In households and parks there is always a place for landscape design, where masters realize the wishes of customers. The blue prickly spruce cultivar Erich Fram (Picea pungens Erih Frahm) is perfect for filling the terrain and private areas. This tree is described in this article.
Grade description
This tree grows in 10 years no more than 3 meters, with a crown diameter of up to 1.5 meters. In the future, with the help of trimming and the formation of the crown, you can leave it in this growth. Pyramidal (conical) shape, clearly defined.
The needles are silver-blue, thick, short, very sharp, which is where the word “prickly” came from in the name of the tree. Branches grow from the ground itself, forming dense arrays. The top is elongated, raised up and fluffy from the thick needles.
Use in landscape design
In the design of parks and gardens, such a spruce is used both as a lonely standing tree (the so-called "tapeworm", which in Latin means "lonely"), and as part of park compositions, which are grouped based on the contrast of the height and shade of the needles of spruce trees or foliage of other trees.
Important! When planting fir trees, Erich Fram near preschool institutions, it is necessary to arrange a fence so that children, unknowingly, are not injured by sharp needles
It looks good in the composition of prefabricated plantings of herbaceous and shrubby plants in such places:
- park areas;
- memorial places;
- hospital green areas;
- lawns near theaters;
- schools and kindergartens.
Landing
Landing can be divided into three stages:
- soil preparation;
- seedling selection;
- disembarkation of spruce.
Did you know? Cones on spruce begin to grow from the age of 10. But under inappropriate growth conditions, the first cones may appear 50 years after planting.
Soil preparation
The choice of landing site is not limited to creating a future composition and the role of spruce ate in it. First of all, it is necessary to choose and prepare the soil in which the tree will be comfortable, and it will delight with its appearance. A seedling of a stunted tree will not grow normally in nutrient soil, so its branches will tend upwards and will not form a regular pyramidal crown.
Before planting, the nutrient soil is acidified with ammonium sulfate, ammonium chloride or ammonium nitrate. This should be done carefully to create slightly acidic soil.
You can go a more radical way and bring to the site a large amount of soil from coniferous forest. In this case, both seedlings and adult plants will feel in their element and will please with good growth and regular forms.
It is also necessary to take care of the removal of excess water after irrigation or rain. Drainage can be made from fragments of brick, rubble or vermiculite. The layer must be at least 20 cm.
Did you know? The main root of the spruce dies by the age of 15, and the secondary roots diverge shallow from the soil surface, so these trees often fall in hurricane winds.
Seedling Selection
A healthy spruce, which will grow into a strong plant, is visible even at the initial stage of growth. Saplings need to choose medium height, with the makings of the right crown, quite thick. Choose a tree only with a closed root system - in a container with soil. This will prevent the roots from drying out.
Step-by-step instruction
Blue prickly spruce is most beautiful in sunlight, so you should choose light areas for it. In the shade, the needles fade and become inconspicuous.
Important! Do not place the seedling too deep, as its root system does not like a lot of deepening and is poorly developed.
The landing sequence is as follows:
- At the chosen place, the soil needs to be cleaned of weeds and dig a hole more than the volume of the container with seedlings. Usually this is a diameter of about 80 cm and a depth of 80 cm.
- Lay drainage at the bottom - broken brick, medium gravel, vermiculite.
- Carefully remove the seedling from the container, pour part of the earth from the tank into the drainage.
- Install the Christmas tree in the pit so that the root neck is at a depth of 3-5 cm from the surface of the pit.
- To fill up with soil from the container and park or forest land.
- Tamp to prevent air from entering the roots.
- Water abundantly.
Care
Caring for this plant is a great pleasure for gardeners and landscapers. Prickly spruce does not require fertilizers. Even more - they are harmful to her, as a large tree with a shapeless crown and a thick trunk can grow from a small park pyramidal Christmas tree.
The plant is very fond of moisture, so you need to water it daily. Young Christmas trees are watered in portions of 5–6 times during the day, 1–2 l, and adults — once in 10 l. It will also be useful to spray needles, washing off dust and cobwebs.
The plant tolerates well as sanitary pruning (removal of old and thickening branches), and the formation of a crown. The crown can be kept pyramidal and pinching or twisting branches from the mother. With a gentle movement, the twig turns to the side and continues to grow in the right direction.The first few years, the young Christmas tree needs to be helped to survive the snowy winter. To do this, for the period of frost and snowfall, the branches are tied to the trunk. Also in the cold, you can cover the spruce with a cotton cloth.
Spruce Erich Fram will decorate any landscape composition. With proper planting and love care, this plant will delight the owners of the estate or park visitors for many decades.
