Winter dormancy & Juniper Coloring Question

[Tofi_Bonsai]

Before anyone panics - They only came inside for 5 minutes to get the pictures lol.

I'm in Canada - Zone 5a. All my trees are in a 1 foot deep space next to my house, in a relatively wind protected spot, covered with a bit of mulch / leaves and snow.

I haven't checked on my outside trees in some time now - everything has been frozen and snow covered for a while.

Now that we had a slightly warmer day and I could check them, I'm kind of concerned about my Junipers and the coloring they have now.

The second juniper as you'll see in the pictures, is still green on the back side.

On both trees the foliage is still relatively soft and there's still green present under the bark where I checked.

The coloring is more copper than brown but it was hard to get an accurate picture of the color.

 

[Dav4]

Most likely normal for this time of year.

Fwiw, there wouldn't be anything you could do if it wasn't normal, so I'd put them back out to finish the winter and see what spring brings... bet they'll be fine.

 

[bonsaichile]

As @Dav4 said, that's normal dormancy colors for junipers

 

[Gabler]

It's called bronzing, but I also have a tree that turns purple. The green color returns in spring.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Conifers can continue to photosynthesize in the cold, even at temps slightly below freezing. However once temps reach the mid 20's F (or lower) the stomata close, and the tree will reduce the water in its extremities as a protection against freeze damage. This causes the foliage to get stiffer, smaller in diameter, and even to change color (more or less depending on tree/cultivar). Once warmer temps return in the spring, the process will reverse, the foliage will get puffier and softer, and the foliage will return to a bright green. This process happens slowly (over the course of days or even a couple of weeks).