Yes, I’m starting the new year with a rant, right out of the gate! It’s about some old junipers I saw recently that have been sheared into sheer ugliness.
Another view from the sidewalk.
I wish everyone could see what old junipers could look like, if planted in the right places and pruned correctly. (Just say no to shearing!)
Here’s a very old photo of some junipers in front of my co-op’s office building, junipers that were planted too close to the entrance sidewalk and after getting even larger than they are here, were sheared to ugliness at their most prominent spot – just outside the front door. They looked just like the top photo here, only larger.
I asked rant readers what should be done with the old junipers, with most commenters recommending they all be removed. Instead, we removed just the ones too close to the sidewalk, and here’s what visitors now see as they leave via the front door – lots of black-eyed Susans (Maryland’s state flower), three ‘Ogon’ spirea, a Ninebark shrub, lots of Sedum groundcover, and the beginning of the juniper hedge.
I then removed about half the branches of the remaining junipers – the dead ones crowding the center – and look how they shaped up! I explained this type of pruning in this post.
The rest of them.
While working on this (my adopted) garden I’ve often heard compliments about the formerly sad-looking old conifers. And because they look great all winter, I think I’ll snap a photo of them for Marianne’s #whywintergarden challenge!
Here’s to hand clippers!! The electric shears are good for some plants.. but not for all!! They are faster but can damage plants and I find are annoyingly difficult to cut some branches.. I just do what I can and rest and come do more later on using my trustly hand clippers.. How much longer til spring??? And I was so looking forward to a winter’s rest.. Just am already weary of the cold.
Please share those photos Susan on IG! Those look tremendous. Cloud pruning junipers is got to be one of the best ways of showcasing these beautiful shrubs once they’ve outgrown ‘that perfect size’. – MW
Wow! I’ve always wondered what and how to prune juniper. When I gardened for others I was always grateful I was never asked to deal with that. How long did it take to get them to look so beautiful?
Oh, immediately, though it took me many sessions to do the whole job. The pruning just revealed the plant, rather than stimulating new growth, as with flowering shrubs, for example.
Cloud pruning is so great. Wish we could have a whole article about it!
I explained what I did in this post, though not calling it cloud pruning.
https://gardenrant.com/2022/07/bonsai-like-junipers-were-revealed-not-planned.html
Anyone that saves a juniper is a hero in my book, and these are beautiful. I’m confused about the cloud pruning term, though. Looks to me like you lifted the junipers, tree-forming them. Is this also cloud pruning?
I agree with your terminology. I think of cloud pruning as having sheared tops
Mature junipers have an amazing bark so when pruned up, like you did Susan, they have very attractive ankles (unlike the sheered version). Hopefully you sharing your success story will help others learn from it.
Wait, is that my apartment building? No, but here they prune the shrubs into hideous shapes and peculiar angles with the dead underlayer even more exposed. I’ve actually laughed out loud after seeing fresh pruning. There’s no persuading management to get a different landscape company that knows what it’s doing.
dont throw away the excess juniper clippings! we are drying them (they may be dead and dry already) and make and sell as cedar firestarters. we just finished following the road department as they decapitated a bunch (they werent even close to the road)
In Northern California, Junipers are a no no. They are very flammable. We had to remove all of them from our hillside.