How to Plant, Grow, and Care for Rocky Mountain Juniper

Few bushes work effectively in each wild landscapes and residential yards! Rocky Mountain juniper is the exception. It’s robust and resilient, but it’s additionally ornamental and lovely. Its scaly leaves, brown-red bark, and blue berries make a press release within the entrance yard.

Not solely is that this juniper an awesome low-maintenance alternative for the gardener, but it surely’s additionally an outstanding tree for wildlife. It gives habitat house for roaming mammals and bugs, and it feeds hungry birds with its berries and seeds. 

When selecting junipers for the panorama, it’s greatest to pick out a species that originates from close by. The Rocky Mountain juniper is a good alternative for dry gardens within the western U.S. Take into account different junipers should you stay in states with excessive humidity ranges and moist soils.

What Is It?

Rocky Mountain juniper is a long-lived evergreen tree that slowly grows taller and wider because it matures. It’s an iconic native species that grows effectively with out further care, irrigation, or pruning. Although it’s low-maintenance, it prefers to develop in excessive elevations close to mountainous areas. 

Native Space

Rocky Mountain junipers are native to British Columbia and Alberta, the western U.S., and northern Mexico. As their identify suggests, they fill high-elevation areas all through the Rocky Mountains. They love gritty, gravelly soils that drain freely.

This juniper’s vary overlaps with the western and customary junipers, Juniperus occidentalis and J. communis. It resembles the western juniper, as each have blue berries, scaly foliage, and brown-red bark. In its native vary, it tolerates salt spray, dry climate, and air air pollution. 

Traits

This native tree of the Rockies has a couple of distinguishing traits. You may inform it other than others by its top, stature, and rising habits. This species reaches between 30 and 40 ft tall in maturity, with a slim to medium-sized unfold. 

Bushes within the solar develop into pyramidal, triangular shapes which are extremely decorative and extremely fascinating. They have an inclination to have a single trunk. The extra shade the bushes obtain, the much less pyramidal they’ll develop. Shaded junipers develop lengthy sprays with skinny branches, and so they are likely to type multi-trunk bushes.

Off the branches sprout small, male cones in spring that dump pollen onto receptive feminine cones. The fertilized cones morph into blue berries throughout the rising season. They’re technically gentle cones, not berries, regardless of their look. Because the false berries fall to the bottom, the seeds inside might sprout into new juniper seedlings.

Planting

Whether or not you’re shopping for bushes from a nursery or planting seeds your self, the planting course of is a vital step for the longer term well being of your Rocky Mountain junipers. Give your junipers what they want and so they’ll reward you with lush progress, ridged bark, and lovely blue berries.

Rising from Seed

Although it’s a difficult course of, it’s not inconceivable to develop a juniper crop from seeds. Begin by discovering a respected supply for seeds. Collect them your self from close by specimens, or look on-line for a specialty retailer. They’re generally out there within the West, the place the species naturally grows. 

Juniper seeds gained’t germinate of their first 12 months. They comply with a pure course of that permits them to sprout the next spring. They sometimes keep on the tree and fall off within the second spring, after which they readily germinate within the soil.

You have got two choices right here. Acquire juniper berries which have sat on the tree for a 12 months already, or gather recent ones. It’s simpler to sow one-year-old seeds than recent ones. Plant the one-year-old seeds in pots or the bottom, water them effectively, and anticipate them to sprout.

Should you’re sowing recent juniper seeds, you’ll wish to plant them outside this spring. Maintain them moist, not soggy, and allow them to overwinter outside. You’ll see seedlings sprout the next spring as days lengthen and heat after winter. 

Transplanting

Transplanting is a simple course of you probably have the precise instruments. Collect a spade or shovel and a few mulch. Compost is a good mulch to make use of, although leaf mildew, straw, or fallen leaves work effectively too. Should you’d wish to stake your tree, additionally put together stakes or helps and place them close by. 

Begin the method by making ready a gap for planting. Select an open web site with full solar or partial shade, and keep away from planting it close to different massive bushes and shrubs. Utilizing your shovel or spade, dig a gap as deep and twice as broad because the rootball. 

Place your tree’s rootball inside the outlet, and add stakes now should you plan on staking your Rocky Mountain juniper. Backfill the outlet with the backyard’s native soil till it reaches floor degree. Water the tree effectively, then add extra soil if the bottom sinks low. 

Then, add a mulch, like compost, on high of the soil. Place a layer two to 3 inches thick, and go away some house between the trunk and the mulch. The compost will feed, insulate, and defend your juniper’s roots whereas they set up within the planting gap. 

Methods to Develop

Give a Rocky Mountain juniper what it wants, and it’ll ask for little else! It might want some care in its first 12 months, although it’ll be hardy and drought-tolerant within the years thereafter. Give your juniper numerous solar, well-drained soil, and common airflow to assist it survive and thrive within the panorama. 

Mild

These mountain dwellers favor full solar or partial shade to develop effectively. How a lot gentle they obtain influences their mature dimension and form. These rising below full solar will probably be broad and pyramidal, whereas these in partial shade can have many trunks with barely weeping branches. 

An excessive amount of shade is detrimental to junipers. Keep away from rising this tree in websites with fewer than three to 4 hours of each day direct daylight. The extra solar the juniper receives, the higher it would develop. You wish to emulate their native vary on mountainsides, the place they’re uncovered to many hours of piercing daylight. 

Water

Rocky Mountain junipers don’t want that a lot water to outlive. They’ll battle in moist websites, as they like a dry soil tradition. Chances are you’ll not must water them in any respect throughout the rising season! They’ll develop in moist or dry situations with little to no further irrigation.

Some winter moisture is frequent the place these bushes develop. They tolerate some winter rain and snow, although they battle with ice. Their branches will break below the burden and stress of enormous quantities of ice. 

Soil

Nicely-drained soil is the perfect sort for this species. It tolerates a variety of soils, so long as they’re free-draining. Sandy, dry soils are very best, although junipers adapt effectively to a variety of backyard soils.

Should you discover indicators of pooling or sogginess within the floor, contemplate transplanting the Rocky Mountain juniper to a brand new, dry location. Sogginess is a number one killer of those mountain-dwelling junipers. 

Fertilizing

You don’t must fertilize this juniper species if it’s rising within the floor. In-ground specimens not often want further vitamins, and so they thrive in poor soils. 

Potted juniper bushes are a unique story. They could want some fertilizer throughout the rising season to proceed rising effectively. Apply an everyday dose of well-balanced natural fertilizer as soon as within the spring as new progress sprouts. 

Upkeep

These juniper bushes require little upkeep to thrive. They’ll retain their decrease branches should you allow them to! For a typical tree form, it’s possible you’ll wish to prune these decrease branches off once they’re younger. This frees up the decrease parts of the trunk.

Except for pruning the decrease branches, it’s possible you’ll must take away useless or broken limbs after winter. Winter storms could cause injury, and eradicating the broken components will make room for recent new progress. 

Propagation

There are two foremost means for propagating Rocky Mountain junipers: taking cuttings and sowing seeds. Cuttings replicate the unique plant to make new clones. Seeds are sluggish to develop, however planting them is a enjoyable solution to discover new, disease-resistant varieties. 

Take Cuttings

Take cuttings from wholesome branches throughout the rising season. Choose 4 to six-inch parts and prune them off the primary limbs. Strip the cuttings of their decrease leaves, then place them in pots with recent potting soil. 

Juniper cuttings take weeks to months to sprout roots. Maintain them below dappled daylight or partial shade whereas they root, and guarantee their soil stays moist, however not soggy. 

Check the cuttings by evenly tugging them. In the event that they resist, they probably have roots forming below the soil. Allow them to develop new shoots and roots till they’re sturdy and prepared for planting. Then, transplant them within the spring or fall. 

Save Seeds

Juniper seeds reside inside berry-like cones. To avoid wasting them, you’ll must extract them from the berries and retailer them in a cool, darkish, and dry location. Begin by sourcing blue berries from an area Rocky Mountain juniper, or discover them out there on-line. 

Not like different seeds which are straightforward to gather, juniper seeds are tough to course of. You’ll must separate the seeds from the berries with a blender! Put the berries contained in the blender with numerous heat water, then pulse them on a low pace. After pulsing, take away the floating particles and pressure the seeds that sink to the underside.

The seeds should be sticky with resin after the primary mixing interval. To wash them, pulse them once more with loads of heat water and some drops of detergent. Pressure the seeds once more, then allow them to dry on a paper towel or fabric rag.

Retailer the dry seeds in a container, then put the container in a cool, darkish, and dry location. Pantries, closets, and fridges work effectively. 

Common Varieties

Rocky Mountain juniper is likely one of the extra broadly used bushes of the genus. Plant breeders and collectors have found dozens of sorts with varied habits. Discover cultivars that carry out as shrubs, bushes, and even as groundcovers! The chances are countless. 

Blue Arrow

‘Blue Arrow’ is a slim, columnar cultivar that tops out at between 12 and 15 ft. It’s good for tight areas or for making a residing wall to separate property traces. This selection additionally grows effectively in containers. Plant two on reverse sides of a walkway for a dramatic impact.

Alongside its columnar behavior, ‘Blue Arrow’ options blue-green foliage that’s putting in gardens. Pair it with inexperienced vegetation to make it stand out, or develop it with different bluish bushes just like the Colorado blue spruce. 

Moonglow

‘Moonglow’ is one other upright cultivar that’s much less slim than ‘Blue Arrow’. It options sweeping branches and a columnar, pyramidal form. The scaly, evergreen foliage has a silver-blue hue that shines below direct daylight. 

‘Moonglow’ works effectively as a specimen within the panorama. Plant it in a foremost point of interest of the yard with a tree effectively, then develop shade-tolerant perennials beneath its branches. 

Wichita Blue

Should you just like the dwarf Alberta spruce, you’ll love the ‘Wichita Blue’ juniper. It grows right into a compact, conical form. It options whitish, blue-silver leaves that type upright sprays. 

‘Wichita Blue’ tends to remain between 10 and 15 ft tall, although it may possibly develop as much as 30 ft when mature. Give it loads of room to develop, or selectively prune it to maintain it small. 

Frequent Issues

These bushes have a tendency to not have main points with pests and ailments, although you may even see some spotty leaves or feeding bugs whereas they develop. Use a three-step method to fight pests: monitor, forestall, and intervene. 

Pests

You may even see aphids, scale, webworms, bagworms, spider mites, and wooden borers in your tree. The easiest way to stop them is to keep up a wholesome tree. Add mulch to the soil a couple of instances a 12 months to feed the soil, and keep away from overwatering your Rocky Mountain juniper. 

If pests do happen, strive spraying them off with a hose each day till they disappear. The easiest way to battle a pest is to focus on it particularly. First, determine the pest, then discover potential therapies and prevention strategies to battle the pesky creatures. 

Ailments

You may even see indicators of twig blight and cedar-apple rust in your juniper. Twig blight causes stem dieback, whereas cedar-apple rust grows alien-like orange constructions on contaminated branches. Prune affected branches, and monitor to make sure the illness hasn’t unfold elsewhere.