Uses of Junipers in the Landscape

What do you think when someone mentions junipers? At first you might tend to have negative thoughts, but junipers deserve their spot in landscapes, due to their different shapes and sizes. Junipers have numerous uses in landscapes, like groundcover, hedges, windbreaks, topiaries, and foundation plantings. Junipers are evergreen and part of the conifer family, but produce berries instead of cones. Junipers are heat and drought tolerant once established, and tolerate poor soil conditions. Junipers perform best in full sun, but can tolerate shade. Also, junipers do not like wet locations and prefer well-drained soil. Depending on the species, juniper planting zones range from two to nine.

Upright Junipers vs. Arborvitae (Reviews)

Upright conifers have many uses, from hedges and screens to specimen plants.  Upright Juniper and Arborvitae can both be used for the same purposes.  Are they actually the same genus?  Which should you plant?  Let’s compare them. 

For decades the Yew (Taxus x media ‘Densiformis’) was considered one of the staple plants used in the landscape. It served as a good, solid evergreen shrub, providing color all year long and it was basically maintenance free.  As long as the plant had good drainage there really wasn’t much that affected it.  No bugs, no diseases…..no brainer. 

Along comes the boxwood, the new “hottie” on the market that has been gaining in popularity over the past 10 years or so.  Homeowners became tired of the old look and began searching for something new and Boxwood sure fit the bill.  Having a lot of the same attributes as the Yew in regards to low maintenance and year round color, Boxwoods have become the new staple evergreen for the landscape. 

So which plant is better……Yew or Boxwood? Here's the plant information you need to know.

Why Plant Evergreens?

Flowering shrubs are trending right now as gardeners are crazy for color. There are many attributes that make flowering shrubs such a popular choice in the garden. From pretty bloom color to fragrant flowers and outstanding fall color, flowering shrubs seem to have it all, right?  Not so fast.  What about the cold, dreary days of winter?  Where are the flowering shrubs then?  We must not forget how important evergreens are in the landscape.  Every plant has a purpose and evergreens are no exception. In fact they can be quite exceptional by filling some very important needs in the landscape.  Take a look at the top three reasons you should plant evergreens.