Avant Yard: Juniper a tough-as-nails groundcover
- by Diane Rixon (RSS feed) on Jun 27th 2008 10:00AM
- Filed under gardening and plants, landscaping, Avant Yard
My mother had a juniper plant in her garden. Other conifers, too. I thought they were awful, just awful. Dull, squat and flat, the juniper just sat there year after year, seemingly unchanging. No colorful flowers. Too small and spikey for a kid to play in. Never thought I'd say what I'm about to say: now I'm a believer! In the power of juniper, that is.
Why the change of heart? Simple: I got some hands-on experience with my own gardens. Now I know how time and labor intensive gardens are. Tough-as-nails, no-maintenance plants like juniper are now beautiful in my eyes. I particularly like juniper when it's used as a groundcover, replacing high-maintenance areas of lawn.
Why you'll love juniper
Not into juniper? I believe I can convert you. Here are a few reasons you should give junipers a try...
Why the change of heart? Simple: I got some hands-on experience with my own gardens. Now I know how time and labor intensive gardens are. Tough-as-nails, no-maintenance plants like juniper are now beautiful in my eyes. I particularly like juniper when it's used as a groundcover, replacing high-maintenance areas of lawn.
Why you'll love juniper
Not into juniper? I believe I can convert you. Here are a few reasons you should give junipers a try...
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Comments [2]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-27-2008 @ 8:23PM
Bill Volk said...
Diane -- a very thorough and comprehensive article. I always have to wear gloves and a long-sleeved shirt when handling junipers, as I get a "juniper rash"; have you ever found this to be a problem?
Bill
Reply
6-27-2008 @ 9:48PM
Diane Rixon said...
Nope, but b/c I tend to get allergic reactions every now and again I play it safe and don't even step out into the garden without my gloves on. But the plants definitely touched my arms a lot and no problems there. Oh, one more thing: sometimes it takes repeated exposure to spark a reaction, so perhaps I should experiment? Roll around in it each morning and see what happens? :))