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Family: Cupressaceae · Pot diameter: 19cm · Height: 25cm
Juniperus × pfitzeriana ‘White Splash’ is a juniper with a broad crown and a painterly presence, as though it has received a few carefully placed strokes of light. Fine, flexible shoots build dense layers of glaucous blue-green foliage, while irregular cream to almost-white tips appear among them. These bright islands do not cover the crown evenly; they interrupt the blue-green mass with restraint and give every plant its own natural composition.
The scattered pale shoots are most striking against a quiet background, where each irregular flash of cream can be read clearly. In a broad border, on a bank or beside dark evergreens, ‘White Splash’ turns the planting into a layered composition of shadow, blue-green texture and unexpected light.
A broad evergreen crown with fine glaucous green foliage and irregular cream-white brushstrokes.
Bright areas occur as individual cream-white shoots rather than as the same pale edge on every leaf.
Flexible lateral shoots build successive tiers, creating a crown much wider than it is high.
Dense blue-green foliage creates a calm ground against which every pale brushstroke remains distinct.
Why you will love it: it combines permanent structure, soft glaucous colour and unpredictable points of light in one evergreen shrub.
Plant it on an open slope, in a broad border or as a low stand-alone focal point where its lateral shoots remain visible. Allow roughly 1.5–1.8m between its centre and the centres of other large shrubs, and avoid sites where winter water collects.
The white tips stand out beside dark evergreen foliage, violet flowers and quiet grey-green textures.
Full sun or bright partial shade; ample light keeps the glaucous ground and white shoots clearly defined.
Water regularly for the first two years, then during prolonged drought; avoid saturated soil.
Hardy to about −23°C, although winter wet is a greater threat than cold itself.
Not intended for consumption; pollen and aromatic tissues may irritate sensitive people.
Provide a sunny or very lightly shaded position with enough room for substantial lateral growth.
Water consistently while it establishes and later only through extended dry periods, avoiding shallow daily watering.
Choose light, stony or sandy soil with free drainage; poor and chalky ground is tolerated.
Use only a light spring feed where growth is weak; overfeeding produces soft green extension.
Soak the root ball before planting, keep the crown at soil level and preserve a clear drainage zone around it.
Routine pruning is unnecessary; remove damaged or excessively green growth without cutting into bare old wood.
Choose a site sheltered from strong prevailing winds, particularly while the shallow root system is becoming established.
Wear gloves for pruning, clear the trimmings and keep the plant away from places where it might be eaten.
Dense blue-green shoots first create a low compact core.
Individual new shoots emerge cream-white and appear irregularly within the crown.
Flexible shoots extend sideways and retain bright accents over the permanent glaucous ground.
Mature Juniperus × pfitzeriana ‘White Splash’ forms a broad crown of flexible overlapping shoots. The side elevation shows the cream-white areas as scattered islands over the glaucous green mass, not as a uniform margin.
The drawings show a glaucous young crown and subsequent extension with scattered white tips before full lateral spread.
What to expect after planting: The young crown first fills near its centre and then extends in broad lateral tiers. White areas appear unevenly, so the balance between green and cream is never perfectly symmetrical.
The surviving story of ‘White Splash’ begins in European nursery records, where it appears as a named selection among the Pfitzer junipers. By then, the name is already linked to a blue-green crown interrupted by irregular cream-white shoots, like bright brushstrokes across the foliage.
The earlier chapter has not survived: the original selector, parent plant, nursery, place and year remain unknown, as does whether the variegation began in a seedling or on a sport branch. The date of its first commercial introduction is also unrecorded.
Juniperus × pfitzeriana belongs to a cultivated hybrid group associated with J. chinensis and J. sabina.
The pale character is concentrated in whole sections of new shoots and does not create a fixed white edge on every leaf.
Junipers can carry pointed awl-shaped and smaller scale-like leaves, with their proportions changing with shoot age and vigour.
Six specific answers about the identity, white markings, size, light, water and pruning of White Splash.
No. The accepted botanical identity is Juniperus × pfitzeriana ‘White Splash’, with J. × media as a synonym of the hybrid species.
No. White areas appear irregularly as whole shoot tips or sections within the glaucous green crown.
Allow about 1m in height and 1.8m in spread at maturity, with ample open ground for the lateral shoots.
Sun gives a crisp habit and colour, while very light partial shade is tolerated in a warm climate.
It tolerates short dry periods once established, but needs regular water for its first two years and during prolonged drought.
Remove only damaged shoots or tips extending beyond the available space. Do not cut deeply into bare old wood because regeneration is unreliable.
