Plant Encyclopedia

Other Names:  Colorado Redcedar

Description:

An upright, artistically pruned variety with soft textured stunning blue foliage all season long and showy blue berries, an excellent accent choice that makes an effective evergreen statement in the garden or landscape

Ornamental Features

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

Landscape Attributes

Wichita Blue Juniper (spiral) 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.

Wichita Blue Juniper (spiral) is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Vertical Accent
• General Garden Use

Planting & Growing

Wichita Blue Juniper (spiral) will grow to be about 10 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 3 feet. It has a low canopy, 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.