There are two juniper trees native to Colorado, Juniperus monosperma (One-seed Juniper) and Juniperus scopulorum (Rocky Mountain Juniper.) Perennial Favorites Nursery is located where the ranges of the two overlap. Here’s a picture of One-seed, growing about half a mile from us.
One-seed Juniper does not grow in Northern Colorado, and its range is more limited than the Rocky Mountain Juniper. It confines itself to the desert Southwest, and is incredibly drought tolerant.
Here’s a map of where it grows in the states. I copied this picture from the U.S.D.A. Natural Resources site–a great site for anyone interested in native plants of the U.S.
And this map shows where it grows in Colorado:
El Paso county is the northernmost county where One-seed grows wild.
This is a picture of Rocky Mountain Juniper, growing here at the nursery (with me and Xander!)
You can see some of the differences between the two trees. Rocky Mountain Juniper is a dark green, almost purple in the winter. The One-seed is a brighter green–the two together are nice contrasts for each other. Juniperus monosperma has a different shape, too, often growing sort of flat topped, without a central leader, as you see in the first picture. J. scopulorum and J. monosperma both grow within a few miles of us and we have seen forms nearby that look like natural hybrids.
This time of year, when a little green is a nice thing to have in our brown and white landscape, you might think about adding a juniper to your own yard next spring. Once established they need no irrigation. They provide berries for the birds, and shelter, too. I look out the kitchen window at the juniper growing here and see it full of finches and chickadees, and dusted with snow, and think it’s prettier than any Christmas tree.
The junipers grow faster than many evergreens, another nice feature. They have often been used as screens and windbreaks for that very reason.
