Species · Conifers like juniper and pine
Common juniper
Juniperus communis
Common juniper grows slowly and naturally into irregular, often multi-trunked or leaning forms in the wild, which is why collected common juniper yamadori is especially prized — the tree arrives with age and character no nursery stock offers. Needle-like foliage is finer than Chinese juniper's scale but coarser than needle juniper's.
Care at a glance
- Watering
- Check daily, water when the top centimetre is dry. Roughly every 2 days in spring, 2 in summer, 3 in autumn and 7 in winter.
- Light
- Full sun, six hours or more.
- Winter
- Very cold-hardy in the ground; still shelter the pot below this. Protect it when the forecast drops below -12 °C.
- Feeding
- Every 21 days, Apr to Sep, paused in the hottest weeks.
- Repotting
- Every 3 to 5 years, as buds swell, in Mar or Apr.
- Growth
- Slow growing. Hardy in zones 2 to 8.
The work calendar
| Work | JJan | FFeb | MMar | AApr | MMay | JJun | JJul | AAug | SSep | OOct | NNov | DDec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prune | Mar | Apr | Sep | Oct | ||||||||
| Wire | Jan | Feb | Mar | Oct | Nov | Dec | ||||||
| Pinch | May | Jun | Jul |