Junipers are star stunners in Pacific Northwest gardens. There are yellow, blue, and green-tinged cultivars of all sizes and shapes. They just like the cool, moist climate that’s widespread within the northwestern states.
Junipers excel in different areas, too. This cultivar, the blue star juniper, is ideal in cool, temperate climates from USDA hardiness zones 4 by way of 8. I see it in every single place all through Oregon gardens, in Portland, Eugene, and Salem.
This juniper’s excellent traits are its low, mounding behavior, the blue foliage, and its evergreen nature. It’s simple to take care of and drought-tolerant. The range fares nicely regardless of many backyard challenges, making it good for areas the place different crops fail to thrive, and a superb pairing with different juniper species.
Blue Star Juniper Overview
What Is It?
This juniper is an evergreen conifer with a dwarf behavior. It’s a cultivar of a bigger species, the singleseed juniper. It grows nicely in rock gardens and areas with poor soil, good for a variety of yards throughout the U.S.
Native Space
You received’t discover blue star juniper rising within the wild, because it doesn’t develop from seeds. It’s a cultivated juniper that growers and gardeners propagate with cuttings. The guardian species is the singleseed juniper, Juniperus squamata, and it’s native to components of Afghanistan, the Himalayas, western China, and Taiwan.
The guardian species grows in mountainous areas at excessive altitudes. It’ll kind a unfastened shrub or a small tree, relying on its rising circumstances. It’s hardly ever grown in U.S. gardens, although its many cultivars are widespread.
This selection is identified botanically as Juniperus squamata ‘Blue Star,’ although it generally goes by the title blue star juniper. It’s possible you’ll use each when in search of the plant on-line or at nurseries.
Traits
‘Blue Star’ has unimaginable leaves. They’re blue needles with a white tinge, they usually develop in dense clusters. Every stem has needles from its tip to its base, they usually make dense plumes once they develop en masse. Decorative blue cones that seem like berries often develop from the stems.
The shrub itself stays underneath three toes tall, and it spreads to about 4 toes large. Plant many collectively to make a lush, evergreen floor cowl. It’ll additionally work nicely as a specimen planting or a focus within the conifer backyard.
Beneath the luxurious foliage lies a woody base. The decrease stems thicken into trunks over time, whereas the outside retains the blue-white needles. It’s possible you’ll trim the guidelines in case you’d prefer to form blue star juniper, however keep away from chopping the woody stems again. They received’t regrow nicely.
Planting
Discover blue star juniper accessible at nurseries, backyard facilities, and on-line retailers. It’s extremely standard and straightforward to develop. It’s not potential to develop it from seeds, nevertheless it’s simple to develop from cuttings.
Growers take many cuttings and develop them in pots till they mature into new crops. It’s possible you’ll do the identical from a neighbor’s plant, or search for potted crops at a store.
Transplanting
Transplanting begins with preparation. It’s finest to begin the method within the fall or spring when the climate is delicate. Put together the outlet first, then put the plant inside. Begin by digging a gap as deep and twice as large because the shrub’s rootball.
Place the plant inside the outlet, then cowl its roots with soil. Guarantee all of the roots are under floor, however don’t bury the plant too low or excessive. You need the trunk of the shrub to be degree with the encircling floor of the bottom.
Water the shrub nicely after planting, then verify to see if any of the grime sinks under the floor. If it does sink, add a bit extra soil on high to cowl the outlet.
Contemporary transplants want a while to determine themselves within the backyard. They want additional take care of a couple of weeks after transplanting, then they’re drought-tolerant and cold-hardy. Preserve the soil moist, however not soggy, whereas they adapt to their new surroundings.
Find out how to Develop
Blue star juniper doesn’t want a lot to develop nicely. Give it plenty of daylight, occasional irrigation, and loads of room to unfold out. It’ll thrive for years to return!
Mild
Full solar is finest for this juniper selection. Give your shrubs six or extra hours of each day direct daylight to make sure they keep perky and vibrant. Blue star junipers are sun-loving species, they usually don’t do nicely within the shade.
Potted crops additionally want sufficient solar. Transfer them as essential to grant them sufficient mild all through the seasons. This juniper takes nicely to bonsai, making it good for container rising. Potted bonsai crops additionally want six or extra hours of direct daylight a day.
Water
This juniper is drought-tolerant, nevertheless it performs finest with occasional watering all through the rising season. Pure rainfall helps in spring and fall, and areas with out plenty of rain may have extra irrigation than moist ones.
Overwatering is extra harmful than underwatering. You wish to let the soil dry utterly earlier than watering once more. Wait till the highest few inches are dry, then apply loads of water all through the backyard beds.
Potted crops want extra moisture than these within the floor. Verify their soil together with your finger, utilizing the finger take a look at. Jab your finger beneath the floor to see if it’s moist beneath. Water nicely if it’s dry, and wait to water if it’s nonetheless moist.
Soil
Nicely-drained soil is finest for the blue star juniper. The shrub dislikes soggy, dense soils, like these with plenty of clay and silt. Amend the planting website forward of time with compost to spice up the drainage.
The juniper grows nicely in poor soils with out many vitamins. It doesn’t want a lot other than good drainage.
Potted crops are particularly reliant on good drainage to develop nicely. Use a unfastened combine, like one made for bonsai or cacti, as a substitute of dense potting soil.
Fertilizing
You shouldn’t have to fertilize blue star juniper. It has low nutrient wants, and it fares nicely in most backyard soils. As a substitute of fertilizing, preserve the plant pleased with a thick layer of mulch. Use compost, leaf mildew, or wooden chips.
Potted crops are totally different. They profit from a small dose of fertilizer in spring. Use 1 / 4 dose of the advisable quantity on the bundle, and water it in nicely to keep away from burning the leaves.
Upkeep
It is a low-maintenance juniper. It requires little, if any, pruning, and it stays quick and slim. Be sure to need it to develop the place you’re planting it, then let it flourish.
Some winter injury could occur to the leaves after a particularly frigid season. Merely trim the lifeless leaves off in spring and wait for brand new progress to sprout.
Propagation
It’s not possible to develop blue star juniper from seeds, however it’s simple to propagate it with cuttings and air layering. Use whichever methodology works finest for you and your backyard.
Cuttings
The easy solution to propagate blue star juniper is with cuttings. Lower stems have the potential to root in pots and develop into new crops. Give them the proper therapy to develop potted crops prepared for transplanting.
Begin by getting ready pots. Use small sq. pots, and fill them with potting soil. Then, reduce 4 to six-inch items of the stems off.
Strip the stems’ decrease halves of their foliage, then stick the stems into the pots with potting soil. Preserve the grime moist, however not soggy, and place the cuttings in partial shade whereas they root.
Juniper cuttings could take some time to develop roots. Humidity domes could trigger them to rot as a substitute of root. Preserve them moist and within the shade. You’ll begin to see new progress after a month or longer.
Air-Layering
Air-layering is an fascinating method that causes the stems to kind roots whereas they’re nonetheless connected to the shrub. It’s an effective way to propagate the variability in case you’re struggling to root cuttings.
First, discover a thick department you can sacrifice from the primary shrub. Prune among the sideshoots off the primary department, then discover a good place for roots to develop.
Utilizing a knife, peel again an inch-long portion of the bark in a round style across the stem. Roots will develop from the uncovered wooden. Wrap the uncovered portion in moist moss and potting soil, then wrap it with plastic and tape it shut.
Water the wrapped portion usually to maintain it moist and anticipate about 4 weeks. Unwrap the plastic a bit to see if roots are rising. As soon as they’re, unwrap the stem and sever the department under the roots. Plant the reduce stem wherever you’d like a brand new blue star juniper within the yard.
Standard Varieties
There are a couple of different forms of Juniperus squamata that carry out nicely within the backyard. Strive a mix of all of them for a combination of textures and colours within the decorative backyard.
Meyeri
‘Blue Star is a sport from ‘Meyeri,’ that means a gardener discovered the cultivar rising as a mutation. They took cuttings from the mutation and propagated them additional, giving rise to their reputation at present. ‘Meyeri’ grows a bit in a different way.
This selection tends to achieve about 5 toes tall and large, however it might attain 15 toes over time. It has blue-white foliage and an arm-like rising sample with jutting branches all through the shrub.
Blue Carpet
‘Blue Carpet’ is the perfect selection for gardeners in want of a floor cowl. It’s one other sport from ‘Meyeri,’ and it has blue-green foliage throughout its stems.
The prostrate stems keep underneath a foot tall, however they’ll unfold to 4 or 5 toes lengthy. Plant many ‘Blue Carpet’ crops close to one another to cowl slopes, rock partitions, and sunny spots.
Floriants
This distinctive cultivar is not like the others. ‘Floriant’ has pockets of yellow scattered all through the blue stems. It makes a variegated look that’s extremely ornamental.
‘Floriant’ is a dwarf selection. The shrub stays underneath two toes tall, and it might unfold to 2 or three toes large. It’s a superb candidate for areas in want of a focus, because the putting foliage attracts the attention in direction of its stems.
Frequent Issues
No severe pests have an effect on blue star juniper. You may even see an occasional bug or contaminated department, however they’re simply preventable and treatable.
Pests
Look ahead to aphids in spring because the climate warms. They might feed on the tender younger foliage, although they have an inclination to go away because the leaves harden and mature. Hose them off with a hose each day to stop them from multiplying.
Scales are pesky as a result of they conceal underneath protecting shells. Utilizing gloves, squish them and hose them off. Twig borers, webworms, and bagworms might also infect weak crops.
Illnesses
Root rot is the primary hazard to think about. This juniper suffers when it sits in soggy soil for lengthy intervals of time. Keep away from overwatering, and provides it correct drainage.
Twig blight could happen in spring when rainfall is frequent. Keep away from most illnesses by planting the shrub in well-drained soil.