Junipers are great selections to break up a brown winter landscape. Junipers are coniferous evergreen perennials that function in a landscape as backbone and foundation plantings.
In the landscape they provide structure by defining borders and beds. Junipers are especially well suited for the South Plains as they grow well in alkaline, calcareous soils and are drought tolerant. Within the 60 or more species of junipers are hundreds of varieties that differ in height, overall form and size — they may be upright trees or low growing, prostrate shrubs.
Foliage of juniper is a combination of two types of leaves called scales and awls: Scales lay flat against the stem and awls are short and pointed. Both are prickly, and skin rashes may develop when touched.
Junipers are members of the cedar family, Cupressaceae, and many are dioecious, where male and female individuals are separate.
Blossoms of the males release prolific amounts of heavy yellow pollen in the spring, prompting allergic reactions. Since junipers are in the cedar family, individuals that have allergies to cedar will also suffer from the pollen produced by junipers. Female plants produce flowers that are tiny clusters of scales. After pollination the female fruits swell into berry-like cones.
The fruit botanically are cones but, unlike pinecones that are dry and open, the fleshy and fused closed scales of juniper resemble berries, thus the reason fruit of juniper is usually referred to as a berry. Berries mature over 18 months, at first green and turn a dark-blue purple or bluish color as they mature. Berries are visible during the winter months. Each berry develops six triangular, hard black seeds, which are eaten and scattered by frugivorous birds.
A word for the word jar: frugivorous, defined by Merriam Webster as fruit eating. Fruit is the preferred food for frugivorous birds, which swallow the fruit whole, digest the fleshy scales, pass the hard-shelled seeds through the gut and disperse the seeds. This is why seedling junipers pop up in unusual surroundings.
Juniper berries are desired by birds as a winter food source, but they are also edible for humans. Flavor of foliage and berries are tart and sharp with hints of resin and citrus. Both are popular as spices in European cuisine. Ancient Greeks used berries for medicinal remedies and Greek athletes ate them to increase stamina. Juniper is most commonly used as a seasoning for wild game but is also used to season beef, pork and vegetables such as cabbage.
Juniper trivia: Berries of Juniperus communis (common juniper) comprise the principal flavoring used in making gin. The word "gin" is short for the French genièvre or the Dutch jenever, becoming "Gin-iper". If the liquor or spirits are labeled "gin," it has been made by adding the predominant flavor of juniper to (usually) ethanol. ‘Distilled gin’ is made by redistilling 96 percent ethanol in the presence of juniper berries while ensuring juniper is the predominant taste.
Some information from Nuts.com; Conifers.org; Standards of Identity for Distilled Spirits, US Code of Federal Regulations
ELLEN PEFFLEY taught horticulture at the college level for 28 years, 25 of those at Texas Tech, during which time she developed two onion varieties. She is now the sole proprietor of From the Garden, a market garden farmette. You can email her at email@example.com.