Juniper 'Blue Star'
Juniperus squamata 'Blue Star' ·
A slow, low mound of steel-blue needles that holds its colour all year. It needs full sun and good drainage and never needs pruning.
- Size
- 24 in tall, 3 ft wide
- Zones
- 4 to 8
- Light
- Full sun
- Flowers
- Grown for its leaves
- Pets
- No toxicity recorded
- Job in a bed
- Specimen
A bed built around juniper 'Blue Star'
The planner designed this bed around juniper 'Blue Star' when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) English border in zone 6, full sun. It chose the other plants from the 715 that suit those conditions and its dry soil, and says below why juniper 'Blue Star' stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Juniper 'Blue Star' × 1, blue-green leaves
- 2 Cottage pinks × 11, pink
- 3 Leadwort × 13, blue
- 4 Brown-eyed Susan × 5, yellow
- 5 Hyssop 'Blue Boa' × 5, purple
- 6 Ornamental onion 'Purple Sensation' × 2, purple
- 7 Greigii tulip × 5, red
Why this plant
- The only plant grown for its leaves. Leaf lasts all season, where a flower lasts a few weeks.
- The bed's only structure. Shrubs and grasses keep their shape when the perennials die down, and it is the only one here.
Why here
- In the middle. At 24 in it is seen over cottage pinks (12 in) in front of it.
- One plant, alone. A shrub is seen as an object, and needs clear ground around it.
Why now
- Here for its leaves, all year. They cover the 16 weeks between early March and late November when nothing on the plan is in flower.
- One of two evergreens. They are what the bed has to show from November to March.
Planned as an English border: 7 of the 7 groups (100%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. The bed is balanced: the left half carries 52% of the visual weight and the right half 48%. The front edge is finished with cottage pinks and leadwort.
The planner's own design check: 11 Excellent, 6 Good. It flags one thing to watch: Nothing on this plan is highly poisonous or an aggressive spreader.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
Where juniper 'Blue Star' goes in a border
At 24 in it belongs at the front of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is medium short (18 to 24 in).
Its job: specimen. A feature plant with a shape of its own. It stands alone with room around it, and repeats only at a distance.
A small blue evergreen mound that gives the front of a bed something to look at in winter. Its steel-blue goes well with burgundy and silver foliage and with pink flowers.
- A low evergreen for the front of a dry, sunny bed
- Rock and gravel gardens
- Blue foliage as year-round contrast
What to plant with juniper 'Blue Star'
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Sedum 'Dragon's Blood': adds the flowers, late June to early August; low enough (4 in) to stand in front of it; happy in the same dry soil.
- English lavender 'Hidcote': adds the flowers, late June to late July; spires rising out of its mound; happy in the same dry soil.
- Blue fescue: low enough (10 in) to stand in front of it; happy in the same dry soil.
Questions about juniper 'Blue Star'
Does juniper 'Blue Star' need sun or shade?
Juniper 'Blue Star' grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day).
It wants dry, sharply drained soil, of average fertility, and little watering once settled.
What zones does juniper 'Blue Star' grow in?
USDA zones 4 to 8. It is hardy to zone 4, which means it survives winter nights down to about −20 °F (−29 °C).
Above zone 8 it struggles: the zones measure winter cold, but a plant's top zone usually means the summers are too hot or the winters too mild for it to rest.
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
How far apart should juniper 'Blue Star' be planted?
3 ft (90 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is about its full width, so each plant keeps its own outline.
It grows 24 in (60 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many juniper 'Blue Star' plants do I need?
At 3 ft apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 1 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 4 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 4 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as one, with clear ground around it: a feature plant is seen as an object, and a group of them is a thicket.
In the bed above, the planner used one in one group.
Is juniper 'Blue Star' poisonous to dogs and cats?
No toxicity is recorded for dogs, cats, horses or people, according to NC State Extension.
"Not toxic" is not "edible": a pet that eats a lot of any plant can be sick.
Is there a native plant like juniper 'Blue Star'?
Juniper 'Blue Star' is not native to North America. These North American natives come closest to doing its job:
- Dwarf balsam fir: the same job in a bed; belongs in the middle, not at the front, 6 in narrower.
- Globe arborvitae 'Danica': the same job in a bed; belongs in the middle, not at the front, 12 in narrower.
- Soapweed yucca: the same job in a bed; belongs in the middle, not at the front, 8 in taller.
Matched the way the planner's Swap button matches plants: the same job in a bed, then size, then flowering time.
What does juniper 'Blue Star' look like in winter?
Juniper 'Blue Star' keeps its blue-green and silver leaves all winter, so it is one of the plants that hold a bed together from November to March, when the perennials have gone.
More Juniperus
- Creeping juniper 'Blue Chip' Juniperus horizontalis 'Blue Chip'
- Creeping juniper 'Blue Rug' Juniperus horizontalis 'Wiltonii'
- Creeping juniper 'Mother Lode' Juniperus horizontalis 'Mother Lode'
- Japanese garden juniper Juniperus procumbens 'Nana'
- Juniper 'Blue Arrow' Juniperus scopulorum 'Blue Arrow'
- Juniper 'Gold Cone' Juniperus communis 'Gold Cone'
- Juniper 'Grey Owl' Juniperus virginiana 'Grey Owl'
- Juniper 'Old Gold' Juniperus x pfitzeriana 'Old Gold'
- Juniper 'Sea Green' Juniperus chinensis 'Sea Green'
- Juniper 'Skyrocket' Juniperus scopulorum 'Skyrocket'
- Shore juniper 'Blue Pacific' Juniperus conferta 'Blue Pacific'
In these guides
Every fact on record
- Type
- Shrub
- Size
- 24 in (60 cm) tall, 3 ft (90 cm) wide
- Plant
- 3 ft (90 cm) apart
- Height class
- Medium short (18 to 24 in)
- Place in the bed
- Front
- Flowers
- None: grown for its foliage
- Leaves
- Fine texture, evergreen; blue-green, silver
- Shape
- Mounding, clumping
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 4 to 8
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil
- Average, dry and sharply drained
- Water
- Low
- Feeding
- None needed
Checked against NC State Extension. Flowering times are for zone 5: later in colder zones, earlier in warmer ones. Toxicity and spread information is a general gardening guide, not veterinary or medical advice, and invasive status varies by region. If a person or pet eats a plant, contact poison control or a vet. Check your local invasive species list before planting anything with a spread warning.