Content
Thuja and juniper are evergreen conifers with beneficial properties. If they are planted in a garden, then with their phytoncides they will cleanse the air of bacteria, fill the space with an enchanting aroma. But many gardeners do not understand these plants, so the article will show the differences between thuja and juniper.
What is the Difference Between Juniper and Thuja
Both thuja and juniper are representatives of the same Cypress family, which explains their external similarity. These are the most ancient plants that appeared on earth and have survived to this day. In one place, unpretentious plants, with proper care, can grow for centuries. That is why designers have paid attention to these conifers.
Thuja and juniper actually have some similarities, so novice gardeners may not always be able to distinguish between them. Both evergreens have similar scaly needles that have nothing to do with ordinary conifers and shrubs.
If you look closely at the modified leaves, you can see the difference. Juniper needles remain in the form of needles throughout life. And the needles of thuja are gradually changing, becoming scaly.
Looking at the crown, it is also difficult to immediately figure out where the thuja is and where the juniper is. Due to pruning, they can be pyramidal, columnar, or spherical. There are varieties of both types of conifers that can be grown not only in the garden, but also in the apartment.
What is the difference between thuja and juniper
To understand which plant to choose for the garden, you need to learn to distinguish thuja from juniper by biological characteristics. We need to talk about them in more detail.
Thuja
Thuja belongs to tree-like plants, develops very quickly. An adult tree grows up to 6 m, in girth - about 70 cm. In garden plots, thuja is grown in the form of a pyramid or shrub, in which the branches are located in the same plane. The shape of the tree depends on the selected variety. Despite the high frost resistance, no one has yet succeeded in growing thuja in the Far North in the open field.
Thuja can be distinguished by its gray smooth trunk. In an old tree, the bark changes. Longitudinal fibers appear on it, which peel off in the form of narrow ribbons.
The needles with small scales are tightly pressed against each other. The branches of the thuja are short, cones 7-12 cm long are formed on them. Each of them, as a rule, has 2 seeds.
All parts of the plant are useful:
- Thuja needles are rich in resins, essential oils, tannins and flavonoids.
- Seeds are a storehouse of essential oils.
- Thuja wood contains toxifylline, aromadendrin.
Medicinal and homeopathic preparations are prepared from thuja:
- Representatives of oriental medicine have long used parts of thuja for treatment.
- Healers in Russia healed people from cystitis, prostate, rheumatic pains, urinary incontinence.
- With the help of medicines made from thuja, you can get rid of worms, papillomas, warts.
- Lubrication with folk remedies based on thuja promotes resorption of postoperative scars, whitens the skin, and saves it from inflammatory processes.
Juniper
The height of an adult juniper is more than a thuja - this is also one of the differences.Usually, junipers grow up to 7-8 m, and sometimes up to 15 m, depending on the variety. There are also undersized creeping shrubs. They are used as ground cover plants for landscaping the site.
The juniper has a trunk with a large number of branches, on which sharp and hard needles are located. Each ring contains 3 modified leaves.
In spring, dioecious flowers appear on the plant:
- male inflorescences are in the form of earrings;
- women are represented by round cones.
Juniper begins to bloom in May, and the fruits appear only the next year, late in the fall. These are small berries, the surface of which is covered with a bluish bloom. Each berry usually contains 3 seeds.
Under natural conditions, junipers can be found in forests, on mountains, in river floodplains and in swamps. This plant got into gardens in antiquity due to its beneficial properties. The ancient Greeks and Egyptians were the first who began to be treated with means based on juniper.
Today, medicines are prepared from juniper berries. You can always buy juniper essential oil at the pharmacy. Traditional healers heal their patients with the help of decoctions, tinctures, syrups. There is no such area of medicine in which the juniper berry would not give an effect. The fruits are widely used by culinary specialists as a spice for making vodka, liqueur.
Why is juniper useful:
- The fruits contain various sugars (40%), resins (10%), essential oils (2%). By the content of acids (formic, acetic, malic), as well as vitamin C, camphor fruits of juniper are many times superior to other berries.
- The needles contain ascorbic and rhodizonic acid. It is due to them that the bactericidal effect is ensured. The essential oils of this ephedra are more powerful than other trees.
How to distinguish thuja from juniper
- Common juniper.
- Thuja.
To choose thuja or juniper seedlings and not be mistaken in doing so, you need to learn to distinguish between plants visually:
- First, ephedra have different needles.
- Secondly, they differ in size and height.
- Thirdly, you need to learn to distinguish between plants by buds. Thuja is characterized by oval or oblong cones, which have 2 or 6 pairs of scales. And in a juniper, the fruit is called a cone berry. They are spherical in shape, inside which there are 1-10 seeds (depending on the species).
- Fourthly, plants differ in height and shape: both types can be represented by trees or shrubs.
Use in landscape design
Having learned to distinguish thuja and juniper in appearance and biological characteristics, the gardener decides for himself whether to plant these trees on the site. If a positive decision is made, you need to understand the features of the landscape use of conifers. Both thuja and juniper are able to refine the site, give it an unusual look. But for this you need to understand the rules for using evergreen conifers in the design of a summer cottage.
Juniper use
Junipers can be placed singly, as tapeworms, or planted in groups at a specific distance. These plants can be included in various compositions with deciduous and coniferous trees, with flowering wild plants.
Experienced gardeners advise growing these conifers in triplets, in the form of a triangle. In the lower tier, creeping juniper varieties can be planted with pyramidal plants.
Trees on alpine slides and rockeries look great. But as a hedge, juniper plants are practically not used, since junipers grow relatively thuja slowly.
If there are sliding slopes or slopes on the site, plants can be planted on them to strengthen the soil.
There are many types of horizontally growing juniper. They are used as ground cover plants.
Thuja in landscape design
Tuyu, like juniper, has long been used by landscape designers. These evergreens will liven up any garden not only in summer but also in winter. With its help, you can create mini-parks (naturgardens), plant trees or shrubs separately.
Tall thujas decorate landscaped terraces. Dwarf varieties look great on flower beds, rockeries and alpine slides. These conifers are able to withstand low temperatures, so they can be grown in harsh climates.
Shrub thuja are great for creating hedges. For this purpose, the following varieties are most often used:
- Brabant;
- Emerald;
- Columna.
Thuja become a real decoration after a haircut. The crown can be given various shapes, cut out figures of animals.
Growing features
Thuja and junipers are unpretentious plants that are successfully grown in almost all regions of Russia. The agricultural technology of these conifers is in many ways similar, although there are some differences.
Juniper care
Junipers can be planted in full sun or light shade. To preserve the beautiful crown and color of the needles, the plant must be looked after, following the rules.
The end of winter and the beginning of autumn can cause sunburn. It's all about the activity of the luminary. To prevent the needles from fading, during these periods you need to take care of shading. You can throw in burlap or install screens.
Watering
Freshly planted young junipers should be watered regularly and abundantly, preventing the topsoil from drying out. After all, the roots are located close to the surface.
Those trees that are already well rooted, as well as adult plants, do not need watering if the season is rainy. In a dry and hot summer, 1-3 buckets of water are poured under each plant (depending on the age of the ephedra). To prevent the needles from drying out, sprinkling is necessary.
Top dressing
As for dressings, juniper plantings do not really need them. Organic should never be given. At first, only young trees are fed at the beginning of the growing season with nitroammophos, potassium nitrate or other complex fertilizer intended for conifers.
Pruning
Unlike many garden plants, juniper pruning is optional. Although there are varieties, for example, Skyrocket, which without this procedure look untidy, shaggy. This crop needs to be cut to shape.
In early spring and late autumn, the tree needs to be cleaned, damaged and dry branches removed.
Protection against diseases and pests
Juniper practically does not get sick with anything, on the contrary, thanks to its smell, it is able to scare away pests from other garden crops.
But it is not always possible to secure planting from fungal diseases. That is why it is necessary to carry out preventive treatments of juniper with special fungicidal preparations, for example, "Topsin-M".
Thuja care
It is not difficult to care for thuja. After all, the plant is unpretentious. All measures for the care of thuja are reduced to watering, feeding, protection from diseases and pests.
Watering rules
Thuja is demanding on irrigation, it needs to be watered regularly at the root and sprinkled to wash off the dust and protect the needles from burning out. Planning an event for the morning or evening. After watering, you need to remove the weeds and loosen the soil.
How to feed
The first feeding of thuja is carried out six months after planting the seedlings.To do this, use ammonium nitrate, urea or special fertilizers for conifers.
Pruning
Thuja needs formative (autumn) and sanitary (early spring, before sap flow) pruning. In addition, you need to remove dried branches and needles inside the crown so that the tree can breathe.
For the winter, both thuja and juniper need to be wrapped with rope, as in the photo.
What is better to choose
Thuja and juniper look great anywhere. The main thing is to find the right place and observe the peculiarities of agricultural technology.
Conclusion
Knowing the differences between thuja and juniper, the rules for growing them, you can create a unique landscape design. Which plant to choose depends on the preferences of the owners. You should also know that beautiful topiary can be created from the plantings of thuja.
