# Western Juniper (Juniperus occidentalis)

> Western juniper, Juniperus occidentalis: a small tree of 13 to 49 feet for zones 4 to 8, how fast it grows, and the natives we grow for the same ground.

Blue Whale Trees, a native tree nursery in the United States. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/species/western-juniper/

![A broad old western juniper with a thick, twisting trunk among smaller junipers on dry ground](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/species/western-juniper-1000.jpg?v=9e297d27 "A western juniper in the Oregon Badlands Wilderness east of Bend, Oregon, on July 23, 2013. The oldest dated by its rings, on Horse Ridge in Deschutes County, was 1,600 years old.")
*Photo: Bureau of Land Management Oregon and Washington, [Public domain](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AJuniperus_occidentalis_east_of_Bend%2C_Oregon_%28BLM%29.jpg) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AJuniperus_occidentalis_east_of_Bend%2C_Oregon_%28BLM%29.jpg))*

Small tree, 13 to 49 feet, zones 4 to 8; full sun; dry or average ground.

We do not grow western juniper, and it is not in our shop. This page gathers what our tools say about it and the natives we grow for the same ground.

## At a glance

| Fact | Western Juniper |
| --- | --- |
| Other names | Pencil wood |
| Form | Small tree |
| Height, feet | 13 to 49; up to 78 in its native stands |
| Spread, feet | Up to 50 |
| Zones | 4 to 8 |
| Sun | Full sun |
| Soil moisture | Dry or average ground |
| Growth | Slow |
| Leaves | Evergreen |
| Traits | Wildlife value |
| Pollen | April to May |
| Fruit | Berries, September to February |
| First crop | 10 to 20 years (significant crops from 50 to 70) |
| Pollination | Not known whether one bears alone |
| Lifespan | The oldest tree dated by its rings reached 1,600 years. Only a tiny share of trees has ever been ring-counted or cross-dated. |
| Transplanting | Oregon State University's Landscape Plants says: "Difficult to transplant except when young." |
| Black walnut | Not named on the Morton Arboretum's lists |
| Ground | Dry uplands and rocky ground |
| Native in | 5 states |

Western juniper is native in 5 states: [California](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CA), [Idaho](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ID), [Nevada](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NV), [Oregon](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OR) and [Washington](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WA). The states are the USDA PLANTS Database's records, with the native range read from Silvics of North America and the Fire Effects Information System.

## What our tools say

- [How fast it grows and how big it gets, by site](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=western-juniper): the growth estimator
- [Whether it suits your zone, sun and soil](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=western-juniper): the planting-site check
- [How far from a house, wires and a septic field](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=western-juniper&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree): the planting-distance tool
- [What grows with it in the wild and in a yard](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=western-juniper): the companion species tool
- [When to plant it where you live](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=western-juniper): the planting-window tool
- [When it sheds pollen and fruits, month by month](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=western-juniper): the bloom and fruit calendar
- [How to sow its seed, with dates for your place](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=western-juniper): the seed sowing planner
- [Whether one you have can be moved, and what the move takes](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/transplant/index.html.md?species=western-juniper): the transplant planner
- [How old one is, from its trunk](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-age/index.html.md?species=western-juniper): the tree age calculator
- [How a big one scores against the champion trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/big-tree/index.html.md?species=western-juniper): the big-tree measurer

## For the same ground, we grow

- [Chokecherry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/chokecherry/index.html.md) (*Prunus virginiana*): small tree, 20 to 30 feet, zones 2 to 10. Shares rocky ground in the wild.
- [Black Cherry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/black-cherry/index.html.md) (*Prunus serotina*): large tree, 50 to 80 feet, zones 2 to 9. Shares dry uplands in the wild.
- [More natives for this ground in the tree finder](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-finder/index.html.md?size=small-tree&sun=full&moisture=average)
- [Every companion of western juniper in the companion species tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=western-juniper)

## Read from

Its figures come from Silvics of North America, the Forest Service's Fire Effects Information System, the Woody Plant Seed Manual, the USDA PLANTS Database, the Wildflower Center, Cal Poly's SelecTree, Oregon State University's Landscape Plants, Oregon State University Extension, Calscape, the Jepson eFlora, the Gymnosperm Database and Plants For A Future.