Juniperus scopulorum

This is a rocky mountain juniper. We have a few of these trees growing on our property and they are all eaten by the deer and elk. Notice how the bottom branches are filling in and the top branches are growing but the middle branches, where the deer and elk can easily reach, are gone. All of our rocky mountain juniper look like this.

Seed

2003  The above image shows some rocky mountain juniper berries on one of our trees. I did not realize this in 2003, but rocky mountain juniper are separate male and female trees; you need to have both growing near each other for the berries to be fertilized.

I gathered a lot of berries this year from beneath some rocky mountain juniper trees and planted them. Nothing germinated.

2006  I have since learned the the berries must be scarified or the outer shell protects the seed too well. This year, after I gathered some berries, I "roughed" them up, making sure the outer shell was cracked and somewhat abraded away. I planted these berries in a garden by the house. Again, no germination. I obviously have a lot to learn about propagating rocky mountain juniper.

Transplant

1989  This is a small rocky mountain juniper that was growing where my husband was going to park his new tractor. It would have been smushed by the tractor. So I dug up the small tree and planted it on our east border. This image was taken in 2008; the transplanted tree had grown only about 3 inches and looks a bit ragged. I am not sure if the tree is not thriving because I picked a spot that is too shady or if the critters continually snack on the tree. We have not had any other rocky mountain juniper trees sprout on our property since we moved here in 1986.

Future Plans

I would like to try to determine when the juniper berries are ripe and try again to harvest seed. I will germinate the seed in both a protected outside bed again and in pots indoors.