San Jose Juniper

Follow a regular watering schedule during the first growing season to establish a deep, extensive root system. Watering can be reduced after establishment. Feed with a general purpose fertilizer before new growth begins in spring. Pruning time: summer.

Here is a very easy, low growing plant that fills a dozen uses. A super groundcover for slopes or large borders. Its beauty is revealed when trained as an Asian garden bonsai or topiary form and planted in a lovely, square ceramic pot. Ideal for cascading over the edges of raised planters or to grow around hillside rocks and boulders. Excellent in small city gardens for evergreen sculptural quality.

Create a serene Asian garden with Heavenly Bamboo, Peony, Barberry, Yoshino Cherry, Rose of Sharon and Azalea. For a topiary container planting, pair with fragrant Pink Jasmine, Gardenia and Lavender.

J. chinensis is native to northeast Asia, including China, Mongolia, Japan, Korea and parts of Russia. The Chinese have grown the species for centuries and produced a number of their own garden cultivars before the plant was "discovered" by the west. The genus Juniperus was classified in 1767, but taxonomic confusion resulted with the introduction of other forms from China that are technically the same species but more accurately subspecies and cultivars. Further cross breeding resulted in a huge array of sizes, forms and colors. The leaves of this juniper are toxic but have been used over the years in certain home remedy ointments. Foliage is repellent to lice, and oils are extracted from the plant and used in traditional insecticides.