How long has this been in the ground? Where is it growing? Need some history of it's care. Does the plant get good drainage? Have you gotten the foliage wet from sprinkler irrigation?

No expert, but it could either be cultural or drought issues, or possibly one of the numerous blights from too much moisture or lack of air circulation. I would prune off the affected branches. Make sure it is getting enough, but not too much moisture, good air circulation, and that it is gets established.

If it progresses, talk to a good nursery about a more disease-resistant juniper variety.

Glen Cove, take a minute and read over the comments on my Reject List Especially the comments about Wichita Blue juniper apply to you if you live in eastern US.

@Dave in NoVA • N. Virginia • zone 7A I'm in East Tennessee. This juniper has been in the ground 2 years and the soil provides good drainage. Irrigation is drip only, no sprinklers. Could it possibly from the hard freeze we had with single-digit lows for 3 or 4 consecutive nights?

@sam_md Would the Blue Arrow be essentially close to the same as the Wichita Blue? The picture looks similar with the browning limbs.

Likely to be a blight problem. Try searching the web for "juniper blight" to see what is involved.

i am a blue freak in the garden.. so i had to have about 10 upright blue junipers.. of various names.. though i wondered why they were almost all the same plant..

anyway.. cut them all down and got rid of them due to juniper tip blight..

on my 5 acres.. i wasnt dragging no spray can all over the place to spray they POS... and once they got over my head.. i wasnt spraying them as i didnt have hazmat suit.. etc..

they all made a nice addition to the burn pile... think about that.. if not this year.. any year after....

and for a shiny penny.. i tell you how i really feel about them .. lol ...

ken

ps: ALWAYS include big city name.. if you are in MI .. i would double down on what i said above ... you might want to check with your COUNTY extension office ...

also.. though commonly called a shrub.. they are a conifer.. and a tree .. there is a conifer forum.. but its all the tree peeps anyway.. so.. just fyi

" I'm in East Tennessee "

You can't really grow this tree there- none of the J. scopulorum like humidity, not even a little, and east of the Mississippi gets humid in the summer.

I've tried several cultivars of it in eastern Kentucky and every single one just goes into a decline and gets worse looking every year until I can't bear to look at it any longer- I must have tried five varieties before I gave up.

Then only real blues I have success with here are Picea pungens cultivars and they're not recommended for us either, but in my yard they do a damn site better than any J. scopulorum ever did. My oldest (P. pungens 'The Blues') is now 10+ years old and growing very well, but It's in a gritty, fast draining area and I plant high. I have a P. engelmannii 'Bush's Lace' sited similarly- that's another option for a blue. I accept that they may eventually decline in my climate, but I'm almost 70, so...

There's a P. pungens 'Montgomery' on my street that looks 30 years old and it is lovely and doing well. I have other cultivars of P. abies doing great, too- maybe take a chance on one instead of wasting money on a different J. scopulorum.

Great feedback everyone! Based on what I’ve read, it looks like the best decision is to find something else for this location.