Juniper, a very ornamental shrub

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Juniper is a very cute little conifer, famous for its berries from which alcohol is made.

Juniper facts, a short list

Name – Juniperus communis
Family – Cupressaceae
Type – conifer

Exposure – full sun or part sun
Soil – well drained, ordinary

Foliage – evergreen     –     Flowering – spring

• Health: health benefits of juniper.

Planting juniper

Juniper is ideally planted in fall to ensure root growth and thus proper settling in in spring.

However, you can also plant in spring and water a bit more at the beginning.

Note that juniper tolerates virtually all types of soil, and behaves exactly the same whether conditions are moist or during a full-blown drought. But it does require soil that is well drained where water won’t stagnate.

• Follow our tips on how to plant juniper

Care and pruning of juniper

Caring for juniper is very easy because it requires practically no care.

Pruning isn’t really recommended, especially since much of the appeal of a juniper bush is its distinctive natural bearing, sometimes spiking up in a column, sometimes spreading along the ground.

If you must prune it to reduce or balance the branches, do it at the beginning of summer and avoid cutting too near the trunk, and prefer light pruning instead of cutting back severely.

Learn more about juniper

This is a conifer that adapts equally well to growing in the ground as it does to growing in a garden box on a terrace or balcony.

Sought after for its dense foliage and beautiful bark, juniper appeals also in that it has an extremely high tolerance to all types of soil and to pollution.

With a great many cultivars and species, there is a wide range of different shapes and leaves for you to choose from to decorate along edges, on rocky ground, to cover the ground or to garner a garden box on your terrace if possible.

Varieties of Juniper

Creeping varieties, Juniperus horizontalis, for example, grows low for ground cover:

• Bar Harbor
• Pancake
• Plumosa Compacta

Eastern Red Cedar is another family of junipers that is particularly tough:

• Burkii
• Emerald feather
• ‘Glauca’ is blue