Pines are very often used in landscape design as a bright decoration of the site. In this article, you will learn what rules must be observed when forming rockeries, alpine hills, hedges and other compositions using needles. You will also understand what types of pines are best for decoration and what should be combined with them so that the composition will please you all year round.

How are pines used in landscaping?

For a long time, summer residents have been equipping their plots with a tree such as pine. Many nurseries offer a huge selection of varieties that vary in height. Mountain pine is a bright element of landscape design.

In gardens and summer cottages, conifers perfectly complement the landscape, give vivacity, contrasting with other trees. If you plan to diversify the landscape design of your summer house, then the pine will look perfect on the background of a slope or alpine hills.

Mountain pine is simply indispensable for the design of stone gardens and slopes, as well as for the formation of hedges and fences, under conditions of neglected planting. For landscape design in the forest areas, an ordinary pine tree is used, the height of which reaches 30–40 meters. Such a variety is planted according to the scheme, depending on what you want to see on your site.

Did you know? Methuselah is the oldest pine tree in the world. It grows in the California National Reserve, and its age is about 4845 years.

Compositions with pines

For use in the landscaping of the plots of pine, you need to familiarize yourself with the varieties and planting patterns of this coniferous tree. So, compositions can be formed using hedges, alpine hills, rockeries, mixborders, flower beds.

The Pine family in height can be divided into three groups: high (over 10 m), medium (from 3 m) and low, including dwarf ones. Moreover, decorative varieties can be found in each group.

Unusual and fabulous look long, falling to the ground pine branches of Pendula and slender columns of Fastigiata, capable of growing up to 6-7 meters.

Universal varieties suitable for green fencing and for elegant border, as well as capable of strengthening the slopes of a sandy or swampy area, can be called mountain pine with all its subspecies and Cedar elfin. Today you can pick up low-growing conifers with different types of crowns and unusual shades of needles.

The thick emerald color of the Pumilio variety contrasts perfectly with the brownish needles of the dwarf pine Winter Gold. In the fall, when most flower representatives are already removed from the garden, such a composition will delight you with a game of warm colors.

And under the snow, the bluish-green crown of the Pug pine looks especially touching and elegant on the stones.

Decorative moss can emphasize the beauty of pines. If you want the pine to grow in width, you need to plant trees at a distance of about 15–20 m from each other. But if she is young and she needs to grow in height, then you can do a smaller interval.

Hedge

When choosing varieties for hedge formation, three determining factors must be taken into account: functionality, coexistence with other cultures, and general stylistics.. It is important to evaluate whether your green wall will have a purely decorative purpose or whether you expect to protect the site from the wind, to strengthen the soil.

Often resort to the use of coniferous fence and in order to prevent uninvited guests, neighbors cats, dogs, raccoons. The density of planting depends on this and whether you need tall varieties or decorative small pine trees.

We should not forget that everyone, even the tallest of pine trees, react very painfully to gases, dust and other urban pollution. Trees can hurt, turn yellow, or lose needles, distort the trunk, refuse to grow, or even die. In urban conditions, you need to carefully lay pine compositions, but it is better to find another option.

The peculiarity of the hedge consists precisely in the fact that when one of the specimens dies or is seriously ill, you have to look for a plant of the same age or wait until it grows. You should definitely consider how close to the coniferous fence other plants will be located.

Pines are peaceful and get along with any neighbors, even bulbous, but a dense green shield will grow over the years and deprive part of the territory of the sun's rays. A powerful root system can, overgrowing, injure and even squeeze out some perennials.

Important! In the first couple of years, mineral nutrition and good watering will be needed. Particular attention should be paid to weeding and loosening the soil.

For planting hedges, only seedlings grown in open nurseries are suitable. Otherwise, a uniform, slender fence you will not succeed. If you want the trees to stretch up as fast as possible and close with a wall, plant them more often, up to 2-3 seedlings per 1 m², depending on the maximum growth. Then greatly shorten them in the first year and manually permanently remove all processes.

Contrary to popular belief, you need to cut the fence more than once per season. This work should be carried out continuously: only by regularly shortening and thinning branches in the spring, you can give the plants a good shape, the ability to breathe, to get plenty of light, moisture, nutrients.

Alpine hill

By nature, conifers seem to be created to design alpine hills. Strong roots, stamina and easily formed crown give inexhaustible material for creativity. With all the variety of varieties presented, dwarf pines are leaders here. Thinking up the hill, it should be noted that, for all their unpretentiousness, conifers do not like transplants in adulthood.

Did you know? In the Kaliningrad region there is a “Drunk” or “Dancing” forest, where pines grow with curved, curved trunks twisted into loops. Denmark also has a place — "Troll Forest".

You also need to understand that the plant will grow and with any pruning will require additional space, which must be laid in the composition in advance and with a margin. Spending time and effort on thoughtful development, in the second year you will receive an interesting evergreen composition that will develop with each season, please with its unpredictability and will serve as a wonderful background for other plants.

A, B - the correct position of the stones; B - wrong; 1 - plant soil; 2 - stone; 3 - drainage.

Before choosing the silhouette of the crown that you want to get, take a look at the stones of your alpine hill. Along with sharp boulders of cold rocky shades, looser plants, for example, the Vatereri variety, will harmoniously look.

If you are a lover of smooth stones turned by water and time or strict geometry in placement, then look at those varieties whose crown is naturally prone to a spherical or conical shape - for example, Kobold mountain pine with interesting bluish needles.

It is important that the landscape metaphor was read in the slide scheme: a rocky cliff, a soft forest slope or a fabulous landscape. And already proceeding from this, stones, conifers and moss are selected, and lastly, flowering plants.

Rockery

Slow-growing pines with different types of crowns and a shade of needles are suitable for rockery. It should be borne in mind that the background must be uniform, otherwise the composition will have an untidy appearance.

In the foreground it will look great:

When creating a horizontal composition, especially avoid overloading by variety: this will prevent the plants from showing their individuality and showing the shape of the crown. You should not plant more than one tall, solo plant, which can become an accent not only of the rockery, but also of the plot as a whole.

Fill the soil around with flat creeping crops, but place spherical, ovoid and pillow-shaped crowns a little further so that the space is filled with variety.

Mixborder

In prefabricated flower beds, pines, like other conifers, have taken their place recently - this is a fresh trend, and it gives new opportunities for improvisation. But for a mixborder, only compact ones are suitable, and not on the crown, but on the structure of the trunk, varieties. Wild forms and even tall bushes are unacceptable here.

Important! The original color of the needles from early spring to late autumn may well overshadow flowering plants and draw attention to themselves. Some species have a very beautiful crown color, and other flowers may be lost in their background.

The friendliness of dwarf pines, their willingness to coexist with the colors of any root systems makes them irreplaceable accents of modern mixborders. But keep in mind that the modern color diversity of this species is here to be used with caution.

Experiments with the form are justified. You can try to use clear geometric shapes with a dense crown, which will emphasize the texture of the needles and shade the beauty of the flower petals. There is no need to refuse grassy perennials - they can also bring an interesting emphasis due to the difference in the density of green mass.

Take a closer look at the dense cushioned Winterson. All summer its needles are light green, and under the snow the bush becomes amber. Also very low, up to 1 m in height, the varieties Gnome, Laurin and Mini Pug will fit well.

Flower Arrangements

Perhaps there is no flower that would not take root next to dwarf pines. If tall ones can still interfere with photophilous plants, then undersized specimens are ideally combined with both annual and perennial plants. Even heathers, boxwoods and creeping cotoneaster can be safely planted near low conifers.

Over time, the pine tree will regain its space, so you must either leave it a place in advance or supplement the garden with flowery later, when the evergreens have reached their maximum size. An interesting combination with needles is given by rhododendrons.

Carpet types deserve special attention:

Velvet or, on the contrary, cold, juicy glades of these species can either give a special chic to your plantings, or reduce the price or smear the color palette with ill-conceived use. With all its attractiveness, pines can easily play the role of background, shade material.

They are comfortable in the background of bright original plants, even exotic ones, including:

• dwarf ferns;
• azarums;
• jeffersonia;
• dryads;
• liverworts;
• cyripediums.

As the main plant of the garden, the emphasis of the whole site or a cozy corner of the pine opens brighter and sets a unique tone to the whole landscape.

How to equip a pine forest plot

The design of the site will look richer if the plantings are supplemented with plants that combine with pine. It can be undersized conifers - spruce, fir, juniper. They grow remarkably on slightly acidic soil. It is recommended to use a composition of several species of conifers.

From among the ornamental shrubs, you can supplement the site with the following representatives:

• hydrangea;
• henomeles japanese;
• hollow magonia.

Pine goes well with flowering perennials, such as:

• May lilies of the valley;
• forest poppies;
• primrose
• liverworts;
• three-colored violets;
• jingle bells;
• lupins;
• certain types of sedums.

Did you know? Pine has powerful antiseptic properties. On 1 m³ there are 500 germs in the forest. In a big city, this figure increases to 36 thousand.

In the process of forming flower beds, it is worth remembering that it is necessary to choose plants that grow favorably in the shade. As a rule, blooming requires a large amount of sunlight. Can be used for landscaping and decorative deciduous plantings.

The host is the most popular among designers, there are about ten of its varieties. The color of the leaves varies from silver blue to bright green. Fern, host and annuals look especially effective in compositions.

Fern tends to grow rapidly throughout the site, so it is necessary to protect these places with foil when planting. This plant can achieve incredible beauty only in places with constant shade and moisture. For design, you can use stones on which moss grows, and thus further protect the fern.

Pine Care

In order for the crown of the plant to look attractive and not to lose shape over time, it needs special care. It consists in timely pruning, fertilizing and protection from the negative effects of the environment, in particular, pests.

Pine ordinary and decorative are not among the unpretentious. The growth of coniferous plants must be monitored, otherwise the hedge will not grow the desired shape or even die due to improper care.

So, regular weeding must be observed. Do this preferably with your hands, completely removing weeds. If you use a chopper, there is a chance of damage to the stem of the plant, which can lead to its death.

Also do not use coarse metal structures and supports to form a beautiful crown: they interfere with the normal development of needles and can provoke diseases. It is better to use more ductile material for this.

Shaping and trimming

Pruning is carried out in early June or in August. This is necessary to improve the appearance of needles and normalize air circulation between the branches, which is important to prevent damage to the hedge. It is better to use special garden scissors for pruning, because brush cutters leave ragged marks.

When pruning, remove dried and yellowed branches. To set the branches in the correct direction of growth, you can use a netting net. In mid-spring, you need to pinch young shoots. This is necessary to slow down the coniferous plant, which in the first 10-15 years adds from 5 to 40 cm in growth.

Important! The branches of the plant must be pulled 4-5 times during the summer with wire. Such manipulation will protect the trunks of neighboring trees, and pine branches will not leave scars on them.

Watering and feeding

Watering is necessary as the soil dries. As for the hot period of time, the interval for this procedure is every two days. The pine tree loves sprinkling: it needs to be carried out in the afternoon. Do not forget about this in the cold periods of the year.

Land for conifers should not be too fertilized. Do not use mixtures with a large amount of magnesium sulfate.

Top dressing for decorative pine should contain:

• phosphorus;
• potassium;
• iron;
• magnesium.

These substances will provide fast growth and rich color. It is best to feed the plant in the middle of spring or autumn annually.

Disease and Pest Prevention

In order for the hedge not to die due to pests or diseases, it is necessary:

1. Inspect plants regularly. At the first sign of damage, measures should be taken to treat, trim or stop.
2. Timely make top dressing.
3. Remove dried or damaged branches.
4. After planting young seedlings, spray them with fungicide.

These measures will prevent the appearance of pests and increase the overall immunity of pines.

Advantages and disadvantages of pine on the site

• It is necessary to highlight the main advantages of this tree growing on your site:
• The pine tree has a beautiful crown, the shape of the trunk and various shades of needles, which undoubtedly sets it apart and makes landscape design special.
• It is unpretentious to soil fertility. Even peat sour, heavy loamy, sandy, sandy loam and rocky are suitable for planting this tree.
• Pine does not need daily watering, as a powerful root system provides moisture even during a drought. It is recommended to perform this manipulation once every two days or as the soil dries.
• Conifers, including pine, are able to secrete volatile, which have antibacterial properties. And oxygen is saturated with essential oils, which help with diseases of the upper respiratory tract and relax the nervous system.

• In addition to the positive aspects, there are some disadvantages that you should learn before planting a pine:
• The quality of the air around can play a role. Any pollution can adversely affect this tree - it doesn’t matter, it is smoke from a fire or exhaust from cars. In this case, the needles will begin to turn yellow and gradually fall off.
• It is worth remembering that the root system of the pine is very powerful, it can even violate the foundation of the building. For this reason, it is recommended to plant a tree at a distance of not less than 5 m from the house.
• Fallen needles cause oxidation in the soil; therefore, most stone fruit and pome crops do not tolerate coniferous trees in the neighborhood.

Video: How to use conifers in landscaping

Now you know how to properly care for pines and what nuances must be observed when planting them. Such a tree is perfect for decorating a garden plot, can be easily combined with different types of plants and shrubs, and is also able to fulfill the function of protecting the territory from uninvited guests.