|
Bonsai Doer
Join Date: Aug-2001
Location: Fresno, CA
Country: USA
Posts: 5,468
|
California and it's junipers
There seem to be some misconceptions about the elusive junipers of California. The two endemic species of juniper from California are Juniperus Californicus, identified in 1854 by Carr.(Carriere), and Juniperus Occidentilis better known as Western Juniper or Sierra juniper. The California juniper has much greener leaves than the Sierra which has more blueish leaves.
Both have rather prickly needles and both can have juvinile and adult foliage. The care for each is nearly the same with the Sierra needing a little cooler invironment than the California from its desert locale. Both take to pot culture and both respond well to fertilizing. This is a big plus because through fertilization we can achieve the canopies in a much faster time period.
Both species must be collected from the mountains. Neither are available much as nursery material in a commercial sense. The range of these two junipers is vast in California with nearly every county in California containing one or the other or both. Here in Fresno county we have both to choose from. It is much easier to obtain better specimens of the desert species due to many factors, most of which is accessability.
The California juniper is mostly taken from a private ranch in the Mojave desert near Tahachipi. The Mojave desert is the 20th largest desert in the world and covers 4 states. California, Neveda, Arizona and the southern tip of Utah. Hybridization between the species is a naturaly occuring event and junipers taken from borders of Utah and Arizona show marked differences between pure species. The range of the California juniper in California covers nearly 35,000 square miles. The range of the Sierra juniper is smaller and isolated to areas in which it survives probably around 10,000 square miles. In Fresno county it is very sparse while covering huge tracts in Mono county. Kathy Shaner takes classes to Mono pool each year to dig Sierra juniper.
The map below shows the range of theCalifornia juniper in green with the Sierra juniper in blue. The red dot represents the place in which I have collected the juniper.
__________________
I been kidding the last seven years.
no.... really!
|