Hedging Plants – Juniper

Name – botanically known as Juniperus communis.

Description and uses – This is a small to medium sized prickly shrub with pungent, silver-backed evergreen foliage. The male and female flowers are insignificant and borne on separate plants. Green berries form in autumn and remain green for an entire year before turning deep blue covered by a 'bloom' the following autumn. Each berry contains three to six triangular, hard, black seeds, which are dispersed by birds which eat the berries. Juniper has the largest geographic range of any woody plant in the world, occurring from western Alaska throughout Canada and northern parts of the USA, in coastal areas of Greenland, in Iceland, throughout Europe and in northern Asia and Japan, and it also occurs in North Africa. Throughout its range, juniper occurs at varying elevations, and at its southernmost extent it has been recorded at altitudes of up to 3,500 metres. Because of its dense cover of prickly needles, juniper provides a good nesting site for birds

Maintenance and problems – People have had a long association with juniper, through the use of the oil obtained from its berries for flavouring gin. It can be trimmed at any time of year and is disease resistant. Spider mites can be harmful to Juniper - young mites are greenish white while older mites are reddish brown and very small. They can be killed with insecticides or washed from plants with insecticidal soap. Thin branches to encourage air circulation which discourages mite infestation.

Hedging juniper photograph by cogdogblog, used under a creative commons attribution licence

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