Content
Varieties and types of spherical thuja with a photo are of interest to many gardeners, since an evergreen plant can decorate any site. Growing thuja is quite simple, but there are basic rules of care that must be followed.
General description of spherical (round) thuja
The evergreen thuja belongs to the Cypress family and is closely related to junipers, cypresses and sequoias. The common, or pyramidal, thuja is a rather tall tree, up to 40 m in height. But the round plant belongs to miniature dwarf species, so the height of the spherical thuja reaches no more than 2.5 m.
The brightest feature of the spherical thuja is the rounded shape of its crown, and the foliage begins right from the ground. As a result, the shrub looks like a large coniferous ball. The needles of a round thuja are long, up to 7 cm, and very soft at a young age, but coarse over the years. At the same time, each needle lives for about 3 years, so the crown of the thuja is constantly updated.
In the wild, round thuja grows in some areas of East Asia and North America. However, in a cultural form, shrubs can be found almost everywhere; they are highly valued in landscape design. In addition, thuja's resistance to cold allows it to be cultivated all over the world without much effort.
Varieties and types of spherical thuja
Breeders have a keen interest in the attractive and easy-to-grow thuja. Therefore, it is interesting to study the varieties of spherical thuja with a photo, they differ from each other mainly in shades of needles, crown shape and height.
Danica
The variety of spherical thuja Danica is most popular among gardeners, since it is suitable for planting in any area, the plant reaches a height of no more than 60 cm. The variety is often used to create alpine slides and rockeries.
The Danica variety is very easy to care for, as it tolerates frosts down to -40 ° C and retains the green color of the needles in winter. The needles of the variety are soft and long, the crown is very dense, requiring regular pruning.
Golden Globe
The Golden Globe variety is distinguished by a higher growth, the shrub can reach 120 cm in height.It stands out against the background of other varieties with an unusual color of needles - young thuja needles are bright golden, adults acquire a yellow-green hue, and in the fall Golden Globe becomes copper-colored. Throughout the year, the shrub looks very impressive and beautiful in the garden, especially if it is beneficial to combine it with green trees and bushes.
The variety is also distinguished by good resistance to cold - frosts up to - 35 ° С golden spherical thuja tolerates calmly. In addition, the variety can be trimmed quite rarely, since it grows very slowly.
Globoza
Globoza is one of the oldest western thuja varieties. The variety was obtained in the 19th century and immediately gained great popularity.In height, an adult thuja of the Globoza variety can reach 2 m, in width it grows to an average of 1.5 m, but the growth of the shrub is very slow, no more than 20 cm per year.
In spring and summer, the Globoza variety pleases the eye with a bright green shade of needles. In autumn, thuja turns brown or takes on a grayish tint, but still remains very decorative. The plant tolerates frosts down to -35 ° C, therefore it is suitable for growing in the northern regions.
Tinny Tim
Tinny Tim's spherical thuja belongs to miniature dwarf varieties - the maximum height for a shrub can be 1 m.And it grows so slowly that even at 10 years old, thuja can still remain only about 30 cm tall.
The crown of the variety is dense, but the needles grow quite freely. The shade of the Tinny Tim variety is light green, thuja looks very good in single plantings and in landscape compositions. The variety tolerates frosts well down to -30 ° C and below, so it feels great when planted in the Moscow region and even more severe regions of the country.
Teddy
A globular thuja called Teddy is a fairly new plant variety with a very slow growth of only about 3 cm per year. Teddy is prized by gardeners for its dense spherical crown with very small and soft needles, dark green in the warm season and brown in winter.
An adult thuja of this variety grows only up to 50 cm. The shrub looks great in rockeries and as part of alpine hills, it tolerates frost well. When caring for a thuja of the Teddy variety, you only need to monitor the shading, this variety does not like direct sunlight.
Miriam
Thuja Miriam is another recently created variety of dwarf spherical thuja with a height of up to 80 cm. Miriam's crown is round and dense, and consists of many thin needles.
In summer, Miriam is characterized by a yellow-green color, and in winter it acquires a greenish-orange hue. The variety tolerates frosts well, which explains its popularity in the northern regions. The round shrub grows slowly, so it can be freely used in miniature compositions or living borders in the garden.
Woodwardy
Thuja of the Woodwardi variety is a low variety, on average reaching about 1 m in height. It is easy to recognize the variety of spherical thuja by the ovoid and rather dense, but free structure of the crown. Woodwardi's winter hardiness is high - the shrub tolerates frosts up to -35 ° C. In summer, the needles of the plant are bright green, and with the onset of cold weather they acquire a brownish color.
The use of spherical thuja in landscape design
Mainly spherical thuja is appreciated by gardeners and summer residents for its attractive external features. On the site, the thuyu can be placed completely freely.
- Low round bushes look great in single plantings if you place them in free areas of the site.
- Also, spherical thuja is a noticeable element of conifers and mixed compositions, alpine slides and rockeries.
- Tuyu is often used in Japanese gardens because the shrub grows very slowly and reaches a small maximum height. Thuja can serve as an ideal backdrop for other decorative low-growing plants.
- Thuja is often used in mixborders and hedges. A neat geometrically correct shrub allows you to create a beautiful living frame for the entire garden or its individual parts, to divide the site into separate zones.
As you can see in the photo of spherical thuja in landscape design, most varieties of thuja retain their decorative appearance in the autumn-winter period, although they can change the shade of the needles. This feature will enliven the garden landscape even in winter and bring bright colors to it.
Benefits of growing a spherical thuja
The main advantage of the spherical shrub is quite obvious - the thuja is very beautiful and thanks to this it is highly popular.But it also has other advantages.
- Evergreen thuja with a ball perfectly tolerates severe cold winters. Some varieties are able to survive frosts down to - 40 ° С, and almost all types of spherical thuja calmly winter at - 30-35 ° С. This gives gardeners the opportunity to grow shrubs not only in the south and in the middle lane, but even in Siberia and the Far East.
- Thuja demonstrates high resistance to high humidity and shading. The shrub can be grown in regions with little sun and frequent rainfall. If you choose the right place for the plant and take good care of it, the thuja will develop correctly and without problems.
- The globular shrub is very easy to trim. The correct crown shape in thuja is formed by careful selection - the gardener is only required to maintain the decorative effect of the plant.
Thuja shrubs emit a rather pleasant coniferous aroma - this can also be added to the list of the plant's advantages.
Breeding features
Like most plants, thuja propagates by seed, layering, bush division and cuttings. But the peculiarity is that it is the last method that brings the greatest results. Other methods do not give a guaranteed effect, and often it is not possible to grow thuja from seeds or cuttings.
- Cuttings for reproduction of thuja must be cut in early spring. For this purpose, choose the lateral shoots of the shrub, which has already begun to wood in the lower part.
- Sections of cuttings, made at an angle of about 45 degrees, are kept in a root-forming solution for a day for faster engraftment.
- At the same time, the soil is prepared for the cuttings, thuja loves loose and well-drained soils, therefore peat, vermiculite, sand and perlite should be poured into the container for it in equal shares.
- Prepared cuttings are deepened by 3 cm into the ground and watered. You need to keep the shoots at room temperature about 23 ° C, regularly ventilate and monitor the humidity level.
Another feature of thuja is that it takes root rather slowly. A seedling grown from a spring or summer cutting is recommended to be left at home until the next season. Only next spring, around mid-May, a spherical thuja is planted in a warmed-up soil, so that the shrub will have time to strengthen in the chosen place until autumn.
Planting and caring for a spherical thuja in the garden or on the site
It is not so difficult to grow a thuja in the country, since the evergreen shrub tolerates any weather conditions well. But some rules must be adhered to, they relate to both planting and the subsequent care of the thuja.
Recommended timing
The best time to plant thuja is spring - mid or late May. In the southern regions, shrubs can be planted in the fall, but such planting is rarely practiced, despite the resistance of adult plants to cold weather. The fact is that the root system of a young thuja is quite sensitive, and if the cold snap comes ahead of time, the plant may die.
Site selection and soil preparation
Spherical thuja in all its many varieties is a light-loving shrub. However, the plant is afraid of the direct sun - the sun's rays leave burns on sensitive leaves. Therefore, the place for the thuja must be selected slightly shaded, and in particular, care must be taken to keep the shading even in winter.
The plant is generally undemanding to the composition of the soil. But the thuja root system feels best in loose and nutritious soil. Before planting the plant, it is recommended to prepare the ground in advance - to dig up the site and create a soil mixture consisting of peat, sand and turf in a ratio of 1: 1: 2. Also, for better rooting of thuja in the soil, you can add a little nitrogenous fertilizers, they will contribute to the rapid engraftment of the plant.
Landing algorithm
Thuja planting occurs according to the standard algorithm. First of all, you need to prepare the seedling for moving to a new location. To do this, the plant is carefully removed from the pot along with an earthen lump and placed in water for a couple of hours so that the soil and roots are properly saturated with moisture. Another option is to water the plant abundantly right in the pot, and then pull it out along with the soil, so it will be much easier to remove it.
Planting a spherical thuja on a selected area looks like this:
- a hole is dug in the ground about twice as deep as the root system of the seedling, while the width of the hole should exceed the span of the roots by about 40 cm, the roots of the spherical thuja grow in a horizontal plane;
- the hole is half covered with prepared soil, then a spherical thuja is lowered onto it, this must be done carefully so as not to damage the roots of the plant;
- holding the seedling in an even position, the hole is covered with soil to the end, the root collar should be flush with the soil surface.
At the end of planting, the soil around the thuja needs to be tamped a little and the plant should be watered properly.
Features of growing spherical thuja
In order for the spherical thuja to grow healthy and beautiful, it must be properly looked after. Proper watering, warming for the winter and disease prevention help to preserve the decorativeness of the plant.
Watering and feeding schedule
Globular thuja is equally bad for droughts and excessive moisture. The optimal mode for the plant is slightly high humidity, which is carefully controlled by the gardener.
You need to water the spherical shrub weekly, as the soil dries up, and in just a few days you need to add at least 10 liters of water. In the summer heat and drought, watering is increased; it is recommended to pour 10 liters of moisture under the roots of the plant every couple of days. The spherical thuja signals a lack of water very noticeably, its crown turns yellow on the crown, and cones appear on the shoots.
As for fertilizing, the first 2 years after planting in the ground, it is not required to fertilize the shrub, it has enough nutrients introduced during planting. As the shrub grows, the globular thuja begins to be supplied with fertilizers twice a year - both times at the beginning of the season. It is recommended to use standard complex fertilizing; ordinary compost is also suitable for thuja.
Loosening and mulching of the soil
Since the small round thuja is afraid of both stagnation and lack of moisture, the ground near the roots of the plant must be cultivated. Loosening is carried out after each watering - this makes the soil lighter, saturates it with oxygen and prevents waterlogging. In this case, you need to be very careful and loosen only the surface layer of the soil. Thuja roots are located horizontally and can easily be damaged by careless use of garden tools.
So that moisture does not evaporate from the soil prematurely, the ground under the roots of the thuja can be mulched with a layer of about 7 cm. Any standard material is suitable for a plant - wood chips, sawdust, old needles.
How to trim with a ball
To maintain the correct spherical shape of the thuja, the gardener does not need to make much effort. Thuja does not need a strong formative pruning; it is enough to trim the shoots as the bush grows, cutting off all branches that violate the spherical shape.
- The recommended time for pruning thuja is April or early May, after a spring haircut, it will be easiest for the plant to recover safely.
- Cutting a thuja with a ball is mainly reduced to sanitary procedures - you need to remove dry and weak branches of the plant in a timely manner in order to prevent the development of diseases.
- Shoots growing in the wrong direction are also removed, and for good ventilation in the middle of the bush and for oxygen access, its central part is slightly thinned out.
Preparing for winter
All varieties of spherical thuja are highly winter-hardy and tolerate even severe frosts perfectly. True, this applies mainly to adult plants, but young shrubs need additional care.
In late autumn, shortly before the cold weather, young thuja must be covered with spruce branches, special covering materials, or thrown with fallen leaves. When the temperature drops to - 5 degrees, the shrub can be additionally wrapped in foil.
All these measures will help protect sensitive young plants from freezing and also prevent the breakage of thuja branches under the weight of snow. At the same time, with the onset of a thaw, the covering materials will need to be quickly removed so that excess moisture does not accumulate in the crown of the shrub - this can lead to decay.
Pests and diseases
The unpretentious and cold-resistant spherical thuja remains sensitive to the effects of pests and fungal diseases. Care violations often lead to the following problems:
- late blight, with this ailment, the roots of the thuja begin to rot, after which the rot spreads to the aerial part of the plant, and the shrub becomes gray in color, and then dies;
- brown shoots - the disease is characterized by a change in the color of the needles to brown in the spring, after which the shoots begin to die off;
- shute - with this disease, the thuja needles begin to darken, and then crumble;
- rust - the shoots of the bush are first covered with bright yellow spots, and then they also begin to die off.
For the treatment of fungal diseases of spherical thuja, it must be treated with fungicidal solutions - for example, Fundazol or Bordeaux liquid. All parts of the plant affected by ailments should be removed and destroyed. The best prevention of fungal ailments is timely sanitary pruning of shrubs and adherence to the watering regime.
Of the pests, the thuja aphid is a particular danger to thuja - an insect that usually appears on the lower shoots of a shrub. Also, the speckled moth, a small insect that affects the upper shoots and provokes the death of the needles, can also harm the plant. You can protect thuja from pests with the help of insecticidal agents, for example, Karbofos.
Conclusion
Varieties and types of spherical thuja with a photo are widely represented, since there are a lot of breeding varieties of shrubs. The characteristics of frost resistance and the requirements for care for different varieties of spherical thuja are approximately the same - if you follow the basic rules of care, you can easily maintain the health and beauty of plants in your area.
