When & How to Prune a Spreading (Pfitzer) Juniper

Another blog topic that came to mind today is when and how to prune a spreading Juniper (known as a phitzer).  Now as I am typing this it is a hot August evening which is certainly the wrong time of year to be pruning Junipers.  Junipers push out new growth in Spring and Fall and slow right down in the heat of Summer.  This means that late Winter or early Spring are your best times for pruning, when Junipers are dormant.  The thing to note is that the average spreading juniper will reach about 6' in height and 8' wide (and growing!)  So take heed when you're eyeing that cute 'lil baby Juniper in the nursery!  READ THE PLANT TAG and make sure you know how big it's going to get before you plant it in that perfect little spot in the garden!

A sample of a nicely-maintained spreading Juniper (this is how it should look!)

Of course in a perfect world said Juniper would have been planted in a location where it could grow as free as can be, showing off its beautiful, natural form and requiring hardly any maintenance at all aside from removing any dead, dying, damaged or diseased branches.  However, if you're like me, you are looking at a plant that was planted 20 or more years ago by someone else, and has now become a monster and outgrown its allotted space.

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE SHOULD YOU EVER TAKE A HEDGETRIMMER TO A SPREADING JUNIPER!!!!!!

 

I cannot stress this point enough!! This is the result of taking a hedge trimmer to a spreading Juniper - ICK! 
(Picture was 'borrowed' from ArboRX)

 

Junipers can be maintained at a certain height and spread through regular pruning.  However unlike some woody shrubs, Junipers do not produce new buds on old wood.  This means that they do not respond well to hard pruning and as such there may be cases where it might be esthetically better to remove an old plant than to try and cut it back to size after years of neglect.

 

This is a sample of trying to correctively-prune a spreading juniper to size years too late.  The plant will not 'green up' in those bare spots as Junipers do not produce new growth on old wood.  In this case the plant owner might want to opt to rip the plant out and start over.    This picture was 'borrowed' from the Colorado State University Extension

 

 HOW TO PRUNE A SPREADING JUNIPER

 

Before I begin I just want to state that I am trying to use as many of my own photos as possible.  Please let me know how they rate for inform ability.  As mentioned, I am by no means a great photographer so I welcome any hints/tips/feedback.  OK, so without further ado...

Here is our specimen, outgrowing its space.  In this case there is actually a curb beneath that green growth and as it is in a traffic circle the plant will need to be brought back to the curb.

As discussed August is NOT the right time to be pruning a Juniper but I'm giving a little demo for the sake of this blog.  :)  So I have lifted up one of the Juniper 'fins' (branches) and what I am doing here is allowing it to lie flat on the palm of my hand while using my thumb to find the "Y" junction - if you were to look closely at a juniper branch you would see that two branches move off to opposite sides and the growth continues out from the centre of this junction.  I want to snip the growth that continues on from the junction.

So here I am snipping off that straight growth that comes from the "Y" junction.  What I like to do is prune in such a way that the cut mark faces downward - this hides the pruning.

So here is the pruned piece.  If you look closely you can see that the prune cut from the removed piece is facing up.  The matching piece on the plant is facing downward, hiding the prune cut.

Here is the end result.  Same branch with a piece pruned off and no one the wiser.  If this where the right time of year I would continue on with the branches that were overhanging the curb, selectively hand pruning for size.  This process should be repeated annually.

That's it in a nutshell.  Please let me know if you found this blog informative (or not!)  I really welcome your feedback!!

 

 Found a nice informative website on the topic of pruning Junipers:  http://www.onlinegardener.com/care/Junipers,%20pruning.pdf