Assortment of conifers for planting Saint Petersburg at the edge of centuries: tendencies and prospects

The article deals with the problems of assortment of conifers in Saint Petersburg's city planting. The authors consider a problem, tendencies and prospects of assortment of conifers in Saint Petersburg at the edge of centuries. The data on considerable enlargement of the conifer assortment in city planting of Saint Petersburg at the beginning of the 21st century are given, at present there are 65 taxa of 11 genera of 3 families. The majority of species and cultivars occurs singularly, by seldom or even single specimens. The changes in taxonomic content depend on different reasons, including the global warming of the climate and distribution of new diseases and pests. It is necessary to organize the continuous monitoring on the assortment of conifers used in city planting. It is also urgent to introduce and involve new and promising exotic conifers. There are few local cultivars of Russian selection, especially if we compare it with the data on adjacent countries of Western Europe. It is necessary to create the conditions for the Russian nurserymen and dendrologists would have possibility to quickly registrate their breeding cultivars adapted to the local conditions in this country. It is necessary to develop the local nursery business. The present study was carried out within the framework of the institutional research project (N 0126-2014-0021) of the Komarov Botanical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.