Junipers and cedars

Juniper

Juniperus family features over fifty species. Juniperus communis is native to the Netherlands and Belgium and produces those ripe blue-black berries which are famously used to flavour gin. Look out for the attractive cultivars such as the blue-green columnar ‘Hibernica’ and the dwarf ‘Compressa’.

Juniperus × media is a crossed variety which also offers a host of beautiful garden plants. There are lots of cultivated forms to choose from for ground-covering or growing out very flat. 

Excellent ground-covering varieties include: Juniperus communis ‘Repanda’, Juniperus horizontalis ‘Blue Chip’, ‘Hughes’, ‘Glauca’ and ‘Plumosa Compacta’, Juniperus × media ‘Mint Julep’, ‘Old Gold’, ‘Gold Coast’, Juniperus procumbens ‘Nana’, Juniperus sabina ‘Blue Danube’ and ‘Tamariscifolia’, Juniperus squamata ‘Blue Carpet’, Juniperus virginiana ‘Grey Owl’

Cedars or arbor-vitae

Thuja plicata is a very important source of wood. This species supplies the famous Western Red Cedar wood which can last a lifetime untreated, even when exposed to wind and weather. There are also quite a few cultivars of the white cedar (Thuja occidentalis) available in all sorts of shapes, colours and sizes.