Learn to select and care for the perfect juniper

Junipers are vase-shaped shrubs that grow in an inverted triangular shape, with stems that arch up and away from a central base. They're useful for decoration and groundcover and are easy to care for as well. We'll teach you how.

• Plant tags usually include all of the information you need to make a good selection, so read them carefully.
• Many junipers exhibit a spreading habit. These plants may grow less than one metre (three feet) tall, yet spread as wide as three metres (10 feet). Their mature size can be difficult to imagine when you're looking at a small plant in a pot, but trust what the tag has to say.
• Junipers that grow less than 1.2 metres (four feet) tall and wide are top candidates for use as foundation shrubs, while larger vase-shaped junipers are best used as accent shrubs or grouped into a hedge for a sunny lawn.
• Spreading junipers can be used to flank walkways or cover gentle slopes, or stand alone as broad pools of evergreen colour in an open lawn.
• Groundcover junipers generally grow to less than 30 centimetres (12 inches) tall, but each plant may spread to three metres (10 feet) wide.
• There's a lot of variation among cultivars in foliage colour and winter hardiness, so it's wise to listen to advice from local nursery experts. Excellent vigour is important because stressed groundcover junipers may do a poor job of suppressing weeds.
• Finetextured 'Blue Pacific' shore juniper tolerates salty soil, but it suffers from cold weather north of Zone 7. By comparison, 'Bar Harbor' trades its summer green for bronze red in winter, and is hardy to Zone 2.
• Upright junipers can be sorted into two shapes: straight columnar plants, which are often very narrow and up to three metres (10 feet) tall, or symmetrical, pyramidal shapes that resemble Christmas trees. Unlike most evergreen trees though, pyramidal juniper (such as the bright green 'Hetzii Columnaris' or the gray-green 'Silver Spreader') seldom exceed 4.5 metres (15 feet) in height. This makes it easy to fit them into small landscapes.
• Columnar junipers are so narrow that they can be used at the back of a flower border or planted near the corner of a house without interfering with traffic.

• Most junipers grow for many years with no pest problems, but occasionally you may notice brown, lantern-shaped twiggy sacs hanging from stems. These are the cocoonlike dwellings of the bagworm, a caterpillar that eats juniper foliage. Remove and dispose of the bags by hand as soon as you spot them.
• Rarely, a fungal disease called twig blight causes stem tips to turn brown and die. Prune off and dispose of discoloured branches. If the problem continues, spray plants with a commercial fungicide labeled for use on junipers.
• Bright orange, plum-like growths in winter are the fruiting bodies of rust disease. Prune off and destroy them as soon as they're noticed.
• Juniper scale are tiny insects that hide and feed inside branch crevices, weakening the branches until they turn yellow. Less than 1.5 centimetres (3/4 inches) long and oval in shape, scale are usually white or light brown. Spray affected plants in late spring with a commercial garden insecticide labeled for use on juniper scale.

Use this guide to select both the right type of juniper and the perfect location for it in your garden or yard.  You can consult it again in the rare event that your plant develops pest or health problems. But otherwise? Just enjoy your juniper!