Sea Green Juniper

We all love color in our gardens, but let’s not forget that green is a color too, and one whose ability to create moods of calm and security is well-known. It is the greens in our gardens that make it a space of tranquility, so when choosing shrubs to decorate your garden with, don’t ignore green, or your garden is in danger of being too stimulating and restless – not at all what we step outside for. It makes sense to keep our larger plants in shades of tranquil green, saving the golds and blues for accents and specimens. Dark greens with just a hint of blue are among the richest of all, and for that, nothing can beat the beautiful Sea Green Juniper. Rising in layers of arching branches, it has a graceful form that is also calming – gaze at it in your garden and you can feel the calm spreading though your body. It grows to around 6 feet tall and wide, so it is perfect anywhere you want a larger plant around your home or out in the garden. It needs virtually no care – a calming thought in itself – so use it freely to fill your beds with its simple beauty.

Growing the Sea Green Juniper

Size and Appearance

The Sea Green Juniper is an evergreen shrub that in about 10 years will be 4 to 6 feet tall, and 6 to 8 feet wide. Don’t be misled by a young plant, which will be low and spreading. It will add height after just a few years, and develop into a substantial bush, that could eventually reach 8 feet tall and 10 feet or more in width. Allow plenty of room for its growth when choosing a planting spot. It grows with layers of arching, semi-horizontal branches, creating a fountain or vase-like appearance, with foliage to the ground. Only on very old bushes, or if you prune it to reveal them, will the stems, with their attractive reddish-brown, peeling bark, be visible. Older stems turn pewter gray.

Juniper bushes have two kinds of leaves – small triangular pointed ones that grow out from the stems, called juvenile leaves, and flat, scale-like ones that cling to the stems tightly, called adult leaves. The Sea Green Juniper has both types, with more juvenile-type leaves on the lower parts. This gives the plant a softer, more bushy look than we see in other junipers that only have scale-like leaves. The color of the foliage is dark green, with bluish overtones, but still distinctly green, and this is a very attractive shade for giving weight and substance to your planting arrangements.

Using the Sea Green Juniper in Your Garden

Although it may take a little time to build the height, this juniper is an excellent choice for foundation planting around your home, where its fine, softer texture contrasts well with bushes that have broader leaves. Use it out in beds as a background shrub, or plant it on slopes, or in rocky areas, where it will look very effective. Some junipers are best left untrimmed, but the Sea Green Juniper works well either way, and it can be successfully trimmed into hedges and more formal, neater shapes.

Hardiness

The Sea Green Juniper is very hardy, thriving in zone 4, and growing in all the warmer zones too, all the way into zone 9. It grows well in arid regions as well.

Sun Exposure and Soil Conditions

Full sun is the best location for this plant, as shade will produce weaker, more open growth. The soil should be well-drained, but beyond that anything goes. Sandy soils, gravels, rocky and shallow soil – all these are acceptable, and so are urban soils and areas of new construction. Regular garden soil and even heavier clay soils are also fine, if they are not wet. If you have heavy soil, choose a sloping or higher location, to give the drainage needed.

Maintenance and Pruning

Once it is established the Sea Green Juniper is drought resistant and tough. It normally has no pests, and if you avoid wet areas it should have no diseases either. Deer leave it alone, so it needs no care, and it definitely falls into the ‘very low maintenance’ category.

It can be trimmed into a broad hedge or rounded form, and also trained into poodle and pom-pom forms, where it will develop good dense foliage. Trim as needed, from spring to fall, or at any time in hotter zones.

History and Origin of the Sea Green Juniper

The origin of the Sea Green Juniper is a bit of a mystery. It is normally considered to be a form of the Pfitzer juniper, Juniperus x pfitzeriana. That plant is a hybrid between two other junipers, the Chinese juniper, Juniperus chinensis, and the savin juniper, Juniperus sabina. Although a hybrid, it is a natural one, and not man-made. It was found growing wild in Inner Mongolia in the 19th century and in the 1890s identified and named at the Späth Arboretum, in Berlin. Other experts think it could be a form of the Chinese juniper, or even a different hybrid, as it is more upright than other forms of the Pfitzer juniper. It appeared in nurseries in the 1990s, but where it came from is something that has been lost. Still, whatever its origins, ‘Sea Green’ is a valuable garden plant that gardeners around the world enjoy.

Buying the Sea Green Juniper at The Tree Center

The Sea Green Juniper is certainly a valuable plant in any garden, and our clients think so too, as we quickly sell out of it. Order yours now, while we still have plants available, and settle back for some relaxed and calm gardening.