Japanese Garden Juniper, Bonin Island Juniper, Ibuki Juniper                 ju-NIP-er-us pro-KUM-benz

• Conifer, evergreen, spreading, low growing shrub or ground cover, 20-30 inches (50-75 cm) high and 6 ft wide (1.8 m) wide, branches stiff and turned upward at the ends.  Leaves (needles) in whorls of 3, linear-lanceolate, spiny-pointed, 6-8 mm long, concave with a green midrib, otherwise bluish with 2 white spots near base.  Fruit globose, 8-9 mm thick, usually with 3 seeds.
• Sun.  Tolerant of many soils.
• Hardy to USDA Zone 4   Native to the mountains of Japan.
• A few cultivars, including:
• ‘Bonni Isles’  -  mat forming habit, similar to ‘Nana’.
• ‘Greenmound’  (‘Green Mound’) -  low mat, about 8 inches (20 cm) high, light green foliage.
• ‘Nana’  -  dwarf form develops into a compact mat with curved branches on top of others, spreading out into sprays, short needles, poplular.
• ‘Variegated’  -  blue-green foliage streaked in gold.