The Gardens on Spring Creek

  Rocky Mountain Junipers in Colorado Springs A Second Look at Rocky Mountain Junipers by Bryan Fischer, Horticulturist, Gardens on Spring Creek Easily overlooked, the Rocky Mountain juniper ( Juniperus scopulorum ) has almost become what vanilla is to ice cream – classic and effective, yet so widely used few of us ever take note of its presence. The compelling, enhanced natural juniper trees in the “ Mountain Wildwoods” exhibit give us pause to reconsider this notion. What if, just because we can grow a species of plant almost anywhere doesn’t mean that we should?  Would that help us better appreciate the juniper for its natural merits, rather than the disheveled, over-sheared green blob we see in parking lots everywhere? Often, the more unusual a plant is in our landscapes, the more noteworthy it becomes. This is especially true if we do the Rocky Mountain juniper the service of picturing where one might naturally find it in the wild – on lean, gritty soils, with limited precipita