{"id":15433,"date":"2023-08-10T06:40:43","date_gmt":"2023-08-10T06:40:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mustila.fi\/kasvit\/juniperus_scopulorum_rocky_mountain_juniper\/"},"modified":"2024-02-27T17:21:31","modified_gmt":"2024-02-27T17:21:31","slug":"juniperusscopulorum","status":"publish","type":"kasvit","link":"https:\/\/mustila.fi\/en\/plants\/juniperusscopulorum\/","title":{"rendered":"Juniperus scopulorum – Rocky Mountain juniper"},"content":{"rendered":"
Rocky Mountain juniper grows throughout the mountainous areas of western North America, mainly above 1500 metres elevation. In places it forms large thickets giving a characteristic appearance to the landscape. It can grow into an erect, pillar-shaped or conical tree to 10 metres, or an irregular round shrub with strong branching from the base.<\/p>\n

Rocky Mountain juniper has two kinds of leaves, one kind being needle-like, the other scale-like and pressing close to the branches. Their colour varies from dark blue-green to a dull grey-green. The species is usually dioecious, i.e. each individual is either male or female. The berry-like cones borne by the females are roundish, clear blue, with a surface bloom. This species is extremely long-living: a tall tree-like specimen found in New Mexico had 1888 annual rings.<\/p>\n

Rocky Mountain juniper\u2019s hardiness in Finland has not been properly tested. Those plants grown here are usually pillar-shaped or other attractive varieties, which at Mustila seem to thrive better than the wild species. The most commonly grown variety in Finland is probably \u2018Skyrocket\u2019, often named J. virginiana<\/em>. ‘Blue Arrow’, ‘Moonglow’, ‘Silver Star’, ‘Springbank’ and ‘Wichita Blue’ are other varieties planted at the Arboretum.<\/p>\n