Two Juniper leaf types

[bemmbabe]

I have recently purchased a Golden Pfitzer Juniper, my first ever Juniper purchase. There are two different types of foliage on the one plant. There is a short prickly type as well as the softer type. I guess if you have worked with Junipers before you know what I'm talking about. So what do I do. Do both types stay on the plant. Hopefully the photos show the difference between the two types.

Karen

[shibui]

The scale junipers (this is one of that sort) have prickly juvenile foliage and softer, scaly adult foliage. Your tree still has some of its baby leaves but new growth should be the scale type. Older leaves eventually drop off so eventually the tree will be all scaly foliage.
If these junipers are pruned a bit hard the prickly juvenile leaves will often come back which can be a bit of a pain when trying to style one and keep the adult type foliage.
I can't see the whole tree but my guess is that it has more branches than it needs so you can prune off any needle foliage that's not a vital part of the tree. Other wise, just leave it and over the next couple of years it will gradually be replaced by the scaly adult foliage.