Junipers, and I'm referring specifically to Juniperus chinensis 'Pfitzeriana', the granddaddy of the Chinese Juniper cultivars, are one of Nature's most diabolically prickly plants. From a distance, they look like they would be soft to the touch. But Oh No! Their foliage is made up of small 'V' shaped barbs. When these die and dry, they are vicious. (Photo courtesy of the MSU Extension site.)
Well, I, for reasons I cannot today fathom, planted two sets of junipers in my West Garden about twenty years ago. And, not being a fast learner, about 7 years ago I planted a bank of them on a berm we built to screen our property from the road when we expanded our parking area.
You might ask 'Why, if you have a shady garden, did you choose a plant that really wants full sun?" Good question. Of course, when I planted them, both areas were sunny. But, I also planted other things and they grew, and the trees that were here originally grew, and now they are all in a fair amount of shade for most of the day. Actually, this cultivar will tolerate part shade, but they really don't like it.
It is amazing that they survive at all, but they do. They keep on putting out new growth on the tips of the branches, which, of course, shades out the older growth beneath. The awl shaped needles die and eventually fall off, leaving bare branches bristling with little dead side branches, criss-crossing each other and collecting leaves and debris. Besides being very untidy and unsightly, this really gets on my nerves.
These plants have had fairly regular haircuts to keep them in reasonable bounds. These are 'Compacta' and they really want to be about ten feet tall. I'd hate to see what the regular variety did! I, on the other hand, want to keep them about four feet tall. So we have yearly confrontations.
This year, I decided they needed a thorough clean out as well as a major shearing. So to battle. The shearing, with the help of my trusty electric hedge trimmer, isn't too tough. But the cleaning out of dead branches is another matter. To do this, you really have to crawl under the shrubs and work from beneath. This provides ample opportunity for all the little dry barbs to insinuate themselves in uncomfortable parts of the anatomy. Despite long sleeves, arms are scratched and pricked. They get into work gloves and end up at the finger tips - uncomfortable to say the least and the devil to get out.
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