Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

Are you interested in zone 7 across the US, or just in Virginia?

Lets look at the Hardiness Zone Map for the US, and we see that zone 7 encompasses  most of Virginia and runs southwesterly through Texas to New Mexico, and becomes a little tenuous in Arizona, Nevada, and California.

A list of species of native Junipers can be found in the NPIN Database. Out of the fifteen species on the list, only two are found in zone 7 in Virginia.

Juniperus virginiana (eastern redcedar)  VA, NC, SC, GA, AL, MI, AR, OK, TX

Juniperus communis (common juniper)  VA, NC

Juniperus scopulorum (Rocky Mountain juniper) TX, NM, NV (does not occur east of the state of Texas.)

We can find the following native junipers occuring in zone 7 as we travel west from Virginia.

Juniperus ashei (Ashe's juniper)  AR to TX

Juniperus pinchotii (Pinchot's juniper)  TX, OK, NM

Juniperus monosperma (oneseed juniper)  OK, TX, NM, AZ

Juniperus occidentalis (western juniper)  NV, CA

Juniperus osteosperma (Utah juniper)  NV, CA

To determine the distribution of these species, click on the plant name in the list above to pull up the NPIN page of each plant. Scroll down to the ADDITIONAL RESOURCES box and click on the plant name under USDA. This brings up the USDA Plant Profiles page which has a distribution map. Clicking on the state map will give you the County distribution if it is available. Compare the county distribution maps with the Hardiness Zones Map.