Plant Encyclopedia

Other Names:  Colorado Redcedar

Description:

An extremely narrow, rigid tall evergreen shrub, with soft blue-green needle-like foliage all season long; use with caution, can be rather abrupt in the landscape, makes a curious, almost formal tall evergreen hedge when planted in a row

Ornamental Features

Skyrocket Juniper is a dwarf conifer which is primarily valued in the landscape for its rigidly columnar form. It has attractive powder blue evergreen foliage. The scale-like sprays of foliage are highly ornamental and remain powder blue throughout the winter. It produces silvery blue berries from late spring to late winter.

Landscape Attributes

Skyrocket Juniper is a multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with a narrowly upright and columnar growth habit. It lends an extremely fine and delicate texture to the landscape composition which can make it a great accent feature on this basis alone.

This is a relatively low maintenance shrub, and is best pruned in late winter once the threat of extreme cold has passed. Deer don't particularly care for this plant and will usually leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Skyrocket Juniper is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Vertical Accent
• General Garden Use

Planting & Growing

Skyrocket Juniper will grow to be about 15 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 24 inches. It tends to be a little leggy, with a typical clearance of 2 feet from the ground, and is suitable for planting under power lines. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 70 years or more.

This shrub should only be grown in full sunlight. It is very adaptable to both dry and moist growing conditions, but will not tolerate any standing water. It is considered to be drought-tolerant, and thus makes an ideal choice for xeriscaping or the moisture-conserving landscape. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This is a selection of a native North American species.