Juniper Holger (Holger) is a favorite of collectors of garden rarities and novice gardeners. A compact, densely branched, sprawling bush gains sympathy at first glance with its neat shape and rich, as if shimmering in different shades, color. It looks great in compositions with colored mulch (bark, wood chips, pebbles on agrofabric), pebbles, and is used for landscaping rock gardens, rocky areas. With its high disinfecting, insecticidal and phytoncidal properties, the plant purifies the air from many pathogenic bacteria.
Juniper Holger: Description
Low sprawling evergreen shrub with a wide dense crown, growing in height up to 0.8 m, in diameter - 1.5-2 m. Juniper shoots hanging down. Needle-shaped needles, whitish-blue, motley, not changing color in winter. Spring foliage with a slightly yellowish tinge at the tips, in summer it turns gray-green.
Optimal growing conditions
Juniper Holger prefers sunny open areas, but also grows in partial shade. The shrub is unpretentious to soils, but it prefers slightly acid loose, well-drained, loamy or sandy loam. Small salinization is acceptable. This is a frost-resistant and rather drought-resistant variety, resistant to urban conditions and harmful emissions.
Juniper Holger does not require pruning, but sanitary pruning can be done in spring.
The bush is decorative not only in single plantings, but also as part of small and large landscape compositions; it is excellent for landscaping balconies, roofs and terraces.
Landing
Plants grown in a container should be well watered before planting. Landing pit must be done 1.5-2 times more than the container. With heavy soil and close groundwater, it is necessary to arrange drainage from gravel or expanded clay, the layer of which is 20 cm. It is advisable to fill the planting hole with a mixture of excavated soil and peat in a 1: 1 ratio. It is recommended to add complex mineral fertilizers to the resulting mixture. This layer will allow better germination of the roots in the soil. The root neck of the seedling is left located at ground level. After planting, the plant must be abundantly watered with water, and the trunk circle should be mulched with peat or bark.
Wintering
Juniper Holger (photo attached to the article) - frost-resistant variety. But in early spring, when the sun shines brightly, and the soil has not yet completely thawed, the needles of young plants may burn. To prevent this, plants in January-February must be “shadowed” with agrofibre or spruce spruce branches. Shelter is removed after thawing the soil. It is better to do this on a calm, cloudy day.
Juniper Care
In the year of planting, juniper must be watered more often, since the root system is compact and is not able to independently consume nutrients and moisture from the soil. In the future, in the dry season, it is recommended to water once or twice a week, especially for young bushes. For a slower evaporation of moisture from the earth's surface, mulching is done with wood chips (5-7 cm layer) or pine bark. So watering can be carried out much less often - when the soil surface dries.
In spring (April-May), fertilizing with nitroammophos or complex mineral fertilizers is performed. In October, potash and phosphorus fertilizers are applied. If the plants are affected by fungal diseases, they are treated with fungicides ("Fundazol", "Ordan"). In April-May, preventive treatment is done against fungal diseases with 1% Bordeaux fluid. When the juniper is damaged by pests (aphids, caterpillars), the bushes are treated with insecticides ("Confidor", "Aktara"). Processing is carried out twice (interval 7-10 days).