Pronounciation: Ju-NIP-er-us sa-BI-na

Hardiness zones
Sunset 4-24
USDA 3 (some protection might be needed)-11

Landscape Use: Filler shrub for parks, mobile home gardens, community common areas and other landscaped areas that are more visually neglected, historic early 20th century landscape design motifs, bonsai.

Form & Character: Spreading to fountain-like, coniferous, visually simple, oriental.

Growth Habit: Woody, evergreen, narrowleaf perennial shrub, moderate growth rate of significant variability ranging in mature size from 4- to 15-feet tall with equal or greater spread.

Foliage/Texture: Savin juniper has both adult (appressed, scale like) and juvenile (stiff short needle-like, ternate) foliage, small less than 1/4-inch long. Appressed adult foliage is supported on very slender shoots, foliage opposite. Juvenile foliage is only found on seedlings and in lower shaded portions of mature speciemns. Foliar color is a dull green, almost glaucous. Savin juniper is very fine textured.

Flowers & Fruits: Dioecious; female cones sub-globose to 5/16-inch across, 2 to 3 seeded, ripen in 2 to 3 years, purplish to brown; male flowers auxiliary and very small, golden yellow to brown, spring; flowers and fruits are inconspicuous.

Seasonal Color: Absolutely none

Temperature: Highly tolerant

Light: Full sun to partial shade, but absolutely no full shade.

Soil: Very tolerant

Watering: Infrequent deep summer irrigations are required in Phoenix for survival.

Pruning: Like Chinese juniper, the pruning requirements of savin juniper are minimal; usually only training to shape if desired. That being said however, many struggle with how to maintain savin juniper as it matures and typically outgrows its original planting space. Often mature savin juniper shrubs have their canopies elevated.

Propagation: Savin juniper cultivars are propagated from semi-hardwood cuttings, which generally root readily using 0.5% to 1.0% ppm IBA (powder formulation). Some of the upright cultivars are more difficult to root and are typically grafted, usually onto Juniperus chinensis 'Hetzii' or Juniperus virginiana seedling rootstock.

Disease and Pests: Spider mites (especially problematic in summer), juniper scale

Additional comments: In southwestern landscapes, savin juniper was once a commonly seen landscape shrub, but not today. Regardless, there are many named cultivars such as 'Monna' from Monrovia Nursery. Some taxonomists consider Pftizer juniper (Juniperus x pfitzeriana) to be a hybrid cross between Juniperus sabina and Juniperus chinensis.

Medicinal notes: All parts of the plant are poisonous due to several toxic compounds including ethereal oils. An oil extract from savin juniper called "sabine" is reported to have many medicinal uses.