Phoenician juniper

How to recognise it

Growth habit

Dense, conical to rounded shrub or small tree; in gardens usually 2–4 m tall and 1.5–2 m wide, up to 8 m in the wild. The grey-brown bark peels off in long strips.

Leaf

Adult leaves: tiny green scales of about 1 mm, in pairs, pressed closely against the twigs. Young plants first have short needles in whorls of three.

Flower

No true flowers. Small yellow male cones at the twig tips release pollen in March–April, which is carried by the wind; the female cones are green and inconspicuous.

Fruit

Round berry-like cone of 8–14 mm, green at first, ripe in its second year and then glossy reddish to dark brown, with a few hard seeds.

Twigs

Rounded, not flattened, and pointing in all directions: this gives the shrub a fine, grainy texture.

Confusion with

Savin (Juniperus sabina) also has scale-like leaves, but smells unpleasant when you crush a twig and has blue-black berries; it is very poisonous. Common juniper (Juniperus communis) has only prickly needles and blue-black berries. Thuja and false cypress have flattened twigs in fan-like sprays.

Flowering: March–April · Pruning: April

Why grow it?

• Evergreen and very drought-tolerant: a conifer for a gravel garden or Mediterranean corner that never needs watering after its first year.
• The dense shrub gives small birds shelter and a roosting place all year round.
• Grows slowly and stays compact for a long time, so it needs little pruning.
• Attractive reddish-brown berries, often alongside the green ones of the following year’s crop.
• Tolerates wind, sun and poor, chalky soil: also useful in a coastal garden.
• In its homeland, thrushes and warblers eat the berries and so spread the seeds.

Phoenician juniper: where does it grow best?

• In the wild: sunny limestone rocks, cliffs, dry slopes, garrigue and coastal dunes around the Mediterranean.
• In the garden: full sun in a warm, sheltered spot, for example in front of a south-facing wall.
• Poor, dry and very free-draining soil: gravel, sand or stony chalky soil. Wet, heavy soil is fatal.
• Suited to a gravel garden, a rock garden, a dry bank or a large pot on a sunny patio.

Goes well with

• Rosemary: Another Mediterranean shrub for the same sunny, dry spot, with early blue flowers for bees.
• Lavender: Soft grey leaves and purple flowers in summer, full of bumblebees and bees.
• Rock rose: Cistus has papery flowers in June and the same love of dry, poor soil.
• Mediterranean spurge: Euphorbia characias brings blue-grey foliage and yellow-green flowers in spring.
• Mexican feather grass: Fine, swaying plumes in the gravel, lovely against the dark green.

Phoenician juniper: when and how to plant it?

1. Buy it in a pot from a nursery that sells conifers or Mediterranean plants. Never take plants, cuttings or seeds from the wild, not even on holiday.
2. Plant in April–May so it can root well before winter. Planted in autumn, it suffers more in a wet winter.
3. Mix heavy soil with plenty of gravel, or plant it higher up, on a mound or a bank.
4. Set the root ball at the same depth as in its pot, firm the soil and give it a full watering can.
5. Allow 1.5–2 m of space. In a pot: a container at least 40 cm wide, with potting compost mixed with a third of gravel.
6. In the first summer, water every one to two weeks in dry weather; after that it needs no more water in open ground.

Care

Water

After the first year, only in a pot. Too much water is more dangerous than too little.

Feeding

Not needed: poor soil keeps it compact and better able to cope with winter.

Mulch

Gravel or crushed stone around the base keeps the base of the stem dry and reflects warmth.

Pots

In winter, stand the pot against a south-facing wall, under an overhang out of the rain: hard frost combined with wet compost is the most dangerous.

Snow

Gently shake wet snow off the branches so they do not splay or break.

Tip: Plant it in spring and always in gravel or on a bank: its worst enemy is not frost but wet feet in winter.

Pruning and mowing

Pruning months: April.

When: Rarely needed. Light shaping in April, once the hardest frosts are over.

How:

• Cut only into the green, scaly part of the twigs.
• Remove dead and brown twigs, back to healthy green growth or to the trunk.
• For a narrower shape, shorten protruding twigs one by one rather than shearing the whole outside at once.
• Wear gloves: the foliage and resin can irritate the skin.

Caution: Never cut back into bare brown wood: junipers do not regrow from it and the bare patch stays for good.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Seed

Slow and uncertain. In autumn, sow seeds from ripe, reddish-brown berries outdoors in a pot. They need warmth followed by cold and often germinate only after one or two years.

Cuttings

Semi-ripe cuttings of 10 cm with a heel in August–September, in a mix of sand and cutting compost in a cold frame. They root slowly, often only after several months.

Phoenician juniper: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy to −15 °C: protect young plants.

• Evergreen: a green accent in the garden all year round.
• Hardy to about −15 °C on dry, free-draining soil; on wet soil it suffers even in milder frost.
• Gives small birds shelter from wind and cold.
• After a harsh winter the twig tips may turn brown; wait until May to see what is really dead.

Diseases and pests

• Root rot: On wet, heavy soil the roots rot and the plant turns brown from the inside. Plant it in gravel or on a mound.
• Frost damage: Brown twig tips after a harsh winter. Wait until May and cut out only what is really dead.
• Red spider mite: In hot, dry summers, especially in a pot against a wall: the foliage turns dull and you see fine webbing. Spray the plant with water now and then.
• Snow damage: Wet snow pushes the branches apart. Shake it off gently and, if needed, tie a splayed branch back loosely.

Through the year

• March: The male cones shed their pollen. Do not cut out frost damage yet.
• April: Light shaping. Planting in open ground.
• May: Plant. Cut out twigs that died over winter.
• June: Water young plants and pots in dry weather.
• July: Full sun and heat; check pots every few days.
• August: Take semi-ripe cuttings.
• September: Cuttings. Last year’s berries turn reddish brown.
• October: Ripe berries: sow the seeds in a pot outdoors.
• November: Move pots against a south-facing wall and under an overhang.
• December: Shake wet snow off the branches.

Did you know?

• The berries take two years to ripen: that is why green and reddish-brown berries often hang on the shrub at the same time.
• On the cliffs of the Gorges du Verdon in southern France grow Phoenician junipers more than a thousand years old, even though they are only small, twisted shrubs.
• The name phoenicea refers to Phoenicia, the ancient name of the coastal region of present-day Lebanon.