How to Collect Juniper Tree Seeds

by DoItYourself Staff

Most juniper trees are grown from cultivars, by cuttings rather than by growing juniper seeds, in other words. The propagation of seeds is possible but the seeds do not always grow "true" to the parent plant. However, there are other reasons to collect Juniper seeds: they are often used to flavour meat dishes. Known as "juniper berries," they are traditionally cooked with pork and venison. They can also be used to make tea, which is good for bronchial trouble and stomach ache.

Collecting the Seeds

Like many evergreen trees, juniper seeds take a long time to ripen: sometimes the berries will not mature for nearly two years, and gardeners have to wait until they turn blue-black before they can harvest them. The berries usually contain three seeds.

Gather the juniper seeds in autumn, after the last blossoms of August have fallen from the tree. It is not usually convenient to gather the juniper seeds by hand, so put a table cloth or bedsheet under the tree, and shake the tree. Strike the branches until the berries begin to fall. This is a traditional method of gathering juniper seeds and berries in east European countries. If you intend to grow the juniper seeds, then it is important to collect seed from as many trees as possible, perhaps as many as 20 juniper trees.

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