Illustration
Bar Harbor Juniper
Juniperus horizontalis 'Bar Harbor'
Also called bar harbor creeping juniper
Bar Harbor Juniper is grown for its foliage rather than flowers, giving the garden structure and color all season long.
Months here are Northern Hemisphere months; in the Southern Hemisphere, shift them by six months.
Growing Bar Harbor Juniper
Plant it in full sun. It prefers low water. It is hardy in USDA zones 3–8. Expect it to reach about 0.5 ft tall and 6 ft wide at maturity, in roughly 10 years (a house reading).
Pets
- Not yet checked for pets.
- Listed as poisonous to people by Royal Horticultural Society.
Lists differ and none is complete. If a pet eats a plant and seems unwell, call a veterinarian or a pet poison helpline.
What was checked
Mature height and spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, bloom months and color and the trait tags were checked against named botanical sources for this plant, with what the sources could not settle written down; years to mature size rests on a recorded house rule where no publisher states one, and is marked so; its common name and alternate names have not been checked yet. Each fact above carries its own mark. The planting, spacing and size sections are derived from these checked facts by a fixed rule, not checked separately, and the plant type is the library's own classification.
When to plant Bar Harbor Juniper
Plant Bar Harbor Juniper in spring once the soil is workable, or by very early fall at the latest: an evergreen needs its roots down well before the ground freezes. In zone 5, the middle of its hardy zones 3 to 8, that is April to June, or August on the fall side.
Month-by-month timing for your zone is on the planting calendar; if you garden near zone 5, the middle of this plant's hardy range, start with zone 5 in April. Derived from the plant's category, zones and bloom months plus typical zone frost dates, not checked separately.
How big does Bar Harbor Juniper get?
0.5 fttall5 ft 7 inan adult6 ftwideSee Bar Harbor Juniper in a garden plan: the planner shows it in 3D beside everything else you add, growing toward this size over the years.
How far apart to plant Bar Harbor Juniper
Derived from the mature spread above by a fixed rule, not checked separately: spacing is the spread, center to center.
Space Bar Harbor Juniper about 6 ft apart, center to center, so each plant has room to reach its full width.
Add Bar Harbor Juniper to a garden plan and the planner draws it at its full width, so you see the spacing before you buy.
Where these facts come from
Bar Harbor Juniper's height, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, trait tags, soil, diseases, pests and toxicity were checked against 13 published sources on October 5, 2026. Each one is linked below with every fact it carried, which can include a fact this page still marks as not yet checked, because a source carrying a value is not the same as the value being held to the standard. Facts not in that list, and the planting, spacing and size sections, are not covered by these sources. Bloom was checked as well: Bar Harbor Juniper bears no flowers, so there is no bloom window for a source to carry.
- Missouri Botanical GardenPlant Finderheight, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, trait tags, soil, diseases and pests
- NC State ExtensionPlant Toolboxheight, spread, hardiness zones, sun, trait tags, soil, diseases and pests
- The Morton Arboretumheight, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, trait tags, diseases and pests
- Plant Addictsheight, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, soil and pests
- plants.westonnurseries.comNetPS Plant Finder (Weston Nurseries)height, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, soil and pests
- Purdue ArboretumExplorerheight, spread, hardiness zones, sun, soil, diseases and pests
- plantdatabase.uconn.eduUniversity of Connecticut Plant Databaseheight, spread, hardiness zones, sun, trait tags and diseases
- pridescorner.comPrides Corner Farmsheight, spread, hardiness zones, sun and trait tags
- Clemson Home and Garden Information CenterClemson Cooperative Extension Home & Garden Information Centerhardiness zones, sun, water and soil
- nvknurseries.comNVK Nurseriesheight, spread, hardiness zones and water
- Oregon State UniversityLandscape Plantsheight, spread and hardiness zones
- conifersociety.orgAmerican Conifer Societyheight and spread
- Plant Addictstoxicity
How the checking works, and what each standard covers, is on the verified plants page.
Where it grows wild
A garden form of Juniperus horizontalis
Its wild parent is native to 15 states and 14 provinces.
United States: Alaska, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, Wisconsin, Wyoming and 3 more
Canada: Alberta, British Columbia, Labrador, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Yukon and 2 more
Range data from the World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 4.0, adapted) and USDA PLANTS. How the native range is credited.
Good to know about Bar Harbor Juniper
Curated from university extensions, botanic gardens and other primary sources, with the source named on every note.
Safety
Toxicity depends on the species. Savin (Juniperus sabina) is dangerous: its oil can cause miscarriage and liver damage. Common junipers show no such effect. Never use juniper oil internally. per Molecules
Explore similar plants
You might also like
Foliage
Foliage
Foliage
Foliage
Foliage
FoliageDesign a garden with this
Drop this plant onto a 3D plan, see how it fills in, and watch your whole garden bloom across the year.