A tree for the long-term

This very small conifer is a juniperus communis ssp. communis, the tree sub-species of common juniper. It’s one of the slowest growing conifers and the example I’m holding is already six years old. In Scotland, the common juniper usually grows 3-5cm a year and reaches a maximum height of around five metres. It will reach that height in about 100 years or so, so this a tree that we’re planting not for ourselves, or for our children, but for four or five generations on from us.

Junipers are either male or female and, as you can’t tell which is which until they flower at seven to 10 years, we planted three in a triangle at three metre spacings in the hope that we have at least two to one male to female or female to male. To give them the maximum chance to thrive, we used a slightly different planting technique to our other trees. First, I cut out a large square of weed suppression fabric, laid it on the planting spot and then marked around it with a spade.

I then removed the turf and as many roots as I could pull out before cutting a slot for the tree with the spade. Juniper, while shade tolerant, does like the sun so we planted our three at the southern end of a line of spruce so they can receive good sun year round. We planted well clear of the spruce, but they’ll still serve as a windbreak to shelter the juniper from the prevailing north-westerly winds. The site is also well drained, with loam over sand so the three junipers should do well.

I cut a slit in the weed fabric with my knife and then passed the juniper’s roots through the slit. The roots were then carefully pushed into the slot in the ground - just visible in the bottom right corner of the photo.

The slot was then closed up and the soil firmed around the base of the juniper’s tiny trunk.

A thick layer of well-aged chipped spruce was then poured onto the weed fabric and around the juniper. The mulch should keep the grass at bay and, with regular weeding, ensure the juniper does not have to compete with anything else for nourishment.

The final step was to protect the juniper from animals, particularly rabbits, voles and field mice. And now all we have to do is weed around it, give it a little water in the drier months, and wait about six to eight years for the first crop of berries. Yes, with flowering taking around 10 years, and seed formation and ripening taking another two to three years to complete, the juniper is not a tree for the impatient.