Ornamental conifers: rules for the design of group and specimen plantings in the garden

Ornamental conifers are some of the best landscaping plants. Today, there are many of their varieties, which surprise with the variety of the color of the needles and the shape of the crowns. With the help of combinations of conifers, you can create very effective compositions. Combinations of shade-loving and light-loving conifers make it possible to grow a well-groomed, beautiful, original and neat garden. In addition, conifers release phytoncides, killing harmful bacteria and making the air cleaner and fresher. Most conifers are cold-tolerant, so they will delight you all year, whatever the weather.

With the help of these evergreen beauties, you can also decorate a small part of the garden, for example, a rockery, or a large area. Both in natural and in the relief created by human hands, they look very attractive. They will help transform even the most unsightly, shapeless area into a wonderful vacation spot.

Learn more about how to equip a relaxation area in your garden:

Conifers that grow well in central Russia: thuja, yew, fir (balsamic, Korean), spruce (blue, common, Canadian), larch, cedar and juniper (Cossack, common, horizontal, Chinese).

The beauty of a plant is manifested in its entirety if nothing interferes with its development and growth. This can be achieved in a solitary (solitary) planting with sufficient sunlight. Solitary planting allows the tree not to stretch in search of the sun, as it happens in the shade, but to form a luxurious crown.

A tree in a single planting is the center of the composition, so the specimen must have outstanding decorative qualities.

Tapeworm

Ornamental pine tree in solitary planting at the bend of the path. A wonderful composition, complemented by boulders and a carpet of fresh flowers

The size of the space occupied by the composition should be related to the size of the plant. In a small clearing, the tree should be of the appropriate size, the same can be said about a large area for a single planting.

On garden plots of a small area, which we have the majority, a standard culture (imitation of a small tree), or a low tree, a beautiful shrub would be a good option.

There are two things to keep in mind when planting a tapeworm:

  •  a tree or shrub looks best on a well-groomed lawn;
  •  the background should be taken into account – use plants of a different variety, type.

The solitaire must be ideally suited to the climatic conditions in which it will grow, because the composition is created for more than one year.
Of the conifers, Siberian larch, Siberian cedar, common spruce, blue spruce, common pine, hemlock are well suited for specimen planting.
For a small composition in the garden – juniper (virgin and common), conical varieties of spruce and thuja, boxwood, yew.

coiled boxwood

Boxwood is spiral and looks good in winter. With the onset of spring, it will be necessary to remove dead shoots and branches affected by sunburn

For rockeries, mini-garden, you can use dwarf mountain pine, Canadian spruce or western thuja. You can use elements of a regular style in the garden – trees with the correct crown shape in the form of a ball, spiral, pyramid, a background from a geometrically regular rectangular or spherical hedge.

Group planting of trees and shrubs can solve interesting problems:

  •  effectively fill the open space – lawn, meadow, lawn, adjoining territory;
  •  create a green background that will enliven the atmosphere in the garden, hide unpresentable buildings;
  •  hide, decorate the unsightly trunk of a tall tree.

Group planting of conifers can be openwork or dense. One of the main properties of plants planted by a group is colorfulness and picturesqueness.
You can use plants of one or different types, with needles of the same color or shade, or with needles of contrasting shades (for example, dark green and bluish).

Composition with blue spruce

Blue spruce enlivens this group planting, standing out against the backdrop of emerald green lawn, thuja hedges and dwarf spruce

A thuja or juniper hedge will be an excellent backdrop for a tapeworm (deciduous or coniferous tree, or ornamental shrubs). A group of conifers always attracts the attention of observers – it can be placed at the intersection of paths, at the entrance to the house, asymmetrically on the lawn or in its center.

You can learn more about how to grow thuja from the material:

The most common are the close planting of conifers (bouquet), free planting and extended compositions.

Boxwood, linear extended planting

Boxwood, linear extended planting. The composition allows plants to showcase their beauty. Nothing interferes with caring for them, the deep green color sets off the background of adult blue spruces

Some features of group planting that will help you create simple and beautiful compositions:

  •  the outline of the landing should be clear, and the borders should be smooth, so it will look natural;
  •  for group planting, an odd number of plants are used, the smaller the plants, the more they will be needed;
  •  when planting a mixed group, consider the growth rate of each plant;
  •  the biological compatibility of plants in a combined planting should be taken into account, and not only their decorative qualities.

One of the advantages of conifers is their neat appearance, but dry leaves, dead or burned shoots, weeds should always be removed.

Dwarf pine

Group planting of dwarf pines and in winter retains its decorative effect, firmly endures frost and windy weather. And in summer, against the background of a fresh lawn, young shoots of pines will sparkle with bright colors

If your plot is small, pay attention to the dwarf varieties of conifers. They seem to be made to decorate small areas.

  • prickly spruce resembles a fluffy bluish-green ball, grows slowly, has excellent decorative qualities;
  • common spruce – a kind of dwarf Christmas tree with a drooping crown, in any composition it looks very original;
  • creeping ordinary spruce is a great way to decorate the shore of a reservoir, rock garden, slopes;
  • the Nana fir is a plant that cannot be overlooked: both in a group planting and as a tapeworm in a clearing or along a path, it looks like a living decoration in the garden;
  • undersized (dwarf) larch is a beauty with a drooping crown, good in a single planting and surrounded by flowering plants. Such a bright spot of color will be a source of constant positive in your garden.
Colorado spruce and common spruce

The prickly spruce and the common spruce are wonderful dwarf trees, in which both the color and shape of the needles, and the crown attract attention. They will create a special atmosphere even on a small lawn or in a rocky garden

Creeping Dwarf Spruce and Nana Fir

Creeping dwarf spruce and Nana fir are suitable for both single and group plantings, are good in companies with any plants – other conifers, deciduous, flowering

dwarf larch

Not only things are in fashion, but also plants. Today, dwarf larch is one of the most fashionable ornamental plants. The drooping crown, graceful twigs with a delicate pattern of needles are remarkable in themselves and are beautiful in any composition. Loves sunny areas

It is also possible to use pyramidal conifers, these are mainly varieties of thuja. Pyramid-shaped plants are often used in garden architecture to make great hedges and lively decor for a front door or driveway.

Pyramidal thuja

A park or garden in winter is beautiful in its own way, especially if conifers are used in the plantings, whose greenery contrasts with the white snow carpet

A bold composition can be a combination of conifers and deciduous shrubs with bright flowers (hydrangea, garden roses, lilacs). It may seem that such a combination will look disharmonious, but it is not. The fragility of flowers and evergreen conifers in the company look extraordinary, creating amazing color combinations.

The material on the best varieties of ornamental shrubs for arranging a garden will also be useful:

dwarf spruce and flowers

A dwarf spruce in the company of fresh flowers does not look like an accidental guest at all, on the contrary, it makes the composition more natural and original

The use of decorative conifers in landscape architecture opens up ample opportunities for creating a wide variety of compositions. They can look as natural as possible, as if you suddenly found yourself in a cozy corner of the forest or on the slopes of the mountains, they can emphasize the beauty of garden areas – rockery, water zones, form a facade composition, etc.

In a great variety of varieties that can be purchased today in nurseries and specialized stores, the needles are surprising in the richness of shades.

Composition of conifers

It seems that when creating this beautiful composition, all varieties of decorative conifers with all possible shades of needles were used. At the same time, not a single plant stands out from the general harmony, finding its place between decorative boulders

Golden, gray-blue, pale green, juicy green tones can be used in various combinations, creating amazing garden ensembles. When arranging your garden, be sure to pay attention to decorative conifers. Having stopped your choice on them, you will thank these unpretentious wonderful plants more than once and will be fascinated by their beauty at any time of the year.

Anna Evans

Author-editor

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