Juniperus chinensis Seeds | Chinese Juniper
LATIN NAME: Juniperus chinensis
COMMON NAME: Chinese Juniper
Plant Profile
Chinese Juniper (Juniperus chinensis) grows as an evergreen conifer in the cypress family. Walk through any old garden of the East and you will see the Chinese juniper. It is a plant of open, sunny, well-drained ground. The flowers pull in pollinating insects, which quietly widens its usefulness in the garden. In combination, these characteristics make a persuasive case for growing it.
Science & Biotechnology
Seed science, comparative botany and horticultural selection all touch on Juniperus chinensis, a representative of the cypress family with clear practical value. The Chinese juniper is a familiar name in long work on scale-like leaves and berry-like cones. Raising it from seed today is a matter of ordinary good practice rather than specialist skill.
Uses & Benefits
In the garden, Chinese Juniper earns its place in borders, containers and mixed plantings, and it also rewards growers who raise plants for cutting, drying or kitchen use. The Chinese juniper is a steady, long-lived presence of garden and the landscape. Small, blue-black, berry-like cones draw birds, and fine, scale-like foliage keeps plant neat through the year. The Chinese juniper is one of great, long-lived plants of old gardens, taking clip, training and poor, dry soils. Once it has settled, the workload drops to almost nothing.
Juniper berries flavor gin and game and are a classical European diuretic for urinary teas, official in several herbals; the wood’s fragrant oils scent pencils, chests and incense.
Growing from Seed
Raising Chinese Juniper from seed is straightforward. Surface-sow onto a light, well-drained compost, dust over a thin covering, and keep evenly moist and sunny until the seedlings show. Shift the seedlings into small pots as soon as they can be handled, and give them bright light until planting-out time.
Our Take
Part of this plant’s appeal is the long practical history summarized above. Few garden plants carry such a documented history of use as this one does. Even moisture while the seed is chitting is the main thing; afterwards it largely looks after itself.
Related Reading
Gardeners who grow Chinese Juniper often pair it with these related subjects: