Pruning Won’t Benefit Juniper Directly – But It Can Help Maintain Its Shape Or Training
Elizabeth is a Permaculture Garden Designer, Sustainability Consultant and Professional Writer, working as an advocate for positive change. She graduated from the University of St. Andrews with an MA in English and Philosophy and obtained a Diploma in Applied Permaculture Design from the Permaculture Association.
Reviewed By ROY NICOL
Roy is a Professional Gardener and Horticultural Consultant, specialising in large garden year-round maintenance and garden development. He is an RHS Master of Horticulture and uses his research in the application of no-dig methods in ornamental garden settings. Roy has been a Professional Gardener for more than six years and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Horticulture, Professional Gardener's Guild and Association of Professional Landscapers (Professional Gardener).
Juniper can be a dependable choice for many UK gardens and there are a plethora of options when it comes to size, shape and form.
There are junipers to grow as trees, some that can remain taller shrubs and others with prostrate form.
Junipers are generally low-maintenance plants when placed in the right location.
And even when it comes to maintenance jobs like pruning, less is more.
Do You Need To Prune Juniper?
There is debate as to whether or not this is a job that we need to undertake at all.
In many cases, pruning is important because it helps the plants that we grow by keeping them in optimal health.
However, with juniper, pruning will not benefit the plant itself.
These are shrubs or trees that naturally form a well-shaped framework of branches and they do not need pruning to grow well.
What’s more, they grow slowly, so pruning can set them back unnecessarily.
That said, while we do not need to prune juniper, sometimes we may choose to do so to maintain a certain shape, train it into topiary forms or for aesthetic reasons.
When To Prune Juniper
If you do decide to prune a juniper, the best time to do so is in the early spring, after the coldest weather and before tender new growth emerges.
Remember, pruning is typically not needed at all, but when you do wish to prune for aesthetic reasons, this is typically the time at which it will have the least impact on your plant.
Avoid Cutting Away Too Much Growth
If you do decide to prune juniper because you are shaping some topiary or wish to keep your juniper in check, the process is simple.
Be circumspect and keep in mind that the fewer cuts you make, the better.
The key thing to remember when pruning juniper is that new growth will not emerge from older wood where there are no needles at all, so do not prune back beyond the point where needles form on the green tips of branches unless you are removing an entire branch.
You can remove entire branches for aesthetic effect and should also remove any dead or damaged branches which have no needles on at all, since, as mentioned above, these will not produce new growth.
Use a pair of secateurs to remove individual portions of the juniper, rather than giving it an all-over shearing.
Don’t take too much from the plant and never prune out more than a quarter in a given year or it will not recover.
Remember, junipers are shapely and slow-growing, so even when you do decide to prune and form a juniper into a specific shape, you should be very careful about where you cut and how much material you take.
