Common Juniper
Juniperus communis (CUPRESSACEAE)
Planting and Growing Common Juniper
You’ll find everything you need to know to plant and grow common juniper in the accompanying table’s tabs:
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- Flowers, foliage, cones, and seeds of common juniper
- Growing conditions for common juniper
- When and where to plant common juniper
- How to plant common juniper
- How to shape, prune and control growth of common juniper
- Watering, fertilizing, and care of common juniper
- Landscape uses of common juniper
- Pest and disease control for common juniper
Growing Common Juniper
Many cultivars of very diverse, medium- to slow-growing, erect, prostrate, or spreading, dense, coniferous, evergreen shrubs and small trees, 2–35 ft. (0.6–11 m) tall, depending on cultivar, with shiny, green needles that mature to scaly, cedarlike foliage.
Junipers are available in various cultivars with columnar, ground-cover, shrub, and tree forms and growth habits. [See also: Juniper trees.]
Common Juniper Planting and Care Guide
Flowering and Cones
Male, catkinlike, yellow cones and female, aromatic, pulpy, berrylike, blue or black cones appear in spring, ripening in autumn.
Best Climates
U.S.D.A. Plant Hardiness Zones 2–9. Very hardy.
Soil Type and Fertility
Damp to dry, well-drained loam. Fertility: Average. 5.5–8.0 pH.
Where and How to Plant
Full sun to partial shade. Spacing varies by cultivar.
Proper Care
Easy. Keep damp; allow soil surface to dry between waterings until established. Fertilize annually in spring. Prune only to shape new growth. Propagate by cuttings, grafting, seed.
About This Species
Good choice for accents, borders, edgings, ground covers, hedges, screens in formal, small-space, woodland gardens. Aphid, borer, spider mite and juniper blight susceptible.