Juniper: A multipurpose evergreen for your landscape

While Juniper is hardly the sexiest genus in the plant world, it is undeniably a diverse genus with a large number of plants that fill utilitarian roles in many landscapes. Not all plants need to be the star of the show. Landscapes, like teams, need role players.

Need a ground cover?  How about one of the many Juniperus horizontalis cultivars? The most popular of these, ‘Blue Rug’ juniper, is a dense creeping evergreen shrub with bluish-green tinted foliage. ‘Blue Rug’ may only grow 4-6 inches or so above ground, but each plant will grow 6-8’ wide in time, if not larger. It’s a great option for slopes or erosion control, or simply to cover areas beneath larger shrubs or small trees. It is a slow grower, however, so if you’re looking for a plant that can establish quicker, you may wish to try ‘Bar Harbor,’ which will grow about a foot high and is not quite as dense, or ‘Plumosa,’ which grows 18 inches high by 5 feet wide. ‘Plumosa’ needles have a slightly more grayish cast, and turn purplish during the cold months of winter.

Top left: Blue Rug’ juniper is a dense creeping evergreen shrub with bluish-

green tinted foliage. It makes up for its low height by growing six to eight feet wide. Photo: F.D. Richards, CC-BY-SA 2.0. Lower left: ‘Bar Harbor’ needles. ‘Bar Harbor’ grows about a foot high. Photo: J. Hollinger, CC BY 2.0 Right: The Eastern red cedar, Juniperus virginiana, is a native tree that can be used as a privacy screen. Photo: N.A. Tonelli, CC BY 2.0.

Maybe you don’t need a groundcover, but you are looking for a medium to large tree to establish a screen. Many people use arborvitae or Leyland cypress, but since there are some pest concerns with each of these plants, you want to try a native alternative. Enter Eastern red cedar, Juniperus virginiana. While not entirely pest-free, this upright pyramidal-shaped evergreen tree is averse to some of the bigger issues facing the other screen trees mentioned, though with a similar size and appearance, making it a suitable alternative in some scenarios. Similar to many of the groundcover junipers mentioned above, its needles are more of a blue-green or gray-green than a true green.

What about an accent plant in a shrub border? The Chinese junipers, Juniperus chinensis, come in all shapes and sizes, but many of the most widely available cultivars are small to medium-sized shrubs with off-color foliage. For example, both ‘Parsons’ and ‘Angelica’ have bluish-green foliage, while ‘Gold Star,’ ‘Old Gold,’ and ‘Saybrook Gold’ are golden-yellow. Using plants of these hues in combination with more typical green foliage, or with other off colors like burgundy or purple, can create some striking visual combinations in the landscape.

Regardless of which juniper you may need to fill a niche role in your landscape, they more than likely will share a few common characteristics. The first is an affinity for soils that are average moisture or drier – they don’t like to be wet. Most will grow best and express their color optimally in full sun. Many produce what is often referred to as a berry, but botanically is more accurately a cone. Cones from some junipers are used as seasoning, or to make beverages, including gin. Plant foliage, though frequently prickly to the touch, is often pleasantly aromatic.

Matthew Stevens is the horticulture extension agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have any questions about this article or other aspects of your home gardening, please contact the Pitt County Master Gardener Infoline at 252-902-1705.