Rocky Mountain Juniper                ju-NIP-er-us skop-u-LO-rum

• Conifer, evergreen, tree, 30-40 ft (9-12 m) high, narrow, pyramidal, often with several main stems. Leaves scale-like, tightly appressed, dark or light bluish green.
• Sun.  Can withstand drought.  Used in bonsai.
• Hardy USDA Zone 3      Found on dry, rocky rides of the eastern Rocky Mountains from Alberta to Texas, westward to British Columbia and eastern Oregon (in the Wallowas).
• Many cultivars, both upright and low growing forms, including:
  •  Blue Creeper^TM   (‘Monam’, PP 5084)  -  low growing, mounding to 2 ft (0.6 m) high, spreads 6-8 ft (1.8-2.4 m), blue foliage intensifies its coloring in winter.
  • ‘Cologreen’  -  upright and narrow, 20 × 6 ft (6 × 1.6 m), foliage always green.
  • ‘Gray Gleam’  -  slow growing, dense, columnar, finally to 15 × 6 ft (4.6 × 1.8 m), silver-gray foliage.
  • ‘Medora’  -  narrow, columnar, dense, 10-15 ft × 5 ft (3-4.5 × 1.5 m), bluish-green foliage, male.
  • ‘Pathfinder’  -  broad, open, pyramidal, to 15-20 ft (4.5-6 m) tall, bluish-green even in winter, foliage in flat sprays.
  • ‘Skyrocket’  -  very narrow spire, to 25 ft (7.5 m), only 2-3 ft (0.6-0.9 m) wide, blue-gray foliage; male.  Some specimens are not slender, possibly because of growing conditions or propagation method (Jacobson, 1996).
  • ‘Tabletop’   (syn. Table Top Blue)  -  low growing, flat topped, to 6 ft (1.8 m) high, 12 ft (3.7 m) wide, silver-blue foliage, female.
  • ‘Tolleson's Blue Weeping’  -  weeping form, drooping branchlets with bluish foliage, 20 × 10 ft (3 × 6 m).
  • ‘Tolleson's Green Weeping’  -  similar to the above, but foliage is dark green.
  • ‘Wichita Blue’  -  broad, pyramidal, irregular loose habit, 18 × 6-8 ft (5.5 × 1.8-2.4 m), bright blue foliage, male.
• scopulorum: growing on cliffs.
• Oregon State Univ. campus: east of the Seed Lab on Campus Way.