Gold Cone Juniper

When it comes to resistance to extreme cold, the common juniper is hard to beat. It shrugs off the coldest weather, and it survives unblemished even when the mercury plunges to minus 40 degrees. There aren’t the many choices of variety we see in the less-hardy Chinese juniper, but one special form really stands out. For a crisp exclamation point in your garden, combined with the power of golden foliage from spring to fall, the Gold Cone Juniper is unbeatable. This tough evergreen grows to be around 8 feet tall within 10 years, and like all evergreens, it continues to add a few inches each year throughout its life. With tight, upright foliage it stays just a foot or so wide for years, reaching no more than 2 feet across at the 10-year mark. Tight, dense and neat, it needs no clipping at all to stay that way, so this low-maintenance plant is a real winner. In spring the new growth is a lovely golden color, and that color is held all through spring and summer, and into the fall. Only in winter does it darken to a handsome blue-green, before returning to gold with the arrival of warmer weather and new growth.

Growing Gold Cone Juniper Trees

The Gold Cone Juniper is perfect as a specimen in a bed, drawing the eye, and making us stop and take in the scene. Its bright golden coloring lifts the planting, making it more attractive and interesting. Plant it as a specimen on a lawn, or in groups on a slope. It fits perfectly on rocky ground, with other tough plants like barberry, or with a collection of dwarf evergreens in their many colors. Used more formally to stand beside a doorway or entrance it is equally effective, and it is a great choice to fill a narrow space against a wall between windows or to mark the corners of a paved terrace. It also thrives in containers and planters, and if you don’t always remember to water it, it will be forgiving. Planted in a row, spaced 12 inches apart, it would make an effective screen or a hedge that needs no trimming, although this plant can certainly be trimmed with ease if you choose to. Although we can’t guarantee berries, this plant is of the type that produces edible juniper berries, used in cooking, and to give gin its distinctive taste and aroma. 

Grow the Gold Cone Juniper in full sun for the best color and densest, tightest growth. It will grow in all kinds of soil, except for wet ones. It is fantastic at growing in rocky, thin soils among boulders, thriving in poor soil of all kinds. If you have difficult spots like this to cope with, then you are looking at the right plant for them. The parent species of this plant is hardy all the way into zone 2, but with evergreens, gold-leaf forms are more prone to winter burn, so we can only recommend the Gold Cone Juniper as low as zone 3. It doesn’t thrive in areas that are hot and humid, and zones 6 or less-humid areas in zone 7 are the warmest areas it will grow well in. Still, that does cover a large part of the country, outside of the South. This tree normally has no significant pests or diseases, and deer almost always leave it completely alone. It grows well even in urban areas, and pollution doesn’t bother it at all. Combined with its ability to take drought and grow in poor soil, this is a very, very tough plant for truly difficult spots. The only care needed is to protect it from winter breakage when it snows. The simplest way to do this is to take a piece of cord and attach one end around the trunk at the base. Bring the cord up around the plant in a spiral, holding the branches in a little, and then bring it back down and tie it at a convenient point. The cord can be quickly removed in spring. If you want to trim your Gold Cone Juniper for the densest and neatest possible look, do this anytime from spring to early fall. 

History and Origins of Gold Cone Juniper Trees

The common juniper, Juniperus communis, covers an enormous area of the world, growing right around the northern hemisphere in every country. It can be found in Europe, all through Russia and into northern China. It grows throughout Canada, even above the Arctic Circle, and down at higher altitudes through the USA and into Mexico. It is a very variable plant, ranging from broad, spreading bushes to almost horizontal plants, and at the other extreme narrow pencils of foliage, like the Pencil Point Juniper, and of course this plant, the variety called ‘Gold Cone’. It originated sometime before 1980 in Germany, and it seems to be derived from a sub-group of common juniper called the Swedish juniper, known as the Suecica Group. It was first made available in 1980 by the German nursery of Heinrich Kordes, in Bilsen. Since then it has been spread to all areas where tough and cold-resistant plants are appreciated. We have a loyal client-base of evergreen lovers, and this plant is always popular, so our stock will soon be gone. Order now and enjoy trouble-free gardening with a tough and easy plant that will grow in any sunny spot.