Junipers have almost unlimited landscape uses because they have so many colors and forms to provide accents and structure. Whether trees or shrubs they make excellent screens, groupings, or specimens. Narrow columnar Junipers trees substitute nicely for elegant Italian Cypresses that do not grow well in cold climates. There foundation shrubs, rock garden plants, prickly hedges and windbreaks. Low-growing types control erosion when planted on hillsides and draped over walls. Spring flowering bulbs show up very nicely surrounded by a carpet of green, silver or blue-green Junipers which then cover their unsightly withering foliage. Because they can handle dry, relatively poor soil, Junipers are also useful for filling in bare spots where nothing else grows. They combine well with barberry shrubs which accept the same conditions.
Using Junipers in Containers - Small, young Juniper shrubs will grow in any kind of traditional plant container such as a tub or large clay pot, on a deck or patio. Many with distinctive forms or foliage are grown in pots for sale in nurseries as patio trees. San Jose Chinese Juniper is particularly good for bonsai training. If you plant a Juniper in your own container, be sure to fill it with good quality soilless potting mix rather than garden soil. This mix is lighter, drains better, and is sterile so that most soil-borne disease problems can be avoided. Because it lacks soil and its nutrients, add some all-purpose slow-acting granular fertilizer to it when you plant.
Value To Songbirds
Eastern Red Cedar produces blue berrylike cones that attract at least 54 species of songbirds throughout the country; including mockingbird and catbird. This tree is also a nest site for many species of songbird.
