentiousness in terms of soil on the site;
• no special lighting requirements;
• resistance to sudden temperature changes;
• unpretentiousness in relation to moisture content parameters;
• acceptable cost in comparison with other varieties of ornamental plantings;
• ease of care, which is very important if Vacation home used primarily for seasonal living.

Features of application in landscape design

Coniferous plants are not unreasonably considered one of the most popular plantings for landscape design. Such plants are widely used to create decorative backstage, alleys, hedges and a wide range of different compositions in combination with other plants.

We bring to your attention an overview of the main ways of using conifers in landscape design.

Mixborders

Mixborders in landscape design are usually called variants of mixed and prefabricated flower beds.

Tip: In most cases, the dominant role in the formation of the mixborder is coniferous shrubs and small trees. The main concept of mixed compositions is the compatibility and compactness of seemingly incompatible plant forms.

When forming mixborders with your own hands, try to apply the following recommendations:

• Do not use tall wild spruces, junipers and arborvitae in the composition.
• The best solution for the implementation of most ideas are low-growing plants, such as creeping juniper, narrow-pyramidal thuja, dwarf globular spruce, yew, mountain pine.
• Rhododendron, undersized barberry, dwarf spirea, heather, creeping cotoneaster, etc. can advantageously emphasize the aesthetics of coniferous plantations.
• When forming a mixborder using pine needles, it is advisable to use bulbous flowers in combination with ground cover plants.. Such combinations are justified from the point of view of aesthetics, and based on agrotechnical aspects.

flowerbeds

It is no secret that coniferous plants are used to create flower beds. Such solutions have been relevant for a long time. But you need to understand that the optimal aesthetic effect will be guaranteed only with the competent implementation of the design project.

• In the flower beds we plant only compact and undersized plants. However, the center of the composition can be distinguished by a shrub or tree, the size of which will be above average.
• At the heart of the composition, in the absence of a central element, you can use the principle of different shapes and contrast of colors. For example, vertically arranged cylindrical elements can be emphasized or highlighted using dense creeping shrubs. If desired, within the same flower bed you can combine different plants with needles of different shapes and colors.
• In order to facilitate the subsequent care of the flower bed, slow-growing plantings should be used.
• Ground cover plants such as horizontal juniper, cross-pair microbiota, etc. can be used as the main background.

rock garden

This kind of landscape design is a miniature imitation of mountainous terrain. A feature of such design projects is the use of those plantations that will create the impression of a natural landscape, in the formation of which a person did not take part. It is not difficult to create such an effect with your own hands using coniferous plants in your backyard.

The only recommendation in this case will be the use of those trees and shrubs that grow in the mountains. Of course, you will have to make an adjustment for the size of the plantations, so that the rock garden becomes a miniature likeness of mountains.

A good solution would be to imitate the transition of the forest into alpine meadows. To do this, a hill is formed from dense soil without stony inclusions, on which dwarf trees will coexist with lush grass.

Tip: When forming a rock garden optimal solution will be the use of subalpine fir, Cossack juniper, western arborvitae, drooping arborvitae, pea-bearing cypress, mountain pine, etc.

Conclusion

Now that we have looked at how to apply conifers in the landscape, we can take a fresh approach to shaping the design of the infield ().

If you still have questions, you can find more useful information by watching the video in this article.

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With the help of evergreen conifers, you can decorate and ennoble a personal plot or a flower bed near a residential building. This dignity of conifers has been known for a long time, and therefore evergreen decorations different kind 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 well tolerated lack of sunlight and have a well-developed root system, which allows plants to do without watering for a long time. Some varieties of coniferous plants take root well and develop on dry and stony soils.

The bulk of coniferous trees and shrubs perfectly tolerates a haircut. Some species of coniferous trees by nature have the correct geometric shape and do not need a haircut and complex care.

The role of conifers in the landscape of a summer cottage

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

The design of a garden with coniferous plants can be both purely decorative and functional. In particular, with the help of juniper or arborvitae, 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.

With the help of dwarf juniper, you can create low fence for playgrounds or flower beds large area. Such a fence will not close the view and will create a visual border. In addition, it will create a purely aesthetic effect of the frame.

Ephedra with unusual shape crowns 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 coating or a grassy lawn.

Composition from ornamental plants for landscape design, framing a path or a 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 the mixborder is created near garden path, it is best to create it from dwarf forms of plants, then it is possible to capture 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 the country with suitable deciduous plants.

Gives a good effect play on contrasts of color and form plants. You can combine columnar and spherical arborvitae and complete such a composition with creeping juniper. Bright green color while it will harmonize with golden and deep dark green. This composition looks very attractive.

If we simulate landscape composition right - the territory of your site will look very cozy and harmonious. A complete picture of a coniferous garden can be created if you adhere to the following rules:

It is best to orient landings 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 from 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 backyard or summer cottage. The design of such a landscape will depend on the size of the site, the shape of the flower bed and, of course, the skill of the gardener.

Exist several varieties of flower beds from conifers:

Alpine hill with conifers

With the help of ornamental coniferous plants different colors and sizes can be perfectly designed alpine slides and small ponds on the site. The ideal option landscape design can 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 Dove Spruce, Lawson Cypress, Serbian Spruce, or Mountain Pine.
3. The cylindrical shape is inherent eastern thuja, berry yew, virgin juniper.

Plants of various shapes can be combined in the country with creeping juniper species.

coniferous bonsai

Bonsai- This unique opportunity take home your garden for a period winter cold. Such trees are grown in special containers and require a lot of time, effort and attention. Such a task is only possible for experienced and patient gardeners.

The root system of such microconifers can be severely damaged in the harsh Russian winter. In the summer, 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 of winter watering plants. Such painstaking work will be more than rewarded with a delightful and very aesthetic landscape of your dacha.

Advantages and disadvantages

All ornamental conifers are different a number of undoubted advantages.

However, along with such advantages, some horticulturalists see them as a number of shortcomings. In particular, according to gardeners, conifers can behave unpredictably in the garden as an adult. However, if you approach the issue of cultivation and care competently, these shortcomings can be completely avoided. It is enough to choose the right place for planting and the type of plant and periodically feed it with nutritious fertilizers - and a fluffy plant will give a lot of pleasure with its fresh look.