Hobby gardeners have taken juniper to their hearts because it is an excellent design element for a creative garden. As an evergreen conifer, in the form of a hedge, it serves as a privacy screen and wind protection and brings variety to the appearance as a natural screen. Freezing frost impresses the juniper just as little as the brooding heat, and neither does the environmental pollution in cities bother it. The purple juniper berries have been used in many ways for centuries in the art of healing, in the kitchen and as juniper schnapps invigorate the senses. Juniper is therefore a gift from Mother Nature that should not be missing in any garden, because its modest requirements in terms of planting, care and cutting do not pose any significant obstacles even to beginners among amateur gardeners.
Table of Contents
plant
The juniper plants are mostly offered as bale or container goods. As a solitary plant, they create a multifaceted appearance with neighboring plants such as wild roses, carnations, gorse or heather. Basically, they get along with all plants that can be found in the private garden. By the way, the best time to plant the juniper is late autumn. Then the roots have enough time to grow in the ground before winter comes. There is nothing to be said against planting in April, in which case it is necessary to water a little more extensively and more often in the first time when the weather is dry. The preferred location of the conifers is sunny to partially shaded. In terms of soil quality, the juniper is quite frugal. It can be sandy, loamy, slightly damp, dry and even slightly calcareous.
Planting takes place in the following steps:
- At the chosen location, a planting hole is dug that is about twice as large as the root ball.
- The plant is placed in a bucket of water until no more air bubbles rise.
- The excavated material is mixed with good garden compost or fresh peat and a dose of horn shavings and distributed around the plant. Manure is not suitable because it attacks the young roots. It should be noted that the juniper is not planted deeper than in the tree nursery or in the container. Trample the soil and then water everything well. If the gardener plans to allow a hedge to flourish at this point, the planting distance is usually 70 cm to 100 cm. Depending on the variety, the distance can vary and should be checked when purchasing.
Once the cypress plant is in the ground, it needs plenty of water until winter to grow well.
maintenance
The frugal juniper doesn’t need much maintenance:
- Water young plants regularly.
- For older junipers, the natural amount of rain is sufficient.
- Only give water directly to the roots in extremely dry conditions.
- Work compost into the soil for fertilization every 4 weeks.
- Alternatively, use special juniper fertilizers.
- Check regularly for pests and diseases.
By the way, the juniper is also suitable for cultivation as a bonsai due to its pruning tolerance. In this case, the experts strongly advise against using the special juniper fertilizer from specialist shops.
To cut
A substantial part of the care of a juniper is the correct cutting, which sometimes represents an unexpected challenge for the hobby gardener. This measure should be carried out at least once a year so that the juniper remains strong, lush and healthy. Protective clothing consisting of:
- Gardening gloves,
- long-sleeved top,
- long pants,
- Safety goggles,
because the prickly needles can cause unpleasant injuries. So well shielded, you can tackle the work with sharp secateurs or a saw. The best time of year to prune the juniper is either in the spring before it sprouts or in the fall. In the first step, all dead branches – including those inside the juniper – are completely removed. No stump should be left standing because it dies and thus offers a target for pests and diseases. Once all brown, dead parts of the plant have been removed, pruning can begin. If the green shoots are cut, they will sprout again more and more. On the other hand, no new shoots will emerge from the dead wood. The ideal points of intersection for pruning are in the forks of the branches.
Ideal wood for topiary cutting
In addition to the boxwood, the juniper is the perfect wood for a creative topiary that causes a sensation in every hobby garden. The art of creating a green sculpture from a juniper with the help of special cutting techniques, by the way, looks back on a tradition that is thousands of years old. From the simple spherical shape to the creative spiral or animal shape, there are no limits to the imagination. What had to be achieved completely freehand in earlier years is now possible even for the inexperienced hobby gardener thanks to prefabricated wire templates.
All conceivable shapes such as rabbits, ducks, turtles and many more are available in the relevant specialist shops. Alternatively, you can make a suitable wire frame yourself. Those who want to shape their juniper for the first time will prefer a simple geometric template, such as a cone or a sphere.
Flower wire is stretched over the juniper plant in several arcs that are somewhat narrower than the circumference of the plant. A loop is formed with the pliers at each end of the wire, which is then hooked onto the trunk. The bent wires are fixed to one another at the top. Now the hobby gardener takes the secateurs and cuts off all the shoots up to 1 cm above the template in a first pass. It is important to note that the cut is always from top to bottom. This requirement has two advantages: The gardener always has an overview of the resulting shape and the clippings do not fall on parts of the plant that have already been cut. In the last step of the shape cut, a small pair of scissors, e.g. B. rose shears for fine work. An uncomplicated shape can be finished in one day with a little skill. Creative and artistic forms can take years to complete.
Juniper berries
The juniper berries have been used as a remedy, spice or ingredient for various schnapps specialties since ancient times. In order to be able to harvest them in your own garden, female and male juniper plants are first required on site so that pollination occurs and the berries can grow.
The juniper plants can be visually distinguished by their flower shape. The male juniper bushes develop flowers whose stamens stand together. Three seed buds standing next to each other can be seen on the female flowers. Already in the first year berry-like cones develop, but they are still green and inedible. Depending on the climatic conditions, from the second or third year the berries are blue-violet, fleshy, juicy and can finally be harvested in late autumn.
So that the harvest is not connected with painful lacerations from the sharp needles, simply spread a film under the juniper and shake the berries from the branches with a stick. Once the juniper berries have been cleaned of branches and needles, they are dried and then stored airtight. The knowledgeable housewife will know how to use them as a spice for hearty dishes and game dishes. However, the juniper berries should only be consumed in very small quantities, because they contain slightly toxic components that can lead to stomach upset and skin irritation.
Popular varieties
Some of the most popular juniper varieties for the hobby garden are presented below:
Common Juniper – Juniperus communis
- widespread in Germany
- Growth height up to 12 m
- brings a rich harvest of juniper berries
- produces very sharp needles
Blue Carpet
- blue creeping juniper
- beautiful pillow-shaped ground cover
- Growth height up to 40 cm
- does not produce berries
Blue Arrow
- blue rocket juniper
- columnar growth up to 6 m
- for a Mediterranean flair in the garden
- hardy to -20 ° Celsius
Old Gold
- yellow splendid juniper
- arching branches
- yellow needle color even in winter
- Growth height up to 2 m
- hardy to -30 ° Celsius
Blue Star
- blue dwarf juniper
- Growth height up to 80 cm
- ideal for rock gardens and graves
- decorative container plant
- perfect candidate for topiary
- hardy to -26 ° Celsius
Irish
- Irish columnar juniper
- Height 3 m to 4 m
- popular bird nesting place
- Needles don’t prick
- ideal as a privacy hedge
Glauca
- blue carpet juniper
- distinctive ground cover
- Height of growth 30 cm
- Spread 200 cm
Meyeri
- noble blue cedar juniper
- silver-blue needles, purple in winter
- Growth height up to 4 m
- hardy to -26 ° Celsius
Blue Chip
- attractive carpet juniper
- shallow creeping ground cover
- Height of growth 40 cm
- silver-blue needles
- hardy to -26 ° Celsius
Mint Julep
- green shrub juniper
- broad, bushy habit
- wonderful garden decoration
- compact and dense
- ideal for topiary
- undemanding and resilient
- hardy to -26 ° Celsius
Plumosa Aurea
- the best yellow dwarf juniper
- golden yellow, densely growing needles
- Growth height up to 200 cm
- does not tolerate blazing sun
- bronze-yellow eye-catcher in winter
- hardy to -20 ° Celsius
Diseases and pests
Although the juniper is largely resistant to diseases and pests due to its robustness, the pear grate stubbornly uses it as an intermediate host. This fungal disease actually targets pear trees, but cannot survive without a winter host. The juniper ranks first on the popularity scale of the harmful fungus. From mid-April to mid-May, orange-colored, gelatinous spore masses form, which are then carried by the wind to the pear trees, covering distances of up to 500 meters.
So far, two different control methods that work on a biological basis have proven themselves. With the first approach, the resistance of the juniper is strengthened by well-dosed fertilization with good garden compost, so that the harmful fungus does not even settle on the wood. In addition, a mixture of 1 kilogram of field horsetail and 10 liters of water has proven its worth, which initially lasts for a day and then should boil gently for 30 minutes. After the broth has been cooled and sieved, it is used on the juniper plants for several days in a row.
If you still see orange spots in spring, you should cut off these branches and burn them. In the event that neighboring hobby gardeners also cultivate juniper or pear trees, you should carry out the control operations in a consolidated manner, which strengthens the neighborhood community and makes life difficult for the pear grate.
Conclusion
The juniper from the cypress family is not only extremely robust, resilient and frugal, but also a real quick-change artist. Sometimes it appears as a proud pillar that stretches towards the sky, then again as a magnificent bush or decorative ground cover. It is not for nothing that the juniper has already been honored as ‘Tree of the Year’, because in addition to its multifaceted manifestations, the common juniper provides an abundance of purple, fleshy berries from the age of two, which season many dishes, develop healing powers or the senses in high-percentage schnapps pamper. Planting and caring for it are pretty straightforward. Cutting, on the other hand, is a bit more demanding for the hobby gardener and can have painful consequences if there is no protection. However, if you take some important information about cutting into account,
