Juniper Plants for Hillside Landscaping

USDA Zone 3 and Zone 4

• Juniperus horizonatalis "Blue Chip" is a cultivar of a native juniper of Canada and the northern United States. It grows in USDA Zone 3 and Zone 4 with few problems, and to heights of just 9 inches. Spreading out as much as 9 feet, Blue Chip covers a hillside with its steel-blue needles. Juniperus sabina "Mini-Arcade" remains fresh-looking year-round. This savin juniper cultivar grows to 15 inches and, as with most junipers, fares poorly in wet areas where root rot quickly becomes problematic.

USDA Zone 5 and Zone 6

• Juniperus procumbens "Nana" is a type of Japanese garden juniper that features intertwining branches, forming thick vegetative mats on a slope. This is an appropriate juniper plant for USDA Zone 5 and Zone 6, with bluish-green evergreen needles. This juniper grows to 12 inches. "Emerald Sea" is a cultivar of shore juniper, Juniperus conferta, with tolerance to salt spray. Available for seaside plantings on hills and banks, Emerald Sea grows to 24 inches high, with diameters of 10 feet.

USDA Zone 7 and Zone 8

• "San Jose" is a form of the Chinese juniper, Juniperus chinensis, a native shrub in Japan and China. It works well on dry hillsides in USDA Zone 7 and Zone 8, growing to 24 inches high and as wide as 8 feet. It is somewhat vulnerable to a disease known as juniper blight, notes the University of Connecticut Plant Database. "Sargent" juniper is a variety of the Chinese juniper, with adaptability to poor quality soils. This variety of juniper grows to 24 inches and features fragrant bluish-green foliage, and the female plants generate fleshy blackish-blue seed cones.

USDA Zone 9

• "Blue Pacific" is a cultivar of shore juniper with a deeper bluish color to its leaves than its parents possess. Blue Pacific grows between 6 and 12 inches high. Hillsides drenched in the hot sun of USDA Zone 9 are viable sites for this juniper plant, which usually tolerates exposure to city pollutants, according to the Missouri Botanical Garden. Plant "Mother Lode" on Zone 9 hillsides to stop rain from washing away soil. This form of creeping juniper has golden needles that turn shades of bronze in the winter. "Mother Loda" grows to 6 inches, and its foliage is soft and feathery.