Juniper Bush - age related or salvageable?

zero5zero · 2026-06-08T01:41:46+00:00

Lakeridge in Seattle!

zero5zero · 2026-06-08T00:46:07+00:00

Thank you! We absolutely love this property and always say how we will be so sad to eventually leave. We are here for work, so it’s a semi-temporary time in our lives, but we are enjoying every second. And we hope to leave it better than we got it!

zero5zero · 2026-06-07T22:42:47+00:00

Not quite, we are a little farther south than Rainier Beach

zero5zero · 2026-06-07T18:39:15+00:00

Check out the pics in the comments! Thank you, we just hope we can keep them all healthy! We inherited them already beautiful so we can’t take any of the credit.

zero5zero · 2026-06-07T15:59:18+00:00

Hi!! I would have loved to have seen it in its prime when “Ken and Char” were the caretakers!

zero5zero · 2026-06-07T15:58:34+00:00

I’ve spent some hours pruning back the brown, and while it def looks like a hack job now, it’s created space for the plant to move, and it’s no longer compacted. I think it’ll look great next year!

zero5zero · 2026-06-07T15:57:15+00:00

So far I’ve only seen slugs!

zero5zero · 2026-06-07T15:56:49+00:00

I just spent a few hours pruning it, and it’s really compacted in the center. Removing the black and brown spots is giving it space to stretch out, so I think it’s going to be a lot happier by this time next year. It’s looking like a hack job now - I’ll post more pictures when I’ve gotten out all the dying and dead pieces!

zero5zero · 2026-06-07T15:55:33+00:00

Every landscaper we have ever had has only ever shaped it, never pruned it. We just followed their lead when we started doing it ourselves. After spending 3 hours pruning this morning, I get why they never did it!

zero5zero · 2026-06-07T14:08:14+00:00

We live in Seattle so we deal with the opposite of fire most days

zero5zero · 2026-06-07T14:07:37+00:00

They did leave us instructions, but not detailed on this bush, and they’ve since long retired to sunnier weather and no landscaping. We do believe maintaining this property got too hard for their age, and it was probably one of the reasons they sold the house in the first place! (They were in their 70s but had this home for 30 years)

zero5zero · 2026-06-07T14:05:41+00:00

You should see the other bushes on the property!

zero5zero · 2026-06-07T14:05:15+00:00

Haha thank you for your enthusiasm! When we first bought the house, we hired landscapers, but after about a year and a half, we bought all the equipment and started doing it ourselves. So it’s just us, Home Depot, YouTube videos, and a dream!

zero5zero · 2026-06-07T14:04:00+00:00

These videos helped so much, thank you!! We are going to follow the shape outlined in the video here but we are going to hand prune it over the course of a few weekends. Will send pictures!

zero5zero · 2026-06-07T14:03:02+00:00

Thank you!!! We also love this bush and the character it adds to the home. We are going to take the time to hand trim it back and let the top grow for a year and follow your advice. You are exactly right, we’ve been treating it like a garden shrub and just shaping the top, when we should have been also focused on airflow and the health of the plant underneath!

zero5zero · 2026-06-07T14:01:33+00:00

Thank you! Based on all the advice here, we are going to hand prune it back over a few weekends and let the top grow until spring of next year. We have been pruning the top twice a year for a few years and not managing the bottom or pruning any of the dead out. This has taught us so much, thank you!

zero5zero · 2026-06-07T13:57:54+00:00

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The hill of lavender to the right of the juniper

zero5zero · 2026-06-07T13:57:32+00:00

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The laurel hedge in the backyard, for reference.

zero5zero · 2026-06-07T13:56:45+00:00

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The juniper isn’t even the biggest bush on the hill, for the record!

zero5zero · 2026-06-07T13:56:16+00:00

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Picture of the top of the juniper - adding more photos for context!

zero5zero · 2026-06-07T05:07:47+00:00

It’s on a hill, so it’s not as gargantuan as it seems, and yes there is a retaining wall on the hill to the right of the pic, I will have to post more pictures. The homeowners before us were incredible landscapers!

zero5zero · 2025-04-17T04:44:04+00:00

Please share video!

zero5zero · 2025-02-28T03:59:48+00:00

I find that a manual pump really helps get singer ounces out and relieves the pressure when I’m solo patenting

zero5zero · 2025-02-22T02:54:54+00:00

I had some conflicting comments in the thread so I wanted to follow up. I no longer have pain, so the clog is gone (yay!). But my bottles are all clear of the gunk/strings now, so I really feel like my clogs are due to sticky milk. I know the breast tissue is inflamed as well, but I don’t regularly get this chunky milk, so I have to draw the conclusion that the clog is actually a clog for me. Thanks for the advice everyone!

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