Juniper Growing Guides, Tips, and Information | Gardener's Path (2024)

Pruning an upright juniper is about supporting the plant’s natural shape. It’s not about trying to turn a squat shrub into a tall tree, but gently highlighting what’s already there. You’ll need a few tools, the right technique, and an idea of when to start cutting. Learn how to prune an upright juniper in this guide.

Skyrocket junipers are stately, low-maintenance evergreens that draw your eye to the heavens. It’s no wonder they’ve earned a place in many gardens as specimen plantings or windbreaks. They’re popular as living fences or as sentinels lining pathways. Learn how to grow these evergreens in this guide. Read more now.

For a plant as tough as the strongest warrior, check out ‘Spartan,’ a Chinese juniper cultivar with a columnar growth habit. It’s perfect as a windbreak, specimen, or living fence. We’ll explain how to plant, grow, and care for this stately shrub, from finding the right place in the garden to caring for it as it grows.

Chinese junipers come in a variety of colors, sizes, and shapes, which means they can easily suit many different situations. You can grow these classic shrubs as gorgeous bonsai trees, stately garden specimens, maintenance-free hedges, dense privacy screens, container topiaries, and more. Read our growing guide now.

Rocky Mountain junipers are adapted to the harsh, changing, and rough conditions of the Rockies. They can cling to rocky cliffs, hunker down in sand dunes, or survive a long freeze. That adaptability translates to tough, hardy, versatile shrubs for the home garden. This guide helps you make them thrive in your space.

For a truly carefree, evergreen ground cover, check out creeping juniper. These plants are perfect for rock gardens or xeriscaping and they come in a wide range of options, including dwarf or full-size with green, yellow, gold, or blue foliage. Learn how to choose, plant, and care for these elegant little creepers.

Juniper has been used herbally for centuries. Even King Tut had some of the berries from the trees in his tomb. Whether you want to make a wound-healing salve or some tea to ease a cold, the needles and berries have the potential to help. Not all species are useful herbally, though. This guide has what to know.

Juniper berries are the unsung heroes of the spice world. They can flavor everything from drinks to savory dishes and even desserts. And they can also be used herbally, to make sourdough, and around the home. Whether you forage or purchase them, our guide will help you to make the most of the pungent fruits. Read more.

Juniper berries can be used herbally, in the kitchen, or around the home. But harvesting them requires knowing the right time and method for plucking the fruits. Additionally, you should know with certainty that the species you are harvesting is suitable for your purposes. Our guide provides the details. Read more.

Yes, juniper berries are edible. Well, most of them. Many species are not just safe to eat, they’re delicious. But some, on the other hand, can be toxic. In this guide, we’ll help you figure out which is which so you can harvest the good ones and leave the ones that are bad (for humans!) for the birds who love them.

Pruning junipers the right way takes a bit of finesse and know-how. If you do it wrong, you can end up with a sad-looking skeleton of a plant, rather than a robust shrub that adds to your garden. You need to know when, how, and which branches to prune if you want to keep your plant healthy and looking good. Read more.

‘Blue Star’ junipers practically glow in the garden with their bright, steely blue foliage. Add to that their dense, mounding growth habit and extremely tough nature, and you have a plant that adds heaps of year-round character to your yard without much fuss. Get to know this happy accident and how to care for it.

Hardy, reliable, and surprisingly multi-purpose, juniper shrubs are garden staples for a reason. They can stand up to brutal environmental conditions like drought and heat while providing food, medicine, and alluring visual impact. Learn how to grow this outstanding plant in your garden in this guide. Read more now.