hi marg ...

juniper are conifers.. and also trees.. but they are not shrubs ....

most shrubs take to rejuvenation pruning but conifer/trees do NOT ... speaking generally ...

that info has nothing to do with where you post.. that is up to you... but if you want to google pruning.. you need to qualify it with conifer

it is very hard to give you a specific answer w/o a pic.. link below on how to .... since the browning can have many causes ... and the cause might make a difference.. copy/paste this link:

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Profile.aspx?pid=132

all that said.. i prune when i walk by with the saw ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

Thanks Ken. I think I will wait til later in the spring before I prune. Marg

but ... but ... but ...

you have to define if its a disease issue ... and if so.. one cut.. at ground level.. will cure it ... and you will be done with it ...

dont you think???

ken

There are plenty of shrub junipers. I'm confused by Ken's comment. Perhaps they could be called shrub-form junipers? What about those junipers that are used as groundcovers?

Marric, perhaps some pictures might be useful. You might also play the detective and see if there might be some physical reason for the browning of the bottom branches, as ken suggests there can be many causes.

Ken's a conifer pro. He has a VERY impressive conifer collection (probably better than many public gardens). But, there's one thing about conifers that he doesn't know, and that is that conifers can be shrubs. Juniperus chinensis 'Monlep' (Mint Julep Juniper) is as much of a shrub, IMO, as a Forsythia intermedia, a Hydrangea macrophylla, or a Viburnum carlesii. "Shrub" is about form, and I can't really think of any other characteristic (like how the plant responds to pruning) that is common to all shrubs.

I agree with everyone else above that Marg needs to figure out why her shrub's foliage is dying (or even if it is) before she can know what needs to be done. However, if the foliage is indeed dead, pruning can be now, or whenever pruners are handy.

Thanks for the advice everybody. The junipers are not near the house, they are out in the front field under snow right now. I do check them every year and they always appeared to be healthy. I first noticed this in the fall and when I touched the branches, the foliage was dry. I will check them this spring again before I do any pruning.

jeeeez ...

we must be hard up for conversation ...

we will even re-argue prior conversations .. lol ..

i said, with the qualification of 'speaking generally' :

most shrubs take to rejuvenation pruning but conifer/trees do NOT ... speaking generally ...

=== e.g. to prune a lilac ... which i presume we will all agree is a SHRUB .. we remove 1/3 of the plant at ground level .... that is rejuvenation pruning by definition ...

but if you do the same to a juniper .. you may or may not have the success you would with a lilac ...

and the way to research such things.. beyond asking us ... is to understand that words mean things.. and you have to understand such word usage.. to do the research ..

trust me.. i spent the first 20 yeas of my garden life calling EVERYTHING that was not a tree/perennial/annual a shrub ...

and i really didnt start to 'learn' .. until i understood that the use of common terms such as shrubs ... does not really lead one to insight into what any given plant is .. nor where to go with it.. should something need be done with it ...

so all i was trying to do.. was edumacate the OP a bit .. so that should we fail to answer her question.. she could do her own research ...

what i couldnt find.. was an old article on the amer. conifer soc. website that spoke on how to prune conifers...

regardless... glad i could roust you all from your mid-winter slumber ... even if it was just to rehash an old conversation ...

marg... you need to find out why it is browning ... otherwise.. simply cutting off the brown.. may NOT solve your problem ...

check out the link..

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

We are not talking about pruning, Ken. It's the terminology and your statement that conifers cannot be shrubs. Yes, the culture of conifers can be quite different from broad-leaf plants...that's a given. But there are hundreds and hundreds of shrub junipers. It's an important term and has a distinct horticultural meaning. Again, it has nothing to do with pruning requirements.

My own yard with its masses of undulating Juniperus davurica 'Parsonii' is a good example of a species of juniper shrubs. When planted with proper spacing, this is a shrub that rarely has to be pruned, and only then with occasional heading back cuts of the longest horizontal branches. (Just to bring pruning into the conversation.)

hey rhiz .. you said : But there are hundreds and hundreds of shrub junipers.

sorry.. in the conifer world.. nothing is called a shrub ...

you seem to be of the opinion.. that this is a separate form of a juniper ... it is not ... scientifically speaking.. the term means nothing to a coniferite ...

but you are correct in the sense of common usage ... but we get into all types of problems in the plant world.. when we rely on common usage terms ...

e.g. when someone asks a question about butterfly weed.. butterfly flower.. and butterfly bush ... 3 different plants . under the same name.. one a flowering shrub.. one a perennial .. and one an annual.. and all different latin names ... and we cant answer a simple question until we define the plant ... and once we define the plant.. we can come upon some rules for pruning such ...

anyway ...

OP needs to sterilize her pruners between plants.. for if there is a pathogen.. we do not want her to spread it between plants ... so i still recommend a proper ID of what is going on.. when and if the snow ever melts for her. ..

ken

I'm probably not doing anything other than adding fuel to the fire, but how about a pitch pine (pinus rigida)? I would surely call it a tree but some areas hold a genetically dwarf strain that tops out at 5 or so feet. Here's a quote off the link.... notice it's the height of a shrub.... but not called a shrub ;)

"dominated and characterized by a dwarf form of pitch pine that grows only to the height of a shrub"

on the other hand, pitch pine can be pruned harshly and will sprout back from bare wood, a very shrublike quality.

Here is a link that might be useful: dwarf pine plains

As a long-term member of the American Conifer Society, I can safely say that exclusion of the word shrub to describe shrubish conifers is NOT the norm. One will find countless examples of conifers referred to as shrubs in the Conifer Quarterly, on the organization's web site, and in the presentations of members.

There are terms used to describe growth rate (miniature, dwarf, intermediate, and large) which I can almost imagine someone mixing up with words to describe form, but they're really a whole different thing. A shrub is a woody plant with a certain form. A shrub is a shrub is a shrub, even if it's a conifer.

...passing ken the tequila cuz he's past the point where mere hops will do him good...

I hear the conifer world uses some rather arcane terms of it's own to define plants in terms of growth.

So that's how a plant given the adjective dwarf can grow to...how tall exactly?

...back to the tequila...and pondering how a lilac on a stick (or a physocarpus) can be called a tree...gonna need more...

and for that matter, other than the fact that Monrovia don't play well others, what's the difference between Mint Julep and Sea Green?

I planted my mint juniper in a very big planter pot lasy spring/summer. It sits on my deck. It appears to be dying as the green has faded and its very dry. Its supposed to be a grear drought plant as i live in CA. Maybe i over watered...don't know. How do i save it???

start your own post ... and add some pix ...

but it sounds dead ... once it goes off color on the whole plant ...

if you want to learn about growing trees/conifers in pots ... try the new post in the tree forum ...

ken