Native Plants As Habitat For Wildlife - Native Plant Society of ...

Use:
Depending on their size and form, junipers are used as foundation plantings, screening,
massed as ground covers or understories to hold difficult slopes or banks, or in a rock
garden. The berry-like cones add to their landscape value. They provide cover and food
for birds which often act as dispersal agents for the seed.
Propagation:
Cuttings or seeds. Seeds may take 2 years to germinate and should be stratified at 40C for
3 months. Most cultivars are grafted. Branch tips are easily layered. Stem cuttings may be
rooted.
Pinus (pines):
Pines grow naturally on light sandy soils and are well suited the prairie xeriscape. Their
needles, in bundles of 2, 3 or 5, and triangular in cross-section, are arranged spirally on
the whorled branches. Male and female cones are on the same tree. The male cones are
found on young shoots at the base
of the tree and disintegrate after releasing pollen. When transplanting pines ensure that
the root ball of soil is left intact. Exposing the tiny root hairs to air and sun more often
than not dooms the transplant to failure. Pines provide food and cover for birds and other
wildlife species.
Pinus banksiana (Jack pine)
Description:
The botanical species name honors Sir Joseph Banks, the noted British horticulturist.
Native to the northern forests they are the most widely distributed pine in Canada. To the
early European settlers, jack pines signalled poor soil and unsuitable farmland. When
grown in the open, they are typically gnarled and twisted with a broad open form like a
"Group of Seven" painting. In the forest they tend to be straighter due to competition with
other trees. They reach up to 12 m and can live 150 years.
Needles are sharp-pointed, dark green to yellowish-green, in bundles of two but spread
apart within the bundle. The ends of the cones point forward to the ends or tips of the
branches, are often curved and appear in clusters of two or three. The cones have no
prickles. Most remain closed and will persist on the tree for ten or twenty years until
triggered by the heat of fire or direct
sunlight.
The root system is wide spreading, and fairly deep, usually with a tap root. When their
ranges overlap, jack pine will hybridize with lodge pole pines.
Culture:
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