West Colorado Springs in El Paso County, Colorado — The American Mountains (Southwest)

One Seed Juniper

Photographed by Sandra Hughes Tidwell, August 8, 2025

1. One Seed Juniper Marker

Inscription. One-seed juniper trees are the park's longest living residents. These ancient trees are mostly found along the ridges and are even growing right out of the high rocky cliffs. The juniper, distinctive for its stringy gray bark and snarly twisted growth, has been a part of the park's landscape for thousands of years. The oldest juniper trees in the park are over 1,000 years old! They sprouted from a seed when indigenous people traveled through and camped here. Not a tall or dramatic tree like its Colorado neighbors in the pine family, it has an amazing ability to survive. It grows very slowly above ground- only about six inches a year with normal precipitation. And it has the unique ability to stop growing during particularly dry periods, then resume when conditions are better. Below ground, its root system works much harder. A young tree (less than two feet tall) can have a tap root that is more than 10 times that. Mature trees can have a taproot over 200 feet long!

Caption: Berries of the juniper are the tree's seed cones. They are a vital food source for park residents like the Townsend's solitaire. American Indians

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used it medicinally for a variety of ailments. The berries were used in food and medicine, cooked, or ground into a powder or even chewed like gum.

Garden of the Gods Park
Colorado Springs
Olympic City USA

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Environment • Indigenous Peoples and Communities.

Location. 38° 51.897′ N, 104° 53.846′ W. Marker is in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in El Paso County. It is in West Colorado Springs. It is on Garden Drive. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 567 Garden Drive, Colorado Springs CO 80904, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in the Front Range

and in Pikes Peak Region.

It is also in the American Mountain West.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Rocky Mountains,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Comanchería.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: The Amazing Balanced Rock (here, next to this marker); Goerke & Son Photography

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(here, next to this marker); A Plentiful Harvest (here, next to this marker); Garden of The Gods Trading Post (approx. ¼ mile away); Garden of the Gods Trading Post (approx. ¼ mile away); George Eber Duclo (approx. 0.8 miles away); An Early Adventurer in Manitou (approx. 0.9 miles away); Manitou and Pike's Peak Cog Railway (approx. 0.9 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Colorado Springs.

Credits. This page was last revised on August 24, 2025. It was originally submitted on August 24, 2025, by Sandra Hughes Tidwell of Killen, Alabama, USA. This page has been viewed 125 times since then and 32 times this year. Photo 1. submitted on August 24, 2025, by Sandra Hughes Tidwell of Killen, Alabama, USA. • Andrew Ruppenstein was the editor who published this page.

Editor’s want-list for this marker. photo of the marker within its surroundings • Can you help?