Thuja Globoza (Thuja occidentalis Globosa) is a dwarf variety of thuja western and is in great demand among landscape designers and gardeners.
Thuja occidentalis Globoza: globose evergreen ephedra
The Latin name Thuja goes back to ancient Greek roots and translates as “sacrifice”, “incense”. In those distant times, thuja was used in ritual burning. The bush branches exuded a pleasant coniferous aroma during combustion. The name Globosa is associated with the spherical shape of the crown of the plant.
Brief information about the species
- Colour: spherical crown of light green tone;
- Height: 1.5 m;
- Crown width: 1.5 m;
- In which regions is it growing: natural area - North America, East Asia; as a decorative culture - Europe, Russia;
- Landing features: grows in the sun and in partial shade, prefers places protected from winds, drainage is necessary when groundwater is near;
- Immunity: strong - in adult plants; disease resistant;
- Life span: 150-200 years.
Growing regions
Thuja western Globoza is not a representative of the fauna of our climatic zone. In the wild, the dwarf shrub grows only in North America and in parts of East Asia.
It was from these places that the plant was brought to Europe, where it gained immense popularity. For decorative purposes, they began to use it since 1874.
Over time, they learned about the spherical thuja in our country, they began to decorate gardens, squares and parks with it. Nowadays, dwarf shrubs are grown everywhere in European countries. This is due to the unpretentiousness of the plant, its external qualities and fairly simple agricultural technology.
Description of the plant
Thuja western Globoza is an evergreen coniferous shrub of the Cypress family. Outwardly, she looks a little like her brother - a juniper.
Sizes, depending on the variety, vary from several tens of centimeters to 1.5 m. In some cases, the maximum height reaches 2.5 m: most often this happens with specimens that were grown in the shade and stretched out due to a lack of sunlight.
The color of the crown also changes relative to the variety: from light and dark tones of green in the warm season to brownish in winter. There are also varieties with golden green and brown needles.
The plant is characterized by a slow growth rate: the annual growth is no more than 5-7 cm, it can grow for a long time in the same place, without needing a transplant.
The height of a twenty-year old ephedra is about 1.5 m. The total life expectancy reaches 150-200 years.
The needles have a decorative value (they fall off every three years and are replaced by a new one). In young specimens, it is soft and needle-like; as it grows up, it becomes hard and scaly. The scales do not prick at all, pleasant to the touch.
Thuja fruits are presented in the form of small oval or oblong cones, the seeds are flat. Fresh buds are green, ripe buds are brown. Seed pods can form on the shrub as early as the first year after planting.
The qualities due to which the evergreen plant successfully takes root in the Russian climate:
- cold resistance;
- frost resistance;
- smoke resistance;
- shade tolerance.
The culture easily tolerates the polluted and gas-polluted air of large cities, therefore it is often used for greening the urban environment.
Landing
Choosing a good seedling and the right place to plant
In order for thuja western Globoza to become a real highlight of the site, it is necessary to approach its planting with all seriousness and create optimal conditions for the successful growth and development of the shrub. First of all, you should choose a place in your garden suitable for breeding this culture, then decide on a variety and buy seedlings.
Sapling selection
The growth rate of an evergreen shrub and its future appearance directly depend on the condition in which the seedling was purchased.
It is necessary to choose high-quality and healthy planting material. A few tips for choosing:
- For a purchase, you should go to a specialized garden center or nursery. A spontaneous market is not the best solution, since it is very easy to run into low-quality material or buy the wrong variety.
- Preference should be given to instances with a closed root system. Exposed roots weaken it and increase the risk of non-viability.
- The plant should be 7-9 years old at the time of purchase - only in this case it will successfully take root and grow well. Younger people may not be accepted in a new place.
- A prerequisite is inspection of external characteristics. You need to choose a seedling with good (not damaged, without dry areas) needles. A high-quality one should be well-groomed, free from signs of diseases or traces of pests.
A few words about the cost of spherical thuja seedlings. The price directly depends on the dimensions:
- up to 50 cm - 1000-1700 rubles;
- from 1.5 m - from 7000 and above.
Ephedra can be purchased and planted both in autumn and spring. However, spring is considered the most ideal time, so they will have time to take root in a new place before the onset of frost.
Site preparation
Globoza is quite freedom-loving. She makes certain requirements for the seat.
- Space, openness, a minimum amount of green spaces.
- The presence of light. The shrub should not be in the sun all day - this can lead to burnout of the needles. Thuja grows remarkably in partial shade, but tolerates full shade very poorly (the needles grow dull, the growth rate slows down).
- A place sheltered from wind and drafts - these phenomena are detrimental to the plant.
When choosing a site for planting a seedling, they take into account not only the conditions listed above, but also carefully consider the details of the future garden composition.
Landing technology
It is necessary to prepare a place for the subsequent planting of seedlings in advance. First, the selected area should be well dug, loosened and leveled. If the soil is scarce, you can apply a little mineral fertilizer, because thuja prefers fertile soil.
The planting pit is prepared in 2 weeks.
- The size of each hole is selected taking into account the varietal characteristics of the seedling and the size of its root system. The average depth of the pit is 60-80 cm.
- If you plan to plant several plants in a row, the distance between the holes is left at least 1 m, because the roots of the thuja grow rapidly horizontally.
- The ideal soil for spherical thuja is a mixture of turf, sand and peat (2: 1: 1) - each hole is filled with it. At the same stage, you can add mineral fertilizer if the soil is poor.
- If the landing site is located close to groundwater or clay predominates in the composition, drainage is made at least 20 cm high. It can consist of gravel, expanded clay, crushed stone or chipped bricks.
Before planting, water the soil around the seedling and carefully remove it from the planting container. Then it is placed in the hole so that its root collar is on the same border with the surface. Sprinkle the plant with earth, compact the soil with your hands and water it abundantly.
Care
Caring for the spherical western thuja after planting is not very difficult. The plant is very unpretentious.
Watering
Young plants are watered once every 7 days, in dry and hot days the number of waterings is increased to 2 times a week. One shrub consumes 10 liters (bucket) of water.
The sprinkling method is also suitable for thuja, in which a special sprinkler is used.
Top dressing
Young specimens are fed only from the second year of life. Complex mineral fertilizers are used in the spring, because it is at this time of the year that the shrub enters the phase of active vegetation. The recommended dosage is 50-60 g per 1 sq. meter.
Thuja responds well to feeding with organic substances. As such, compost, humus (cow, horse, leaf) are used. Organics are laid to a depth of 10 cm.
Mulching and loosening the soil
Loosening increases the supply of oxygen to the roots and is carried out immediately after watering. They loosen the soil around young bushes very carefully, because the roots of the thuja are located close to the surface.
Mulching is also important. It eliminates excess moisture evaporation. Peat, compost or shavings are used as mulch (laid with a thickness of at least 7 cm).
Haircut and trim
Globoza responds well to pruning. No more than a third of the length is removed from the branches. The procedure is recommended in the spring:
- if the plant is solitary, do a sanitary cut: remove diseased, old and dry parts. Thinning of dense and highly overgrown branches is also possible.
- formative pruning is performed for plants in a hedge. It can be done in late spring or early summer.
The ball-shaped thuja crown provides a huge scope for decorative shaping. Skillful hands can create real masterpieces of landscape design from it.
Preparing for winter
Winter is very hard for young bushes, so in late autumn you should take care of their shelter. Spruce branches are suitable for this purpose. It is also used in the fall and instead of mulch (this will scare field mice away from plants).
You can also make a shelter with fallen leaves or special agromaterials. Additionally, young bushes are wrapped in a film when the air temperature is set at -5 ° C and below.
Adult spherical thuja are winter-hardy and can withstand even severe frosts. It is not necessary to cover them, but you should tie the branches with twine so that they do not break under the blanket of snow.
Reproduction
Growing a plant is not very easy
The culture is propagated by 2 main methods: seeds and cuttings.
The first is a laborious and lengthy process. Growing young seedlings will take 3-4 years. And its result is not always successful, since half of the plants are obtained with a columnar crown.
- Seeds are harvested from ripe fruits, the fruits are allowed to pre-lie in a dry place (about 3 days) and open.
- The seeds extracted from the cones are soaked for 12 hours and stratified by placing in a container with sand and leaving in the refrigerator until next spring.
- They are sown in the spring in open ground (the beds are prepared in advance) to a depth of no more than 0.5 cm. Then they are watered and mulched.
Seed beds should be protected from the sun. The first-year plants obtained in this way grow by 7-8 cm, by the third year of life their height will be about 50 cm. Only then are they transplanted to a permanent place.
It is much easier to propagate thuja by cuttings, in July-August.
- Cuttings are prepared first. For this, last year's lignified twigs (up to 40 cm), or the shoots of the current year (up to 20 cm) are suitable. They are plucked together with the heel so that they take root better.
- Remove the needles at the bottom, leave the branches for several hours in a solution of any root former.
- A greenhouse is prepared with an earthen mixture: sod land, peat sand (1: 1: 1). The soil is spilled with a weak solution of potassium permanganate.
- Cuttings are planted under a film to a depth of 2-3 cm.
Greenhouse plantings are regularly ventilated and provide a high level of humidity. Watering is carried out by spraying water over the ground. For the winter, the greenhouse is covered with spruce branches and agricultural materials.
Diseases and pests
Thuja Globoza is characterized by high disease resistance. Sometimes she is struck by a false shield. In this case, the plant is treated with insecticides (Aktara, Aktellik, Fufanon).
She is also prone to late blight infection. There may also be problems with the needles: yellowing and drying.
Reasons for the phenomenon:
- sunburn;
- lack of timely watering;
- improper planting in the ground with deepening of the root collar;
- root system burns due to excess fertilizer and lack of oxygen;
- damping due to the close planting of plants to each other as part of a hedge.
In case of problems with needles, the bush is sprayed with fungicides (Hom, Topaz, Abiga-Peak) and take care of it.
Use in landscape design
Globoza's spherical thuja is very fond of using in landscape design. Its beautiful crown allows you to create unique garden compositions.
Areas of application of the coniferous shrub:
- low hedges;
- small gardens and rock gardens (alpine slides);
- mixborders (mixed flower beds);
- large landscape projects.
Chic compositions can be obtained by mixing the culture with other varieties, for example:
- Globoza Aureya - a western variety with spherical golden-green needles;
- Globoza Gold is a western variety with lemon-yellow needles;
- Globoza Compact is a low-growing variety with olive-green needles;
- Aureya Nana is an oriental variety with an egg-shaped crown of light green color;
- Glauka Prostrata is a Korean thuja, a sprawling shrub with a white underside of needles.
Thuja goes well with many types of plants and is often used for landscaping terraces, roofs, loggias. Often, it is used to decorate the front entrances of various buildings, curbs and resting places.
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Gardeners reviews
Thuja owes its popularity to the beautiful rounded shape of the crown. Gardeners and landscape designers note its high decorative qualities. The shrub fits perfectly into any garden composition and becomes a decoration of the site.
One more noticeable plus of this culture is also emphasized - quite simple agricultural technology and unpretentiousness.
Young plants, of course, will require more hassle and attention. Instances of adults are absolutely not demanding. They are resistant to diseases, pests, and frosty winters. Even in the cold season, the shrub retains its aesthetics in appearance, changing only the color of the crown to darker tones.