JUNIPERUS COMMUNIS

Description

These ancient plants are dioecious, individual plants being either male or female unlike most trees. Male flowers appear as yellow blossoms and release pollen, which is wind-dispersed, the female flowers being in the form of small clusters of scales, and pollinated by the wind. The berries are green at first, but ripen after 18 months to a dark, blue-purple colour, each berry contains three or more seeds, which are very slow to germinate, sometimes requiring two winters of dormancy before they will sprout and begin growing. This amazingly tough plant has the largest geographic range of any woody plant in the world, occurring from western Alaska throughout Canada and northern parts of the USA, in coastal areas of Greenland, in Iceland, throughout Europe and in northern Asia and Japan.

Sowing Advice

These seeds have already been thoroughly cleaned and cold-stored for several months. They should be sown into a well-drained, sandy compost at any time of the year, and covered thinly with sand or grit with no artificial heat needed. The seed tray is best left in a cool spot and kept moist, seeds sometimes germinating very slowly indeed in cool conditions in the spring, whenever they are sown, although odd ones may come up at any time. Do not ever throw the pot away as seeds may lie dormant for up to two years.

Key Facts